Zach Needell
@zach-needell.bsky.social
Reposted by Zach Needell
Insane that the best tacos in the Bay Area are at a North Berkeley BART bus stop. El Chacho Taqueria.
November 26, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Insane that the best tacos in the Bay Area are at a North Berkeley BART bus stop. El Chacho Taqueria.
Reposted by Zach Needell
Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.
November 21, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.
Reposted by Zach Needell
Piedmont Avenue is booming, on a beautiful fall evening. People are out and enjoying themselves. It desperately needs the city of #Oakland to widen the sidewalks and give it a road diet.
November 9, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Piedmont Avenue is booming, on a beautiful fall evening. People are out and enjoying themselves. It desperately needs the city of #Oakland to widen the sidewalks and give it a road diet.
I still think about this every few weeks
[To the tune of 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' by The Beach Boys]
🎵Wouldn't it be nice
🎵To eat a Minion
🎵Holding up a towel to hide from god
🎵And wouldn't it be nice
🎵Though quite forbidden
🎵Savouring the yellow flesh of Bob
🎵Wouldn't it be nice
🎵To eat a Minion
🎵Holding up a towel to hide from god
🎵And wouldn't it be nice
🎵Though quite forbidden
🎵Savouring the yellow flesh of Bob
November 1, 2025 at 10:06 PM
I still think about this every few weeks
Reposted by Zach Needell
Costa Rican Social Security Administration Building. San José, Costa Rica [OC] r/brutalism
October 5, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Costa Rican Social Security Administration Building. San José, Costa Rica [OC] r/brutalism
Reposted by Zach Needell
Tonight I remembered that “everyone sees this terrible thing happening and no one is doing anything to stop it” is from the Gawker endless mozzarella sticks article
September 21, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Tonight I remembered that “everyone sees this terrible thing happening and no one is doing anything to stop it” is from the Gawker endless mozzarella sticks article
Reposted by Zach Needell
SB 79 HAS PASSED!
September 12, 2025 at 10:24 PM
SB 79 HAS PASSED!
Reposted by Zach Needell
"Private equity is causing the housing crisis" is a very common take that mixes up cause and effect. Single-family homes are an attractive investment vehicle for private equity because there's a shortage of them, not the other way around.
did a blackrock executive ai generate this article?
August 10, 2025 at 11:29 PM
"Private equity is causing the housing crisis" is a very common take that mixes up cause and effect. Single-family homes are an attractive investment vehicle for private equity because there's a shortage of them, not the other way around.
Reposted by Zach Needell
How I wish America’s congestion-obsessed transportation engineers understood Paul Krugman’s point here
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-limits...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-limits...
July 28, 2025 at 12:12 PM
How I wish America’s congestion-obsessed transportation engineers understood Paul Krugman’s point here
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-limits...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-limits...
I’m no railway engineer but I do wonder if they could have tried simply having the tracks go around the mountain
June 28, 2025 at 5:27 PM
I’m no railway engineer but I do wonder if they could have tried simply having the tracks go around the mountain
It’s kinda unconscionable that we’re not building a new apartment building on every block in Berkeley right now
June 25, 2025 at 4:45 PM
It’s kinda unconscionable that we’re not building a new apartment building on every block in Berkeley right now
Reposted by Zach Needell
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists urge support of Berkeley’s middle housing ordinance.
June 23, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists urge support of Berkeley’s middle housing ordinance.
Reposted by Zach Needell
A driver just brazenly hit a kid’s bike while he was in a crosswalk, and still didn’t stop. This is at MLK and Virginia in Berkeley, a known to be dangerous intersection. Virginia is one of our Bike Boulevard’s, the city installed an RRFB here, but drivers still don’t stop for people crossing.
June 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
A driver just brazenly hit a kid’s bike while he was in a crosswalk, and still didn’t stop. This is at MLK and Virginia in Berkeley, a known to be dangerous intersection. Virginia is one of our Bike Boulevard’s, the city installed an RRFB here, but drivers still don’t stop for people crossing.
Reposted by Zach Needell
Remember, Paris wasn’t “always this way.”
Not that many years ago, Paris was choking in car traffic. And it wasn’t a safe place to ride a bike for transportation, so not many people tried.
This is new. This is a result of deliberate vision, and bold leadership.
Cities are a result of choices.
Not that many years ago, Paris was choking in car traffic. And it wasn’t a safe place to ride a bike for transportation, so not many people tried.
This is new. This is a result of deliberate vision, and bold leadership.
Cities are a result of choices.
March 20, 2025 at 4:36 AM
Remember, Paris wasn’t “always this way.”
Not that many years ago, Paris was choking in car traffic. And it wasn’t a safe place to ride a bike for transportation, so not many people tried.
This is new. This is a result of deliberate vision, and bold leadership.
Cities are a result of choices.
Not that many years ago, Paris was choking in car traffic. And it wasn’t a safe place to ride a bike for transportation, so not many people tried.
This is new. This is a result of deliberate vision, and bold leadership.
Cities are a result of choices.
Reposted by Zach Needell
Cambridge, MA just upped the ante for every pro-housing municipality in the USA, legalizing 4-to-6 floors & corner stores on every lot in the city.
This is what it looks like to truly prioritize affordability & creating access to homes of all shapes and sizes.
Absolutely historic.
This is what it looks like to truly prioritize affordability & creating access to homes of all shapes and sizes.
Absolutely historic.
I can’t believe it - after years of advocacy, exclusionary zoning has ended in Cambridge.
We just passed the single most comprehensive rezoning in the US—legalizing multifamily housing up to 6 stories citywide in a Paris style
Here’s the details 🧵
We just passed the single most comprehensive rezoning in the US—legalizing multifamily housing up to 6 stories citywide in a Paris style
Here’s the details 🧵
February 11, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Cambridge, MA just upped the ante for every pro-housing municipality in the USA, legalizing 4-to-6 floors & corner stores on every lot in the city.
This is what it looks like to truly prioritize affordability & creating access to homes of all shapes and sizes.
Absolutely historic.
This is what it looks like to truly prioritize affordability & creating access to homes of all shapes and sizes.
Absolutely historic.
Reposted by Zach Needell
I'm deeply saddened to share that Donald Shoup passed away last night. He was the ideal academic—curious, methodical, and concerned with turning ideas into real-world change. TAing his parking course these past few years has one of the greatest honors of my life. Rest in peace, Shoup Dogg.
February 8, 2025 at 4:34 AM
I'm deeply saddened to share that Donald Shoup passed away last night. He was the ideal academic—curious, methodical, and concerned with turning ideas into real-world change. TAing his parking course these past few years has one of the greatest honors of my life. Rest in peace, Shoup Dogg.
Reposted by Zach Needell
Reposted by Zach Needell
The correct answer is pedestrian beg buttons.
Not sure what's a bigger scam, the "close elevator door" button or the "remember me on this website" checkbox
January 8, 2025 at 7:55 PM
The correct answer is pedestrian beg buttons.
Reposted by Zach Needell
For about ten years I've thought about what a Tom Waits TV Christmas special produced in the early 80s would have been like. It's almost real to me. The set is a Depression-era shack he built and a stream of celebrity hobos keep knocking on the door and Tom goes "I wOnDEr WHo tHaT cOuLd bE"
December 13, 2024 at 4:49 PM
For about ten years I've thought about what a Tom Waits TV Christmas special produced in the early 80s would have been like. It's almost real to me. The set is a Depression-era shack he built and a stream of celebrity hobos keep knocking on the door and Tom goes "I wOnDEr WHo tHaT cOuLd bE"
Reposted by Zach Needell
I’ve said for awhile that some low hanging fruit on parking reform is to eliminate parking mandates for any business that serves alcohol
Dallas' minimum parking requirements mandate that bars must have one parking space per 100 square feet of floor area.
Literally government-mandated drunk driving.
Literally government-mandated drunk driving.
December 6, 2024 at 6:59 PM
I’ve said for awhile that some low hanging fruit on parking reform is to eliminate parking mandates for any business that serves alcohol
Reposted by Zach Needell
In one of the strangest chapters of my life, I spent several months in the trenches of Big Headlight, looking to understand just how and why headlights became brighter than the sun. Answers, graphs, penis sketches—it's all here, on the brand new Ringer site:
www.theringer.com/2024/12/03/t...
www.theringer.com/2024/12/03/t...
Asleep at the Wheel in the Headlight Brightness Wars
The crusade against bright headlights has picked up speed in recent years, in large part due to a couple of Reddit nerds. Could they know what’s best for the auto industry better than the auto industr...
www.theringer.com
December 3, 2024 at 6:37 PM
In one of the strangest chapters of my life, I spent several months in the trenches of Big Headlight, looking to understand just how and why headlights became brighter than the sun. Answers, graphs, penis sketches—it's all here, on the brand new Ringer site:
www.theringer.com/2024/12/03/t...
www.theringer.com/2024/12/03/t...
Reposted by Zach Needell
New study finds that London's congestion charge reduced car ownership by ~7%. That's a lot!
doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
November 29, 2024 at 2:23 PM
New study finds that London's congestion charge reduced car ownership by ~7%. That's a lot!
doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
Reposted by Zach Needell
Berkeley is mourning the loss of 78-year-old Ben Brown, an activist and chef, a lover of art and music and a former Berkeley Hort staffer. An avid walker, he died last week after a driver hit him. He was a man who "honored everyone," his family said.
Ben Brown: Chef, loving uncle, 'champion of the people'
"He stood up for his rights, he stood up for everyone else's rights," said his niece, Angie Perkins. "He just honored everyone."
www.berkeleyscanner.com
November 19, 2024 at 2:36 AM
Berkeley is mourning the loss of 78-year-old Ben Brown, an activist and chef, a lover of art and music and a former Berkeley Hort staffer. An avid walker, he died last week after a driver hit him. He was a man who "honored everyone," his family said.