Dan Federman

Dan Federman

@dfed.me

Infrastructure. Urbanism. Biking. Mobile apps & frameworks.

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When my dog gets extremely dirty, I call her a dirt clod. Given the current technological landscape, I’m considering calling her clod-slop now.

Dan Federman reposted

You know, the thing is, I had drafted this piece a month ago, and then never published it, because I thought maybe it was too mean.

Dan Federman reposted

Climate Researcher Colleen Golja always thought science and reason would have a seat at the table in deciding the planet’s fate. That was until one morning last September in London, when she took part in the first in a series of war games.

wired.comThey War-Gamed Dimming the Sun. It Went Even Worse Than You ThinkSolar geoengineering could buy humanity time against climate change—or trigger a dangerous new arms race. A first-of-its-kind simulation offered a glimpse of what happens when geopolitics takes the wh...

Dan Federman reposted

YIMBY Action leads are voting on a recommendation for Prop 45 today. If you or any of your friends are on the fence, I highly recommend reading this great thread. Tl;dr: AB130 already exempted infill housing from CEQA. Prop 45 would just open the floodgates for sprawl.

East Bay for Everyone@eastbayforeveryone.bsky.social

The backers of Prop 45 are counting on the public not being able to tell infill homes near transit from building new roads into wildland / fire areas for sprawl's sake. EB4E recommends a NO on 45 this fall. eastbayforeveryone.org/2026/03/05/s...

Hauled some stuff on the bike. Birthday party supplies got to the park faster than they would have in a car.

Dan Federman reposted

My Nest Protect smoke detector died. And now I am learning that it is normal for a smoke detector to flash bright green every 60 seconds? Who on earth thought a flashing light in a product mandated in bedrooms was a good idea???

Sure I can cover the light with tape but it’s insane that this is a standard feature and there is no longer a manufacturer that does something better

SF is saying a *Walgreens building* must be preserved because something quite notable happened inside the building many decades ago. Put up a plaque! Preserving our built environment is a silly way to honor the past.

Robert Fruchtman @fruchtose.bsky.social

Q5 is how the Walgreens on the corner is a contributor to the culutral district when it has a minimal association with LGBTQ+ history. How is the department assessing the level of significance? Westhoff says that he'd have to check, but thinks that's where the first cases of AIDS were documented.

The Castro came to be because it was an affordable refuge for folk who had no other places to turn. Landmarking buildings – and therefore making building housing harder – in the most expensive city in the country turns our back on that history.

“I support this thing but” is an incredibly common concept. It sounds reasonable on the surface! It’s deeply important to make it clear that supporting transit and housing conditionally is effectively the same as supporting neither.

Will that win over skeptical folk? Probably not. Will it help folk who might otherwise raise an objection to a project think twice about the consequences before doing so? I sincerely hope so.

Don’t get me wrong. I use Waymo and find it a better product than Uber and Lyft. I don’t get whipsawed from rapid acceleration, and the vehicle stops at stop signs. But anyone claiming these vehicles will reduce congestion doesn’t understand basic physics.

Items prices by markets do not suffer from an induced supply problem. Prices counter demand. That’s the point.

mike_br@mikebr.bsky.social

induced demand for the major cities and job hubs is just as real, you're just producing more supply to be immediately sopped up by new residents, not alleviating the existing affordability issue

Climate researcher opposes dense housing near transit. Berkeley is not okay.

Upzone the coastal elites@aboutdave.bsky.social

Another reason is local advocacy against the density near transit necessary to sustain transit. Btw, density also enables higher levels of affordability.

Dan Federman reposted

Backing Prop G is madness. We have already voted on this TWICE. Chan is the new avatar of SF NIMBYs, always opposed to parks and transit and housing.

Mission Local@missionlocal.org

Sunset Dunes has become a proxy battle in SF’s congressional race. Scott Wiener wrote the official argument against Prop. G. Connie Chan backs it, quietly. missionlocal.org/2026/09/suns...

Dan Federman reposted

Replying to @mrcheeze.github.io

when METR used GPT Sol to analyze the transcripts of the attack, it would claim that the attack was fine because *the agent message board* had approved it.

Dan Federman reposted

Major news: SF's most infamous empty car wash will finally start to become housing this year. The empty car wash on 400 Divis has become a symbol of SF's stalled housing pipeline. It's no accident that this project will be one of the first housing projects to break ground this year.

We keep paying more for SFPD and we keep getting less out of them

Clara Jeffery@clarajeffery.bsky.social

This is an absolutely enraging story about how vile SFPD’s record of investigating rape is. Worst in country for cities its size. But that’s only the beginning sfstandard.com/2026/07/20/s...

Why do we subsidize new car ownership more than used car ownership? Doesn’t Sacramento know that used cars are more environmentally friendly than new cars?

Just Kevin@kevinleecaster.bsky.social

California provides $3,500 to new EV purchasers and $1,750 towards the purchase of a used EV. How much does your state offer to help clear up the air there?

Dan Federman reposted

Chat: Are you voting yes or no on Prop 45, which overhauls CEQA? Does the fact that it explicitly carves out California High Speed Rail so that CEQA continues to slow down CAHSR, change your opinion? oag.ca.gov/system/files...

Warren Wells, AICP@warrenjwells.bsky.social

Really interesting polling result on Prop 45, the CEQA reform measure that will be on the November ballot. It polls best among Democrats and lower among supposedly deregulatory Republicans. Additionally, it was strongest among renters, young people, and low-income earners.

Dan Federman reposted

Yesterday, WIRED learned that Madison Square Garden was suing us for our accurate reporting. We stand by our work. That’s why we’re removing the paywall from two of the MSG stories they don’t want you to read, making them free for everyone.

Dan Federman reposted

The takeaway for cities: “The best bang for your buck is protected bike lanes,” Moran told Bike Talk‘s Nick Richert. “Really focus on bike infrastructure that’s protected. That’s how you grow ridership. That’s how you diversify ridership.” sf.streetsblog.org/2026/07/08/s...

sf.streetsblog.orgStudy: Only Protected Bike Lanes Cause a Real Increase in Cycling - Streetsblog San Francisco"The best bang for your buck is protected bike lanes... That's how you grow ridership. That's how you diversify ridership."

Dan Federman reposted

Did you know SF's conflicting housing laws can make us choose between a bathroom and housing? Our Building code requires a restroom on a rooftop common space. But our Planning code inadvertently requires that restroom count against the building's height limit. Make it make sense!

Dan Federman reposted

As I've said many times before, we need to be much more aggressive about taking away people's licenses. No one was harmed this time, but what about next time?

Ned Resnikoff@resnikoff.bsky.social

Paul Pelosi is 86 years old and has the money to afford a driver. There is no reason why he should still be behind the wheel. www.politico.com/news/2026/07...

Dan Federman reposted

For context, the 9 counties of the San Francisco Bay Area has a population of 7.8M (compared to NYC's 8.5M), covers 6,966 square miles (compared to NYC's 472) and permitted just 16,008 new housing units last year.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

".. The city added 38,682 units to its housing stock last year—the most new apartments completed in a single year for the city since 1965 .." @wsj.com #NYC www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

Dan Federman reposted

This is the most purely anti-American thing I've ever heard a politician say, but the media is too obsessed with 3 DSA candidates winning local elections in NY to pay any attention I guess.

TIL I do not exist!

Dr. Kurtis Charles@kurtisching.bsky.social

It’s not transit in CA. People don’t ride bikes to get places here. Very different than other places. It’s a mode for exercise here. You’ll never meet someone who “biked here.” They will tell you how many miles they biked the other day though.

I’m a proponent of the Housing Theory of Everything but even for me this is a bridge too far

Derek Young@derekmyoung.bsky.social

I’m at the housing regulator. I’m at the intelligence agency. I’m at the combination housing and intelligence agency.

Pretty disappointing to see SFPD parked in the bike lane directly in front of their station, just 50 feet from their designated parking lot.

Dan Federman reposted

Dan Federman reposted

Replying to @volts.wtf

"Gen Z has a hip new approach to truth, it's called 'believing whatever flatters the priors of you and your peer cohort'!" I'm going to have nightmares about this piece.

IZ is the equivalent to a tax on water production during a drought. I’ve personally seen it kill multiple buildings in my neighborhood. Judging from results, IZ is a tool for reducing housing production. If the government wants the private market to provide something, it should pay for it.

Barbara Samuels@bsamuels72.bsky.social

Y’all have an unhealthy obsession w/ IZ. Is there some kind of messaging directive to attack it in every SM post & blame it for every housing problem in US? Sure seems like a big distraction from weightier factors.