Kenneth Russell

America's Highway Trust Fund spends far more than it brings in in gas and truck taxes, and the US constantly bails the fund out from the federal general fund and by taking out loans. The Bay Area will pay ~$1.3B/year to bail out the fund yet again, starting in 2028. From @maxmautner.com.

C: "I would challenge proponents to show that they are actually making these proposals to help affordability rather than just make money for developers." R: "I feel the same way" [omg omg omg]

By Waymo's own figures, roughly 44% of its miles carry no passenger. Charge robotaxis a fee for empty miles, highest in busy zones, and spend it on transit and safer streets. Empty cars should pay for the space they use. www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hu...

Opponents to RTM (and Prop H in SF) regurgitate the same old tired lines about mismanagement and efficiency, yet they struggle to point to anything concrete. Many of their arguments are conspiracy adjacent. @idothethinking.bsky.social deconstructs the BS.

I’ve been working on single stair reform for years. HAC sponsored a bill in Sacramento this year and we’re honoring leaders from Culver City on Single Stair reform. Any framing that this is single stair reform in SF is factually inaccurate. @jkdineen.bsky.social

Frustrated with the slow progress on CAHSR? Apparently the California legislature isn't, given all bills to speed up progress died this year. Why isn't California's signature infrastructure project a priority? calmatters.org/politics/202...

The SHADE Act is moving forward to end bogus appeals against housing in San Francisco, as it just got unanimous approval at the Land Use Committee on the Board of Supervisors.

The reason California has so many small cities surrounding larger ones is that, in the 1960s, small communities wanted to use zoning to keep non-Whites out and the state let them contract city services out from the county to make incorporation financially feasible.

Bad news: Amidst an affordability crisis, elected officials in San Francisco are seeking to hasten the freezing of whole neighborhoods in amber through historic landmark streamlining legislation. But here's the good news...

Big news: Later today, Supervisor Mandelman and SF Planning are hosting an important community forum to discuss making the Castro District a historic landmark district. This proposal is shockingly regressive. It would downzone in a rich white neighborhood. sfplanning.org/event/potent...

As part of research into the elevator market, I am doing an elevator census! Next time you are in an elevator (any time, any place), could you take a photo of the nameplate (brand and capacity in lbs/kgs) and the buttons (to get number of floors), and then later, enter it here? bit.ly/elevatorcensus

it is actually absurd how many “progressives” have lined up behind Connie Chan when the issues she is most passionate about are blocking housing and converting parks into highways

Amidst a housing affordability crisis, there is legislation moving through City Hall right now to arbitrarily double the number of historical landmarks and make it harder to build housing, and put us at risk of violating state law. www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/arti...

Come the fuck on, man

A cisgender straight guy screaming in Scott Wiener’s face and telling him that even though he passes great bills on LGBT issues, he “does not deserve to be at” the Trans March that he’s been attending for 22 years because he’s a YIMBY is a perfect symbol of the modern day SF “left.”

I am glad Joe Garofoli picked up this bit from our conversation. The gatekeeping within the queer community about queer authenticity, especially targeted towards members of our community in elected office, is something else www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joe...

the critical thing to know about Connie Chan is that she’s not just a NIMBY when it comes to housing. She also NIMBYs transit and bike lanes, opposing the ballot measure to save Caltrain and car-free JFK

Ma'am, you are the mayor thehill.com/homenews/sta...

This is deep, conspiracy level bullshit, very easily refuted with easily available empirical data. California is full of faux progressives like this. I really hope the younger generation can organize to overcome them.

my favorite part of the “democrats steal elections!” narrative is how we very cleverly lost the white house and the house and the senate

“Unless the Legislature and governor act soon, the confusing ballot measure could end up hamstringing the finances of every jurisdiction in the state,” writes @hanlon.bsky.social about the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association’s initiative. We’re urging lawmakers to strike a deal to avert that outcome.

For those following along at home, CARB’s vote today essentially guts the greenhouse gas reduction fund and eviscerates the state’s largest sources of funding for affordable housing and public transit. At a time when we should be doubling down on them, we’re pulling away.

How did Noe Valley get gentrified? We just may never know

Angelenos: vote for Nithya Raman!

Remember when we were all concerned about how much water the California almond industry uses, in part since the crop is so notoriously water intensive and the Central Valley is naturally arid? It used at least 5x more water than every single data center in North America, combined, last year.

Tuesday Apr 28 - April SF YIMBY Happy Hour: Ingleside RSVP Here actionnetwork.org/events/april...

It's quite bad to have @indivisible.org groups using that organizing to oppose bike lanes. Really makes me question my funding to Indivisible. This is not the first example I've heard of NIMBY organizing around Indivisible.

My pickleball building code strategy is to adopt European window standards so that we can buy and manufacture triple-glazed tilt-and-turn windows at affordable prices that actually keep sound out

Who did Santa leave off the Naughty List?

Who needs a village when you can have parking lots?

Happy Wednesday, folks! I’m spending my evening at a meeting of California NIMBY group Our Neighborhood Voices. The topic? How to stop state housing bill SB79, which was signed into law, from actually being implemented! The big draw is the special guest: the LA City Attorney's office. Yikes! 🧵

The SB125 task force is putting together its final report to the legislature this Monday, but there are 3 key things missing: 1. A state source of transit operations funding 2. Multi-year investment frameworks for capital projects 3. Funding at full design Speak out on Monday 9/30!

Making it illegal to build new homes for yuppies does not keep older homes affordable. Rich people just buy the old homes and build luxurious new homes inside their walls, which drives up the price of housing. I understand that this is unsatisfying to people who want housing for the neediest first.

Happy Saturday, folks! As is tradition, I'm at a meeting of statewide NIMBY group Livable California. Today's discussion will focus on freaking out about statewide upzoning legislation (SB79) and CEQA reform. Grab some🍿, 🧵 starts here!

CA's Sen. Housing Committee has posted bill analyses (committee reports) for @scottwiener.bsky.social 's "plain bagel" upzoning bills. Sad to report that the abundance drumbeat either was not heard by the staffers who wrote them or the chair who told the staffers what to write. 1/6

You may have heard there’s an informational hearing about San Francisco’s new rezoning map? We are here in Room 400 doing it live! And I’m sure people will say some absolutely bonkers things. Been a while since I’ve done one of these so please forgive me if I’m a lil rusty!

CA state auditor is reviewing HCD's review of housing elements, at behest of state senator who says reviews are too unpredictable & take too long. @nmarantz.bsky.social, @elpaavo.bsky.social and I submitted a comment letter. 1/5

SF's refusal to charge for parking on Sunday is so mysterious. It's like a blue law for bad transit www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/m...

I would like to remind you all that when you block me it becomes much more difficult to educate me and correct my foul behavior . Thank you

There is currently a rush by California officials, all the way up to the governor's office, to enable rebuilding in a manner that will GUARANTEE a repeat of this disaster. We need to be a lot smarter about this.

Do yourself a favor and use the lists to Block junk accounts 👇

“Americans did not choose car dependency. We didn’t vote for it, and it was not the winner in a free market competition. The real answer is complex, but a single turning point reveals an essential part of the story.” www.planetizen.com/features/132...

If you think we shouldn’t be blanket applying historic preservation to parking garages and the burned out husk of 659 Union, tell the commission! actionnetwork.org/petitions/no...

Per Reddit, this Passive House - super energy efficient with an airtight building envelope that doesn’t breath in burning embers from the air, survived a fire that consumed all of its neighbors. Visited a passive built apartment building just south of Boston, felt like walking into a bank vault.

Here's the reality about the #LAFires this week: this isn't the first time ANY of these places have burned. Not even close. In 2018, we mapped CA fire history to look at fire frequency across SoCal. Santa Monica Mtns area burns more than anywhere else -- up to once per decade in a given spot. 🧵

Seventy years of building in the wildland urban interface in California. Apropos of nothing, we should maybe, idk, stop doing that?