Robert Hale

This is what SB 79 initially did but housing nonprofits could not understand it and killed it. However its inportant because without grocery stores and commercial activities on transit property everyone is going to own cars.

hakeem jeffries sees his highest political calling as sniping on brooklyn democratic factional battles and new yorkers should have the opportunity to vote to free up his calendar so he can devote more time to that

When is a tent too big? Regarding Abundance Conference 2025

I wrote up my thoughts about Abundance Conference publiccomment.blog/p/when-is-a-...

MN doesn’t meet that standard anywhere within city limits either.

Liberals don’t have to lose on immigration “Moderating” on immigration doesn't mean abandoning it

The biggest problem American liberalism faces is how to maintain high levels of immigration while respecting the democratic will of the public. I have an idea.

www.theargumentmag.com/p/liberals-d...

Nonsense like this is why perception and reality don’t align. Most of the city is “blocks away” from the subway. This had nothing to do with the subway. And yet, here’s a crappy dishonest headline.

CT housing shortage, post-COVID climate behind new wave of hotel conversions to apartments From Hartford, Vernon and Cromwell to New Haven, Shelton and Brookfield, about 780 apartments have either been built, approved or proposed in former hotels over the past year.

“From Hartford, Vernon and Cromwell to New Haven, Shelton and Brookfield, about 780 apartments have either been built, approved or proposed in former hotels.”

The article makes it sound like a lot, but for context that’s about .05% of CT’s 1.5 million homes.
www.ctinsider.com/news/article...

My landlord installed a dishwasher in my unit shortly before I moved in, probably to lower the water bill. I get my meditative hand washing in by cleaning my cutting boards and knives; the dishwasher handles everything else way better.

Hours? The 1-hour cycle on my pretty basic 18-inch dishwasher works fine for anything that isn't caked in grease.

I'm sure these barriers have a modest impact, they're cheap, and at minimum, people who are worried about falling onto the tracks can stand behind them.

But, wow, they are a funny excuse for actual barriers, which actually prevent people from falling in. They're the sombritas of platform doors.

PATH’s ability to grow ridership while it catches on fire every other day and barely runs weekend service is astounding to me. Shows the sheer latent demand - imagine what these numbers would look like if PATH was a functional rapid transit system.

Mayor Adams Announces Public-Private Partnership To Reimagine 14th Street Corridor in Manhattan  - New York YIMBY Renderings reveal the proposed 14th Street corridor overhaul from Marvel in Manhattan.

Yawn. A serious effort to redo 14th would consist of telling the DOT to look up what to do in the NACTO manual and get after it. newyorkyimby.com/2025/07/mayo...

A lot has happened to PATH in the past 25 years -- 9/11, major construction work, COVID, etc. But consistent across all of these events have been ensuing reductions in off-pk service levels: since 2005, the number of PATH trips crossing the Hudson on Saturdays has fallen by *50%*

NYC subway needs exit numbering tho. Lifesaver in Tokyo

Hmm, if you're going to be digging tunnels, I see more value in digging them for the RER (B/D Nord-Châtelet, Montparnasse, making the C useful) and a cross-Paris TGV than diluting the 1 and adding more métro mileage way out in the banlieue.

July 2023 vs. July 2025.

How 200k+ growth vs 147k growth is described...

What are we doing here people?

A 30+ year old design, locked in for at least another 40 years to come.

Clearly none of the design improvements that @mta.info used for the R211 subway cars has trickled down to @mtalirr.bsky.social. An utter lack of any imagination.

CT P&Z’s have no authority over solar farm approvals. The result: 88% of projects are approved.

A 2025 bill would have added “local control” to solar, and Gov. Lamont worried we’d get less carbon-free energy. Makes you wonder if those dynamics might apply to housing!
www.wfsb.com/2025/05/13/i...

Park Street Hotel Hits Roadblock A Pennsylvania-based developer’s plan to build a 150-room Marriott Residence Inn on Park Street hit a roadblock Wednesday night -- as the City Plan…

As much as Lamont has set back housing today, New Haven isn't on any higher moral ground. You can't claim to be a place for all or for the rule of law when a developer follows the rules yet gets delayed and extorted. www.newhavenindependent.org/article/park...

Pro-Housing Groups Slam Guv's Veto Gov. Ned Lamont caved to NIMBYs and the suburbs Monday, according to pro-housing advocates who slammed the governor for vetoing this legislative session's…

Pathetic cave. www.newhavenindependent.org/article/hous...

S.F. activists fought for affordable housing in the Mission. Now they’re pumping the brakes For years, activists in the Mission fought a plan to build market-rate apartments, calling for affordable homes instead. Some of the same activists are now pushing back against an affordable...

Elected officials need to grow a backbone and stop listening to these goalpost-shifting NIMBY groups. Their goal isn't to make projects better—it's to kill projects altogether and/or squeeze cash out of anyone who wants to build, even nonprofit housing developers. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/m...

they’re assembling the pervert megazord

I get the politics and don’t want to hammer Lamont (sign the bill, please!), but uhhh

One side: unhinged NIMBYs comparing TOD to the alien attack in the movie Independence Day

The other side: people should be able to afford rent and live near train stations to NYC
ctmirror.org/2025/06/20/c...

In national elections, liberals like me ask leftists to be coalition partners — hold their noses and vote for a candidate they don't love to beat someone truly terrible.

In New York, the shoe is on the other foot. And we should be clear that we're willing to do what we ask of our partners.

After Years of Increases, Study Says Jersey City’s Rents Are Falling | Jersey Digs A new report says the average rent in Jersey City is falling, with a year-on-year decline in the double digits.

Housing supply 🤝 housing demand

All the usual caveats about trusting proprietary rent data apply here (it tends to capture the high end of the market best, since that’s what gets listed on major national listing sites), but, this is a lot:

I don't think Mamdani's policies will work out well, but there's a chance I'm wrong about that.

There is, by contrast, a zero percent chance that I'm wrong about Andrew Cuomo being a scumbag who degrades and disgraces our democracy with every minute he spends in public life.

"Keep New York transactional" is what machine pols, landlord class, big unions etc are really after

I’m not sure if Zohran Mamdani would deliver on better management for New York City, but I know for sure that Andrew Cuomo will not. Zohran is at least saying some smart things (mixed in with some dumb ones). Cuomo’s housing plan is from ChatGPT (free version).