Jeff Wachter

it's fun to see that our neighbors in south brookline simultaneously oppose new construction AND paying for town and school services. nice!

I propose that you can pick at most one :) preferably neither!

[[from the 2023 override vote]]

As we in #Brookline begin the discussion over this override, this is the shape of the debate:

@drkath.bsky.social: "Brookline needs more housing, and the project at 26 Pleasant St. is a great way to accomplish this: It will add 103 apartments including 15 income-restricted affordable units"

"This actually makes the politics of getting people to accept more housing incredibly difficult because it is an awful political slogan to say, 'Let's build more housing so price increases aren't as high as they would've been if we hadn't built as much housing"

Can confirm, good god can I confirm

The MBTA Communities law was a good start. But it won’t deliver transit-oriented development – or solve our housing shortage. The MBTA Communities law is better understood as a leveling up exercise, or a fair-share zoning law.

Check out Luc Schuster's piece in @cwbeacon.bsky.social making the case that while the MBTA Communities law was a meaningful first step, Massachusetts will need stronger, more focused policies to truly align housing growth with transit and solve the housing crisis.

‘We’ve got it backwards.’ Cameras are everywhere in Mass. So why can’t they catch speeders? - The Boston Globe Advocates and lawmakers are pushing a collection of proposals that would allow cameras to catch speeding drivers in Massachusetts.

Glad to see automated traffic enforcement being taken seriously by the state. Seems like Sen Brownsberger has included some reasonable safeguards.

The reality is that I see at least 1, if not 2 or 3, cars run reds at nearly every intersection during my commutes. This needs to be enforced at scale.

The lingering snow in Boston has been a great opportunity to visually explain to my kids how bad cars are, particularly noting that when we bike home from school with them on the back, we're breathing in that black crap.

Yes, he'll be on the ballot in 2026.

Just listened to an amazing, contemplative, unexpected story of curiosity, memory, wonder, and bugs. Lots of layers, lots to think about, and a rare break from *everything* that doesn't feel frivolous. Listen to the original on @signalhillfm.bsky.social, and thank you @annierosenthal.bsky.social.

A Modest Zoning Reform That Works—and Should Be Scaled Tight zoning has been treated as a preservation strategy, but it fuels mansionization and exacerbates our housing shortage.

A story of promising, yet modest, zoning reform in Newton, MA. Examples at a small scale like this are great opportunities to expand the policy to other communities. People love neighborhood villages; we can seed more if we can build housing at this scale in new places. @amydain.bsky.social

Jazz Mandolin Project performing at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Lights of blue shroud the stage where musicians play keys, mandolin, drums, and upright bass.

A really nice break from reality for a couple hours. #JazzMandolinProject

Jazz Mandolin Project performing at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Lights of blue shroud the stage where musicians play keys, mandolin, drums, and upright bass.

A really nice break from reality for a couple hours. #JazzMandolinProject

Really excited the Olympics are happening. Find a way to watch an event or two. So many great stories, so much phenomenal talent. Watching people be amazing is fun.

Same for the Atlanta games in 1996. Soccer was played in Birmingham, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Miami, and Athens, Georgia. Makes a lot of sense.

Phenomenal performance.

Legalize Cafes Everywhere! Municipal codes should allow for the operation of cafes in most residential areas to free up space for businesses who actually need larger commercial buildings.

People want places to congregate & want walkable neighborhoods. We should absolutely make it easy to build cafe's in residential areas. It can add so much to a neighborhood, bring folks together, & boost tax revenue to the community. We need to get way more comfortable mixing uses in our places.

YouTube video by The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change MLK: I've Been To The Mountaintop!

Good way to wrap up Martin Luther King Jr Day in 2026.

??? The Fireplace closed many years ago.

A 5,000-square-foot solution to the Massachusetts housing crisis - The Boston Globe A ballot measure to reduce lot-size requirements would open up more housing options in the suburbs, creating opportunities to build smaller, lower-cost homes.

As long as it is illegal under zoning to build homes on small, affordable lots, it will practically be illegal to build starter homes in many American neighborhoods. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/10/o...

www.tiktok.com/t/ZThjjbhNx/

Glad this kind of story is getting covered. If you bought a home 15, 20, 30 years ago, it's really hard to wrap your head around housing unaffordability. How many people who bought in 1995 or 2010 could afford the same home today? It's a real problem that we need to throw all sorts of solutions at.

Losing fast food playgrounds is a real problem on road trips. Knocking out lunch while tiring the kids out has been a crucial time saver.

Congestion pricing after one year: How life has changed. (Gift Article) How life has changed in the New York area, according to data on traffic, transit and the responses of 600 readers.

Great mix of data and anecdotal experience in this piece. This is how you do it --> www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Opinion | What Happened When My Yale Students Gave Up Their Phones for Four Weeks

---> www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

Years ago, Boston put bus lanes in the middle of this busy street. Has it worked? - The Boston Globe As Boston and other localities prepare to carve out more bus-exclusive street space, what lessons does Columbus offer?

Very positive news on the impact of the Columbus Street bus lanes, despite the @bostonglobe.com excessively negative framing. Glad to see @mbta.com working towards expanding programs like this and adding automated enforcement.

render of the k mart site showing the midtown greenway running by the site, and the site split up into blocks with colorful boxes representing new market rate housing, subsidized housing, retail, community use, and park space

cool project in minneapolis taking an old kmart lot, restoring the street grid, and developing the site into parks and mixed use/mixed income housing lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/RCA...

My least popular (and most correct) view is that cars should be automatically limited to the local speed limit. Put the pedal to the floor and you still can't go over 25mph in a residential area.

(15 in Manhattan btw)

Many Americans Are Open to Car-Free Living — Human Transit Is Americans a “car culture” or are they “car dependent”?  Do they drive because they love driving, or are they in an unhealthy relationship with a substance it would be happy to do without?  Obviousl...

An astonishing percentage of Americans are open to car-free living.

The problem isn't attitudes. The problem is the failure to invest in viable options.

humantransit.org/2025/12/many...

‘Office-to-everything’ conversions may finally pay off for downtown Boston - The Boston Globe Different kinds of office conversions were a big topic at the Downtown Boston Alliance's annual meeting this week.

Love the gradual transition from an office-centric downtown to a more complete city. Converting underutilized office buildings to more homes & dorms & hotels leads to more people in the neighborhood for retail and amenities. We should shun single-purpose districts for more integrated places.

New Bands for Old Heads | Gabbie | Substack New music recommendations for people who don't keep up with new music. Click to read New Bands for Old Heads, by Gabbie, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

I've always enjoyed, and also never been good at, finding new music, beyond going a step or two beyond what I already knew and loved. It's even harder now with a life full of family and work and responsibility. Excited to have found @meandtimory.bsky.social on TikTok to help expand my aural world.