Jeff Wachter

Delivery van putting people's lives at risk for the driver's own minor convenience by parking in a bike lane on a busy street.

Can't wait for safe, protected bike lanes on Washington Street in Brookline. The safe street project can't come soon enough. Tired of drivers risking people's lives for their minor convenience.

An e-bike has to be pedaled to make it go and assistance should stop in the 15-18mph range. Everything else is a motorcycle. If we want to include other micromobility (I'm not opposed), they should be capped at 15mph.

Of course. But I was surprised to see people waiting for others to leave (like cars do every day, and why biking for the grocery run is faster than driving). Was crazy, though also a great day to bike for errands. Loved seeing all ages and types of bikes fill the rack too.

A very full bike rack at Trader Joe's

There's never enough parking at Trader Joe's. @americanfietser.bsky.social #brookline

Survey says Wu should do more to bring down Boston’s sky-high rents - The Boston Globe A poll by a state housing advocacy group found that most Bostonians want the city to move more aggressively to build more and rein in housing costs.

Great to see @abundanthousingma.org advocating that the Mayor use some of her political capital to push for substantive action on zoning reform and other efforts to increase housing supply in Boston.

Lots of Lego sorted by type of piece

Mind numbingly wonderful afternoon of Lego sorting, even if progress is slow and the end feels far away.

Why five feet of building space can doom construction - The Boston Globe 1973 law on high-rise threshold is out of sync with national recommendations.

“A lot of times, we’re reluctant to change on really dumb things.”

Many of the rules shaping what we can and can’t build today were written 50–60 years ago. If we want to meet Massachusetts’ modern housing needs, everything should be on the table for reform.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/05/o...

Work won't love you back That doesn't mean you can't love your work! But know the limits of this love.

Amanda Litman has fast become one of my favorite writers of the mid-20s. Please don’t think any less of her just because one boomer thinks she’s awesome. Just read her stuff.

@amandalitman.bsky.social

“Work won’t love you back” open.substack.com/pub/amandali...

Do apartment buildings really need two stairwells? - The Boston Globe Fire safety advances have made single-stair construction safer.

We need to address both housing supply & ensuring family-sized homes that aren't just suburban single-families. Legalizing single-stair (w/safe construction materials) can help with both. We shouldn't be re-inventing the wheel w/long commissions; learn from places like Seattle & get it implemented.

Do apartment buildings really need two stairwells? - The Boston Globe Fire safety advances have made single-stair construction safer.

We need to address both housing supply & ensuring family-sized homes that aren't just suburban single-families. Legalizing single-stair (w/safe construction materials) can help with both. We shouldn't be re-inventing the wheel w/long commissions; learn from places like Seattle & get it implemented.

Minimum Lot-Size Reform Is a Modest Idea with Big Potential A proposed 2026 ballot initiative could seed housing production by making it easier to build more affordable single-family starter homes in Massachusetts.

Good explainer from Susan Gittelman on the minimum lot-size reform ballot initiative. Mandating half acre or acre+ lots for a single family house, especially in an area with high land costs like metro Boston, forces only large and expensive houses to be built.

We got there a bit after it started, a little after 5. Saw the city charter table and people collecting signatures to bring California-style jungle primaries to MA. (Not sure how I feel about it, but interesting to think about.)

The band Vices Inc. Bass, guitar, drums, and vocalist. Performing in front of a blue house.

Kid couldn't get enough so we squeezed in one more band. #BrooklinePorchfest #VicesInc #livemusic

The band Filet of Soul playing on a porch in Brookline.

Finishing the day with some soulful covers. #BrooklinePorchfest #FiletofSoul #livemusic

Bluegrass band under a shady tree. Banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass, and fiddle. The Lemonshiners.

Few things better than an afternoon bluegrass set under a shady tree. #BrooklinePorchfest #Lemonshiners #livemusic

The jam rock band Julian Spector in the front yard. Keys, 2 guitars, bass, and drums.

Enjoying a beautiful day in Brookline, biking from concert to concert around town for #BrooklinePorchfest. #JulianSpector #livemusic

Coming to Terms with Density: An Urban Planning Concept in the Spotlight  - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy A conversation all about density, on the occasion of the return of an online resource, Visualizing Density, at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy website. Density is in the spotlight as cities and t...

Great discussion of the importance of density for vibrant neighborhoods, demystifying the word, & thinking about what density actually looks like. Density doesn’t have to mean 100+ unit apt buildings, but can look like many of the 12-20 home buildings that define Brookline. @landpolicy.bsky.social

Highly recommend listening to this episode. Paraphrasing what stuck with me the most. I listened yesterday.
Dissents are important and are not about today.
We are writing for a future society.
We have a mandate to bear witness.

Coming to Terms with Density: An Urban Planning Concept in the Spotlight  - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy A conversation all about density, on the occasion of the return of an online resource, Visualizing Density, at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy website. Density is in the spotlight as cities and t...

Great discussion of the importance of density for vibrant neighborhoods, demystifying the word, & thinking about what density actually looks like. Density doesn’t have to mean 100+ unit apt buildings, but can look like many of the 12-20 home buildings that define Brookline. @landpolicy.bsky.social

I just listened to a Brookline Town Meeting member, with a straight face, after testimony from multiple MBTA officials at a public hearing, challenge their conclusions because of something he read on Wikipedia regarding the size of green line cars.

Bluegrass band playing on the Brookline Day stage. Guitar, mandolin, cello, bass, and banjo.

A little bluegrass music at Brookline Day.

Stop by the @brooklineforeveryone.com table and say hi!

#brookline #brooklineday

what a humiliating way for don jr. to find out his dad sends birthday cards.

I wrote a rant that addresses EVERY Seattle anti-housing "tree advocate" talking point I have ever seen.

It's long but honestly not THAT long lol. I will be very, VERY happy if 5 people read it.

Come be one of them :)

blog.moreparksmoreneighbors.org/page/anti-ho...

One-Way Streets Are the Wrong Way to Tame Downtown Traffic In the 1950s, US traffic planners thought unidirectional arterials were better for moving cars through urban areas. Now many cities are having second thoughts.

A simple way to improve American downtowns: Make one-way arterials bidirectional.

Doing so will improve safety, boost retail sales, and attract pedestrians.

Me, in Bloomberg 🧵

Residents moving into Boston's first office-to-apartment conversion project The six-story brick building at 281 Franklin St. was converted from a commercial property under the Boston Planning and Development Agency's program.

Exciting to see the office-to-apartment conversion vision start to come to fruition in Boston. Integrating more residential into downtown Boston is fantastic, and I hope more of these projects continue to happen. (Med Grill downstairs is a huge perk!)

Community Invited to Attend ‘A More Walkable Brookline’ Presentation with Jeff Speck An opportunity to participate in the Centre Street Lots Exploratory Study.

In two weeks, Jeff Speck (author of "Walkable Cities") will be presenting on "A More Walkable Brookline". Join his talk to learn about how we can build a better Brookline is safer, greener, and less car dependent. Sign up here:

This is an amazing before & after.

Once again, any "environmentalist" who doesn't advocate for moving as quickly as practical to install protected bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes, & more housing density near transit is failing. There are plenty like this where I live and they should be embarassed.

The lesson a lot of Americans need to learn is that making it easier to choose not to own a car makes it easier to choose to own a car.

Allston-Brighton Housing Action led a great walk from Brighton Center to Oak Square today talking about past, present and future. Please join us Sunday, September 7th, 11am to 1pm for our Market Street to Western Ave walk. Meet at 321 Market Street in front of Saint Columbkille's Church.

Do I Have A Right To Visit A Business? Easy parking is not the same as access or freedom of movement

It shouldn't be a given community or neighborhood's responsibility to sacrifice for the benefit of a car owner (empty surface parking lots, street parking instead of safe bike infrastructure, extra driving lanes vs. bus lanes, higher housing costs due to parking minimums, etc.). It too often is.