Stephen Jacob Smith

About half the ridership (and I’d also expect it to be less concentrated, since it’s circumferential – shorter trips more dispersed throughout the line)

Half that length would be enough for twice as much capacity as the G has if they build it driverless and run with 2-min headways at peak

I hope that hasn’t actually been decided. That’s the same length as the G trains, which only run every 7-8 mins at peak.

Post above was deleted…what project is this about?

In the sense that the website loads, but not in the sense that it knows how to subtract one number from another!

Are you being sarcastic and it’s broken everywhere?

Oh yeah and that number has gone way, way up since that article was published (I think…I’m just an ordinary citizen, not an expert in DDC math, so I’m a little confused about how 47.4 - 1.25 = 52.0) databook.wegov.nyc/p/LQQ122-RG_...

NYC library projects cost more than this *before the pandemic* foresthillspost.com/rego-park-li...

No, he's pretty broad in his authoritarianism. He supports mass deportation, eliminating most legal pathways for immigration, weird anti-corporate stuff a la Stoller, etc. I think he's on record saying economic growth isn't necessarily good because it's bad for families. Seems like a bad fit.

All of the other speakers the left hates have some policy positions that line up with the abundance agenda’s, but Oren Cass’s whole thing is kinda just tariffs, no?

lol Oren Cass? Tariffs are abundance?

archive.is/2025.08.01-2...

Lutnick Disbanded Statistical Task Force Working to Improve Survey Response Rates | National Review The Trump administration is mad about the exact thing the committee was working on during its final meeting.

BLS jobs reports quality has been declining since reporting collapsed during COVID. “The Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee was a team of unpaid statistical experts that was working to solve the issue of low response rates, among other things. FESAC was disbanded in February by…Lutnick.”

Gov. JB Pritzker signs Chicago police and fire pension bill that’s expected to cost city billions Gov. JB Pritzker signed a pension bill that will sweeten payouts for Chicago’s police officers and firefighters at a steep cost to city taxpayers.

Is government in the service delivery business or the pensions delivery business, because these things are in massive tension -- www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/21/g...

This article never actually explains: what is “post-payment”?

Anyway I did not say the houses don’t burn, just that they don’t burn to the ground. It’s an important distinction because the ones that burn to the ground are the ones who really keep the fire going; the others are victims but they don’t exacerbate the fire to the same extent.

What was the address?

> “Oh but you see Europeans follow laws!”
> Is literally talking about Romanians

In the U.S., we go wild with paint, markings, and signs, and cars still park all over the bike and bus lanes. In Europe, even when the visual cues are much less subtle, illegal parking is rarer. What’s the difference? Enforcement.

No, but those ruthless Romanian cops are. Notice no cars on the tracks anymore! Wasn’t like that in the 2000s.

Let’s not get carried away…cars are no longer allowed to drive on tram tracks in Bucharest. It’s not that bad.

Here are some visuals to show what I’m talking about. These “hardened” light wood frame houses burned more completely than the vegetation on the property! bsky.app/profile/step...

My vague sense is that vegetation is not enough in the more urbanized areas (with quarter-acre lots) to fuel Altadena-style fires, it’s mostly the structures that were the fuel. Could be different in some of the larger-lot areas where there can be a lot more vegetation.

…then sent embers to their neighbors. Maybe they resisted a bit longer, but they still burned. And with enough age, their “hardened” features will become compromised. This is something that will never happen with a house built of bricks and concrete – its structure will never fuel a fire.

There were brand new houses in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. They were fully “hardened” in the American sense – light wood frame houses built to CBC Chapter 7A, with all the measures you’re suggesting. They still burned to the ground. Not just their contents, but the structures themselves, which…

Structural materials have a much larger fuel load than the contents of a house. The LA fires were, once they got away from the WUI (and they did – they got thousands of feet deep into the urbanized area), urban fires fueled primarily by structures.

Small Single-Stairway Apartment Buildings Have Strong Safety Record Policymakers could increase the supply of multifamily housing in their states and localities by revising outdated building codes that require more than one stairway in small apartment buildings. If en...

Figure 4: www.pew.org/en/research-...

There are some exceptions, but for the most part it’s states that build vs. ones who don’t.

Can you imagine a U.S. building official trying to enforce a performance-based code? I cannot. They could not be trusted with the level of discretion.

No