Warren Wells, AICP

It Was Foretold

👍

Seems like an ACT issue more than BART. I will submitting a complaint to them around this.

Just a very frustrating user experience. It was either wait 30 minutes for the next bus or walk down to Alcatraz, which was another 10 minutes on top of the 10 we had already walked.

Also, more importantly, I was picking up the bus at Ashby BART, which is a time point, which begs the question of, "why is the operator leaving a time point at a train station 5 minutes early?"

Yeah, that's the kind of thing that would have worked before kids, but trying to hustle two kids out of the house, it's all I can do to look at the schedule an hour ahead of time and say, "we need to leave by this time to get us there a couple minutes early."

I am once again trying to ride the bus with 2 kids in the stroller (my wife has the car today) and getting screwed because AC Transit is running buses ahead of schedule.

bsky.app/profile/warr...

Is it seriously too much to ask that @rideact.bsky.social not run buses *5 minutes* hot on a route with 30 minutes headways?

If you're putting off buying tickets, do it now or cancel your plans.

We're planning some travel this summer and between looking at tickets last night and buying them this morning, prices literally doubled.

💀

The Ark | Progress on housing lags as Tiburon braces for possible state oversight Tiburon has permitted just 8.5% of the units it is required to accommodate.

We're nearly halfway through our 8-year RHNA cycle in California, and the Town of Tiburon in Marin County has only permitted 8.5% of the 639 units it promised.

www.thearknewspaper.com/live/progres...

Hard: "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

Easy: "Why do some people choose different things than other people?"

Supply truthers think all landlords are lying, I guess?

That would be my position as well.

And as a frequent pedestrian in a time of global warming, I think adding shade to our cities through denser housing is actually a win-win rather than some impact that needs to be mitigated.

I'm not asking you to defend it, merely to explain (if you can) the actual reason being given, since I didn't watch the meeting.

Also, I went on a walk with the baby yesterday and man, we could have used a lot more shade in S Berkeley!

So like, we're making a 3-4-5 right triangle between buildings, street, and sunlight reaching the far sidewalk.

Meaning that on the equinox, the sun will cast a far side shadow like 2 hours before sunset.

But that will vary wildly over the course of the year, since we aren't at the equator!

Can you spell out the reasoning behind the shading ratio?

What consequence is being avoided by allowing taller buildings only on wider streets?

E.g. is the worry about a shadow being cast on a sidewalk from a building across the street?

Once you accept that all positive changes will negatively affect some poor people, and negatively affecting any poor people isn't progressive, then you'll understand the cornerstone of progressivism is doing nothing.

This, to me, is the California Way.

I have heard multiple Marin councilmembers describe their duty to the community in the frame of the Hippocratic Oath: "First, do no harm."

Because changing the community has the potential to harm someone, we must change nothing.

Sorry, I just want to leave this quote here, which entirely encapsulates "planning" in California.

We can't make changes unless are certain how they will play out, so we decide to keep things as they are (pretending that that is not *also* a choice).

Plans to rezone wealthy Berkeley neighborhoods for more housing are scaled back after uproar The Planning Commission endorsed a scaled-back plan that rezones specific properties instead of entire blocks.

Here's the article if you want to give yourself an an aneurysm.

www.berkeleyside.org/2026/03/06/b...

It's also *exactly at odds* with the way that most development across the world and across time has actually played out!

Are central business districts, with the highest concentrations of jobs, and thus the highest buildings, also the places with the widest streets?

Obviously not!

To me, basing building heights on street width has little more bearing on reality than that.

Just because you have a *consistent* rule does not mean that it is a good one!

I could serve on planning commission and vote "yes" to everything on even days and "no" on odd days.

That's consistent, but it would be bad policy!

How tall should development go? When the council discussed the rezoning plan last November, five of its nine members said they wanted to set a seven-story height cap across the three corridors, arguing that would be consistent with the limits Berkeley has or is considering on other major streets. Only one, Elmwood District Councilmember Mark Humbert, voiced support for limiting the zoning changes to specific properties. The council pledged to rezone North Shattuck, Solano and College as part of the eight-year housing plan it adopted in 2023, driven in part by concerns from West Berkeley council members that the Elmwood and North Berkeley were not taking on their fair share of new homes. While thousands of apartments have been built in the Southside neighborhood near UC Berkeley, downtown and in West Berkeley in recent years, North Berkeley and the Elmwood have seen little new construction in decades. The height caps the Planning Commission recommended were based on how wide each street is, with the limit set at three-quarters of the streets’ width. That means 95-foot-wide Shattuck Avenue would have a 71-foot cap; Solano, where the street is 90 feet wide, would have a 68-foot limit; and College, the narrowest of the three at 55 feet, would have the shortest limit at 41 feet. Commissioners initially discussed setting the height limit at 65% of the streets’ width, which they said would create a consistent standard that could be applied throughout the city, such as on San Pablo Avenue, where the ratio would mean a six-story height limit.

Honestly, while this heuristic is *usable,* I do not understand why it is in any way desirable.

Solano and College and the same number of automotive lanes - the only difference is angled parking. So...two more stories on Solano?

And Shattuck has worse pollution, so put more people there!

Height caps could range from 4 stories on College to 7 on Shattuck Though the commission did not vote on a recommendation, most members said they want Berkeley to set a seven-story height limit for the identified properties on the northern blocks of Shattuck Avenue, six stories for those on Solano Avenue and four for those on College Avenue in the Elmwood. Height limits on the rest of the streets would stay where they are now: two stories on Solano and College avenues, and three on north Shattuck. Many merchants and residents have argued that corridor-wide zoning changes could lead to landlords raising rents on their commercial tenants or refusing to sign long-term leases so they could redevelop the site in the future. Developers could buy several neighboring properties and create a site big enough for a larger apartment building, they fear. And if such a project goes through, Simon contends, businesses would be forced out and neighboring merchants would have to contend with noise, blocked sidewalks and other construction impacts. Regardless of the Planning Commission’s recommended changes, Simon’s group wants the city to delay the rezoning and instead undertake a more extensive planning effort for the three streets that includes a detailed analysis of potential impacts on their small businesses. “You cannot make a decision in the dark without knowing what the impact is going to be,” Simon told the Planning Commission on Wednesday.

Berkeley Planning Commission caves on proposed upzoning.

Literally, what is the rationale for this? It's just pseudoscience!

I don't have anything to add beyond what Robert said, but he asks some excellent questions that you and your staff should have answers to before continuing with this legislation.

bsky.app/profile/prin...

Man, I know YVR was bad but didn't realize it was *that* bad.

Sorry for quoting Harry Potter don't cancel me

Mischief managed.

Luckily, the Berkeley tool library is just across the street.