Shelby Ketchum

Hell ya!!! Honestly one of my favorite podcast and one I also recommend to other millennials. Fingers crossed you and John keep up the good work after ya’ll burn through 1998 and 199

This is amazing but still bonkers that it’s still insane that CA high speed rail is going to take over 30 years to complete. The EU is currently building Rail Baltica which has run into delays and cost increase but even with those it end costing around 20 billion and about a decade of work.

Also we have built a ton of townhomes. Definitely not enough but they are a cheaper option that a stand alone single family home. Hopefully the new zoning changes will allow for even more missing middle.

I want I love about Seattle is that there’s a ton of folks in the city who view this as not enough and are fighting tooth and nail to expand housing production across the city and are winning.

I would add we’ve built a shit ton of townhomes as well.

Is there anything more Seattle than being slightly awkward and needing to go to Goodwill to buy “some nice office clothes”?

Seattle needs even year voting so bad.

Seattle’s Lead on Single Stair Buildings » The Urbanist # Seattle doesn’t lead on a lot of things when it comes to building codes, land use codes, or even energy codes -- though given that our housing deficit is in the hundreds of thousands and we can’t co...

Yes, in that it allows for smaller buildings on smaller urban lots. It can be hard to find lots in our cities large enough for double stair buildings. This allows for taller thinner buildings that slip into a small urban lot. Here’s an article about how it’s worked in Seattle.

It’s not a silver bullet but rather a tool that can lower construction cost. Which results in lower rents and more buildings.

This is a big reason new buildings are so ugly and missed shaped.Also bc of the size required to build two stairs buildings can only be built on large lots. Single stair buildings allow for smaller cheaper buildings to be built on smaller urban lots.

All good! This shit is complicated. I’m an urban planner and love explaining these things. Your right housing is too expensive and folks can’t afford it. One of many reasons new construction is so expensive is bc in a lot of place we require buildings to have stairs at each end of the building.

Do you think the French or Germans are cold mean ppl who shove disabled people into newly built firetraps?

Well one that’s not why housing is expensive. It’s a lack of supply caused by high construction cost, bad zoning and NIMBYS. If you’re saying NIMBY homeowners are greedy then ya that’s right. And again it’s possible to build these buildings so there safe. The rest of world literally does that.

No just wondering what your opinion on single stair buildings.

Ok that’s not what I’m doing. I’m literally responding to YOUR multiple mentions of wheelchairs users. As I tried to explain I have experience living and taking care of a disabled person.

Again I point to Seattle another west coast city that has allowed single stair buildings for years. This hasn’t resulted in any fire deaths or new buildings not meeting code.

Again explain to why these specific types of buildings can be built anywhere else in the world and are totally safe from fire? There’s no change to the fire code single stair buildings will have to use the sprinkler systems and fire proof materials as any other building.

Agreed. The vacancy myth is a diehard believe amongst a lot of left leaning folks. I get it it’s easier to blame corporates/landlords than the nice old lady down the street. In my opinion the best option is pass a useless vacancy tax and just move on.

Hahah I tried to make that same point and they just ignored it. I think they sincerely believe that we want to tear everything down replace it with single stair buildings while also forcing folks in wheelchairs to live on the top floor.

You can solve that problem by building more homes. When hedge funds are asked why they are buying homes they state that bc inventory is so low they are more easily influence the market. We can dilute their power by building a shit ton of housing.

So sick of ppl acting like we can’t learn from the rest of the world. The US is the costliest place to housing and transit. But the moment you try and introduce idea that work around the world ppl like come out the woodwork say well actually we’re a different

Tell then why single stair buildings work in places like Seattle and idk all Europe and Asia?

No one is saying is a silver bullet. It’s literally one of meaning things ppl are trying to do to lower housing construction cost. NO ONE is saying all new buildings have to be single stair buildings. It’s providing the option to build smaller more affordable buildings

Well ya senior building probably shouldn’t be single stair buildings and we aren’t saying that. Seattle and the rest of the world allows for single stair buildings and there isn’t an epidemic of fire deaths.

Why ?

To be crystal clear we arent saying we want to tear down every building and replace it with a single stair buildings. It’s about providing the flexibility to build smaller buildings on small urban lots. You may not like but there’s a ton of ppl who would gladly live in a small single stair building

Having a handful of single stair buildings in a city is NOT discriminatory. It’s like parking. If I want a unit without parking then I’ll get one. If I want a parking unit then I’ll CHOOSE a building with parking. It’s about providing choices for ppl who have a lot of different life requirements

You’re acting like we are requiring disabled ppl to only live in single stair building which we aren’t. If you’re in a wheelchair and are shown a unit you don’t feel comfortable with then you literally can go to any of the tens of thousands of double stair buildings we’ve built in this country.

This BS. My mother had MS and spent my entire childhood in a wheelchair. So I know what I’m talking about. Are you seriously telling me that there’s something uniquely different about America that makes single stair buildings not work here?

To the folks complaining the US is basically the only places in the world that single stair buildings aren’t allowed. The rest of the world has figured out how to build single stair buildings that are fire safe, handicap accessible and affordable to build. You telling me that the US just can’t?