Priyam Das

One of the more incredible stories out of LA this year has been how a taco review blog became the best on-the-ground coverage of ICE raids in the city.

They do a dispatch every day, follow-up on the kidnapped people (which almost no media outlet has done), and fact-check government claims.

a 51B bus in front of dorms on College ave

Elected Officials Leaderboard - Rides Top elected officials, appointed officials, candidates or board members by ride count Name,Total Distance, Agency Count, Ride Count 1 Alfred Twu 697 mi 9,151 2 BART_D4 698 mi 7,92 3 ElsaBronte 203 mi 6,59 4 Emma Hare, DCCC 138 mi 2,58 5 D7 Myrna Melgar 143 mi 4,56 6 Rohit 367 mi 5,38 7 Edward Wright 57.4 mi 2,32 8 VFlores-BART-D7 199 mi 6,26 9 Janice Li 88.3 mi 2,23 10 Mike Chen 39.5 mi 2,23

Finished up #TransitMonth2025 this evening riding home on the @rideact.bsky.social 51B 🚌. #1 on rides among Bay Area elected officials, #2 on distance after BART District 4 Director Robert Raburn!

We both go a lot of places but I don't live in walking distance of BART, so I take more bus rides 😅

Motion passes! The Parkline Project will move forward. 800+ new multifamily homes coming soon (well, in like ~5 years when all is said and done) to a Menlo Park near you!

I’ve even encountered the explicit notion that everybody has to collect data *because* it’s such a pain in the ass — super expensive and involved, and then you can’t find anything bc of course nobody has the resources to appropriately power studies. Most pointless rite of passage.>

Who could possibly care that much? Well, here’s your answer…

“About 1,000 posts in that first 24-hour period called on people to stop eating at Cracker Barrel, and 49% of those posts got flagged as likely coming from bots.”

For Zohran Mamdani, Judaism’s Holiest Days Present a Test

“A woman handed him stickers she had made with a picture of bagels and lox and a message urging Jewish voters to support Mr. Mamdani: “Reject the smear campaign — join the schmear campaign.” A rabbi associated with the congregation gave Mr. Mamdani a challah.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/n...

Gonna pop a Tylenol and look at some trains to see what all the fuss is about.

I would like to personally thank Demi Adejuyigbe for all he's done for September 21st (that's today)

Our preprint on our translations of CRediT into 36 languages. We've come a long way with this project! osf.io/preprints/me... If you know of non-English academic journals that don't have a policy on saying who did what, get in touch - CRediT may be part of the answer.

Additionally, Planning Dept announced the developer of the Center and Oxford blight lot met with city staff today about general plans to start construction next year.

Claude, our alligator with albinism closes his eyes as he enjoys getting his weekly scrub.

It’s Trivia Tuesday! 🤓

Claude has a skincare routine! Once a week, Claude’s biologists will give him a scrub to help remove any algal buildup.

Claude loves these scrubs and they only take place if he wants them. So, if he’s looking extra green one day, assume he just wanted to skip this week.

Also great! "That's why I think we should fund libraries more. It's not just because they're a great resource, it's because I don't wanna know what librarians will do if we don't give them a place to go."

And SB63 passed the Senate at 1:30am! Now on to the governor's desk! It took a lot of organizing and mobilizing and compromises to get to a bill that will save and improve Bay Area transit - now on to the governor, and to people power to help gather signatures and pass the measure!

The bills to renew the Cap & Trade program just passed, including:
* $200 million in continuous funding for transit service.
* $400 m in continuous funding for transit & rail capital
* $800 m for affordable housing near transit
* $125 m for transit passes
* ongoing funding for high speed rail

Et tu, Berkeley?

Proudly voted for #SB79 to build dense, transit oriented housing. If not here, where else?

I’ve lived near transit all my life. But too much of it is stuck as suburbs. Cities are evolving, living things. They are not mausoleums to the past

@scottwiener.bsky.social
@cayimby.bsky.social

a selection of US scientists and foreign collaborators:

NYC Public Library Action Network (PLAN) has our second People's Assembly happening on October 4. If you live in NYC and care about public libraries, you should register and ALSO tell at least 3 other people about the PA: www.eventbrite.com/e/nyc-public...

Just excited to have an excuse to post megaevent-related Zohran content

The #DataBS Conf draft schedule (sans time assignments, and maybe a straggler or two) has been posted! databsconf.com/schedule/

Now is the time to get hyped and grab a ticket to attend the online-online event Wed Sept 24!
tickets: ti.to/databsconf/d...

The New BLS Job Numbers Are Out and They’re Absolutely Abysmal You really don’t want to know how bad the job market is.

JUST IN: Nearly a million fewer jobs were created between April 2024 and March 2025 than previously reported. trib.al/i4NaMpy

Annual revisions are normal, but this one is pretty significant: it’s the largest since the 2008 Recession.

With just a few days notice, 200+ people from across the Bay Area turned out in force along with dozens of organizations and elected officials from around the Bay. We got loud, got smart, and fought hard — and we WON!

A purple graphic with a collage of cool items, reading "Our silent auction is live!"

4 available bikes in our auction-- a RadRunner e-bike, Priority 600ADX, 2013 Novara Gotham, and Specialized Aethos Comp

6 more options for experiences with local legends, including: * A "Bike Ride, AC Transit Tour & Pizza Party" with AC Transit Director Jean Walsh * A "Bike Ride & Meet-and-Greet with Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii" * A "Bike Ride & Custom Video by The Greenway with Mac" * An "Advocacy Consultation with Dave Campbell," * A "Start Your Garden with El Cerrito City Councilmember Rebecca Saltzman," * A "1-on-1 Strategic Consulting Session with Carter Lavin,"

4 more options for relaxing vacations you could win: a week getaway for 2 in Tahoe, a 3-day getaway in Bend, Oregon; Sacramento by Rail; Weekend Getaway for 2 in Carmel Valley

Our Biketopia silent auction is picking up steam— have you seen the latest batch of items? Bid and win a bike ride with a mayor, a Tahoe getaway, surfing lessons, a new tattoo and more!

Plus, all proceeds support better biking in the East Bay. Can't beat that :-) event.gives/biketopia202...

Thank you! 😊

A map of the Bay Area Regional Planner game showing a lot of downtown development in San Mateo

We built Super San Mateo™️ and made it denser than San Francisco

To put this loan amount in perspective:

California is spending $500 million to widen a 10-mile stretch of Highway 37 in the northern Bay Area (through a wetland, no less).

But $750 million to save the *entire* Bay Area’s transit systems is apparently infeasible.

Lately I’ve been teaching myself how to ride a bike (with grand dreams of commuting by bike) and I find it really ironic that all the how-to videos say “find a large open space to practice in, like an empty parking lot”

Mamdani: We need to make public transportation so good that “no matter how much money is in your pocket, you say: I’m gonna use this.”

picture of a green swiss roll cake that has a pattern of pink brains over it and a pink filling inside. A piece of paper placed in front identifies it as a matcha raspberry “brain” cake

1st episode of the new season of GBBO brought back fond memories of when @noraharhen.bsky.social and I baked our own inlay swiss roll for the CogSci dept bake off