Anne Paulson

Los Altos simply doesn't issue a demo permit unless it's accompanied by a request for a building permit, and getting approved to apply for a building permit is complicated. And it's far from the only city that operates that way.

To use SB 1123, the project has to be at or above 66% of the Mullin density. The Mullin density for Palo Alto is 30.

Some cities have inclusionary requirements that go as low as 5 unit projects. And if you have a quarter acre, like e.g. most of the lots in Los Altos and in some nearby exclusionary cities, you have to build at least 5 units.

Cities can prevent you from demolishing by refusing to issue a demolition permit.

There's always arson, but I do not recommend it as a development strategy.

Cities can and do deny demolition permits. My city issues demolition permits with replacement building approvals; you can't just demolish a house without getting its replacement approved.

Let's say you're in Palo Alto. The minimum density for SB 1123 is 20 du/acre. The maximum number of units for SB 1123 is 10 units. You have a one acre parcel and you want to build on it, but there is no number that is >= to 20 and also <= to 10.

Meddling with design to make boutique, custom-designed, speshul housing projects is how we got here. This is not the first time people have built affordable housing, and we should let them do it.

Larding on more requirements will drive up the price, which is exactly what a fiduciary should not do.

Are you seriously asserting that this project will not find eager tenants? Do you think every developer who builds a spec house does a consumer survey before they build, or is this just yet another requirement you want to lard on already-expensive affordable projects?

These are SROs and studios, but still, $400K is cheap for this.

The bar is subterranean.

I can't stand JD Vance, but to his credit he understood the assignment. He showed up in a black suit, with a black tie and a crisp white shirt, and no tacky headgear. Unlike Trump with a blue suit, red tie, and some sort of gas-station-bought cap.

Help me out here: where would the residents of these units live if the units did not exist? Where would the residents of those units live? And so on. Doesn’t having more units mean more people have homes?

I think they’re right that if the land was upzoned, rents would go up, because there would be someone who was willing to pay more than existing business tenants. I don’t see the argument for protectionism though.

Also, in that same press conference, Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan said, "When you and I drive on the highway, we abide by the speed limit." I can only conclude she has never at any time in her life been on a California freeway either as a passenger or as a driver.

YouTube video by California Assembly Democrats Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan Introduces the E-Bike Accountability Act with Local Leaders

In her press conference, the Assemblymember said under her new law "...the Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes, the ones with the throttles... have to be registered in the state and have a license plate." Class 3 bikes don't have throttles. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYDp...

Not so easy if there are four of them? Not so easy if you're just going a few stops?

Your local bike shop will love to sell you an e-bike.

They ban panniers.

If they can do it, but building bikes in the US? Not a lot of examples of that.

My red ink here would be to nix the entire press release. Announce the death when you have confirmation of the death. Announce the identification when you have confirmation of the identification and not before.

Then: No, no, we don't need a stay of the tariffs, we can easily pay them back if they're struck down.

Now, swimming in a pile of money like Scrooge McDuck: Mine, mine, mine! You won't get a penny back, sorry we just can't do it.

When people were trying to get these tariffs paused, did the government not represent to the people and to the courts that the tariffs could easily be refunded if they were struck down?

Congrats to Rep. @katiejonesmpls.bsky.social and family, who biked to the hospital last week and came back with baby Hans. Here's what she told me about the ride:

It appears the Trump administration doesn't care about rules of engagement and didn't bother to check whether the AI-suggested targets were legitimate targets.

A Reductress post features a photo of Kristi Noem with the headline, “Kristi Noem Put Down for Being Too Hard to Train”

Screaming

That's gross density, including roads. I guess that's why it seems very dense to me.

Typical mobile home density is 10 du/acre or less. Not that dense! I didn't believe this, so I actually counted up the density of a mobile home park near me, which seems quite dense to me. It was 9.5 du/acre.

Markwayne called Rand Paul a “freaking snake” last week and said he supported his neighbor beating the crap out of him. Let’s see who the chair of the Senate Homeland Security committee is…oh goody it’s Rand Paul.