Chris Sauer

I would probably need to know if it were bad....

It's almost like you see my hdtracks cart...

Distinctly remember - from one otherwise unmemorable late evening/early morning as an associate at 745 Seventh Avenue Lehman Brothers - looking out the window upon a malfunctioning Milford Plaza neon sign that had magically transformed into "Milf Plaza"

Photo of 1 train car interior

Happy Tuesday from the 1 train…

M Go Blue!

JFC

Search for photos...worth it!

The Banished Bottom of the Housing Market How America Destroyed Its Cheapest Homes

'We talk endlessly about the “missing middle.” But the real catastrophe was the “banished bottom”'

Good piece! I wish it mentioned that SROs are re-legalized in all multifamily zones in OR & WA

substack.com/home/post/p-...

This is beautiful

Let's go Rangers!

Parents on e-bikes are transforming the school run They’re smug, snug and often faster than drivers

This week I wrote about the rise of the e-bike dad - this piece was originally going to run alongside the story I did in September about the bike boom in general, and we didn't have space in print, but here it is:
www.economist.com/united-state...

A reminder that the crises routinely treated as separate—housing, food, climate, healthcare, electricity—are anything but.

This moment in America makes it glaringly clear: each feeds the other, driven by the same rapacious, profit-maximizing forces.

Figures shows 'The Cliff Exposes Middle-Income Consumers to Unlimited Premiums.' It displays expected contributions PTC-eligible individuals would make toward a benchmark coverage, comparing scenarios with and without PTC enhancements in 2025. Lines represent contributions at different percentages of the federal poverty level from 0% to 500%. Source and notes included at the bottom.

Evidence shows that an eligibility cliff on Affordable Care Act (#ACA) tax credits would make #healthcare unaffordable for middle-class #families in the US.

Explore the impacts in this Urban Institute brief. https://urbn.is/43pxAWV

Cartoon illustration of a shed completely filled with bicycles and the text: Bicycles, why you might need more than one. The rest of the picture is descriptions of different kinds of bicycles with labeling arrows pointing to inside the shed.

Bicycles - Why you might need more than one
Artist: Dave Walker

Was going to make a Saints joke, but away this weekend...good luck getting home

When I was living in Shanghai, I just stood on the sidewalk and watched a guy ride off with a refrigerator (real deal, full size) on his back....badass

Acela by Fountains Of Wayne on Apple Music Song · 2007 · Duration 3:12

music.apple.com/us/album/ace...

A snapshot of a bar chart showing that construction costs increase with density in the US and Canada, but not internationally. The chart shows that per square foot cost for building multifamily units are higher than for single-family units in the US and Canada, but not in Germany, Italy, or Mexico.

America’s soaring rents, home prices, and commute costs have been driven, in no small part, by an unusual cost problem. In many advanced nations, costs stay roughly the same as developers move from building single-family houses to midrise apartments. In the U.S., midrise buildings cost far more.

Will take time no doubt, but they're all incremental to City of Yes...things improving already

A lot of New Yorkers don't like the Yankees!

That's how I ranked them...

Good win!

Walkable city baseball edition:
Andrés Giménez on how you get the feeling of a city by walking it.

I worked at OMB in the NEOB, but our senior leaders were in the OEOB...I usually went with them from OEOB to West Wing

“Kentucky’s experience since passing House Bill 5 – sometimes called the ‘SAFER Kentucky Act’ – last year shows that cracking down on public homelessness doesn’t end it. It just makes it harder to see and harder to solve.”

Good read by @anabelrose.bsky.social

Local Kid Prepares To Dress Up As Bike Lane For Halloween To Really Frighten Elderly Neighbours More to come.

@gravelinfluencer.bsky.social

They sounded great! Hope you enjoyed it

The Slow Death of the New York City Public Bench

Good NYT article on how benches in NYC are a dying breed, how this stems from a pathological hatred of homeless people, and how hostile architecture is hostile to everyone.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/n...

Aging Libraries Could Offer Cities a Unique Opportunity to Build New Housing While Improving Public Services Since 2000, more than 1,800 apartment units have been built in combined library-housing developments. These projects not only address local housing needs but…

#Cities across the United States need additional #housing to support their growing populations and address increasing housing costs. Aging #libraries could provide a solution.

Explore more in this new Urban Wire article.