Chris
@chrisbybikes.bsky.social
Los Angeles. Dad of 3. Bike commuter. Bike dad. Yimby. Union teacher.
I first started riding a bike in LA out of deep loathing of traffic. But it was the invasion of Iraq that made it a political action for me. I was determined to be free from the chains of Big Oil. I didn’t want to be apart of anymore wars for oil. Too bad it wasnt a while movement like this.
Facing rationing of rubber tires, gasoline and strategic metals, federal agencies had promoted the (unorthodox in the US) idea of adult bicycles to fill in for cars. So adult cycling was a symbol of patriotic sacrifice for the war effort. Here's Leon Henderson riding around the National Mall:
December 10, 2025 at 6:07 AM
I first started riding a bike in LA out of deep loathing of traffic. But it was the invasion of Iraq that made it a political action for me. I was determined to be free from the chains of Big Oil. I didn’t want to be apart of anymore wars for oil. Too bad it wasnt a while movement like this.
Reposted by Chris
It's time once again for my annual #treebybike post. This is the 12/19/42 cover of @newyorker.com, so one full year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This would be the first real Christmas alone, or without a family member, for millions in the US. Gas and tire rationing had begun earlier that year.🗃️
December 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
It's time once again for my annual #treebybike post. This is the 12/19/42 cover of @newyorker.com, so one full year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This would be the first real Christmas alone, or without a family member, for millions in the US. Gas and tire rationing had begun earlier that year.🗃️
We have woke fonts now?
Marco Rubio ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor's decision to adopt Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move
Rubio Stages Font Coup: Times New Roman Ousts Calibri
The secretary of state called it a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters.
www.huffpost.com
December 10, 2025 at 5:47 AM
We have woke fonts now?
I was rereading Matt Bruenig’s piece on Abundance, because I remembered it as the best of the bunch (it is). But his criticism of NIMBYs is pretty funny, clearly from someone who hasn‘t dealt with them much. He just guessing and filtering it through his own political lens.
December 10, 2025 at 4:16 AM
I was rereading Matt Bruenig’s piece on Abundance, because I remembered it as the best of the bunch (it is). But his criticism of NIMBYs is pretty funny, clearly from someone who hasn‘t dealt with them much. He just guessing and filtering it through his own political lens.
I dropped out of physics, but I think this is bad.
Just discovered this NBER paper examining the safety dangers of car bloat:
"Being hit by a vehicle that is 1,000 pounds heavier results in a 47% increase in the baseline fatality probability."
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
"Being hit by a vehicle that is 1,000 pounds heavier results in a 47% increase in the baseline fatality probability."
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 9, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I dropped out of physics, but I think this is bad.
It’s pretty great to ride home in 70 degree weather at 5pm in December but I also really, really want to do this.
Regret to report…cruising around on a fat bike in a snowstorm is a fkn blast
December 9, 2025 at 4:25 AM
It’s pretty great to ride home in 70 degree weather at 5pm in December but I also really, really want to do this.
Reposted by Chris
When cameras are installed, they issue many violations in the first month, followed by a steep decline in the second month. This suggests that the cameras effectively deter speeding by changing underlying driver behavior rather than relying on sustained revenue extraction.
December 8, 2025 at 8:19 PM
When cameras are installed, they issue many violations in the first month, followed by a steep decline in the second month. This suggests that the cameras effectively deter speeding by changing underlying driver behavior rather than relying on sustained revenue extraction.
This is a great article. Seattle Is getting a mayor who really knows what it’s like to bike and bus in their city. I’m jealous but hopeful. I’m cheering for her to succeed from just a little south down the 5.
Stoked to have a new interview with Katie Wilson (no relation), Seattle's new mayor, Transit Riders Union co-founder, and living proof that bold vision for (and wonky obsession with) transportation reform can win elections.
'I'm Always on the Bus': How Transit Advocacy Helped Katie Wilson Become Seattle's Next Mayor — Streetsblog USA
"I really think that our public transit system is such a big part of people's daily experience of government," says the incoming mayor of the Emerald City.
usa.streetsblog.org
December 9, 2025 at 1:47 AM
This is a great article. Seattle Is getting a mayor who really knows what it’s like to bike and bus in their city. I’m jealous but hopeful. I’m cheering for her to succeed from just a little south down the 5.
Reposted by Chris
There are 3 actual positions on housing:
1. Build nothing new, so only people who can buy an existing home can move in.
2. Build new homes, but only if they're for the right kind of people. (This only works if you want to exclude the poor.)
3. Build every kind of housing and welcome everyone.
1. Build nothing new, so only people who can buy an existing home can move in.
2. Build new homes, but only if they're for the right kind of people. (This only works if you want to exclude the poor.)
3. Build every kind of housing and welcome everyone.
December 8, 2025 at 5:37 PM
There are 3 actual positions on housing:
1. Build nothing new, so only people who can buy an existing home can move in.
2. Build new homes, but only if they're for the right kind of people. (This only works if you want to exclude the poor.)
3. Build every kind of housing and welcome everyone.
1. Build nothing new, so only people who can buy an existing home can move in.
2. Build new homes, but only if they're for the right kind of people. (This only works if you want to exclude the poor.)
3. Build every kind of housing and welcome everyone.
What is the left nimby answer to this? A lottery system?
Ah yes, this is why we must only build the “right” kind of apartments in the Marina, we wouldn’t want to interrupt such traditional practices sfstandard.com/2025/12/08/s...
December 8, 2025 at 4:16 PM
What is the left nimby answer to this? A lottery system?
Reposted by Chris
Feel like this should be big news? StreetsLA is proposing to basically stop repaving our streets next year and instead do 1000 "large asphalt repairs", a term that sounds like it was made up by lawyers to get around ADA requirements. See p.154 here:
PW Street Services_2627 Budget Request.pdf
drive.google.com
December 7, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Feel like this should be big news? StreetsLA is proposing to basically stop repaving our streets next year and instead do 1000 "large asphalt repairs", a term that sounds like it was made up by lawyers to get around ADA requirements. See p.154 here:
Reposted by Chris
I read this story while preparing a recent talk examining what robotaxis mean for biking.
Really puts the "AVs are bicyclists' best friends" claims in perspective.
www.jalopnik.com/1895643/cycl...
Really puts the "AVs are bicyclists' best friends" claims in perspective.
www.jalopnik.com/1895643/cycl...
December 7, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I read this story while preparing a recent talk examining what robotaxis mean for biking.
Really puts the "AVs are bicyclists' best friends" claims in perspective.
www.jalopnik.com/1895643/cycl...
Really puts the "AVs are bicyclists' best friends" claims in perspective.
www.jalopnik.com/1895643/cycl...
A candidate for LA city attorney is claiming that building the Gondola down Alameda avenue is the equivalent of tearing down neighborhoods to build freeways. I can't.
December 7, 2025 at 5:06 PM
A candidate for LA city attorney is claiming that building the Gondola down Alameda avenue is the equivalent of tearing down neighborhoods to build freeways. I can't.
Reposted by Chris
When Gavin Newsom was elected in 2018, he said he would oversee construction of 3.5 million homes by now. Then he stuck his tail between his legs while segregationists and their left-NIMBY interns blocked major reforms until getting serious this year.
This dude has no stones to fight Republicans.
This dude has no stones to fight Republicans.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the Democratic Party needed to be “more culturally normal” and “less judgmental.”
December 7, 2025 at 5:25 AM
When Gavin Newsom was elected in 2018, he said he would oversee construction of 3.5 million homes by now. Then he stuck his tail between his legs while segregationists and their left-NIMBY interns blocked major reforms until getting serious this year.
This dude has no stones to fight Republicans.
This dude has no stones to fight Republicans.
Reposted by Chris
Anyone who tells you that mass deportations are a solution to the housing crisis is lying to you.
December 6, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Anyone who tells you that mass deportations are a solution to the housing crisis is lying to you.
Reposted by Chris
One of the biggest drivers of high housing costs is that a small, highly motivated group of incumbent homeowners block new housing in their neighborhoods and almost no one is organized to push back.
Young people bear the brunt of that imbalance.
Be a housing fan.
Young people bear the brunt of that imbalance.
Be a housing fan.
December 6, 2025 at 4:22 PM
One of the biggest drivers of high housing costs is that a small, highly motivated group of incumbent homeowners block new housing in their neighborhoods and almost no one is organized to push back.
Young people bear the brunt of that imbalance.
Be a housing fan.
Young people bear the brunt of that imbalance.
Be a housing fan.
It’s really hard to find parking at the soccer games
No problem:
No problem:
December 6, 2025 at 7:28 PM
It’s really hard to find parking at the soccer games
No problem:
No problem:
I’m pro gondola becuse I’d really like to see the parking lot developed. Currently, there’s no bus line in Elysian park or even bike lanes, getting housing and retail here would change the game. I think it is pretty silly we have to a Rube Goldberg Gondola to get a giant slab of asphalt developed.
I'm definitely getting negatively polarized into being pro-gondola. it's not like an essential transit or housing project but it's private money, it would be cool, it's not hurting anyone and is a large portion of this is literally because *it goes over a non-profit's headquarters*
The coalition of LA residents who oppose the Dodger Stadium gondola shut down the Metro board of directors meeting Thursday.
They forced the meeting into recess and demanded that officials at minimum allow public discussion on the project. This is a developing story.
They forced the meeting into recess and demanded that officials at minimum allow public discussion on the project. This is a developing story.
December 6, 2025 at 3:06 PM
I’m pro gondola becuse I’d really like to see the parking lot developed. Currently, there’s no bus line in Elysian park or even bike lanes, getting housing and retail here would change the game. I think it is pretty silly we have to a Rube Goldberg Gondola to get a giant slab of asphalt developed.
Reposted by Chris
we would have put this guy in a home by now if he hadn’t blocked it from being built
How long before YIMBY zealots say if you don’t want the military deployed in your city you are a NIMBY?
November 30, 2025 at 12:16 AM
we would have put this guy in a home by now if he hadn’t blocked it from being built
Reposted by Chris
What happens when you downzone?
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Downzoning Chicago: How Local Land Use Policy Has Reduced Housing Construction and Reinforced Segregation | Published in Findings
By Yonah Freemark, George Kisiel. Downzonings were used by US cities in the postwar period to preserve neighborhood character. These land-use policies were associated with lower housing supply, higher...
findingspress.org
November 26, 2025 at 8:33 PM
What happens when you downzone?
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Reposted by Chris
Learning that Annemarie Gray (no relation) of Open New York, NYC's YIMBY group, has been appointed to Mayor-elect Mamdani's housing transition team. This is FANTASTIC news!
November 24, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Learning that Annemarie Gray (no relation) of Open New York, NYC's YIMBY group, has been appointed to Mayor-elect Mamdani's housing transition team. This is FANTASTIC news!
Reposted by Chris
Don’t want to @ the person and get into it but I’ve been thinking about the “Housing may be expensive in a lot of places but it’s not a national crisis” argument. It’s a bit like saying we don’t have a national opioid crisis because there are a lot of places where it’s not that much of a problem.
November 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Don’t want to @ the person and get into it but I’ve been thinking about the “Housing may be expensive in a lot of places but it’s not a national crisis” argument. It’s a bit like saying we don’t have a national opioid crisis because there are a lot of places where it’s not that much of a problem.
I just listened to a quick news report on this on KCRW. Housing posting to policy In action!
With a unanimous city council vote, Culver City becomes California's first city to allow taller single-stair buildings
www.usnews.com/news/best-st...
www.usnews.com/news/best-st...
www.usnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I just listened to a quick news report on this on KCRW. Housing posting to policy In action!
A bold take from a leader who always had the courage to upzone single family neighborhoods
The real story of the upzoning debate in SF right now is that the mayor and the YIMBY supervisors don’t have the courage (or interest) to take on wealthy single family home owners in rich white neighborhoods (upzone Pac Heights, etc) so they are upzoning demolitions of rent controlled homes instead.
November 20, 2025 at 6:28 AM
A bold take from a leader who always had the courage to upzone single family neighborhoods
Reposted by Chris
love a single stair small-plex w/ livable homes on a hill w/ steep slope
archello.com/project/sbs1...
archello.com/project/sbs1...
SBS16 apartment Building in Zurich | Dürig AG | Archello
The stacking of complementary apartment typologies forms the architectural framework of the project, with each expressed through its own volumetry. Continuou...
archello.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:32 PM
love a single stair small-plex w/ livable homes on a hill w/ steep slope
archello.com/project/sbs1...
archello.com/project/sbs1...