Jake Berman
@lostsubways.com
Lawyer, historian, mapmaker. Transport + housing nerd. Californian living in New York.
Wrote and illustrated "The Lost Subways of North America". Order the book at: http://lostsubways.com
Wrote and illustrated "The Lost Subways of North America". Order the book at: http://lostsubways.com
Reposted by Jake Berman
This morning, the MTA swapped the F/M trains at 8 stations in Manhattan & Queens. This is an example of "deinterlining," a technique which improves the frequency & reliability of subway service.
Read ETA on why deinterlining is so valuable & where else it can be used:
www.etany.org/statements/d...
Read ETA on why deinterlining is so valuable & where else it can be used:
www.etany.org/statements/d...
Deinterlining: Simpler Service, Fewer Delays — Effective Transit Alliance New York
Deinterlining simplifies subway operations, allowing for more trains to travel more quickly, and prevents delays from spreading. It's the correct solution for both riders and operations.
www.etany.org
December 8, 2025 at 6:11 PM
This morning, the MTA swapped the F/M trains at 8 stations in Manhattan & Queens. This is an example of "deinterlining," a technique which improves the frequency & reliability of subway service.
Read ETA on why deinterlining is so valuable & where else it can be used:
www.etany.org/statements/d...
Read ETA on why deinterlining is so valuable & where else it can be used:
www.etany.org/statements/d...
didn't know that AI stood for "Actually, Indians"
The company whose ‘AI’ was actually 700 humans in India
Disaster as Microsoft-backed unicorn implodes.
ia.acs.org.au
December 8, 2025 at 4:11 PM
didn't know that AI stood for "Actually, Indians"
Reposted by Jake Berman
Drinking with @lostsubways.com:
"How DO you say 'it seemed like a good idea at the time ' in Hebrew? Or Yiddish? ...no, Google Translate isn't idiomatic enough. It's being too literal."
"How DO you say 'it seemed like a good idea at the time ' in Hebrew? Or Yiddish? ...no, Google Translate isn't idiomatic enough. It's being too literal."
December 7, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Drinking with @lostsubways.com:
"How DO you say 'it seemed like a good idea at the time ' in Hebrew? Or Yiddish? ...no, Google Translate isn't idiomatic enough. It's being too literal."
"How DO you say 'it seemed like a good idea at the time ' in Hebrew? Or Yiddish? ...no, Google Translate isn't idiomatic enough. It's being too literal."
$100k is chump change for any large bureaucracy. i can't imagine a fortune 500 ceo micromanaging their company's expenses this way, never mind a cabinet-level official.
total amateur hour.
total amateur hour.
noem is *still* requiring that every contract over $100K be personally approved by her and we already know of multiple deals she and lewandowski are personally benefitting from through public reporting, imagine what happens when dems take over house oversight
a house held by the democratic party may not be able to legally order people to go to prison, but they can sure run wall to wall hearings every day of 2027 demonstrating why these people *should* go to prison
December 5, 2025 at 11:04 PM
$100k is chump change for any large bureaucracy. i can't imagine a fortune 500 ceo micromanaging their company's expenses this way, never mind a cabinet-level official.
total amateur hour.
total amateur hour.
SEPTA is already in deep financial trouble because of the State's unwillingness to cut a deal on transit funding. There's a decent chance that this ends up backfiring, like the '83 Regional Rail strike that destroyed the SEPTA ridership base.
December 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM
SEPTA is already in deep financial trouble because of the State's unwillingness to cut a deal on transit funding. There's a decent chance that this ends up backfiring, like the '83 Regional Rail strike that destroyed the SEPTA ridership base.
Reposted by Jake Berman
"In a very short timeframe, AI has become the high-fructose corn syrup of the digital realm: It’s now in everything, even if you don’t want it there." www.sfgate.com/tech/article...
The time has come to declare war on AI
"It's now in everything, even if you don't want it there."
www.sfgate.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:39 PM
"In a very short timeframe, AI has become the high-fructose corn syrup of the digital realm: It’s now in everything, even if you don’t want it there." www.sfgate.com/tech/article...
Jim Harbaugh has entered the chat
December 4, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Jim Harbaugh has entered the chat
If you want old-time small towns, you have to actually build old-time small towns. Can't do that when local law requires buildings to be 50% parking by square footage.
Every time a RETVRN guy posts some idyllic past place, I wonder where he will park his F-150
December 3, 2025 at 6:11 PM
If you want old-time small towns, you have to actually build old-time small towns. Can't do that when local law requires buildings to be 50% parking by square footage.
Reposted by Jake Berman
Architecture "patterns" from NSW Australia: apartment buildings up to 49 units, far larger than the Canadian equivalent. www.planning.nsw.gov.au/government-a...
Pattern designs | Planning
The NSW Housing Pattern book contains designs for low- and mid-rise housing developments, including semi-detached homes, terraces, row and manor homes.
www.planning.nsw.gov.au
November 27, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Architecture "patterns" from NSW Australia: apartment buildings up to 49 units, far larger than the Canadian equivalent. www.planning.nsw.gov.au/government-a...
Reposted by Jake Berman
One of my old bosses liked to say about politics, "Are you trying to get what you want? Or are you trying to prove a point?"
Let me tell you a story about my first job out of law school, at a left-leaning nonprofit in LA which shall remain nameless. 1/🧵
Let me tell you a story about my first job out of law school, at a left-leaning nonprofit in LA which shall remain nameless. 1/🧵
This has to be in the top ten most important things ever said about left-side political movements. YIMBY/Abundance advocates have genuinely aspired to power and to victory in California. Many of our opponents have aspired mostly to be our critics.
December 2, 2025 at 5:18 AM
One of my old bosses liked to say about politics, "Are you trying to get what you want? Or are you trying to prove a point?"
Let me tell you a story about my first job out of law school, at a left-leaning nonprofit in LA which shall remain nameless. 1/🧵
Let me tell you a story about my first job out of law school, at a left-leaning nonprofit in LA which shall remain nameless. 1/🧵
One of my old bosses liked to say about politics, "Are you trying to get what you want? Or are you trying to prove a point?"
Let me tell you a story about my first job out of law school, at a left-leaning nonprofit in LA which shall remain nameless. 1/🧵
Let me tell you a story about my first job out of law school, at a left-leaning nonprofit in LA which shall remain nameless. 1/🧵
This has to be in the top ten most important things ever said about left-side political movements. YIMBY/Abundance advocates have genuinely aspired to power and to victory in California. Many of our opponents have aspired mostly to be our critics.
December 2, 2025 at 5:18 AM
One of my old bosses liked to say about politics, "Are you trying to get what you want? Or are you trying to prove a point?"
Let me tell you a story about my first job out of law school, at a left-leaning nonprofit in LA which shall remain nameless. 1/🧵
Let me tell you a story about my first job out of law school, at a left-leaning nonprofit in LA which shall remain nameless. 1/🧵
Reposted by Jake Berman
Wild to see the defences of this project, which aims to build a city of 400,000 in the middle of nowhere.
This has never worked and plainly is not going to work. The site has no economic or spatial logic other than that of a distant suburb.
This has never worked and plainly is not going to work. The site has no economic or spatial logic other than that of a distant suburb.
My op-ed w/ Ed Glaeser in today's @latimes.com argues that CA needs a state-level permitting framework for housing projects of statewide significance, like
@caforever.bsky.social.
1/2
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
@caforever.bsky.social.
1/2
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Contributor: Clear a path for sweeping urban experiments such as California Forever
As some states have tried with clean energy projects, California should empower a state official to approve important large developments without giving counties and cities a veto.
www.latimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Wild to see the defences of this project, which aims to build a city of 400,000 in the middle of nowhere.
This has never worked and plainly is not going to work. The site has no economic or spatial logic other than that of a distant suburb.
This has never worked and plainly is not going to work. The site has no economic or spatial logic other than that of a distant suburb.
Reposted by Jake Berman
Wow, few bad jokes aside, Tomorrow Never Dies is S-tier Bond. Swear I saw it but remembered nothing. Elite villain, Yeoh our best Bond girl(?), maybe best cold open, fantastic/innovative remote car chase (in a parking garage!), unbelievable motorcycle chase, boat lair, banner slide. Movie is amazing
December 2, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Wow, few bad jokes aside, Tomorrow Never Dies is S-tier Bond. Swear I saw it but remembered nothing. Elite villain, Yeoh our best Bond girl(?), maybe best cold open, fantastic/innovative remote car chase (in a parking garage!), unbelievable motorcycle chase, boat lair, banner slide. Movie is amazing
The bird unions have really gotten militant these days
December 1, 2025 at 7:17 PM
The bird unions have really gotten militant these days
Reposted by Jake Berman
YOU (staring into a substance darker than the void at the heart of all human ambition and suffering): Wow, interesting. So what do you call it?
STARBUCKS BARISTA: Oh that’s our light roast ☺️
STARBUCKS BARISTA: Oh that’s our light roast ☺️
December 1, 2025 at 3:03 PM
YOU (staring into a substance darker than the void at the heart of all human ambition and suffering): Wow, interesting. So what do you call it?
STARBUCKS BARISTA: Oh that’s our light roast ☺️
STARBUCKS BARISTA: Oh that’s our light roast ☺️
This interview with the Williamsburg Hasid who threw his community's support to Mamdani illustrates how a lot of Ultra-Orthodox Jews think.
I kept thinking of the Fiddler on the Roof line: "May God bless and keep the Tsar... far, far from us!"
I kept thinking of the Fiddler on the Roof line: "May God bless and keep the Tsar... far, far from us!"
The Kingmaker from Williamsburg - Mishpacha Magazine
“How could you endorse Mamdani?” Tough questions for Satmar askan Rabbi Moishe Indig
mishpacha.com
December 1, 2025 at 2:54 PM
This interview with the Williamsburg Hasid who threw his community's support to Mamdani illustrates how a lot of Ultra-Orthodox Jews think.
I kept thinking of the Fiddler on the Roof line: "May God bless and keep the Tsar... far, far from us!"
I kept thinking of the Fiddler on the Roof line: "May God bless and keep the Tsar... far, far from us!"
Reposted by Jake Berman
the basic problem of suburban municipal finance, in a nutshell:
October 14, 2025 at 6:31 PM
the basic problem of suburban municipal finance, in a nutshell:
Reposted by Jake Berman
From time to time in Los Angeles I meet people who were involved in the Nakatomi business. They always find this time of year difficult.
November 29, 2024 at 5:09 PM
From time to time in Los Angeles I meet people who were involved in the Nakatomi business. They always find this time of year difficult.
🎵🎵 don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone ...🎵🎵
December 1, 2025 at 12:29 AM
🎵🎵 don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone ...🎵🎵
Montreal does awesome things with transit and land use. I suspect it's because the Quebecois are plugged into the Francophone world - and by extension, global transit and planning trends.
US public transit advocates: Don't just envy Europe. Start by envying Canada.
Great piece on Montreal's remarkably cheap new rapid transit system.
macleans.ca/society/mont...
Great piece on Montreal's remarkably cheap new rapid transit system.
macleans.ca/society/mont...
Montreal's New Rail Line Is the Future - Macleans.ca
Canada has forgotten how to build fast, cheap transit. A new megaproject has the fix.
macleans.ca
November 30, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Montreal does awesome things with transit and land use. I suspect it's because the Quebecois are plugged into the Francophone world - and by extension, global transit and planning trends.
Let's be real here: a lot of older units in NYC's outer boroughs have *already* been converted to SROs, under the table. Walk around Jackson Heights, and you'll Spanish ads everywhere for individual rooms. (At least new SROs would be built to modern standards!)
The ‘New’ Solution for the N.Y.C. Housing Crisis: Single-Room Apartments
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Let's be real here: a lot of older units in NYC's outer boroughs have *already* been converted to SROs, under the table. Walk around Jackson Heights, and you'll Spanish ads everywhere for individual rooms. (At least new SROs would be built to modern standards!)
@joshtpm.bsky.social really nailed it: the big AI push feels like an oligarch power grab, not a push to actually improve people's lives.
AI, ‘Populism’ and the Centibillionaire Shangri-La
A few days ago, I was looking at one of the many...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:58 PM
@joshtpm.bsky.social really nailed it: the big AI push feels like an oligarch power grab, not a push to actually improve people's lives.
If anyone ever says that more people in a city would overtax public infrastructure, it's a good time to ask: "what infrastructure?"
SF has:
- declining school enrollment
- the best access to urban rec and park space in California
- sewer, water and other utilities under capacity. In Western SF more density makes it more affordable to serve these locations
- better transit access thru Muni Forward improvements
- declining school enrollment
- the best access to urban rec and park space in California
- sewer, water and other utilities under capacity. In Western SF more density makes it more affordable to serve these locations
- better transit access thru Muni Forward improvements
November 30, 2025 at 6:13 AM
If anyone ever says that more people in a city would overtax public infrastructure, it's a good time to ask: "what infrastructure?"
Reposted by Jake Berman
People debating the ACC tiebreakers. You let the Coastal run free and unconfined.
November 30, 2025 at 3:24 AM
People debating the ACC tiebreakers. You let the Coastal run free and unconfined.