Markus Johnson
@markusja.bsky.social
190 followers 75 following 370 posts
Abundant housing, abundant transit, & abundant bike lanes in our cities occupies a lot of my thinking. I'm sure other pieces of my personality will peek through over time. Consider reading: https://medium.com/@markusjohnson2195
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Reposted by Markus Johnson
djcrimson.bsky.social
Good episode. I would add that we’re similarly bad at cost-benefit analysis for environmental requirements, stormwater management requirements, etc. A dense city full of stucco boxes is more sustainable than sprawling LEED Platinum single family homes.
Reposted by Markus Johnson
whstancil.bsky.social
This is the most important politics story in a long time. Twitter has radicalized the young GOP into overt Nazism and white supremacy and the news has spent years pretending not to see.

It’s a gleefully racist and antisemitic party now. Stop pretending otherwise www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Markus Johnson
chrislhayes.bsky.social
Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.
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victorerikray.bsky.social
I know it is beside the point because this administration simply wants resegregation but conferences for Black professional associations have always been open to everyone. Typically, the started as a response to white exclusion, and did not replicate that.
blmckean.bsky.social
Very bad: OSU unilaterally cancelled the registration of grad students attending the joint conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists. And OSU won't fund recruiting at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.
Ohio State changes policy on group conferences after Trump administration threats
A federal investigation into potentially discriminatory practices at Ohio State prompted the university to change its policies regarding conferences.
www.dispatch.com
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eean.dev
Even our billionaire-by-lot system is churning out assholes lol
lewislehe.bsky.social
"He was working out of that Altadena rental as a private architecture consultant when he struck the record-setting jackpot."
"He said he wants to sell exclusively to families who want to settle down in Altadena, rather than people who might turn the homes into rentals."
www.wsj.com/economy/hous...
He Won the $2 Billion Powerball. Now He’s Buying Up Lots Burned in the L.A. Fires.
Edwin Castro is one of the biggest investors snapping up destroyed properties—and he wants to lead in rebuilding his hometown of Altadena.
www.wsj.com
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stephenjudkins.bsky.social
The sheer arrogance of these industry regulator bodies who think it's reasonable for them to slow-walk "research" on a technology that's safely and widely used in the rest of the world for an entire decade
user-110-18's comment on "How do we accelerate R290 approval in US heat pump market?"
Explore this conversation and more from the heatpumps community
www.reddit.com
Reposted by Markus Johnson
dieworkwear.bsky.social
It's hard to help Americans left behind because so much of US identity is rooted in individualism. The average American conservative holds all three positions at once:

— Virtue signals about supporting US manufacturing
— Against raising the minimum wage
— Buys foreign imports because they're cheap
HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "I'm willing to pay more for quality products if they are made in America, by Americans, who are paid a decent income." The tweet shows Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting, which is often used to show the tweeter is expressing a brave opinion. HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "MINIMUM WAGE JOBS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE A CAREER. Why does no one understand this? Entry level jobs are STEPPING STONES to better jobs. No one wants to work towards that though." HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "Buy $5 gloves instead of $50 ones. Trust me." The tweet shows a box of "Gorilla Grip" gloves. The label on Gorilla Grip gloves show they're made in China.
Reposted by Markus Johnson
stephenjacobsmith.com
Brazilian guy installing an elevator in Liverpool. One of the big drivers of cost differences in Europe vs. the U.S. for elevators (about $40k vs. $160k for a mid-rise building in total) is that in Europe, immigrants are allowed to work in the elevator industry; in the U.S., they’re not really.
Reposted by Markus Johnson
dereksagehorn.bsky.social
Planners and designers are especially cheap compared to digging a tunnel or building a viaduct.

Regions, states and Congress need to get comfortable investing resources in transit planning and design prior to committing to constructing lines on a map.
www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/10/h...
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volts.wtf
It's so rare to see families with kids just strolling the streets of urban areas in the US, it kind of jumps out at you. There are kids playing tag in the plazas! There are youngs, olds, singles, marrieds, so many different colors & styles & vibes. Man I love cities.
Reposted by Markus Johnson
Reposted by Markus Johnson
jesseltaylor.bsky.social
Imagine if you did this in any other journalistic context

"Did the Tigers or Mariners Win Game 5? In Detroit, Depends on the Narrator."
davidcorn.bsky.social
A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.
Reposted by Markus Johnson
josephpolitano.bsky.social
also rapidly urbanizing (1.8k->2.4k->3k over the last 40 years) in a way the US is not (1.8k->2k->2.2k)
Reposted by Markus Johnson
sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com
look i'm just gonna say: everyone involved in this shit needs to go to jail
iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social
ICE GOONS crash into car and then point weapons to kidnap man.
Reposted by Markus Johnson
joegiddings.bsky.social
This new residential tower in Lyon is made from wood.

In many ways, this is quite an incredible building. Here's why:
markusja.bsky.social
Boo! 👎🏾
buildhomes.bsky.social
The homestead exemption bill last year got a lot of sponsors. It's basically a big tax break to homeowners, and a huge bias in the tax code towards homeownership. They talked about offsetting it with a tiny renter credit, but to fully equalize it would require billions and billions in renter credits
markusja.bsky.social
Boo! 👎🏾
Yes, allowing people to rent single family homes is good and equitable.
buildhomes.bsky.social
Another bill they're talking about bringing up again is one that benefits homeowners at the expense of renters is the corporate homeownership ban. Allowing people to rent single family homes gives renters the ability to live in all neighborhoods.
Reposted by Markus Johnson
whstancil.bsky.social
Thinking for yourself, going against the grain, having principles are currently an enormous liability in every part of public life. The way to succeed is to be the kind of person who believes exactly what your boss tells you to believe, has no core ideology, and turns a blind eye to evil on command
Reposted by Markus Johnson
whstancil.bsky.social
We need to have solutions for the Collaborator Problem: the way the fascist takeover of all our institutions has led to the promotion of soulless, facile, subservient mediocrities filling vitally important roles across the breadth of our society
Reposted by Markus Johnson
stephenjacobsmith.com
I can't stop thinking about this. We're pursuing zero fire risk in multifam, while tolerating much more in single-fam. People respond by building and living in single-fam, where they're exposed to not only one of the highest fire death risks in the developed world, but also TONS more car crash risk
ebwhamilton.bsky.social
Love this new report on buildings' relative fire safety from @alexhrwtz.bsky.social and Pew colleagues.

www.pew.org/en/research-...
markusja.bsky.social
Also, this again and again is the shift fire officials need to have in thinking:

“Because new buildings are much safer than old buildings. So if you make it harder to build a new building, you are actually decreasing fire safety.”
markusja.bsky.social
Well reported and covers the downsides well. I know they've gotten away with it as industry for a long time, but it is still heavily embarrassing to propose a likely onerous change to the code based on anecdotes & no data.
Reposted by Markus Johnson
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
eventually politicians need to start advocating for criminal and civil penalties for people involved in fabricating stories to get citizens incarcerated.

or, put another way: a society that would like to keep functioning has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities