Phil BuildTheFutureNow
@philsustainability.bsky.social
Economics and sustainability
The number 1 most iconic technology of 2025?
Congestion pricing, hands down best tech innovation in America.
Congestion pricing, hands down best tech innovation in America.
November 29, 2025 at 3:23 PM
The number 1 most iconic technology of 2025?
Congestion pricing, hands down best tech innovation in America.
Congestion pricing, hands down best tech innovation in America.
I miss when social media was just a grainy photo of a sunset with the caption "lol." No pressure, no algorithms, just random pets and the Mayfair filter. A simpler time
November 29, 2025 at 4:02 AM
I miss when social media was just a grainy photo of a sunset with the caption "lol." No pressure, no algorithms, just random pets and the Mayfair filter. A simpler time
If our suburbs looked more like Brooklyn, we’d all be a lot healthier, wealthier, and happier
November 29, 2025 at 1:32 AM
If our suburbs looked more like Brooklyn, we’d all be a lot healthier, wealthier, and happier
We should bury the BQE, not in a tunnel, but in a solution.
1. Toll it
2. Dedicate an express bus lane
3. Run a light rail line above the traffic
4. Cap it with 30 stories of housing & retail, a"linear neighborhood" with epic views
Fixes traffic, funds transit, and builds housing
1. Toll it
2. Dedicate an express bus lane
3. Run a light rail line above the traffic
4. Cap it with 30 stories of housing & retail, a"linear neighborhood" with epic views
Fixes traffic, funds transit, and builds housing
November 28, 2025 at 3:00 PM
We should bury the BQE, not in a tunnel, but in a solution.
1. Toll it
2. Dedicate an express bus lane
3. Run a light rail line above the traffic
4. Cap it with 30 stories of housing & retail, a"linear neighborhood" with epic views
Fixes traffic, funds transit, and builds housing
1. Toll it
2. Dedicate an express bus lane
3. Run a light rail line above the traffic
4. Cap it with 30 stories of housing & retail, a"linear neighborhood" with epic views
Fixes traffic, funds transit, and builds housing
Happiness tip: block all the Russian trolls posting anything negative about the Thanksgiving Day Parade
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Happiness tip: block all the Russian trolls posting anything negative about the Thanksgiving Day Parade
It's not even close! On an average day, the BQE moves ~130,000 vehicles. Just one subway line, like 4/5/6 in Manhattan, moves over 1.2 million people. Mass transit moves New York. 🚇
November 27, 2025 at 2:39 PM
It's not even close! On an average day, the BQE moves ~130,000 vehicles. Just one subway line, like 4/5/6 in Manhattan, moves over 1.2 million people. Mass transit moves New York. 🚇
I’m appalled that mainstream media isn’t reporting on [thing viral on social media with photos clipped from mainstream media that every newspaper has been covering nonstop]
November 27, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I’m appalled that mainstream media isn’t reporting on [thing viral on social media with photos clipped from mainstream media that every newspaper has been covering nonstop]
NYC’s Affordable Housing here can cost $800k to over $1 million a pop. Why? Because we’ve let union bosses, trial lawyers, and bureaucratic nincompoops design a system that maximizes cost (and their profit) while minimizing the actual number of homes. Less supply means rent goes up. It’s a shonda!
PhilBuildTheFutureNow (@philbuildthefuturenow)
NYC’s Affordable Housing here can cost $800k to over $1 million a pop. Why? Because we’ve let union bosses, trial lawyers, and bureaucratic nincompoops design a system that maximizes cost (and their p...
substack.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:17 PM
NYC’s Affordable Housing here can cost $800k to over $1 million a pop. Why? Because we’ve let union bosses, trial lawyers, and bureaucratic nincompoops design a system that maximizes cost (and their profit) while minimizing the actual number of homes. Less supply means rent goes up. It’s a shonda!
So you give them money (subsidies) to buy it. BUT! You also ban people from building new housing with zoning and regulations.
I’m running the numbers. Subsidizing demand + Restricting supply?
That’s not a market. That’s a pressure cooker with the valve welded shut. Oy vey.
I’m running the numbers. Subsidizing demand + Restricting supply?
That’s not a market. That’s a pressure cooker with the valve welded shut. Oy vey.
November 27, 2025 at 4:42 AM
So you give them money (subsidies) to buy it. BUT! You also ban people from building new housing with zoning and regulations.
I’m running the numbers. Subsidizing demand + Restricting supply?
That’s not a market. That’s a pressure cooker with the valve welded shut. Oy vey.
I’m running the numbers. Subsidizing demand + Restricting supply?
That’s not a market. That’s a pressure cooker with the valve welded shut. Oy vey.
Hsieh and Moretti (smart guys) estimate that if we just lifted housing constraints in NYC, San Francisco, and San Jose…
US GDP could be 4% higher. Do you know how much money that is? That’s trillions. We are burning trillions of dollars in a furnace of bad policy.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
US GDP could be 4% higher. Do you know how much money that is? That’s trillions. We are burning trillions of dollars in a furnace of bad policy.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
November 27, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Hsieh and Moretti (smart guys) estimate that if we just lifted housing constraints in NYC, San Francisco, and San Jose…
US GDP could be 4% higher. Do you know how much money that is? That’s trillions. We are burning trillions of dollars in a furnace of bad policy.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
US GDP could be 4% higher. Do you know how much money that is? That’s trillions. We are burning trillions of dollars in a furnace of bad policy.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
To explain zoning to my family, I'll say: "For Thanksgiving, the salad is on one table, drinks upstairs, sides in the living room, and the turkey is in the bathroom."
Then we'll watch the traffic chaos as everyone tries to eat.
That's how bad zoning creates traffic out of thin air. 🦃
Then we'll watch the traffic chaos as everyone tries to eat.
That's how bad zoning creates traffic out of thin air. 🦃
November 26, 2025 at 10:36 PM
To explain zoning to my family, I'll say: "For Thanksgiving, the salad is on one table, drinks upstairs, sides in the living room, and the turkey is in the bathroom."
Then we'll watch the traffic chaos as everyone tries to eat.
That's how bad zoning creates traffic out of thin air. 🦃
Then we'll watch the traffic chaos as everyone tries to eat.
That's how bad zoning creates traffic out of thin air. 🦃
We lost a parking lot to 113 new homes, retail, and a community center for a church. Should we give up our parking lots for homes?
November 26, 2025 at 10:33 PM
We lost a parking lot to 113 new homes, retail, and a community center for a church. Should we give up our parking lots for homes?
We need more yiddish slang on social media.
November 26, 2025 at 12:42 AM
We need more yiddish slang on social media.
A moment of silence for our helpless bank back offices, brutally wiped out by a tsunami of 550 stroller-pushing, juice-box-wielding families. Is no bank vault safe in this town? #brooklyntower
November 25, 2025 at 3:32 AM
A moment of silence for our helpless bank back offices, brutally wiped out by a tsunami of 550 stroller-pushing, juice-box-wielding families. Is no bank vault safe in this town? #brooklyntower
Rent is high in NYC because property taxes on single family homes are waaay too low
November 24, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Rent is high in NYC because property taxes on single family homes are waaay too low
Grandparents Announce Bold Plan To Address Financial Apocalypse Kids Inherit: “We’ll Keep Spending, You Kids Handle The Paperwork”
“The point is to signal to children we care, since all the debt transfers in full to the grandchildren. Not actually, you know, save money.” #cop30
“The point is to signal to children we care, since all the debt transfers in full to the grandchildren. Not actually, you know, save money.” #cop30
PhilBuildTheFutureNow (@philbuildthefuturenow)
COP30 Climate Talks: Grandparents Announce Bold New Plan To Address Financial Apocalypse Kids Will Inherit: “We’ll Keep Spending, You Kids Handle The Paperwork”
PALM SPRINGS, CA, Local grandparents ...
substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Grandparents Announce Bold Plan To Address Financial Apocalypse Kids Inherit: “We’ll Keep Spending, You Kids Handle The Paperwork”
“The point is to signal to children we care, since all the debt transfers in full to the grandchildren. Not actually, you know, save money.” #cop30
“The point is to signal to children we care, since all the debt transfers in full to the grandchildren. Not actually, you know, save money.” #cop30
“Out of more than 900,000 students in the public schools, nearly 1 in 7 were homeless during the last school year, the highest proportion on record.”
(NYC Families with students and no home should always be first in line for any rent stabilized home)
cccnewyork.org/press-and-me...
(NYC Families with students and no home should always be first in line for any rent stabilized home)
cccnewyork.org/press-and-me...
Number of homeless New York City public school students reaches a new high | CCC New York
cccnewyork.org
November 24, 2025 at 1:29 PM
“Out of more than 900,000 students in the public schools, nearly 1 in 7 were homeless during the last school year, the highest proportion on record.”
(NYC Families with students and no home should always be first in line for any rent stabilized home)
cccnewyork.org/press-and-me...
(NYC Families with students and no home should always be first in line for any rent stabilized home)
cccnewyork.org/press-and-me...
NYC's housing paradox:
Build 200k affordable homes ➡️ instantly filled by 200k suburban grads with trust funds.
Build 200k market-rate homes ➡️ people move up, freeing their old apartments. The new supply actually lowers rents for everyone.
The second one is the cheat code.
Build 200k affordable homes ➡️ instantly filled by 200k suburban grads with trust funds.
Build 200k market-rate homes ➡️ people move up, freeing their old apartments. The new supply actually lowers rents for everyone.
The second one is the cheat code.
November 23, 2025 at 11:49 PM
NYC's housing paradox:
Build 200k affordable homes ➡️ instantly filled by 200k suburban grads with trust funds.
Build 200k market-rate homes ➡️ people move up, freeing their old apartments. The new supply actually lowers rents for everyone.
The second one is the cheat code.
Build 200k affordable homes ➡️ instantly filled by 200k suburban grads with trust funds.
Build 200k market-rate homes ➡️ people move up, freeing their old apartments. The new supply actually lowers rents for everyone.
The second one is the cheat code.
Median income in Alabama: ~$59,600
Median income in Russia: ~$9,300
Turns out 'Roll Tide' pays a bit better. 🇺🇸 🐘 vs. 🇷🇺
Median income in Russia: ~$9,300
Turns out 'Roll Tide' pays a bit better. 🇺🇸 🐘 vs. 🇷🇺
November 23, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Median income in Alabama: ~$59,600
Median income in Russia: ~$9,300
Turns out 'Roll Tide' pays a bit better. 🇺🇸 🐘 vs. 🇷🇺
Median income in Russia: ~$9,300
Turns out 'Roll Tide' pays a bit better. 🇺🇸 🐘 vs. 🇷🇺
Isamu Noguchi, Red Cube, 1968, steel, aluminum, 24 feet tall, 140 Broadway, New York
November 23, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Isamu Noguchi, Red Cube, 1968, steel, aluminum, 24 feet tall, 140 Broadway, New York
Turns out our little public library had a killer side hustle. 📚➡️💰 Brooklyn turned an old library into a $52M check, a gorgeous NEW 26,000-sq-ft library, a coffeehouse, 134 frikking homes, AND a flood of new tax dollars for schools. Now that's a smart read.
November 23, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Turns out our little public library had a killer side hustle. 📚➡️💰 Brooklyn turned an old library into a $52M check, a gorgeous NEW 26,000-sq-ft library, a coffeehouse, 134 frikking homes, AND a flood of new tax dollars for schools. Now that's a smart read.
You can go inside the darn thing? #adultswim #smilingfriends
November 23, 2025 at 3:17 AM
You can go inside the darn thing? #adultswim #smilingfriends
NY found a clever workaround for the SALT deduction cap! It's called the Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET). Instead of business owners paying state taxes personally (where deductions are capped), the BUSINESS pays it directly, and gets a full federal deduction.
November 23, 2025 at 1:48 AM
NY found a clever workaround for the SALT deduction cap! It's called the Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET). Instead of business owners paying state taxes personally (where deductions are capped), the BUSINESS pays it directly, and gets a full federal deduction.
Buffalo's architectural signature is a surface parking lot. Where Chicago has a skyline, Buffalo is a flatline. Replace those parking spots with apartments over cafes and you wouldn't just stop the brain drain to Brooklyn, you'd start a reverse commute. Besides, Buffalo is better
November 22, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Buffalo's architectural signature is a surface parking lot. Where Chicago has a skyline, Buffalo is a flatline. Replace those parking spots with apartments over cafes and you wouldn't just stop the brain drain to Brooklyn, you'd start a reverse commute. Besides, Buffalo is better
Syracuse has a world-class collection of parking spots. Sadly, they're mostly empty space. Imagine if that sea of asphalt was a sea of tall multi-family homes with corner stores and retail. Syracuse can put its land back to work and be rich
November 22, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Syracuse has a world-class collection of parking spots. Sadly, they're mostly empty space. Imagine if that sea of asphalt was a sea of tall multi-family homes with corner stores and retail. Syracuse can put its land back to work and be rich