Raag Agrawal
Raag Agrawal
@raag.bsky.social
Aspiring georgist
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
I will never get over the fact that the MTA runs two commuter rail systems, and they hate each other so much that they disagree on how they spell "railroad".
December 9, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
Great appointment, but also disband it.
December 9, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
Breaking News: Kathryn Garcia, a top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, is expected to be named the next executive director of the Port Authority.
Kathryn Garcia Expected to Be Named New Head of the Port Authority
Ms. Garcia, who ran for mayor of New York in 2021 after serving as the city’s sanitation commissioner, would succeed Rick Cotton, who is retiring.
nyti.ms
December 9, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
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.
December 6, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
Report: 94% of World’s Transit Lines Operated by One Person

Hochul Should Veto Bill Requiring Two

See our statement on the new, important report out from NYU Marron's Transit Costs Project

buff.ly/Umk9Dc0
Report: 94% of World’s Subways Operated by One Person. Hochul Should Veto Bill Requiring Two - Reinvent Albany
NYU Marron Center Report Shows 94% of the World’s Subway Systems Use One Person – Or Are Automated   Gov. Hochul Must Veto Wasteful, Politically-Motivated Bill Requiring Two Train Operators   An…
reinventalbany.org
November 13, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
Los Angeles is trying to avoid HLA by claiming that it is “restriping without making other improvements” when, in fact, it’s making many other changes across multiple projects.

This behavior must stop.

Read the letter we sent to the Mayor, LADOT, and the Board of Public Works
December 4, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Jeffries is a really uninspiring leader.
Jeffries: "The border is secure. That's a good thing. It happened on his watch. He wants to claim credit for it, of course he'll get credit for that. In terms of making sure that we actually deal with the issues that matter, including on immigration, there's a lot that's left to be desired."
December 3, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
The full time job of the modal person with the title of "city planner" in the US is to be a steward of segregation.
November 25, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
Group DMs on BlueSky would be like Viennese cafes, Louise-Philippe era banquets, or Spanish Civil War era charitable groups. They’d accelerate the invention of Woke 2 by like 15 months, minimum.
November 22, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Nandert is genuinely such a critical part of LA's transit community. Great video on the vermont corridor. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggTF...
Rounding Out LA's Holy Trinity of Future Rail
YouTube video by nandert
www.youtube.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
So-called “inclusionary zoning” is a tax on new housing that reduces the amount of housing that gets built, worsening the housing shortage and driving up rent. It is bad, counterproductive policy and we should stop doing it.
Building housing is a left issue.
Taxing housing to build housing means less housing.
Less housing means more pressure on your housing market and higher rents.
Build the housing. And don’t let NIMBYs stop or slow us downs
@wilsonforseattle.bsky.social
1. Get rid of min. parking requirements
2. Temporarily end MHA to spur building for 3 yrs
3. Get rid of design review temporarily for 3 yrs
4. Don’t allow NIMBYs in wealthy areas to slow down development; sue them every time as a deterrent for future efforts
November 16, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
1/ If you're interested in housing and the debates within the Democratic party about how much is needed and how to get it built, you need to read this profile of CA NIMBY slayer @scottwiener.bsky.social by @jetjocko.bsky.social.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Scott Wiener Defeated California’s NIMBYs. Can He Fix America’s Housing Crisis?
By running for Nancy Pelosi's seat, he's putting the "Abundance" theory to the test.
www.motherjones.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
The City of Los Angeles has 43,700 homeless people. Seven of them die on the streets every day.

Mobilizing the planning department to slow-walk new mixed income housing near the train stations that taxpayers spent billions of dollars building reflects perverse priorities at best.
After failing to stop a major state housing bill from becoming law, Los Angeles leaders are turning to plan B: Delaying Senate Bill 79's implementation and pushing for unspecified legislative changes next year. My dispatch for @politico.com Pro subscribers subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...
POLITICO Pro: Los Angeles failed to defeat a major housing law, so it's turning to Plan B: Delay, delay, delay
A report from the city planning department outlines strategies for pushing off many of the effects of SB 79 through 2030.
subscriber.politicopro.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
Let’s fucking goooo
October 24, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Honestly the fitness obsession that has taken over society is part of the same cultural wave that has made fascism normal.
It’s fun to contrast dhs’ ultra fash nostalgia aesthetics on social with the reality that you would find higher fitness standards in a spin class on the upper east side
October 21, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Bernie is like an all-star for surrounding himself with the worst people. Literally no one around him has turned out to be an upstanding citizen.
Bernie isn't admitting he is wrong *now*.
October 21, 2025 at 7:37 PM
You don’t hate CEQA enough tbh.
Democracy lost to CEQA again.

A San Diego appeals court invalidated voter-approved height limit removal because the environmental report wasn't detailed enough.

Removal was twice approved by voters, but now killed by three judges over documentation.

www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/10/18/c...
Court orders reinstatement of 30-foot height limit in San Diego’s Midway District
Appellate court ruling finds that the city of San Diego violated state environmental law and abused its power by putting a 2022 ballot measure before voters without the proper analysis.
www.sandiegouniontribune.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
I'm not an expert on California politics but this strikes me as big news. State Senator Scott Wiener is going to run for Pelosi's seat regardless of what she does. Again, primaries are good. And from everything I've heard he's a serious legislator.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Nancy Pelosi faces primary challenge from California state lawmaker
State Sen. Scott Wiener is expected to announce next week that he will run for the San Francisco House seat regardless of whether the former speaker retires.
www.politico.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Weiner is one of the best legislators in California. Definitely deserves the seat.
I'm not an expert on California politics but this strikes me as big news. State Senator Scott Wiener is going to run for Pelosi's seat regardless of what she does. Again, primaries are good. And from everything I've heard he's a serious legislator.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Nancy Pelosi faces primary challenge from California state lawmaker
State Sen. Scott Wiener is expected to announce next week that he will run for the San Francisco House seat regardless of whether the former speaker retires.
www.politico.com
October 17, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
[VICTORY ALERT] Governor Newsom has signed SB 79, which will make it legal to build multi-family housing near high quality transit!

Our statement:
cayimby.org/news-events/...
cayimby.org
October 10, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
This image shows the new commuter rail map issued by the MTA this year. After decades of more geographically accurate maps, the streamlined look has returned. Which map do you prefer?
October 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
I do agree that New York City gas stoves are poorly regulated. we need jackbooted EPA troops going door to door ripping those things out by force, and replacing them with induction. (throw in some free pans if you don't have the right ones)
October 1, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
Tonight, Culver City unanimously passed Single Stair reform, becoming the first city in California to legalize it by ordinance.

They join Santa Monica, which approved Single Stair two weeks ago as an Alternative Method.
September 30, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Reposted by Raag Agrawal
Streetsblog LA writes about Metrolink electrification.

(Full disclosure: Not my department, I had nothing to do with this piece) -- la.streetsblog.org/2025/09/24/n...
New 'Electrolink' Report Calls For Metrolink Improvements - Streetsblog Los Angeles
Californians for Electric Rail has a new report out that supports public investment to make Metrolink train service better, faster, and more competitive with car travel
la.streetsblog.org
September 29, 2025 at 5:17 PM
I do hope this radicalizes Congressional Dems on SCOTUS reform. Like this court is very plainly just partisan now.
September 26, 2025 at 10:17 PM