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Yonah Freemark

@yonahfreemark.com

27K followers 890 following 19K posts

Transport / Housing / Land Use / Politics / @urbaninstitute.bsky.social / Le progrès ne vaut que s’il est partagé par tous / yonahfreemark.com / thetransportpolitic.com

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · Mar 13

New data tool launch today 🚨 @urbaninstitute.bsky.social's Federal Infrastructure site.

It includes detailed information on funds from 110 programs across all states, counties & metro areas.

Tool pinpoints the support that communities receive for transportation, housing, energy, water & broadband.

Are Federal Infrastructure Dollars Meeting Your Community’s Needs?

Data analysis tracking whether the billions in funding that the US has committed to its roads, bridges, housing, and other infrastructure are getting to the communities that need it most.

apps.urban.org

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 13h

RIP Diane Keaton, what a joy she is to watch on screen.

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 15h

It makes me wonder: What if the fed government hadn't given up on funding transit infrastructure & innovation as it did in the 1970s & early 80s?

US cities, I'm convinced, would have followed a far different path, many more with vibrant, well-used transit systems & with less car dependence.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 15h

The DC Metro is the concrete realization of that federal strategy—it actually has high ridership, has been associated with a concentrated growth pattern, used new tech, was built out according to plan.

Unfortunately, Reagan's cutbacks—among other problems—meant nowhere else really got to succeed.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 15h

In 1970s–early 1980s, US fed government invested massively in transit, including in research & development ⏬, but also on new transit systems in cities like DC, SF & Atlanta.

In certain years, federal spending on transit almost equaled that on highways. But that momentum stalled out under Reagan.

Per-capita federal spending on aviation, highways, and transit/rail. Source: https://www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/spending.html#transportation-spending-united-states

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 16h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 19h

HUD’s ability to enforce fair housing laws was further gutted by the administration’s actions yesterday.

This is on top of the agency’s firing of 70% of its fair housing attorneys since January.

This will allow discrimination by race, sex, and disabilities to become more common—and go unpunished.

◥◤Kriston Capps @kristoncapps.bsky.social · 19h

HUD laid off so many fair housing investigators on Friday that it shuttered the regional offices that oversee discrimination cases in 9 states: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

HUD Issues Layoff Notices, Targeting Fair Housing Staff With Deep Cuts

Fair housing staffers who investigate claims of housing discrimination at field offices nationwide were among the hundreds of HUD staffers who received layoff notices.

www.bloomberg.com

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 19h

Urban highways were largely undertaken by DOT, not HUD. HUD itself conducted some urban renewal programs which resulted in neighborhood demolition, but most of those projects were underway before HUD was created in 1965. The agency itself has not led much neighborhood demolition.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 20h

Yesterday:

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

Appears the Trump admin’s reduction in force has hit housing hard this evening.

Reports that all CDFI fund staff have been let go. HUD appears to have lost 442 staff.

Yet another federal cut that will make providing affordable housing in the US all the more challenging.

Reports that all staff of CDFI Fund have been let go

Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 1d

Please keep making podcasts about how democrats need to stop being so condescending about red states

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Sarah Lazare @sarahlazare.bsky.social · 1d

An extremely rough day for Edgewater in Chicago. ICE activity near schools. People kidnapped while working in yards, standing on hiring corners. So many rapid responders biking, walking, driving, whistles around necks, trying to protect their neighbors, but up against such well-funded forces.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

I ❤️ Portland

iain @maccoinnich.bsky.social · 1d

The NYTimes wisely hired Anna Griffin, one of the best journalists in Portland, as the head of its Pacific Northwest Bureau

President Trump continued to describe Portland, Ore., as a city on fire Friday even as residents enjoyed the first fall rain and the lone demonstrator at the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement building was dressed as a pink Care Bear. While taking questions from reporters in the White House, Mr. Trump said that “every time I look at that place, it’s burning down” and claimed that when store owners in Portland need to make repairs, they “build it out of plywood.” Buildings are still constructed with wood, concrete, steel and other modern construction materials in Oregon.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

“We calculated that current tariffs, including those just announced, will add roughly $30 billion to the costs of investment in residential structures.”

Janneke Ratcliffe @jannekeratcliffe.bsky.social · 1d

New from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, read about tariffs impacting home construction and renovation costs. taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/recen...

Recent Tariffs Threaten Residential Construction

Using TPC’s tariff model, we calculated that current tariffs, including those just announced, will add roughly $30 billion to the costs of investment in residential structures.

taxpolicycenter.org

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

Over the past 4 years, Seattle has dramatically increased its sweeps of homeless encampments, spending $85 m on this. Now Mayor Harrell is facing Katie Wilson in the election this fall; she’s opposing this policy.

boltsmag.org/seattle-mayo...

Sweeps of homeless people and their camps have risen steadily in recent years in Seattle.

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Sheogorath's Lost Pinecone @daedricnonsense.bsky.social · 1d

www.propublica.org/article/elon...

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

this beaver too!

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

Worth noting: Washington state's TOD law is based on averages, while California's is a minimum. As such, it's likely that California's average would be higher.

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

Ah! One other important thing SB 79 does: It expands the ability of transit agencies like BART to take a lead on developing the areas around their stations.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

It's going to be super interesting to see how this new law is implemented and its effects on housing construction and affordability.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

SB 79 applies just to the 8 large counties in California with at least 15 rail stations.

Its provisions are broader in cities with at least 35,000 residents, applying to 1/2 mile from stations. Smaller cities have applicability to just 1/4 mile from stations.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

Density boost is associated w/ affordability rules. Transit zone projects can be:
1—All affordable
2—7% of units @ 30% of area income (AMI) + 93% at market rate
3—10% of units @ 50% of AMI + 90% market rate
4—13% of units @ 60% of AMI + 87% market rate

There are also anti-displacement provisions.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

What does SB 79 do?

Its primary element is a zoning density boost:
—Within 200 ft of stations: 4–4.5 FAR, 120–160 units/ac, 85–95 ft
—1/4 mi: 3–3.5 FAR, 100–120 units/ac, 65–75 ft
—1/2 mi: 2.5–3 FAR, 60–100 units/ac, 55–65 ft

Higher density near metro/Caltrain, then light rail/commuter rail/BRT.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

California's governor has signed SB 79, a large-scale upzoning of land near transit throughout the state's largest counties.

Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 1d

WE DID IT!!!

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

Puerto Rico and DC—both part of the US, of course—collectively have more than 4 times the population of South Dakota, which Thune represents.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Thune: "If the Democrats had won the majority, they probably would've tried to nuke the filibuster. And then you'd have four new senators from Puerto Rico and DC, you'd have a packed Supreme Court, you'd have abortion on demand ... "

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

😅

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