alex baca
@alexbaca.bsky.social
Mad online about land use. D.C. policy boss @ggwash.org, Ward 1 Dems chair, Park View resident—in no order. Not paid to tweet, so DM me gossip. It’s only life; there is no real decay. Views mine.
This is a particularly divine specimen.
I think it's useful for any YIMBY or pro-housing person to be in the NIMBY/anti-development groups, because you'll see something like this in it:
A Republican who spent a lot of effort trying to oust Democratic state legislators, but still thinking they can tell them what to do.
A Republican who spent a lot of effort trying to oust Democratic state legislators, but still thinking they can tell them what to do.
November 14, 2025 at 3:59 PM
This is a particularly divine specimen.
Reposted by alex baca
The people pumping Matt yglesias into my feed make me realize that he should run for mayor or council because his weird obsession with insisting people triangulate would actually go over really well with the same voters who give us Mendo, Bowser, and Bonds repeatedly.
November 7, 2025 at 11:34 PM
The people pumping Matt yglesias into my feed make me realize that he should run for mayor or council because his weird obsession with insisting people triangulate would actually go over really well with the same voters who give us Mendo, Bowser, and Bonds repeatedly.
biz homies do be tiresome
it's state policy by twitter DM groupchats and business cults that have infiltrated half of the policy scene in DC. That's a pretty succinct and accurate summary for what is happening.
bsky.app/profile/utop...
bsky.app/profile/utop...
Like I said, I don’t think it’s a coincidence all of these guys are talking like this now. All of a sudden, bailouts, handouts, and direct state intervention is an unalloyed good that shouldn’t be questioned, neither in contingency nor in principle.
November 7, 2025 at 11:34 PM
biz homies do be tiresome
Reposted by alex baca
whatever you think of Spanberger, the fact that her opponent ran a campaign based almost entirely on transphobia and is on track to eat shit in the biggest blowout the state has seen since 2009 is unambiguously a huge win
Earle-Sears ran what felt like 12 billion ads about how much she hated trans kids and I didn’t hear a single pundit say she should stick to real issues that affect real people.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Abigail Spanberger wins Virginia governor’s race.
November 5, 2025 at 1:27 AM
whatever you think of Spanberger, the fact that her opponent ran a campaign based almost entirely on transphobia and is on track to eat shit in the biggest blowout the state has seen since 2009 is unambiguously a huge win
Reposted by alex baca
Reposted by alex baca
over the course of my life i’ve probably listened to the 10,000 Maniacs unplugged album at least once per maniac
October 31, 2025 at 9:03 PM
over the course of my life i’ve probably listened to the 10,000 Maniacs unplugged album at least once per maniac
VIVRE EN VILLE EN ENGLISH. Adam is so cool. His organization is so cool. I am really excited that this exists, and very grateful that there is writing about housing like this out in the world, regardless of language:
October 29, 2025 at 11:44 PM
VIVRE EN VILLE EN ENGLISH. Adam is so cool. His organization is so cool. I am really excited that this exists, and very grateful that there is writing about housing like this out in the world, regardless of language:
Reposted by alex baca
I reread this every so often and I'm struck every time by how great it is unevenearth.org/2018/08/the-...
The social ideology of the motorcar - Uneven Earth
by André Gorz The worst thing about cars is that they are like castles or villas by the sea: luxury goods invented for the exclusive pleasure of a very rich minority, and which in conception and natur...
unevenearth.org
October 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I reread this every so often and I'm struck every time by how great it is unevenearth.org/2018/08/the-...
cleanse yr brain by listening to “judy staring at the sun” on your green line train home
October 21, 2025 at 2:55 AM
cleanse yr brain by listening to “judy staring at the sun” on your green line train home
Reposted by alex baca
This is a great short piece worth thinking about when it comes to transportation & urbanism.
“We cannot optimise both proximity and mobility. Proximity and Mobility cannot be friends. We settle into one of two worlds: (a) high proximity, low mobility or (b) high mobility, low proximity.”
“We cannot optimise both proximity and mobility. Proximity and Mobility cannot be friends. We settle into one of two worlds: (a) high proximity, low mobility or (b) high mobility, low proximity.”
September 24, 2025 at 6:24 PM
This is a great short piece worth thinking about when it comes to transportation & urbanism.
“We cannot optimise both proximity and mobility. Proximity and Mobility cannot be friends. We settle into one of two worlds: (a) high proximity, low mobility or (b) high mobility, low proximity.”
“We cannot optimise both proximity and mobility. Proximity and Mobility cannot be friends. We settle into one of two worlds: (a) high proximity, low mobility or (b) high mobility, low proximity.”
Reposted by alex baca
All these Abundance/Argument/Searchlight etcetc arguments are so frustrating because we know anything that confirms prior beliefs like "Dems can't win on climate/immigration/trans/etcetc" are going straight into the Dem group chat bloodstream. Clearly that's what they want to hear.
September 23, 2025 at 12:50 AM
All these Abundance/Argument/Searchlight etcetc arguments are so frustrating because we know anything that confirms prior beliefs like "Dems can't win on climate/immigration/trans/etcetc" are going straight into the Dem group chat bloodstream. Clearly that's what they want to hear.
Didn’t get to say it at Yimbytown but state capacity at its most basic would be something like…a full-time legislature with full-time staffing in every state.
anyways. state capacity is actually a serious problem, but "what if there was one form that governed all interactions with the government" is the most galaxy brained fucking thing i've ever heard. consider instead
www.liberalcurrents.com/good-governa...
www.liberalcurrents.com/good-governa...
Good Governance Requires Accountability
We must rediscover the virtue of ambition: the ambition to get out there and make some real changes—and the courage to face the music after.
www.liberalcurrents.com
September 17, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Didn’t get to say it at Yimbytown but state capacity at its most basic would be something like…a full-time legislature with full-time staffing in every state.
Reposted by alex baca
You can still get a big cheap McMansion but your neighbors will want a race war and think knowing calculus is a sin. Your kids will be poorer than you if any of these policies the hooting morons who make up the electorate now want actually get passed. Do you take that Texas job offer now?
September 15, 2025 at 5:47 PM
You can still get a big cheap McMansion but your neighbors will want a race war and think knowing calculus is a sin. Your kids will be poorer than you if any of these policies the hooting morons who make up the electorate now want actually get passed. Do you take that Texas job offer now?
And we off at yombocon. I’m on an 11 a.m. panel about transit advocacy’s relative losses moderated by my fellow AB, @amb.fyi, and a 2:15 p.m. very stacked looking-backwards-and-forwards history of the movement with longtime real ones Annemarie, Alan, Jesse, Brian, Jenny. Happy 2 be here.
September 14, 2025 at 2:21 PM
And we off at yombocon. I’m on an 11 a.m. panel about transit advocacy’s relative losses moderated by my fellow AB, @amb.fyi, and a 2:15 p.m. very stacked looking-backwards-and-forwards history of the movement with longtime real ones Annemarie, Alan, Jesse, Brian, Jenny. Happy 2 be here.
Reposted by alex baca
In a working paper, my colleagues & I used statical analysis to understand TOPA’s impact on preservation. We found that it was incredibly effective in preserving both subsidized & unsubsidized affordable housing, particularly in areas where rents are increasing www.umdsmartgrowth.org/news/preserv...
Preservation through Tenant Rights in Washington, DC (Working Paper) – NCSG
www.umdsmartgrowth.org
September 12, 2025 at 11:14 AM
In a working paper, my colleagues & I used statical analysis to understand TOPA’s impact on preservation. We found that it was incredibly effective in preserving both subsidized & unsubsidized affordable housing, particularly in areas where rents are increasing www.umdsmartgrowth.org/news/preserv...
Reposted by alex baca
“awful people don’t deserve to be killed, but they don’t deserve to be praised, either” is apparently a thought too complex for the pundit mind
September 11, 2025 at 1:47 PM
“awful people don’t deserve to be killed, but they don’t deserve to be praised, either” is apparently a thought too complex for the pundit mind
“if u get the right policy mix” never works at any level of government!!!!!! that anything-left funders and my fellow advocates and pundits and electeds and advisers don’t know this in their bones is continually so weird to me.
"Ds will always win if they get the right policy mix" is what Matt Yglesias believes. it's what Schumer and Jeffries believe. it's why none of them are willing to actually fight fascists; they think just finding the right policy mix means you always win and don't have to fight fascists.
September 9, 2025 at 3:34 AM
“if u get the right policy mix” never works at any level of government!!!!!! that anything-left funders and my fellow advocates and pundits and electeds and advisers don’t know this in their bones is continually so weird to me.
happy 36th birthday to me. who wants 2 hear me talk on three panels at yombocon.
They fucking *hate* that Millennial women are hitting the mid-career point and are starting to have real influence and power in organizations. It drives the misogynist Gen X and Boomer men insane.
September 8, 2025 at 4:22 AM
happy 36th birthday to me. who wants 2 hear me talk on three panels at yombocon.
I’m excited to see my friends at YIMBYtown next week, but the movement increasingly bums me out.
This has been the drift of things since at least 2022. I’m glad people are starting to realize it now, but for those of us who once saw something hopeful in OG YIMBYism it’s been really painful and disillusioning to watch.
September 5, 2025 at 12:31 AM
I’m excited to see my friends at YIMBYtown next week, but the movement increasingly bums me out.
Reposted by alex baca
Cleveland Mayor Tom L. Johnson (Mayor 1901–1909) holding his copy of Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty.”
August 19, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Cleveland Mayor Tom L. Johnson (Mayor 1901–1909) holding his copy of Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty.”
i enjoyed my friend adam's travel diary
August 18, 2025 at 8:21 PM
i enjoyed my friend adam's travel diary
people
city dwellers: for a story, what’s your favorite part of living in a city?
August 15, 2025 at 5:30 PM
people
our local year of recalls presaged yesterday's fiat. crime chatterers do not care about little numbers. best you can do is psyop them.
I don't think you can fight crime scare panics with stats, we need attractive young families showing how nice living a city is in short form videos instead.
August 12, 2025 at 2:37 PM
our local year of recalls presaged yesterday's fiat. crime chatterers do not care about little numbers. best you can do is psyop them.