Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Video has a disappointing lack of focus on the tambourine player/hype man and whatever this is www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3QL...
Ask me about the Contra Costa County Housing Element
1,067 followers 175 following 2,625 posts
view profile on Bluesky Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Video has a disappointing lack of focus on the tambourine player/hype man and whatever this is www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3QL...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Gemini Dream is the best Moody Blues song
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
This is very funny… “free fares had no impact on car volumes… reorganizing the bus network had a higher impact than free fares”
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Most places have discounted fares for people who do not have a lot of money which is fine. We should probably also lower the cost of monthly passes. I should pay money to ride the bus though.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
If you need the bus to get to your job then you need the bus to arrive on time and get you there on time. If it’s free no one cares as much about getting you there.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
For any level of service you could provide with taxes, you could probably make riders better off by charging fares and then using the money to run more service. Taxes also compete with other priorities like fire, sewer, water, police, parks, library, etc, which you can also provide more of with $
California Housing Defense Fund (@housingdefense.bsky.social) reposted
HAA letter to Walnut Creek, CA for tonight's Design Review Commission meeting re proposed 422-unit builder's remedy project at 2775–2855 Mitchell Drive, which includes 55 low-income units. @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov @california-hcd.bsky.social drive.google.com/file/d/1JnUm...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Free is also a price that rations access
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
How is City College SF doing? Haven’t checked in on it in a while
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
“Desire to increase pollution” completely the opposite, if you can pay for more buses with user fees and more people ride the bus that’s less pollution. Lower income riders in surveys suggest they prefer more frequent service to lower fares.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
If there were giant airplanes between city blocks and everyone only needed to travel to one of four or five stops - I agree with you a free train would be a good way to solve that problem.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Yes it’s a lot cheaper to operate a system frequently when it runs on electricity and there’s no driver! Am I talking to a bot that has memorized a list of talking points and moves from one to the next. Maybe you should have paused for a moment after arguing $12m for 0.1% speed improvement was good
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
WMATA said their fare gates are going to add eight figures of revenue this year in addition to lowering crime throughout the system. Estimated cost was $40 million, so four years.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
I mean… those things are not the same, Europe uses PoP and that seems fine but they are also competent at checking tickets there and have a lower monthly pass amount I’m not aware of a large system that has free fares and frequent service
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
The gates are increasing the revenue. This is currently happening throughout the BART system, as well as WMATA. In addition crime is down because people who commit crimes typically don’t pay the fare, and lower crime is also helping ridership.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Rear door boarding has already been funded in New York City. The readers exist on the buses. There is no “fresh funding crisis” for rear door boarding.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
It saved one tenth of one percent of time according to the data, at a cost of $12 million.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
The pilot demonstrates that the bus got slower during the pilot period
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
SFMTA also surveyed people who didn’t ride to ask why they didn’t ride and the top answers were that the bus was too slow and didn’t arrive often enough. It found a 30% *increase in boardings* not an increase in riders. This is an argument for a cheaper monthly pass.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
bsky.app/profile/burk...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Not sure what case exists for banning transgender surgery for minors that doesn’t also exist for banning plastic surgery for minors, maybe you could argue it’s less reversible? More cosmetic?
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Yes - they are able to deliver higher frequencies because of the revenue they get from collecting fares.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Somehow bus agencies in Europe and San Francisco have solved this, New York can try what they tried, it’s not a law of nature that people won’t pay.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Opposition to fare increases from “bus should be free” folks blew a $20 million hole in SFMTA’s budget and led to service cuts
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Sorry where in Europe do they have free fares. HSR in China is not free.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Maybe New York should try opening the rear doors on their buses, a feature that they paid for and then refused to turn on for some reason.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Maybe New York should try opening the rear doors on their buses, a feature that they paid for and then refused to turn on for some reason.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
This describes 1 in 100 workers in the country and many of them are people like teenagers or second earners usafacts.org/articles/min...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Surveys of low income transit riders repeatedly show they prefer more service to lower fares. At any level of service you could provide with free fares you could make riders better off by charging a fare and running more buses.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Good morning, a good day to read about the history of the multifamily building code in the US and how little of it related to safety www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Jeff Lazarus (@jlazarus.bsky.social) reposted
Not an original point but worth saying again - there is not a single element in this picture that identifies any of these folks as law enforcement agents. No badges, no uniforms, no vests. Out of context it just looks like a bunch of random guys are kidnapping a mayoral candidate.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
This is straightforwardly giving the customer what they are asking for (a lower monthly insurance premium, adequate coverage be damned). How is this malfeasance???
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Instead the insurance commissioner is taking the alternate approach of forcing existing insurers into pricing struggle sessions and then watching most of them leave the state altogether.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Many home insurers are using the same valuation tool to price California insurance. We should increase competition so more competitors enter who might try different software or different valuation models. www.sfchronicle.com/california-w...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
I don't know, there is lots of additional work in the bid if you look at it, you save a lot on water/mowing, they would have needed to reconstruct the grass fields anyway, and it's worth something to get a more consistent/better playing surface through the whole year as well
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
It’s 1.3 acres of park space Michael, how much could it cost to renovate it?
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
He knows who and what pays the bills that’s for sure. My dream is an audience that evolves past this caveman
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
I agree it’s nonsensical to have RCV in the primary and then let the same people run again on different ballot lines in a FPTP general election
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Counterpoint to recent @annielowrey.bsky.social piece is mini-Cuomo Sophie Hahn gets elected Berkeley mayor without RCV
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Which member of @cacommonground.bsky.social is depicted in this episode?
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
@eean.dev silence on this issue is deafening www.danvillesanramon.com/pleasanton/2...
Micah (@rincewind.run) reposted
this is a fantastic ruling but it's deeply depressing that the clearest-eyed condemnation of this administration's actions has come from the judges tasked with ruling on their legality and not the press ostensibly tasked with speaking truth to power
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Use github.com/openai/whisper, you can get automated transcription of youtube videos
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
The status quo exists in California because elected officials think it's good localnewsmatters.org/2025/06/15/s...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Finally the perfect podcast for my daily commute from Reno to the SF Peninsula.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
If only - Dean Preston’s staff replied to this data by saying that a plurality of public comments on the MTA budget were asking for lower fares (after Preston had posted on Twitter that people should write in and ask for lower fares.)
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Preference for a regular schedule is likely childcare related - one obvious policy implication is that more help with childcare might help women pursue jobs with irregular schedules which could reduce wage gaps
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Argument in this paper is that 2/3 of the gap between men's and women's wages can be explained by preference for non-salary "amenities" - things like a regular schedule or a safer job papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
It's pretty wild that you can just pull up audio of Brian Wilson arranging the song of his life at the click of a button www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVUB...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Filling out my beach boys brian Wilson apology form
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
That is probably the most dangerous section for pedestrians but no, lol, they are paving the flattest widest section of all of them
Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24.bsky.social) reposted
The president of the United States in our time is not supposed to wield armed troops and even station marines on American soil because of political speech and assembly he doesn’t like, that is typically not allowed and no I don’t care if any of it is technically “legal”
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Walnut Creek is spending $690k next year to add sidewalks on one of these four sections of San Miguel Drive. Guess which one.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
No thanks, I just do the charity golf tournament
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
I mean in the 90’s you didn’t stop hearing it the schools are packed and we always have to vote for new parcel taxes and bonds. I don’t think people have updated.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Guy in Danville sold his garden center to a developer who wanted to build senior housing/memory care instead of other bidders. Why I asked. Didn’t want to overload the schools.
Jeff Baker (@jwbee.bsky.social) reposted
Every school district in my area is cold-calling parents in other cities to get them to switch districts. It is a demographic certainty that without massive housing construction these districts are all shrinking.
Max Read (@maxread.info) reposted
if youre attacked by a roving gang of 40 year old men show them this poster as a distraction... will buy you at least an hour to escape
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Hardly the main point but most shocking thing to me was the airbag failing to deploy, that’s not new technology that’s just the car failing a basic decades old safety test www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Only about 1 in 20 people who were physically prevented from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge later committed suicide another way. Preventing people from jumping saved lives seattlefriends.org/files/seiden...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
One very counterintuitive thing is that suicide is a very impulsive act, you can actually reduce the number of suicides by making it harder to commit suicide. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/h...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
As someone who has been trying to expand housing supply in the suburbs for some time now I am available for comment on the Glaeser and Gyourko paper x.com/TahraHoops/s...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
For context, the downtown SF stations are 54 feet below ground level, but two important constraints there - the tunnel needs to be deep enough to go under the Bay and also run Muni above. No similar constraints here (I guess good they are not staying 90 feet deep)
Stephen Jacob Smith (@stephenjacobsmith.com) reposted
NYC’s business and real estate leaders should have taken city politics seriously and gotten behind the candidate with the best policies, then maybe one of the moderate candidates would have a shot against Mamdani
City Nolan (@ndhapple.bsky.social) reposted
"But the bridge lights were such a large expense — without a clear path to reimbursement — that they prevented the authority from issuing long term debt for years." -- www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
If you have a proprietary project that you don't want to allow anyone to use mark it as "UNLICENSED" in npm. If you want to dedicate software to the public domain and renounce your own interest in it mark it as "UNLICENSE" in npm.
ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper.com) reposted reply parent
thing about Cuomo is his posturing as the "get stuff done" candidate is complete bullshit. he *sucks* at management. an overconfident, sloppy moron who constantly makes howlingly bad decisions bsky.app/profile/timm...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
5 homes per acre on great infill site. Only $10m for the school district, $1m/acre. Fantastic
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Few people have been more vindicated than the "30-50 feral hogs" guy
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Good job Hayward voters taking advantage of a unique low interest rate environment to make investments in the city’s future
snilttroll (@snilttroll.bsky.social) reposted
apple should make it so all your family photos are automatically separated from photos of book pages and screenshots you’re saving to use against your enemies
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
“Most of this happened in the section of the yard shaded by trees.” sfstandard.com/2025/06/08/s...
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
Does American cultural dominance extend to mindless children’s entertainment, are Chinese 2 year olds also mainlining Blippi
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Are you working the Roots game?
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Society if we let people take heavy rail to the Santa Cruz beach.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social)
No rail service to Santa Cruz boardwalk because the Coastal Commission wants to “preserve the view” for the motorists parking in the 15 acre parking lot right next door change my mind
dereksagehorn.bsky.social (@dereksagehorn.bsky.social) reposted
Hope everyone is excited for the week’s biggest housing news: Oakland Planning Commission considering objective design standards for 1-3 story multifamily and 1-4 family unit housing on Wednesday afternoon.
M. Nolan Gray 🥑 (@mnolangray.bsky.social) reposted
The thing about institutions that aren't subject to any competitive pressure is that they decay.
Stephen Jacob Smith (@stephenjacobsmith.com) reposted reply parent
…is actually leaving first. So maybe they should just take down the often-inaccurate sign and put up a static one that says, “The train with more people on it is the one that’s leaving first.”
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Likely trouble getting financing for less than 1 space/unit, need more policy attention here
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Exactly, that’s why it would be a disaster to nominate someone named Barack Hussein Obama for president
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Right, definitely not something with any predictive power whatsoever.
August J. Pollak (@augustjpollak.bsky.social) reposted
I cannot stress enough that there is a double digit percentage of the population of this nation of more than 300 million people who sincerely believe these are the two smartest men in America.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Okay. The point of the post was that the author tested your assumption, by studying every election around the country, and that your assumption was wrong. People are more likely to vote for women than men, all else considered. The idea that women should not run for office is misogynist.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Should we run more women for office in 2028. Yes or no. I’m honestly curious about your answer.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
The context of the slide is a belief among many voters and donors that women can’t win so we should run white men. Jain’s argument is that women perform better than men so we should run excellent candidates regardless of their race or gender. Do you think we should run only white men in 2028?
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Can you read? The argument from the talk is we should run the best candidates regardless of race or gender The argument from the other side (your side?) is that we should only run white men, because *other people* are biased so women have no chance. There is no basis for this but people believe it!
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Your buddy who blocked me kicked this off by claiming that white people are more likely to vote for white candidates, a pernicious form of racial bias. The person who has actually done the research on this demonstrated that that's false.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
That's exactly the point. The person who did the presentation systematically analyzed every election in the country. And found that women outperform men. That's the basis for the assertion from the person who did the slides that we should run the best candidates for office regardless of gender.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
"Learn some goddamn manners" you're the only one who was making comments based on someone's appearance! I was happy to keep this focused on the actual terms of the debate.
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
I’m honestly curious. Do you think we should run more mediocre white men? Are you capable for independent thought, forming your own opinion on anything, or do you just take the opposite opinion of people you don’t like, no matter what it is?
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
It’s irrelevant whether we should run more women in 2028 even if they have a higher chance of winning than men? You know a substantial portion of the base thinks we only should run white men right?
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
Do you think we should run more women for office in 2028?
Kevin Burke (@burke.bsky.social) reply parent
I didn’t deliberately do anything, my apologies, they have a unclear avatar and they blocked me anyway so I can’t tell what gender they are supposed to be