there is a direct connection between NIMBYism and the anti-migrant turn in US politics (and you see it happening in Canadian politics too)
Replies
A rejection of any notion of a future that is different from the past
aug 25, 2025, 8:27 pm • 0 0 • view
I donate to a great nonprofit (www.oasislegalservices.org) which helps LGBT folks persecuted in their home countries get asylum in the US; for the Bay Area branch of the org it’s incredibly difficult to find places for asylees to live
aug 25, 2025, 4:33 pm • 2 0 • view
This is an excellent take.
aug 25, 2025, 7:01 pm • 0 0 • view
It's amazing how fascism just *shows up* when a) people are insecure, b) looking for someone to fix things and c) centrist governments develop an allergy to economic interventionism outside of "tax cuts".
aug 25, 2025, 6:42 pm • 3 1 • view
Goes all the way back to MLK & the civil rights movement
aug 26, 2025, 7:46 am • 0 0 • view
And it's short-sighted to think about anti-migrant sentiment as being only a red state Republican position.
aug 25, 2025, 4:09 pm • 7 0 • view
"Mass over immigration is a corpate plot to keep rents high and wages low! New housing won't help anyone because of our immigration" is an increasingly common left NIMBY talking point
aug 25, 2025, 5:05 pm • 11 0 • view
Oh wow that is repulsive.
aug 27, 2025, 5:35 am • 2 0 • view
and we know they haven't moved on from the vacant condos/[chinese/saudis/russians/insert foreigners here] buying up condos and not using them talking point, whether it's in vancouver or SF
aug 25, 2025, 5:37 pm • 5 0 • view
There's some slight truth to the use of real estate as an asset and not as housing, but it's an infinitely easier policy ask than telling homeowners that they need to pay more in taxes.
aug 25, 2025, 6:28 pm • 0 0 • view
And RE only makes a good investment because its artificially limited. The moment we allow enough housing to always meet demand, it will not be an attractive speculative investment.
aug 25, 2025, 6:51 pm • 5 0 • view
Agreed completely, and it’s why the freedom of movement civil rights struggle will include YIMBYism bsky.app/profile/bana...
aug 26, 2025, 1:51 am • 0 0 • view
you've got to provide for the homeless AND you have to provide more housing
aug 25, 2025, 4:34 pm • 148 6 • view
You also need to build shelters for emergency situations and provide effective case management to ensure the clientele do eventually move on to more permanent, stable housing situations, ensuring that beds remain open for future emergency situations (looking at you, West Coast).
aug 25, 2025, 4:38 pm • 69 6 • view
Rude of you to note the West Coast words not deeds ethos has helped no one.
aug 25, 2025, 4:47 pm • 20 1 • view
You are beyond cooking you are preaching gospel
aug 25, 2025, 3:59 pm • 32 0 • view
Remember that one guy telling the other day that San Francisco was as dense as Hong Kong? Good times.
aug 25, 2025, 4:16 pm • 37 0 • view
i asked some of my berkeley/oakland biker pals about that tom holub guy and his reputation precedes him (read:they all know him to have an unparalleled case of dunning-kruger). it's so bad he once tried to whitesplain the black american experience to a black city of oakland employee on twitter
aug 25, 2025, 5:33 pm • 18 0 • view
My favorite line was when he scoffed at me for being an urbanist because I lived in Charlotte, as if I somehow don't recognize Charlotte's problems!
aug 25, 2025, 5:34 pm • 18 0 • view
honestly knowing that he tried to whitesplain to a black guy what it's like being black in america makes that so much funnier
aug 25, 2025, 5:35 pm • 3 0 • view
Urbanists are created by bad urban planning
aug 26, 2025, 5:25 am • 5 0 • view
I live in NJ which is both a success and failure mode of urbanism (Gutenberg is the densest part of the U.S. but no transit besides busses! Union city denset real municipality but no rail)
aug 26, 2025, 1:37 pm • 3 0 • view
North NJ is a hellscape for cars with barely any public transit, truly the LA of the east At least NJT is pretty convenient as long as you’re close to a station and are only interested in going to NYC
aug 26, 2025, 1:41 pm • 1 0 • view
Let me build Path 2 and I will finish the fight.
aug 26, 2025, 1:43 pm • 2 0 • view
I’d kill for expanded PATH and more lines like it (especially if they transfer between each other), I used the hell out of it in college Had to go to JC this weekend and could not figure out any convenient way to get in via public transit, made the miserable decision to drive in
aug 26, 2025, 1:44 pm • 1 0 • view
See I would do PATH via Bergline/JFK to new city and probably convert the spring valley line to metro and then build a connection to Tunnels, add some passing sidings for spring valley to enable peak 10 minuet service
aug 26, 2025, 1:46 pm • 2 0 • view
Every gentrification discourse eventually just turns into Trumps build the wall philosophy on a smaller scale.
aug 25, 2025, 4:41 pm • 11 0 • view
it is absolutely *wild* the degree to which the two are inextricable now and how deep the narrative has penetrated. talk to a random person and there's a good chance they believe there is a housing affordability crisis AND the government gives free housing, jobs, and cash payments to new immigrants.
aug 25, 2025, 4:50 pm • 35 5 • view
When NYC was “full” and Manhattan overcrowded at the turn of the 20th Century due to large numbers of immigrants seeking economic opportunity, public works and private industry collaborated to build the subway and settle the outer boroughs. That’s the spirit we need to bring back.
aug 25, 2025, 3:49 pm • 60 7 • view
The absolute best was hearing Liberals complain about large structures being built in their neighborhoods to house newcomers…they had the nerve to say they were against them simply because they weren’t good enough 😂
aug 27, 2025, 8:48 pm • 0 0 • view
I also belong to my community association that’s ultra Left leaning yet had major concerns over the 3 story dense housing project built up the street from me…
aug 27, 2025, 8:51 pm • 0 0 • view
I keep saying “woke/chad houkou” would win in a landslide
aug 25, 2025, 4:54 pm • 12 0 • view
*whispering* Stockholm uses the housing system even Cuba abandoned for queuing for decades for an apartment, forcing everyone to sublet illegally/without rights for a lifetime.
aug 25, 2025, 5:27 pm • 6 0 • view
Actually come to think of it, a plausible winning immigration platform is “open borders but you get to impose residency permits for your county”, which pretty much means the U.S. breaks up but quietly
aug 25, 2025, 5:13 pm • 7 0 • view
oof 😬
aug 25, 2025, 5:14 pm • 4 0 • view
I’m not saying this is a good idea, just that it’s a plausible trajectory
aug 25, 2025, 5:17 pm • 4 0 • view
yeah, I hear you. having a visceral reaction to the idea of "papers, please" at each county line, enforced by the local sheriff.
aug 25, 2025, 5:19 pm • 6 0 • view
"What if the basis of the next federal government were the E-ZPass Group"
aug 26, 2025, 5:31 am • 11 0 • view
the "America's full" or "we're closed" mentality has a lot to do with intentionally closing off spaces, growing out rather than building more housing god the number of problems the lack of affordable housing in big cities is causing boggles the mind
aug 25, 2025, 3:47 pm • 133 8 • view
100% sincerely! bsky.app/profile/amat...
aug 25, 2025, 3:49 pm • 68 2 • view
would cost disease in healthcare/education/etc even hurt that much if we addressed housing?
aug 25, 2025, 4:41 pm • 2 0 • view
everything is housing except housing, which is gender
aug 25, 2025, 3:50 pm • 112 9 • view
“This Whole Thing Smacks of Housing," i holler as i overturn my uncle's barbeque grill and turn the 4th of July into the 4th of Shit.
aug 25, 2025, 3:54 pm • 80 6 • view
"playing 'house'?" oh, you better believe that's some gender
aug 25, 2025, 3:57 pm • 11 0 • view
Individual houses is masculine and collective housing is feminine. I will not be taking questions at the time
aug 25, 2025, 9:27 pm • 4 0 • view
i lol'd, thank you
aug 25, 2025, 4:16 pm • 2 0 • view
Except we also have tons and tons of empty land that’s far less marginal than arabian desert but isn’t even being used. America has room for over a billion without feeling crowded if well dispersed. The issue is stimulus, we’re not making it better to build up new places, we make it super illegal.
aug 25, 2025, 4:00 pm • 5 0 • view
Sprawling out is environmentally destructive and should be limited to the extent practical. Instead, we should focus most of our growth on densifying the areas we've already built on--fewer large-lot suburbs, more walkable rowhouse neighborhoods and sixplexes with convenient bus lines.
aug 25, 2025, 4:07 pm • 18 0 • view
the environmental cost of building out is not justifiable
aug 25, 2025, 4:19 pm • 5 0 • view