Ben Christopher
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frombenc.bsky.social
Ben Christopher
@frombenc.bsky.social
Housing reporter @calmatters.org. Occasional dad tweets. Tell me things: [email protected] / signal: BenC.2017
Very fun read on the builder's remedy in California: "the land use equivalent of plutonium"

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/b...
The Housing Strategy That Has California NIMBYs in a Corner
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
"For YIMBYs and other champions of more housing development, ditching the extra staircase has become a surprisingly buzzy cause. In Culver City, they have a test case."

https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/11/ca-single-stair-culver-city/
One California city’s idea to tackle the housing crisis: Take the stairs
For champions of more housing development, ditching the extra staircase has become a buzzy cause in fighting California's housing crisis.
calmatters.org
November 19, 2025 at 3:02 PM
I wrote about how Culver City became the first municipality in California (and likely the last for now) to ditch the ubiquitous two staircase requirement for mid-rises. As YIMBYs turn to impediments to construction beyond zoning, Culver City is an early test case.

calmatters.org/housing/2025...
One California city’s idea to tackle the housing crisis: Take the stairs
For champions of more housing development, ditching the extra staircase has become a buzzy cause in fighting California's housing crisis.
calmatters.org
November 17, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
Clearly, this is the long con to take both your job and your wife! Wake up, Ben!
November 14, 2025 at 5:48 PM
ChatGPT is apparently both pro-journalists using ChatGPT and pro-family.
November 13, 2025 at 9:30 PM
You‘re treating yourself to a birthday trip to Mexico and you only have $170K (allegedly). How do you spend it?

calmatters.org/politics/202...
November 13, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
Breaking: It’s a yes for Prop. 50. California voters approved the measure to temporarily suspend the state’s nonpartisan citizens redistricting commission until 2030. bit.ly/3WAJfhI

📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social& @jeannereporter.bsky.social
📸 Ted Soqui
November 5, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Senate Bill 79 makes it easier to build homes near major public transit stops.

For opponents of rezoning, the only way to stop the prospect of apartments is to battle the bus.

calmatters.org/housing/2025...
A new law makes it easier to build homes near buses. Guess what housing opponents are doing now
After Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law to allow mid-rise apartment buildings near major transit stops, opponents of new housing have a new reason to battle the bus.
calmatters.org
October 22, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
BREAKING: Ninth Circuit Court panel sides with Trump in Oregon National Guard case, staying Judge Immergut's original TRO. The two GOP-appointed judges decided on a stay. The Dem-appointed judge wrote a dissent.

This isn't much of a surprise, given the questioning we saw during oral argument.
storage.courtlistener.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Notable finding in a new paper on how California cities have responded to AB 2097, which scrapped minimum parking requirements for housing developments near major transit stops.

At least one city just ignored the law for housing near future, planned projects.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
October 17, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Grand Prairie, Texas, I was not familiar with your game.
The ways that Texas NIMBYs are finding to make apartments more expensive to build are are funnier than what coastal NIMBYs come up with reason.com/2025/10/14/t...

by @christianb.bsky.social
October 16, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said
October 15, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
Housing advocates who viewed SB79 as a potential sea change say it became diluted during the political process. The bill’s primary sponsor calls it a “a remarkably strong bill.”
This new California law could put more homes near transit. Our map shows where they'd be built
Housing advocates who viewed SB79 as a potential sea change say it became diluted during the political process. The bill’s primary sponsor calls it a “a remarkably strong bill.”
bit.ly
October 10, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Ben Metcalf @ternerhousing.bsky.social: "If costs come down and interest rates drop, you can imagine we’ve set the table for a building boom."

calmatters.org/housing/2025...
Gavin Newsom signs law overhauling local zoning to build more housing
After weeks of waiting, California’s governor signed a bill that will allow mid-rise apartment buildings near major transit stops in California’s biggest metro areas.
calmatters.org
October 10, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
After weeks of waiting, California's governor signed a bill that will allow mid-rise apartment buildings near major transit stops in California's biggest metro areas. https://cal.news/4n3hzge

📝 @frombenc.bsky.social
📸 Ray Chavez
October 10, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Every single person in my feed:

What's the deal with SB 79? Has Newsom signed SB 79? What is Newsom waiting for on SB 79? Newsom better veto SB 79! If Newsom doesn't sign SB 79 tonight I'm going to move to Canada. I'm launching a SB 79 shot clock widget SB 79 S!B 79 SB 79

Newsom:
October 10, 2025 at 3:04 AM
In 2023, Los Altos Hills, a mansion-studded bedroom community above Silicon Valley, vowed to legalize some apartments at the north end of town.

Now, facing a project that would include the town’s first-ever affordable housing, the town is having second thoughts.

calmatters.org/housing/2025...
Why this wealthy Bay Area suburb is at the center of the next big fight over California housing
Los Altos Hills agreed to legalize some apartment buildings. Now it wants a do-over.
calmatters.org
October 9, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
Los Altos Hills agreed to legalize some apartment buildings. Now, with a project proposed at Twin Oaks that would include the town’s first-ever affordable housing units, the wealthy Bay Area suburb is having second thoughts. https://cal.news/47hCdV6

📝 @frombenc.bsky.social
Why this wealthy Bay Area suburb is at the center of the next big fight over California housing
Los Altos Hills agreed to legalize some apartment buildings. Now it wants a do-over.
cal.news
October 9, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Here's why the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a low-tax advocacy group, seems intent on making Los Angeles' “mansion tax” the face of their statewide tax-capping ballot measure campaign.

calmatters.org/housing/2025...
California is about to have a massive fight over taxes. Here’s why Los Angeles is the frontline
A low-tax advocacy group seems intent on making the Los Angeles “mansion tax” the face of their statewide tax-capping ballot measure campaign.
calmatters.org
October 6, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
BREAKING: Immergut has *granted* Oregon and California's motion to block the new call-up of Guard troops to Portland. She says this effort to bring CA and TX troops to Oregon is in "direct contravention" of her oroginal order.
October 6, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
I spoke to a Venezuelan woman who was arrested in this raid and later released with her 4yo son. She said agents broke down their door, pointed guns at them and made sexualized remarks about Venezuelan women. When she returned to her apartment it was boarded up and all her possessions were gone.
October 4, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Ben Christopher
One of my favorite anecdotes from THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE: "That doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know."
October 1, 2025 at 6:13 PM