Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Andersen

@andersem.bsky.social

3.9K followers 510 following 11K posts

Believer, skeptic, humanist, typist & dad. Trying to make places fairer as director of cities + towns for @Sightline.org, here in Portland OR. Views here: mine, all mine.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Michael Andersen

Aidan T @buildhomes.bsky.social · 19h

Another bill they're talking about bringing up again is one that benefits homeowners at the expense of renters is the corporate homeownership ban. Allowing people to rent single family homes gives renters the ability to live in all neighborhoods.

1 6

Reposted by Michael Andersen

Emily Hamilton @ebwhamilton.bsky.social · 18h

Love this new report on buildings' relative fire safety from @alexhrwtz.bsky.social and Pew colleagues.

www.pew.org/en/research-...

1 19 100

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 1d

Lender, developer, capital investor

Reposted by Michael Andersen

macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 2d

Trump has been able to get away with what he by the laziness of past Congresses. They let US Presidents have too much leeway.

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 2d

All of these excesses can be reined in, if not entirely eliminated, by Congress—or at least by a Congress not under Donald Trump’s thumb. All it needs is the wisdom to recognize its own crucial role in creating this problem.

Reining in Rogue Presidents

How ambiguities in the law gave Trump power he could seize—and what a future Congress can do about it.

www.thebulwark.com

1 6

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 2d

Did it ever? Would the John Ross etc have penciled at what turned to be the price of those homes in like 2018? Or was it a bad gamble by Homer Williams et al?

2 2

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 3d

I’m not sure those are mutually exclusive! But maybe they were just bluffing

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 3d

Good summary www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/o...

We also knew what would happen next. Before there was a chance to mourn the dead, partisans online worked to find out the identity of the gunman and his ideology. After all, the combatants in the culture war have a voracious need for political ammunition. It’s important to constantly prove that “they” are evil, and “they” want you dead.

1 4

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 3d

It was like an unprofitable startup that the employees know will have the juice one way or another

1 1

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 3d

The one and only

1 1

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 3d

2 2

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 3d

1 2 5

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 3d

We also had pizza on an abandoned commercial stoop next to a bottle of jager

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 3d

The Neofuturists still got it. “If I lived here I would go there every month,” my friend said. neofuturists.org/events/thein...

2 3

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 3d

IMO @zyudhishthu.bsky.social nails it on mandatory minimum densities: you CAN do them right, but the benefits are so minimal & the risks so inevitable that they're not worth the trouble pencillingout.substack.com/p/can-we-boo...

In Minneapolis’s downtown, development must be 10 stories tall with a 4.0 FAR, while different transit-adjacent areas have minimum heights ranging from 2 to 10 stories.

This policy has come into play a couple of times in the past few years. For example, in 2023, a developer wanted to build a seven-story, 135-unit building next to Minneapolis’s Prospect Park Green Line stop. However, the lot was zoned for a 10-story height minimum and city staff refused to grant a variance for a seven-story building. The development was rejected, and no new construction has occurred on the lot.

6 30

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 4d

like the sweat rings of pint glasses, such are the days of our lives www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqUy...

Temporarily Humboldt County

YouTube video by The Firesign Theatre - Topic

www.youtube.com

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 4d

The above is not a knock on Jewel Kilcher

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 4d

The place temporarily known as the Art Institute of Chicago

2 4

Reposted by Michael Andersen

Diary of a Black Cat Crossing Your Path in Despair @jcc333.bsky.social · 5d

“They style themselves bold truth-tellers, but the fear has consumed them.”
Good stuff going on in here

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 5d

funny you should mention this the day i publish

www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-mu...

Democrats Must Embrace War Mindset

We have exited a long period of peace and entered into a struggle not unlike war, in which all the old certainties have gone malleable and the future of the republic is at stake.

www.liberalcurrents.com

3 19

Reposted by Michael Andersen

Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 5d

Have we passed peak social media? @jburnmurdoch.ft.com here www.ft.com/content/a072...

31 130 470

Reposted by Michael Andersen

David Waldron @davidawaldron.bsky.social · 5d

We hear a lot about the promise of middle-skills jobs, with a heavy emphasis on blue collar trades. But in the past four decades, those are the jobs where wages have fallen below the median wage.

Chart showing median wages by occupation relative to overall median wage, comparing 1980 to 2023 on a log scale. Jobs are grouped by education level. Key findings: Many blue-collar jobs requiring only high school diplomas (forklift operators, taxi drivers, janitors) earned above median in 1980 but fell below median by 2023. Middle-skill construction and manufacturing jobs mostly remain near or above median. Healthcare occupations have increased relative to median wage over time. Jobs requiring bachelor's or graduate degrees consistently pay above median, with highest earners including physicians, lawyers, and software developers. Chart illustrates declining relative wages for traditionally blue-collar work over four decades.

2 16 37

Reposted by Michael Andersen

iain @maccoinnich.bsky.social · 5d

First Thursday

Portland, OR

3 12 90

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 5d

This is my Chicago weekend thread btw

1 6

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 5d

I heard a Jewel song for the first time in 20 years today. I was at the Jewel. Coincidence?

2 1

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 5d

A thing I learned recently: having a zillion zoning districts within a city slows down permitting, because it reduces the chance that a given design has already been approved elsewhere in town

12 67