Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 1h

According to Wikipedia, Sinn Féin current political platform includes:

- Unification of Ireland
- Northern Ireland joining Ireland in charging for plastic bags

I’m not sure if this says more about leftist politics or Wikipedia editors

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Reposted by Joe Cohen

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 3h

The wild success of the upzoning near the Expo/Bundy station in west LA suggests that similar transit oriented upzonings will spur significant housing construction.

Hunter Owens @hunterowens.net · 12h

man, the Expo TNP upzoning around Expo Bundy is really resulting in huge results - was at the station yesterday and saw 4 buildings under construction, and now this

la.urbanize.city/post/eight-s...

Eight-story, 42-unit development planned at 2219 S. Wellsely Avenue

In a familiar tale, single-family homes located just south of Metro's Expo/Bundy Station in Sawtelle are set to give way to apartments, according to a recent application to the Los Angeles Department ...

la.urbanize.city

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 2h

I feel like they paid $400 on Cameo for that

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 3h

This is an actual ad I just got for the City of Bakersfield.

Why does the slogan “You’ll Never Leave” sound like a threat?

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Reposted by Joe Cohen

Rory Stolzenberg @rorystolzenberg.bsky.social · 12h

NFPA responds to this Pew study showing modern multi-family housing is safer than detached houses with a column attacking single-stair reform.

Affordability arguments are "dubious" and pushed by "special interests" — citing high profits for… single-family homebuilders.

www.nfpa.org/news-blogs-a...

What some advocates and special interests in the building industry are now proposing around the country is an expansion of single-stair construction well beyond that threshold—in some cases allowing single-stair construction in buildings up to six stories tall. These changes are being pushed legislatively, some with literally no debate or input from safety officials, and outside the safeguards of an independent, consensus-driven code process.

...

In short, the fire safety record of newer buildings should not be used to justify shortcuts in the very process that made them safe. And, we should not rely on dubious estimates on affordability from the home building industry, which has posted record profits in recent years.

Housing affordability is a serious issue, but the solution can’t be sacrificing safety to protect developer profits. Everyone deserves a safe place to live, regardless of income, zip code, or building height.

NAHB’s New Study Provides Statistics and Data on Builder Financial Performance
...

The 2025 edition of The Cost of Doing Business Study reveals significant trends in the financial performance of builders:

On average, single-family builders reported higher gross and net profit margins in 2023 than in 2020. Their average 8.7% net profit margin was the highest in more than three decades and second only to the series peak of 10% in 1991.

The average gross profit margin increased from 18.2% in 2020 to 20.7% in 2023.
The average net profit margin rose from 7.0% to 8.7% during this period.

https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/press-releases/2025/04/nahbs-new-study-provides-statistics-and-data-on-builder-financial-performance?utm_source=chatgpt.com

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 13h

2) It provides enough benefit to make the costs worth it:

Depending on the size of the project, it offers 0.5 - 2.0 additional FAR and 1-2 floors of height.

This allows buildings to be 15-40% larger, which can make a HUGE difference for marginal projects

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 13h

Why does LA's Public Benefit Option work so well?

1) They listened to architects + developers about feasibility:

Originally, it called for 15% 3 bedroom units, but 3br units are ~2x the size of 1br units, so that would be 30% of space.

They lowered it to 10%, feasible in most projects

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 15h

It's really cool seeing public policy working as intended.

Thanks to CHIP's "Public Benefit Option," most new development proposals in LA now have at least 10% 3-bedroom units.

It's a rare instance where incentive design was calibrated perfectly.

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 15h

It's really cool seeing public policy working as intended.

Thanks to CHIP's "Public Benefit Option," most new development proposals in LA now have at least 10% 3-bedroom units.

It's a rare instance where incentive design was calibrated perfectly.

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 1d

Can I repost this on Twitter?

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Reposted by Joe Cohen

Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 1d

The California fire marshal has created an email address for comments from the public on the legislatively mandated single-exit work group: [email protected]

If you have any comments (any at all, whether particularly novel or not), please send them.

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 1d

Woah! Richard Neutra's Jardinette Apartments, which was one of the (if not the) first modernist building built in the United States, is undergoing a full historic restoration.

The building is located at Western and Marathon near East Hollywood

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 1d

If you're running for governor as a Democrat, you might want to think about taking down the framed picture of George W. Bush when reporters come to visit your office...

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 1d

Yes

Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 1d

Have you ever seen fake concrete block on a wood-frame building?

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 2d

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 2d

The developer is building another project with a Costco.

www.sfgate.com/la/article/c...

Costco's bold new plan for the California housing crisis

Costco is quietly working on its biggest new innovation in years.

www.sfgate.com

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 2d

Thrive Living, the developer behind the Costco monster, has a new ED 1 affordable housing project in the works on Pico in West LA.

Making this project unique (for ED 1) are ground-floor retail, three(!) stories of underground parking, and a few three-bedroom units.

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Reposted by Joe Cohen

Dark Bedroom Enjoyer 7’4” 520 lb @dingbattitude.bsky.social · 3d

Here’s the only thing getting built near the A Line in Karen Bass’s pro-housing Los Angeles: a car dealership garage. End this farce @governor.ca.gov @gavinnewsom.bsky.social and sign SB 79!

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 3d

That’s the HCD map, which doesn’t have the data I needed

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 3d

Oh, shit, I found (some of) it!

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 3d

(In case you thought *I* was this nerdy, so far I've only been able to find one small screenshot from the map that I saved)

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 3d

I can't imagine anyone is quite this nerdy, but anyone have a local copy of LA's 2021 Housing Element candidate sites for rezoning? The Storymap is offline.

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 3d

Yea, I’ve thought about this for a while. I’m surprised it hasn’t been suggested by anyone serious.

Probably less than ideal, but given the political landscape across the country, it seems like it might be the best feasible way to move forward

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 4d

There's a ramen restaurant in Madison, WI that has a dish called "cat rice" that I absolutely love.

In theory, it's just a donburi/poke bowl, but I've never had anything that tastes remotely like it at any other restaurant.

I would kill for some cat rice right now.

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 4d

I made a version just for him:
bsky.app/profile/did:...

Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 4d

This video is for @gavinnewsom.bsky.social and Gavin Newsom only!

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