Markus Johnson
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markusja.bsky.social
Markus Johnson
@markusja.bsky.social
220 followers 79 following 470 posts
Abundant housing, abundant transit, & abundant bike lanes in our cities occupies a lot of my thinking. I'm sure other pieces of my personality will peek through over time.
Consider reading: https://medium.com/@markusjohnson2195
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markusja.bsky.social
One week after doing this nonsense
January 19, 2026 at 3:59 AM
markusja.bsky.social
I'm sure I've been missing these ultra highlight throws the entire season, but look at Caleb's feet here! He threw the ball 40+ yards essentially flat footed???
January 19, 2026 at 3:57 AM
markusja.bsky.social
A reminder of staff's original proposal. In and around the area I live, you can see the areas attached to the transit corridors designation would have seen apartment zoning sometimes 3-5 blocks off where the bus route is.
Also, adding Alt 5 EIS map for comparison.
How staff's original proposal changed from the previous mayor's first proposal. Stripped away much of the corridor upzones. Much of Greenlake, TangleTown, north of Gas Works, and Queen Anne, would have had apartment zoning under staff proposal. An EIS map that showed what alternative 5 would have allowed interms of heights throughout the city of Seattle. Urban Center up to 145' Neighborhood Center to 75' Corridors up to 55'
January 9, 2026 at 6:24 PM
markusja.bsky.social
To be a little more specific the number of units is tied to a unit/sf. But yes, no catch.
January 2, 2026 at 4:41 PM
markusja.bsky.social
I've reread this thread for something I'm writing & I'm trying to understand the impact of this one. This seems to specifically impact construction efficiency. Is the hold up here instead of having bores race to the middle & go 2500 ft at a time. They are forced to twin bore & stop every 800 ft?
January 2, 2026 at 12:38 AM
markusja.bsky.social
Oh no. Got to stop this one
Sketched Face of despair with completely dark eyeballs
December 15, 2025 at 7:58 PM
markusja.bsky.social
The city's news drop reads like the technical scissor stair change is reducing stair entry separation distance to 4.5m (15ft) for smaller footprint buildings. Is there something else or is this what you mean by opening it up to other construction types?
council.vancouver.ca/20251210/doc...
“ A-3.4.2.3.(5) Distance Between Exits for Small Residential Buildings. The provision to decrease the minimum distance between exits for small residential buildings to 4.5 m is intended to facilitate construction of buildings with space efficient egress using scissor stairs. The 4.5 m distance takes into consideration the geometry of scissor stairs and floor to floor elevation differences in a typical residential building. See also Note A-3.2.10 for fire protection and firefighting assumptions in the development of this code provision. The intent is all existing code provisions for a building with scissor stairs remain unchanged except for the relaxation of distance between exit doors from a floor area, and their discharge points, for small buildings of residential occupancy only.
December 11, 2025 at 1:12 PM
markusja.bsky.social
5. Screenshot was a potential downside I hadn't thought about before & seems worth bringing up.

It doesn't change my thinking that social housing in the US provides space to fill needs in/influence sub-markets or allow a focus on how many people live there vs units. But all within reason...
Another downside is the potential for crowd out: building social housing results in the private sector building fewer housing units. The benefits of new social units are offset, therefore, by the opportunity cost of social housing subsidies. Research in France suggests that each unit of social housing results in the private sector building nearly two fewer units, driven by social landlords building lower density projects than what private developers would have built in the same location (Chapelle, 2018).
November 30, 2025 at 10:53 PM
markusja.bsky.social
4. Ability to move in the France social housing system is difficult. Given their system is a hybrid between US affordable housing system & public developer, it seems similar to how movement between affordable units is difficult in the US context.
Globally, mobility rates among public or social housing tenants are generally much lower than renters in the private sector. In France, moving within the social housing system is especially difficult.14 Moving outside of the housing options owned by your current social landlord is rare. Tenants must make a new request for social housing and landlords must arrange for an exchange of tenants (Agence Nationale de Contrôle du Logement Social, 2024). As a result, mobility rates are much lower for social tenants than for renters in the private sector (21% of households moved in a recent four-year period compared to 49%), but are nonetheless more than twice those of homeowners (8%) (Delance and Vignolles, 2017). Anecdotal accounts suggest that many social tenants consume more housing15 than they would in the private sector because moving is complicated. Other countries have more advanced systems of moves within their social housing stock. For example, the Netherlands have regional waiting lists that allow current residents to see options for moving throughout their tenancy and move between landlords without an exchange of tenants (Buurma-Olsen et al., 2023).
November 30, 2025 at 10:53 PM
markusja.bsky.social
3. Landlords with older stock don't build as much new stuff as landlords with new stock, as maintenance of old buildings eats into available equity to put towards developing new buildings.
Governments considering creating new systems may be particularly interested in the importance of revenue generated by landlords’ older housing stock for funding new housing production. The strategy of using rents from existing stock to fund new production is sometimes called “milking the cow.” For places without a large existing social housing sector, France’s apparent reliance on this approach might seem daunting. However, Goffette-Nagot et al. (2025) provide some good news for these places — they find that landlords with older stock do not build at a higher rate than other landlords. In fact, landlords with a higher share of new stock build at a higher rate. This implies that maintenance costs and rental regulations limit the equity potential of older stock.
November 30, 2025 at 10:53 PM
markusja.bsky.social
1. France has a mandatory employer contribution of 0.45% of total payroll, earmarked for the finance, build, or rehab of social housing & plugs employees to such housing.

@spokanerising.com I'm still green when it comes to tax policy, but might be something to consider in your WA state rethinking
An additional source of funding comes from a mandatory employer contribution known as the Participation des Employeurs à l’Effort de Construction. Employers with more than 50 employees must contribute 0.45% of total payroll from the previous year. These funds are used by Action Logement, a government-owned nonprofit, to finance, build, and rehabilitate social housing, as well as assist employees of contributing companies with access to social housing through over 100 local offices. In 2023, they lent over €2 billion to social housing landlords (Action Logement, 2023).
November 30, 2025 at 10:53 PM
markusja.bsky.social
Points to how important dealing with condo defect litigation is. The study was based on a 512 unit condo building in Honolulu, where Hawaii's right to repair & mandatory mediation policies allow condos to be 40% of apartment units.
share.google/88fc4Lx5pITu...
Highlighting text that says "in 2022, 40% of multifamily units in Hawaii were owner-occupied..." and "under Hawaii statute, mediation is mandated if requested by a condominium owner..."
November 28, 2025 at 6:48 PM
markusja.bsky.social
Also, pointing to the research from Eriksen & Orlando (2021) that the cost of extra height is nonlinear & tends to happen at different break points when construction material & building code ramps up requirements. So, allowing single stair to reach the height before highrise codes kicks-in, is good.
November 13, 2025 at 10:02 PM
markusja.bsky.social
Modern ladder trucks when?
Modern fire truck regularly used in Europe, where part of the ladder goes almost straight up while firefighter cabin on ladder is horizontal
October 31, 2025 at 5:57 AM
markusja.bsky.social
Shoutout to the pre-teens that started their own "Trump Down, Tridents Up" chant as the march started.
Also, haven't thought about hangman in years
Protest sign "Make Lying Wrong Again" Collection of grim reapers and what they are setting death to - "death to abortion bans, medicaid cuts, queer suicide, cuts to trans care, etc." Protesters and signs underneath the space needle No Kings, hangman kids game sign with a king hanging and almost spelling out "Trump"
October 18, 2025 at 10:44 PM
markusja.bsky.social
I've referred to it as missing tall housing, which is how I would categorize DC's NoMa development & Bethesda development. Trying to categorize the development between midrise and skyscrapers.
medium.com/@markusjohns...
12-13 story highrise in Bethesda New 12-13 story highrise by NoMa metro station New 12-13 story highrise visible from NoMa metro station platform
October 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
markusja.bsky.social
$835 million we can figure some heating system so the pool is usable most of the year. Covered/operable play area that changes setup based on the season - water in summer, ice skating/hockey winter, inflatable field day courses during spring
Massive Public pool and spray pad in Aostria, NYC Play space called the shipyards in North Vancouver BC. Has Retractable doors and positions water themed play areas during the summer to help cool off. Rainbow Park in Vancouver BC. Urban park in downtown Vancouver, with trampoline elevated bridge play area, spray pad, and neighboring Cafe Little kids doing ball practice on one of the NYC piers while parents watch
September 7, 2025 at 5:58 AM
markusja.bsky.social
A collection of urban schools, urban rec centers, urban playfields, urban pools, and maybe a observatory or planetarium.
Coal Harbour Elementary School being built on a site about one acre large in downtown Vancouver, right on the water. A fifteen-minute walk from both nearby SkyTrain stations, the 11-story 127-foot building houses a 340-student elementary school on the first three floors, a daycare for 64 kids on the fourth floor, an outdoor play space on the rooftop of the school accessed via the fifth floor, and 60 units of affordable housing in the top six floors. The Lucila Rubio de Laverde School (LRLS) is part of an ambitious program to build 35 public schools throughout Bogotá within five years. The building was designed as a vertical school with a second-story outdoor rooftop gathering and play space and classrooms in the six-story structure facing north. A ten story recreation center in Bogota. Offers art, sports, recreation, and cultural activities. Baseball playfield in Manhattan NYC, Battery Park, with the back drop of skyscrapers in the financial district
September 7, 2025 at 5:58 AM
markusja.bsky.social
New Toronto barrier sighting along Ravenna Blvd!! Anyone know if these bad boys will go all the way down to Woodlawn Ave/Greenlake loop?
Toronto barrier bike lanes being installed on opposite side if street from where I was riding Riding in the Toronto barrier bike lane along Ravenna Blvd
August 24, 2025 at 3:16 AM
markusja.bsky.social
Promoting the beauty of elevated rail? Love this stretch of Skytrain with the wide sidewalks, wide median separated bike lane, trees, and one way drive lane.
Approaching train on elevated rails, next to tree lined sidewalk and protected bike lane Elevated rail, next to tree lined sidewalk and protected bike lane
August 7, 2025 at 12:31 AM
markusja.bsky.social
Goodness didn't even realize what I had happened upon when visiting there last month!
Shore Blvd open street in Astoria Park. I think there's still a local one way, but don't remember seeing cars on it while walking. Astoria Park looking out at East River Astoria Park Public Pool with RFK bridge in background.
August 6, 2025 at 12:39 AM
markusja.bsky.social
Some other niche travel pictures include this 2,500 lb capacity elevator in a 5 story office building in Kensington MD (D.C. are).
Elevator signage & buttons. Notes that the elevator is 2,500 lb capacity Photo of the inside of the elevator.
July 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
markusja.bsky.social
Also, the hotel had the quirky Chicago building code aspect with the attached exterior staircase. But it was locked and only supposed to be used for emergencies. So, the building was essentially a 17 story single-stair building
Circulation floor plan for Chicago 17 story hotel
July 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
markusja.bsky.social
Stayed in a 17 story hotel in Chicago that had two 2000 lb capacity elevators, which is around the same size as typical elevators in Europe.
(For comparison 3500 lb is typical capacity in the US)
Building inspection certificate saying the elevator is safe and passed inspection. Also, notes 2,000 lb capacity of elevator, which is another measure of how large the elevator is Full picture of inside of elevator. Notice buttons are on the side of the elevator for accessibility.
July 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
markusja.bsky.social
Trail-oriented-development out here in Madison
11 to 12 story red facade residential building along the Capital City bike trail in Madison Wisconsin
June 20, 2025 at 11:14 PM