Matt Edens
@scruffycities.bsky.social
Downtown dweller. True crime writer. Transplanted Tennessean.
Reposted by Matt Edens
One of the biggest drivers of high housing costs is that a small, highly motivated group of incumbent homeowners block new housing in their neighborhoods and almost no one is organized to push back.
Young people bear the brunt of that imbalance.
Be a housing fan.
Young people bear the brunt of that imbalance.
Be a housing fan.
December 6, 2025 at 4:22 PM
One of the biggest drivers of high housing costs is that a small, highly motivated group of incumbent homeowners block new housing in their neighborhoods and almost no one is organized to push back.
Young people bear the brunt of that imbalance.
Be a housing fan.
Young people bear the brunt of that imbalance.
Be a housing fan.
Can confirm:
If you show regularly to transportation planning or zoning meetings you will have outsized influence but it will also turn you into Col Kurtz
December 5, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Can confirm:
Reposted by Matt Edens
Because you're an adult you fucking muppet. You gotta pay the magic forward.
December 3, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Because you're an adult you fucking muppet. You gotta pay the magic forward.
Reposted by Matt Edens
Honestly I don’t think we’re domesticating raccoons quickly enough. How do I get one as a drinking buddy in the near future?
City Raccoons Are Evolving to Look More Like Pets
City-dwelling raccoons seem to be evolving a shorter snout—a telltale feature of our pets and other domesticated animals
www.scientificamerican.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Honestly I don’t think we’re domesticating raccoons quickly enough. How do I get one as a drinking buddy in the near future?
Reposted by Matt Edens
The billionaires who own much of the the infrastructure of our 21st century lives have progressively enshittified that infrastructure while expanding their wealth, and then they scold us for being small-souled peasants who don’t believe in progress anymore.
it is amazing how so much tech gets unremittingly worse year on year at whatever you once used it for and less pleasant to use and more bound up with creepy politics as well as personal and environmental harms and yet also still less productive of actual goods and these are somehow great visionaries
November 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
The billionaires who own much of the the infrastructure of our 21st century lives have progressively enshittified that infrastructure while expanding their wealth, and then they scold us for being small-souled peasants who don’t believe in progress anymore.
I remember years ago, a garage door company in Knoxville, TN ran a TV ad with the tagline "The front door for the 21st century."
Clearly they were ahead of their time.
Clearly they were ahead of their time.
December 1, 2025 at 9:50 PM
I remember years ago, a garage door company in Knoxville, TN ran a TV ad with the tagline "The front door for the 21st century."
Clearly they were ahead of their time.
Clearly they were ahead of their time.
Reposted by Matt Edens
This They Might Be Giants TONIGHT SHOW performance of "Birdhouse In Your Soul" from 1990 remains firmly lodged in my noggin thanks to the Tonight Show Band's full commitment and Doc Severinsen's incredible trumpeting... It took an already great song and made it transcendent.
August 23, 2025 at 8:44 AM
This They Might Be Giants TONIGHT SHOW performance of "Birdhouse In Your Soul" from 1990 remains firmly lodged in my noggin thanks to the Tonight Show Band's full commitment and Doc Severinsen's incredible trumpeting... It took an already great song and made it transcendent.
I'm always dumbfounded by people who cite "traffic and parking" as reasons to not build more housing in our walkable downtown.
“Schools need students. Transit needs riders. Our changing climate needs a serious response. And the streets and small businesses that people say they care about need more foot traffic and paying customers, not fewer.”
The “we can’t possibly build more homes because our infrastructure isn’t perfect” argument is ubiquitous in San Francisco housing debates.
It’s effectively saying “sorry, no home for you until all infrastructure is perfect — go live 100 miles away.”
The argument is also factually baseless:
It’s effectively saying “sorry, no home for you until all infrastructure is perfect — go live 100 miles away.”
The argument is also factually baseless:
November 29, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I'm always dumbfounded by people who cite "traffic and parking" as reasons to not build more housing in our walkable downtown.
"The biggest impediment to sprawl's evolution, even if we can assume zoning relief in the future, is its road network. No amount of land use reform will yield walkable neighborhoods when the road network is circuitous and unconnected... "
flaneurbanist.substack.com/p/sprawl-doe...
flaneurbanist.substack.com/p/sprawl-doe...
Sprawl Doesn't Need a Rebranding Campaign
It Needs More Competition
flaneurbanist.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:30 PM
"The biggest impediment to sprawl's evolution, even if we can assume zoning relief in the future, is its road network. No amount of land use reform will yield walkable neighborhoods when the road network is circuitous and unconnected... "
flaneurbanist.substack.com/p/sprawl-doe...
flaneurbanist.substack.com/p/sprawl-doe...
Reposted by Matt Edens
The guy shot two random people with a gun, I don't think you can say he wasn't assimilating into our culture
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 3:23 PM
The guy shot two random people with a gun, I don't think you can say he wasn't assimilating into our culture
Reposted by Matt Edens
“The vacated homes were substantially cheaper than the new units and spanned diverse locations and housing types.”
When people move into new housing developments, they free up space in older housing. This is good for housing affordability and availability.
When people move into new housing developments, they free up space in older housing. This is good for housing affordability and availability.
Interesting new working paper that studies chains of movers after the construction of a new apartment building in Honolulu.
Paper finds that the project resulted in the opening up other, lower cost, housing on the island, benefiting the housing market overall.
Paper finds that the project resulted in the opening up other, lower cost, housing on the island, benefiting the housing market overall.
uhero.hawaii.edu
November 28, 2025 at 4:14 PM
“The vacated homes were substantially cheaper than the new units and spanned diverse locations and housing types.”
When people move into new housing developments, they free up space in older housing. This is good for housing affordability and availability.
When people move into new housing developments, they free up space in older housing. This is good for housing affordability and availability.
Reposted by Matt Edens
1. A landmark study was just published in The Journal of Pediatrics.
It found a 68% reduction in suicidality for trans youth getting HRT.
It also found only 7 of more than 400 stopped taking HRT... and of those that did, 4 still identified as gender-diverse.
Transgender care saves lives.
It found a 68% reduction in suicidality for trans youth getting HRT.
It also found only 7 of more than 400 stopped taking HRT... and of those that did, 4 still identified as gender-diverse.
Transgender care saves lives.
Study In The Journal Of Pediatrics Finds Trans Youth Care Lowers Suicidality, Few Detransition
The groundbreaking study found that suicidality dropped for transgender youth receiving hormone therapy by nearly 70%, with only 7 patients of 432 discontinuing treatment.
www.erininthemorning.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:01 PM
1. A landmark study was just published in The Journal of Pediatrics.
It found a 68% reduction in suicidality for trans youth getting HRT.
It also found only 7 of more than 400 stopped taking HRT... and of those that did, 4 still identified as gender-diverse.
Transgender care saves lives.
It found a 68% reduction in suicidality for trans youth getting HRT.
It also found only 7 of more than 400 stopped taking HRT... and of those that did, 4 still identified as gender-diverse.
Transgender care saves lives.
I buy all our phones off Back Market.
stupid young people, stop buying a new phone every year if you don't want to be broke. wait no, not like that.
November 25, 2025 at 7:07 PM
I buy all our phones off Back Market.
My home state continues to be an embarrassment.
A Tennessee legislator has ordered all Tennessee public libraries to shut down for two weeks to review their childrens collections and ensure they do not contain any books with LGBTQ characters or themes.
The Harper's letter crew is going to be *furious* about this.
The Harper's letter crew is going to be *furious* about this.
Tennessee public libraries close for Trump-inspired book purge
One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes or...
popular.info
November 25, 2025 at 6:26 PM
My home state continues to be an embarrassment.
Just when you thought the week couldn't get any weirder:
big bugs bunny getting elmer fudd to marry him vibes in the white house currently i see
November 21, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Just when you thought the week couldn't get any weirder:
"In moments of stress — rising rents, political polarization, shifting cultural values — the figure of the “transplant” becomes a convenient target. It allows people to express frustration with change without confronting what’s actually driving it."
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Who Made Mamdani Mayor?
Stop obsessing about transplants; it was the whole city. Anyway, transplants are people too!
substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:06 PM
"In moments of stress — rising rents, political polarization, shifting cultural values — the figure of the “transplant” becomes a convenient target. It allows people to express frustration with change without confronting what’s actually driving it."
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by Matt Edens
I agree that most Americans want a detached single-family house in the abstract, but current policy that skews development toward this one type suffer. Under current policy, people have to pay a premium for walkability and density, holding house size constant: www.mercatus.org/research/res...
November 19, 2025 at 3:24 PM
I agree that most Americans want a detached single-family house in the abstract, but current policy that skews development toward this one type suffer. Under current policy, people have to pay a premium for walkability and density, holding house size constant: www.mercatus.org/research/res...
Metaphor alert:
President Trump walking past the flag at the Whitehouse which has fallen to the ground
November 18, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Metaphor alert:
"I shared your concern about the nasty nature of some of the online comments made by readers..." says the guy who regularly accused me of being "on the developer's payroll."
www.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/lett...
www.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/lett...
Online comments promoted community discussion
I was a customer of your paper for 40-plus years, writing many letters to the editor and commenting on issues of the day.
www.fredericknewspost.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:36 PM
"I shared your concern about the nasty nature of some of the online comments made by readers..." says the guy who regularly accused me of being "on the developer's payroll."
www.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/lett...
www.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/lett...
If I had a dollar for every time someone said I was on the developer's payroll I could actually make money off housing advocacy.
Some thoughts on the rarely-explicitly-articulated idea that favoring new housing/development in your community makes you a bad neighbor, a traitor, or sort of by definition not a real member of the community at all thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/hi-its-the...
Hi, It's "They," We're The Problem
Living in a place does not require that you gatekeep it
thedeletedscenes.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:31 PM
If I had a dollar for every time someone said I was on the developer's payroll I could actually make money off housing advocacy.
Reposted by Matt Edens
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points
November 7, 2025 at 12:02 PM
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points
People love to hate 'em, but: "the Five-Over-One is the workhorse of dense, walkable, affordable market-rate housing."
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
In Defense of Five-Over-Ones
The Workhorse Solution to Our Housing Shortage
substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:43 PM
People love to hate 'em, but: "the Five-Over-One is the workhorse of dense, walkable, affordable market-rate housing."
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
"If we redevelop just 20 percent of the country’s underutilized commercial corridors to mixed-use sites with ten housing units per acre, we could add more than one million homes."
"First, residential development should be allowed by-right in commercial zones.... If a site is already zoned for commercial use and has basic infrastructure like water and sewer connections and it’s all up to fire code and safety regulations, housing should simply be permitted."
How to Take Mixed-Use Zoning From Cool Concept to Reality
It’s Residential in Commercial
www.therebuild.pub
November 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
"If we redevelop just 20 percent of the country’s underutilized commercial corridors to mixed-use sites with ten housing units per acre, we could add more than one million homes."
Reposted by Matt Edens
Contrary to the article, "The old hippie with a pottery kiln in her basement" is still in Tacoma - and she shows up at every planning commission meeting to bitch about new development....
Zoning doesn't shape our buildings, it shapes our culture. When you can only build one big house per lot, you get only people who can afford one big house per lot.
A quirky Takoma Park needs quirky zoning
View this post on ggwash.org
ggwash.org
November 4, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Contrary to the article, "The old hippie with a pottery kiln in her basement" is still in Tacoma - and she shows up at every planning commission meeting to bitch about new development....