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Payton Chung

@westnorth.com

2.6K followers 1.2K following 690 posts

Card-carrying urbanist since 1998; housing developer, author, museum docent, board member, single-issue #climate voter. Opine solely for myself. Ex-CHI, BOS, RDU 🚄🚋🚴‍♂️🌇🏗️🚰🏳️‍🌈 Words @ggwash.org @citybuilder.bsky.social

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · Nov 22

👋 new followers! #GreatestHits from the Other Site to get acquainted.
A 3750 sq. ft. McMansion is legal just about everywhere in America. But the exact same lot, with the exact same number of residential square feet, divided into eight tiny houses? No!
www.fastcompany.com/90348777/thi...

www.fastcompany.com

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 5h

YIMBY reforms are largely about re-legalizing the small developers who built most historic American cities, before one-size-fits-all regulation. Via @dpherriges.bsky.social
archive.strongtowns.org/journal/2021...

Unleash the Swarm

What if we had a class of semi-amateur developers 10 or 100 times larger than it is today?

archive.strongtowns.org

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 5h

Developers and SFH-owners have as little in common as carmakers & rental fleet owners.
Meanwhile, these folks completely ignore that small infill developers exist, and YIMBY reforms disproportionately help us. Via @dpherriges.bsky.social
archive.strongtowns.org/journal/2021...

Unleash the Swarm

What if we had a class of semi-amateur developers 10 or 100 times larger than it is today?

archive.strongtowns.org

Reposted by Payton Chung

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 6h

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 6h

The "low high rise" requirement in DC is especially problematic as metal tariffs have markedly increased the high-rise cost premium. Lots of high-rise projects are going on hold
ggwash.org/view/34118/a...

A hidden height limit holds back affordable mid-rise construction in DC

In “The Three Little Pigs,” one pig builds a house from straw, a second from sticks, and a third from bricks, with very different consequences. Notably absent is any mention of each little pig’s const...

ggwash.org

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 6h

That might pay for last year, but next year? $600B expected capex is more than twice their entire balance sheet.
Those 24y bonds are buying assets that are fully depreciated within 4y, which seems... off
www.businessinsider.com/big-tech-ai-...

Why the biggest risk in AI might not be the technology, but the trillion-dollar race to build it

Big Tech is set to spend $320 billion on capex, mainly for AI infrastructure like data centers.

www.businessinsider.com

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 1d

"structured finance has become a popular way to pay for new data center projects, with more than $9 billion of issuance [Jan-Apr] 2025. Meta... issue[d] $26 billion in bonds to finance its data center expansion plans."
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/b...

What Wall Street Sees in the Data Center Boom

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Payton Chung

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

i recently got a great deal on a barely used folding ebike and i have to say it has revolutionized my train travel. i can get from my front door to the amtrak station in a little less than 5 minutes!!!

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 1d

Oh god, the infamous unused zoning-bonus black-box theater -- the smallest possible increment of performing arts space.

Reposted by Payton Chung

Ian @woolie.meowmeow.city · 3d

When you ask Berkeley Nimbys what building ruined the city, where the city crossed a red line with approval, they all answer without hesitation, and they all return the same answer, and it's... this.

Trader Joe's building at MLK Jr and University

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 1d

I would be a fifth-generation Californian -- if my family hadn't moved away decades ago in part because of its housing shortage. @governor.ca.gov

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 3d

Reminder that @governor.ca.gov is reportedly considering vetoing SB79, the best housing bill to clear the CA legislature in decades.

It would be a *disaster*, substantively & for Newsom's political future. Really hope he doesn't self-immolate.

Tell him!

Contact the Governor | Governor of California

You can contact the Governor a few different ways. The best way is through his online form.

www.gov.ca.gov

Reposted by Payton Chung

Akshat Rathi @akshatrathi.bsky.social · 2d

The US is pursuing "energy dominance" and forcing allies to buy US oil and gas. And, yet, China is beating the US on energy exports.

Surprised? Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 4d

...and the same GM + Standard Oil who killed dozens of cities' streetcar empires
law.justia.com/cases/federa...

United States v. National City Lines, Inc., et al, 186 F.2d 562 (7th Cir. 1951)

United States v. National City Lines, Inc., et al, 186 F.2d 562 (7th Cir. 1951) case opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

law.justia.com

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 4d

...the same GM who, of course, also Killed the Electric Car
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Kil...

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 4d

Leaded gasoline... possibly the deadliest invention in history.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV3d...
www.nytimes.com/2023/03/15/m...

The Man Who Accidentally Killed The Most People In History

YouTube video by Veritasium

www.youtube.com

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 4d

The auto industry knew since the 1950s that catalytic converters could clean exhaust, but suppressed that so that GM could keep selling... LEADED GAS
www.sciencehistory.org/stories/maga...

Clean Machine

The technology to scrub noxious gases from car exhausts has existed since the 1950s. Why did the U.S. government wait until the 1970s to mandate its use?

www.sciencehistory.org

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 4d

They had been accused of "eliminat[ing] all competition among themselves in... motor vehicle air pollution control equipment" but Nixon pulled the suit and gave the Big Three a slap on the wrist
nader.org/1999/06/09/s...

Smelly Business: Car Makers and Air Pollution - Ralph Nader

Back in 1969, the Nixon administration settled a civil antitrust suit against the Big Three automakers that charged them with conspiring since 1953 to "eliminate all competition among themselves in th...

nader.org

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 4d

Learned about yet another historical auto industry conspiracy via this PBS documentary www.pbs.org/wgbh/america...

Clearing the Air: The War on Smog | American Experience | PBS

The story of L.A.’s devastating smog problem and the creation of the EPA and the Clean Air Act.

www.pbs.org

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 5d

SF has been America's "gay capital" for generations, so... duh?
www.calmigration.org/learn-chapte...
My own experience of queer nightlife in both has been fine.

San Francisco's Early Queer Culture

www.calmigration.org

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 5d

Minneapolis is half SF's size and I'd say it has better nightlife.
Industry diversity matters for nightlife, primarily due to schedule diversity.
www.flickr.com/photos/payto...
OP is describing "weak ties," which are indeed more important than strong ties
news.stanford.edu/stories/2023...

Central Roanoke VA

The tiny Texas Tavern is a 24-hour diner in the downtown of a city with fewer than 100,000. That's not because Roanoke is party central, but because its raison d'etre was steam locomotives, which requ...

www.flickr.com

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 5d

To whoever stole my saddle pack: I hope you enjoy the jacket that is (90% chance) much too small for you, because I was really looking forward to wearing it :-(

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 5d

Heading over!

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 6d

Denominators matter!

Reposted by Payton Chung

Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 6d

Portland enacts emergency powers of nudity to check federal overreach.

Emergency World Naked Bike Ride planned in Portland, with blurred photi of naked bicyclists.

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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 7d

Mostly, but you do have to actively follow rather than have the algo surface stuff.

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 7d

Though you obviously didn't read the links
bsky.app/profile/west...

Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 8d

Pertinent to single-stair: new apartments (with sprinklers, compartmentation, and two stairs) are MUCH safer than older apartments with just two stairs, or houses. The safety difference isn't the stairs.
See also www.pew.org/en/research-...