Who?
I’m the senior director of legislation and research for California YIMBY. I’m also working on a PhD in city planning at UCLA. I wrote Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How To Fix It. I used to work as a city planner in New York City. You may have seen my work in The Atlantic, Reason Magazine, or Bloomberg Citylab. I live in Sacramento and I’m originally from Lexington, Kentucky.
You can find me on Bluesky and X, though I’m trying to wean myself off microblogging. I’m finding myself posting more on LinkedIn these days.
What?
This blog is my place to share my thoughts on the California housing crisis, the YIMBY movement, the state of land-use and city planning reform, and anything to do with cities. With some regularity, I run posts on good pro-housing bills. My hope is to do more culture writing. I remain open to commissions of all lengths—if you would like me to write for you, my DMs are open.
Why?
Once in generation, a window opens where you can radically change a given policy space. When it comes to how we plan our cities, we’re clearly in such a moment. The ancien régime is falling, third rails are being seized, etc. My goal with this blog, as with all of my work, is to get as much positive reform as possible through the window before it slams shut. If this work interests you, you should connect up with your local YIMBY group, in addition to subscribing.
A Note on Monetization.
This blog is, at present, entirely free. If I ever feel I’m providing a high enough product, at sufficient consistency, I may explore launching an additive paid option. In the meantime, take whatever money you would have spent subscribing to me and subscribe to an up-and-coming YIMBY writer.
Whenever I link to a book, it’s an Amazon affiliate link. I expect this will yield enough money for me to buy a $3 coffee once a month. (And then produce tax reporting liabilities that waste $3.50 worth of my time.) Every book that I link to is a book that I have read, and believe you should read as well.
