Jonathan Bash

This is just what we need! @humansand -- hope @Locunity + y'all can collab on human-centric, safe civic AI soon.

After 6 months of building w/ @dev1yer, it's great to see our work @Locunity making a difference already. With 2 news pilots, 3 org partnerships and 50 premium subscribers (many more in the pipeline to announce soon), we're just getting started. In 2026, our goal is to build the civic platform for local media, governments, leaders and residents everywhere — with trusted, shared information we can all agree upon, and act upon.

Grateful to be among this remarkable, slightly intimidating group of @SAIFVC founders dedicated to building AI that is safe, reliable, and just. 2026 is going to be a wild year -- it's all our jobs to write a good ending for the story of AI. We all have agency (and some of us have agents). Let's use it (them?) for good. More from @gralston: geoffralston.substack.com/p/saif-end-of-…

@garrytan Tired of SFGate? Want just the facts? You should sign up for @Locunity's reports on board meetings and commissions. DM me for a free trial.

My sources on the board of supervisors say this resolution was going to pass before tech vocally stopped it right here on X Our voices matter, so don’t let the legacy media gaslight us. The city that created the LLM scaling laws and self driving cars will continue to build!

SF Gate doesn’t really think Fielder’s resolution was a ban But it explicitly moves all laboratories from “allowed with no further permits” to “requiring conditional use approval” Don’t let the legacy media claim this was anything other than a ban on laboratories and innovation

What’s CEQA — and why you should still care? CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) requires governments to study and disclose environmental impacts before approving projects. Sounds technical. But it’s not just paperwork. And it can make or break projects. Why it matters: • CEQA determines what gets studied — traffic, noise, air quality, displacement • “Exemptions” can let major projects move forward with limited public review • Comment periods are often the only chance residents have to flag real impacts Tip: If a project is labeled “CEQA-exempt” or “negative declaration,” check why. Public comments (even short ones) become part of the legal record. But watch out, state legislation is exempting more and more projects to address the housing crisis, so monitor this space! Drop a civic term you want decoded next below 👇

Coming this Tuesday to a board room near you:

Big personal news — @dev1yer and I are finally launching our startup, @Locunity! We’re introducing a new way to know what your city, county and education leaders are doing before it hits the rumor mill — right in your inbox. With real-time e-newsletters for every jurisdiction that touches your life and work, Locunity makes it possible to stay in the know and make an impact when it matters the most. Instead of sitting through 8-hour city council meetings or simply remaining in the dark, you can spend 5 minutes an edition learning everything you need to know. We're kicking off our founding cohort in #contracostacounty and #SanFrancisco. Here’s what you get when you join: — Actionable briefings covering your city council, county board of supervisors and school board — who was at the table, who voted which way and how it impacts you. You'll also get advanced notifications on upcoming opportunities to voice your opinions. — Insider-grade political insights on campaign finance, candidate endorsements and campaign strategies so you can make informed decisions as a voter, donor, advocate or organizational leader. — Thoughtful perspectives from local business, labor, environmental and political leaders, along with job listings, events and volunteer opportunities. What You’ll Help us Build: — A more accurate, reliable and trusted information ecosystem — A healthier democracy, where community leaders and voters share facts — A sustainable business model ensuring quality reporting, not AI slop or click-bait Who are we? I’m an award-winning media, community and government relations professional with expertise in nonprofits, local government and issue advocacy. My co-founder, Dev Iyer, has led engineering and product teams at Twitch, the social media company, and SoundCloud, the music artist empowerment platform. Our first editorial associate, Toby Henstrand, brings keen political insights. We’re supported by the Safe AI Fund and world-class advisors: @Lenny_Mendonca (Fmr. Chief Economic Advisor, State of California), Matt McMahon (Fmr. EVP, CBS & Paramount), @alistairmbarr (Anchor, @BusinessInsider), @ReedAlbergotti (Editor, @semafor ) and @gralston (Founder, SAIF & Fmr. President, @ycombinator). We hope you’ll join us on this journey at Locunity.com P.S. Do you work or volunteer for an organization or business that tracks local issues or elected officials across jurisdictions? DM me for a preview of our software suite!

We're launching @Locunity! A new way to know what your city, county and education leaders are doing before it hits the rumor mill — right in your inbox. With real-time e-newsletters for every jurisdiction that touches your life and work, Locunity makes it possible to stay in the know and make an impact when it matters the most. Instead of sitting through 8-hour city council meetings or simply remaining in the dark, you can spend 5 minutes an edition learning everything you need to know. We're kicking off our founding cohort in #ContraCostaCounty and #SanFrancisco. Here’s what you get when you join: — Actionable briefings covering your city council, county board of supervisors and school board — who was at the table, who voted which way and how it impacts you. You'll also get advanced notifications on upcoming opportunities to voice your opinions. — Insider-grade political insights on campaign finance, candidate endorsements and campaign strategies so you can make informed decisions as a voter, donor, advocate or organizational leader. — Thoughtful perspectives from local business, labor, environmental and political leaders, along with job listings, events and volunteer opportunities. What You’ll Help us Build: — A more accurate, reliable and trusted information ecosystem — A healthier democracy, where community leaders and voters share facts — A sustainable business model ensuring quality reporting, not AI slop or click-bait Who are we? Our CEO, @Jonathan_Bash an award-winning media, community and government relations professional with expertise in nonprofits, local government and issue advocacy. His co-founder, @dev1yer, has led engineering and product teams at @Twitch , the social media company, and @SoundCloud, the music artist empowerment platform. Our first editorial associate, @TobyHenstrand, brings keen political insights. We’re supported by the Safe Artificial Intelligence Fund (@SAIFVC) and world-class advisors: @Lenny_Mendonca (Fmr. Chief Economic Advisor, State of California), Matt McMahon (Fmr. EVP, CBS), @alistairmbarr (Anchor, @BusinessInsider), @ReedAlbergotti (Editor, @semafor) and @gralston (Founder, SAIF & Fmr. President, @ycombinator). We hope you’ll join us on this journey. P.S. Do you work or volunteer for an organization or business that tracks local issues or elected officials across jurisdictions? Reach out to @jonathan_bash!

@guilleflorvs @Locunity: AI-powered national news system covering EVERY local government in America. 🤯 10x local media at 1/10 the cost, and strengthen all cities, everywhere.

BREAKING: Mark Cuban (investor in Lovable & Synthesia) told us to send him dealflow Pitch your startup in the comments and convince us to send it to him

@benln Big fan of @givebutter - @Locunity would love to chat about partnering. Just DM’ed.

I’d love to angel invest in a few more companies before 2025 ends. If you think I’d make a good addition to your cap table, reach out, DMs are open.

If you're an engineer (or AI-leveraged tinkerer) interested in building open-sourced projects for your city, DM me. We're cooking up a lot at @Locunity - we bring you domain expertise, real problem sets, and engineering support. Let's keep the momentum from projects like @rtwlz's!

Stop making AI chatbots and start fixing this country

We’re giving it a shot with local journalism and government @Locunity - could shared truth and unbiased reporting be possible with AI? (hope you have a chance to check out our @ycombinator app — we’re moving fast and iterating a solution to one of society’s toughest problems!) CC: @dev1yer

There are so many things you can’t rely on humans to do that you can rely on software to do, especially repeatably and without bias or deviation

Tab autocomplete is live on root.vc! Holy shit thank you to @dev1yer for this insane PR. Super well documented PR and with testing instructions! github.com/rootvc/cli-web…

I'm very excited for the product that @Jonathan_Bash and I are building. We'll put out more information soon, so in the meantime dropping aesthetics that are inspiring us.

Not some little locally owned newspaper either. It's owned by this: theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

We can’t allow local news to disappear. These outlets deserve a seat at the negotiating table so they can work toward fairer treatment from big tech platforms. My bipartisan bill passed out of committee and we are keeping up this momentum.  mankatofreepress.com/opinion/editor…

My community. Where do we go from here? Trust must be earned.

CA is transforming San Quentin into the most innovative rehabilitation and education facility in the nation. California will incorporate programs and best practices from countries like Norway, which has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world. We’re creating a safer CA.