Neil Block

@michael_wiebe @katewillett If only there were a way for a developer to make the same margins on lower revenue and/or higher volume! Oh well

@katewillett Developers build when costs fall. Upzoning reduces land costs.

Damn it’d be so cool if developers kept building when rents drop. Unfortunately, developers only build when rents are projected to RISE. Line must go up. Real estate lobbyists like Paul understand this point well when it’s time to oppose rent control. Line must go up.

@GburgAddress @RussellLowery10 @neetu_arnold Not sure what this is supposed to demonstrate? The median household income in California is $100,000, and $109,000 with one child.

@RussellLowery10 @neetu_arnold slowrevealgraphs.com/2021/10/12/act…

University of California STEM professors want standardized tests back due to severe math deficiencies among students: “We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle school mathematics” “The current admissions metric, based primarily on GPA & essays, can no longer reliably distinguish readiness for university-level STEM majors in an era of severe grade inflation & AI assisted application essays”

@localoptimiser @Grateful_Gabe @fermatslibrary Wait you’re gonna shoot the brain with the control loops?

@Grateful_Gabe @fermatslibrary

It takes 2 neurons to ride a bike In this week’s paper, Matthew Cook asks how a computer can control a bicycle without solving the full nonlinear equations of motion, or spending an inordinate amount of time learning through reinforcement learning. Humans seem to learn in a different way: not by deriving equations, and not by crashing thousands of times. Cook presents a two-neuron network that can ride a simulated bicycle in a desired direction. Read the annotated version here: #email-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">fermatslibrary.com/s/it-takes-two…

@koorinohonou @fermatslibrary I would love to see some stats on humans that die while learning to ride a bike

@fermatslibrary Humans definitely crash a few times. Sometimes the human dies in the learning process.

@LAJoneser @KaufmanAudrey 42nd to 47th along 2 streets, plus the parklet it consumed

@neilblock @KaufmanAudrey Thought it was 42nd to 47th did they change it? No one really from LA goes anywhere near that place

Crazy to argue that fruit vendors are making Hollywood & highland less classy when 90% of it is sex shops and chain fast food restaurants

@LAJoneser @KaufmanAudrey If it were the Times Square of LA, it would be car free for 10 blocks

@KaufmanAudrey It's obviously the dumb fucks who know nothing about LA. in the 80s and 90s that area was the epicenter for Pimps, hookers, runaways. Shady as fuck. Now its a strip mall for tourists, Time Square of LA

@MattMasonCA @mfpseth @SaveYourCinema @RickCarusoLA Exactly, and the Getty tram is also regulated by the CPUC (as will the Dodger stadium gondola)

@mfpseth @SaveYourCinema @RickCarusoLA The Grove Trolley is actually considered a publicly operating trolley/train and is overseen and regulated by the CPUC. Just because the taxpayers don’t run it doesn’t mean it doesn’t face the same oversight as the public can go on it.

In 2013 @RickCarusoLA considered extending The Grove trolley to LACMA. How do we feel about that? I think it’s a good idea.

@rocknsock4 When mandates + requirements stack up, only large developers financed by large banks can fund new projects. Those large banks demand large-format retail to support their financing stack. This has nothing to do with your or my preferences about the “kind”. Just how financing works

@neilblock Nobody said anything about requiring a Walgreens in a building. You obvi are not from around here and have no concept about what kind of commercial is on what kind of street. But you are very confident.

SB 79 hasn't even taken effect yet. Wiener dedicated seven years to passing the largest upzoning in California history, fighting the biggest special interests in Sacramento, securing bipartisan support, scrutinizing the details, and passing it with a razor thin 51% margin.

@Sicilyann @MoebiusMichelle Power transmission is not data transmission 🤷‍♂️

@neilblock @MoebiusMichelle Transmit all the data from data(surveillance) center

Coachella, CA. Huge Data Center proposed. The city officials are promoting it and wish to approve it, but there is a huge PUBLIC outrage taking place.

@rocknsock4 @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt How so? “Set aside 5,000 square feet for a mandate” doesn’t matter what the mandate is

@neilblock @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt Because it is a magnitude of difference in cost.

@Sicilyann @MoebiusMichelle Looks like a Georgia state power utility is using eminent domain to build new transmission lines

@neilblock @MoebiusMichelle The state of Georgia. A million a house but it never covers the true value. People are up in arms. It destroyed and polluted the water. Plus in farming it takes away future income.

@rocknsock4 @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt How is “requiring commercial” not the same as “requiring IZ”?

@neilblock @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt Please...... Restrictive zoning, inclusionary housing, permitting fees, and permitting delays is why he have a 40 year housing deficit. Requiring commercial on a commercial street is not one of them........

@rocknsock4 @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt Making demands of a property owner that voluntarily wants to pay to build housing, such that the result is “waiting for a different project” is exactly why we’re in a 40 year housing deficit

@neilblock @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt I'm good with requiring commercial on the main commercial streets of cities. If that is the breaking point it probably doesn't pencil at all and I would rather wait for a different project.

@Sicilyann @MoebiusMichelle I’d love to see a single data center in the US that procured land using eminent domain

@MoebiusMichelle I wonder which farmer sold out, unless it was eminent domain.

@rocknsock4 @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt Requiring commercial would just make it not pencil, & not get built at all. We need to reduce the underlying costs and regs, so projects don’t have to be these massive institutional behemoths to get done. The more demands we make, the more expensive to build, bigger banks needed

@neilblock @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt I know it is an economic loss. I'm just pissed that SoPas didn't require it on their main street.

@rocknsock4 @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt This is why you’re starting to see more bottom-up developments where Safeway and Costco are developing housing because they’re their own major chain tenant

@rocknsock4 @animalcircuits @mnolangray @hanlonbt Once you hit a certain size, unless you have a pre-sold major chain tenant, commercial isn’t viable. Large projects demand institutional creditors with more complex stacks, so developers need a) larger commercial spaces to b) attract stable chain tenants, or just do the housing

@rightofwhey @SinaiLawFirm Probably on the least-worst end; BH is 65% multifamily

@SinaiLawFirm How does Beverly Hills rank?

Worst to least-worst LA jurisdictions for landlords 1. Weho 2. Los Angeles 3. Pasadena 4a. Unincorporated LA 4b. Culver City 5. Santa Monica 6. Long Beach 7. Inglewood 8. AB 1482 cities

@SinaiLawFirm @imthewalruz I just learned recently that it’s unincorporated!

@imthewalruz MDR is city of Los Angeles

@lacherbauer @fynmere @chi_urbanist @cta iirc even the new L flyovers are buttressed by steel in this same style

@fynmere @chi_urbanist @cta These should be replace by a modern concrete elevated structure.

Sometimes functional design is (in its own right) a form of industrial art. These Chicago "L" trusses support rail between Armitage and North Avenue Stations. Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. This L line is over 119 years old.