Elizabeth Warren: “[S]ome state and local zoning rules needlessly drive up the cost of construction. [. . . R]ules like minimum lot sizes or mandatory parking requirements [...] raise the costs of building new housing and keep families from moving into areas with better career and school choices."
"Fire engineer Spencer Piercy earned $437,337 in overtime in 2025, more than twice his base pay and nearly double Mayor Matt Mahan’s salary. That followed overtime earnings of more than $411,000 in 2024 and $287,000 in 2023."
Elizabeth’s housing plan will lower rents by 10%, help close the racial wealth gap, and create 1.5 million new jobs.elizabethwarren.com
Cities seem to be endlessly creative in finding ways to pay for highways and parking – as long as it doesn’t involve directly charging the motorists who use them.
Personally, I think it was a big mistake to put fire marshals, who typically have zero training in traffic safety, in charge of critical street design decisions.
Did your city’s fire marshal go to the meeting of the International Code Council (ICC) where they adopted the fire code section that bans traffic calming, unless it’s approved by the fire marshal? Did he undermine your city’s traffic safety goals?
Guess what? You probably can’t even find out.
Jeannie Leverich
Patrick Siegman
"Piercy is one of almost 400 city fire and police department employees who earned six-figure overtime sums last year..."
Costly code provisions drive up rents. SJ firefighters can afford provisions that add costs without adding safety. Ordinary families can't. Fire officials need to remember that!
Research shows that some US building standards drive up housing costs without increasing safety. Yet San Jose's firefighters have fought all efforts to reform them.
Why? Perhaps it's because they make so much that they don't know what it's like for a family to struggle to pay the rent.
🎁link:
Patrick Siegman
Patrick Siegman
Patrick Siegman
Public safety overtime spending has become a growing issue for cities grappling with firefighter and police shortages.
Buildings like this are not possible with off-street car parking requirements
In the United States, officials with absolutely no training in traffic safety are routinely placed in charge of crucial street design decisions. The results are bad.
Why do US cities and states put unqualified people in charge of key street design decisions?🧵
Yes, it's annoying that NYC does not have enough votes at the ICC. But the rabbit hole goes deeper than that!
In the long run, total development cost sets a floor on prices for new homes. Homebuilding is competitive. Builders typically earn a small profit margin (7-10%). If development cost is $157/sf, builders will add supply only if they think they'll be able to sell for $157 plus ~7% to 10%, or ~$172/sf.
