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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
the once and future city planner // research director
@cayimby
// buy my book ❤︎
Los Angelesislandpress.org/books/arbitrar…Joined June 2009
1,506 Following
39.5K Followers

M. Nolan Gray’s Tweets

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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
Arbitrary Lines is out today. To learn how zoning made America's cities unaffordable, inaccessible, segregated, and sprawling, grab a copy! Available at Bookshop (bookshop.org/books/arbitrar), Amazon (amazon.com/Arbitrary-Line), local bookstores, and local libraries!
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
Starbucks really has turned hostile architecture into a high art. The covered plugs, the uncomfortable seats, the deactivated WiFi, the ever so slightly too loud music. Just get your 30 grams of sugar and leave!
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
I'm generally pro-sign, but goodness, the permenant banners in front of every third apartment building in West Los Angeles are so ugly.
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
It's not too late for Colorado to avoid falling into a permanent, California-style housing crisis—statewide zoning reform can't wait!
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YIMBY Action
@yimbyaction
Strict zoning laws will not help us alleviate the consequences of the housing shortage. There's no way around that reality. In CO, more and more residents are in need of housing. Single-family homes cannot be the answer to the diverse needs of residents. pewtrusts.org/en/research-an
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
The vast majority hardworking New Jersey commuters into Manhattan take either trains or buses that sit in the very traffic that congestion pricing will eliminate. Why do those constituents not matter, Governor?
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Governor Phil Murphy
@GovMurphy
Today’s decision by @USDOT to allow New York’s congestion pricing plan to move forward is unfair and ill-advised. I support congestion pricing conceptually, but it must be fair to all sides. Placing an unjustified financial burden on hardworking New Jersey commuters is wrong.
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
It's so nice of Los Angeles to ban all of us lowly renters from parking on the street that these homes front along, so none of these homeowners actually have to use their alley-facing garage.
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
A better world is possible!
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Sam Balto
@CoachBalto
Yesterday was National #BikeRollToSchool day. For Alameda Elementary it was just another Wednesday. Speaker wasn’t connecting so make sure to have the volume up so you can hear the children. It’s so joyful. #BikeBus
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
Bipartisan zoning reform is alive and well in Arizona! Inspiring to see legislators overcoming the partisan deadlock and taking on the housing affordability crisis.
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Rep. Analise Ortiz
@RepAnaliseOrtiz
Arizona's housing shortage has caused an entire generation, my generation, to be locked out from equal opportunities to achieve home ownership. We have the bipartisan momentum to pass meaningful solutions this year. axios.com/local/phoenix/
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
Parking mandates are on the way out in Austin!
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City of Austin
@austintexasgov
#ATXCouncil initiates process of recommendations to modify amendments of City Code Title 25 (Land Development) that would eliminate minimum off-street motor vehicle parking requirements in the City. 🚗
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
A totally artificial, unnecessary crisis. If your planning staff is overwhelmed by rezoning applications, why do it in ad hoc, anti-planning way? Change the zoning citywide.
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Dan Fumano
@fumano
Vancouver City Hall currently handling 120 rezoning inquiries & another 100 applications — more than double normal workload. Volume has "overloaded staff" capacity, new report says, and staff will seek council's direction on how to prioritize. New column: vancouversun.com/news/local-new
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
You eventually want to pair this reform with more on-street parking management, and that takes some capacity. But most US cities/suburbs have so much excess off-street parking (and conservative builders/lenders who will keep building it) that it won't be pressing for a while.
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
If it makes your planning director more comfortable with the idea, hire me as your consultant. For the low, low price of a $5 beer, Gray Planning Associates LLC will command + F + delete any sections of your zoning code mandating parking!
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
It always cracks me up when cities that are falling behind on zoning reform plead that they "don't have the budget/staff" to eliminate minimum parking requirements. I have good news! It costs exactly $0.00 to highlight the sections of your code mandating parking and click delete!
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
If you all absolutely must do this, please just build the tunnels widely enough to install actual modern rail transit infrastructure when this inevitably flops...
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Clark County Nevada
@ClarkCountyNV
Expanding the "Vegas Loop" underground transportation system. #ClarkCounty Commissioners just approved new @boringcompany plans for 18 new stations and about 25 miles of tunnels (red on attached map), further extending the Vegas Loop out from the Las #Vegas Strip corridor.
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
With statewide ADU legalization bills introduced in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Texas, and Washington, and ADUs already legal in California, Oregon, and Utah, we're rapidly converging on full regional legalization. Good news for economies of scale!
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
A school bus getting delayed by a goofy pick up-drop off traffic jam is really a bit on the nose.
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About Here
@aboutherevideos
This is the traffic to drop-off students at a middle school in Metro Vancouver. New video about this issue tomorrow.
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
Architects love to "learn from Las Vegas," so here's an underrated lesson from the Strip: keeping a place alive and interesting means letting it change and grow over time, even if that means occasionally replacing nice old things.
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
Google Calendar should make it easier to change timezones. This is something that most professionals who maintain a calendar will need to do on a weekly, if not daily basis, yet it's a three-click operation into an obscure settings menu.
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
ADUs, TOD, and parking reductions are back in the Colorado bill!
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Nathaniel Minor
@nbminor
NEW: After the Colorado Senate pared The Big Land Use Bill (TBLUB) way down, a House committee has brought back many of its toothiest provisions -- like some mandatory upzoning near transit. cpr.org/2023/05/03/col
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M. Nolan Gray
@mnolangray
Many hundreds of thousands of Montanans, present and future, are going to be a lot better off because of the dedicated activism of maybe a dozen people.
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Shelter WF
@Shelter_WF
And the Montana Senate just Sine Die'd after sending all zoning reform bills to the governor's desk! #montanamiracle #yimby #prohousing
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