Thomas Gonzales

Real Estate Professional. Urban Planner. Engineer. Engaged citizen. Aspiring dog dad. Most often adventuring outdoors, fitnessing, or eating. Views are my own.

[Susan Wild @wildforcongress]

Can we just recognize that 100-day campaigns are what we should always have? Could get rid of that insidious money in politics and the American people wouldn’t have to suffer through year-long campaign commercials. And elected officials could spend more time doing their real jobs

[Thomas Gonzales @thomasgtweets]

@grecobs nice that you take time out of your day to still support the west coast urbanist agenda, Greg 🩷

[Robert Garcia @RobertGarcia]

Forced and mandatory parking minimums are contributing to our housing and climate crisis. Outdated parking standards need major reform in downtown cores and along impacted rail and transit lines. We are working on a major federal bill to address this challenge.

[Colin McCarthy @US_Stormwatch]

The Southern Sierra Nevada now officially has its largest snowpack in recorded history, passing 1982-1983.

The snowpack is a staggering 244% of the peak snowpack average.

[Strong Towns @StrongTowns]

Hoboken, New Jersey is a dense city center that hasn’t had a traffic death in over 4 years. They’ve accomplished this by creating more narrow, one-way streets, high visibility crosswalks, raised intersections, curb extensions, bike & bus lanes, and removing parking spaces.

[Senator Scott Wiener @Scott_Wiener]

Government parking mandates make housing more expensive & less abundant. They encourage driving & undermine transit. They make neighborhoods less attractive & less walkable.

We’re moving away from these mandates in California. It can’t happen fast enough. https://t.co/aiD9VQCTOV

[Strong Towns @StrongTowns]

Jane Jacobs taught us the value of fighting for great public spaces and showed us what’s possible when people take them back from cars.

[Senator Scott Wiener @Scott_Wiener]

The dominant cause of homelessness is inadequate supply of homes.

The dominant solution to homelessness is building lots of homes, both market & subsidized.

Treating mental health/addiction is very important but secondary to housing.

Here are the stats: https://t.co/0GiFmmS6Wy

[Thomas Gonzales @thomasgtweets]

@DataSF This page says historic housing inventory data is available but after setting up an account, access if forbidden. Any help? https://t.co/kjgwai8k9U

[Thomas Gonzales @thomasgtweets]

@peterthenelson @Yimby_Law If land is not within the limits of an incorporated city or town, the county has full land use controls, same as a city would, and they are subject to same planning process requirements. When a new city incorporates, it takes over those controls from the county.

[YIMBY Law @Yimby_Law]

Good morning, Bay Area. According to our evaluations, 69 of your 109 local jurisdictions are now subject to the builder's remedy. 🧵

[Thomas Gonzales @thomasgtweets]

I almost went to law school to be able to do work like this, though I had been thinking Civil Rights Act vs Fair Housing Act. Brilliant! Inspiring!

[Patrick Holland @Phollandaise]

So proud to have finally published this note with Rubin!

Here's the gist: NIMBY state and local govs have created a massive housing shortage and entrenched segregation over the last several decades. They've contributed to this problem by refusing to build housing for families.

[Patrick Holland @Phollandaise]

So proud to have finally published this note with Rubin!

Here's the gist: NIMBY state and local govs have created a massive housing shortage and entrenched segregation over the last several decades. They've contributed to this problem by refusing to build housing for families.

[Thomas Gonzales @thomasgtweets]

@streetsforall @NickAndert Didn't see this in your thread but also seems highly doubtful that maintenance costs on a monorail could be less than heavy rail. You're talking whole new tech(!) for Metro. So new training, new hires, new equipment that can't be interchanged with anything else in the system.

[Streets For All @streetsforall]

Big news: UCLA's student council which represents 30k+ undergrads just came out in support of heavy rail for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, rejecting all monorail options AND calling out the inappropriate back door meetings between UCLA, Bel Air HOA, and BYD.

[Thomas Gonzales @thomasgtweets]

@numble At the same time, I work across the street from the Bloc and ride the red line and Metro has a real problem right now, so I understand the owner's sentiment. But this is a 50-100 year decision. Very sad.

[Thomas Gonzales @thomasgtweets]

@numble Damn, a lot of tax dollars to spend on a metro station that doesn't connect to a top regional destination. One block walking there seems killer. Government leaders should be outraged at the waste / missed opportunity of public spending.

[Scott Lewis @vosdscott]

Homelessness is a housing problem is a surprisingly controversial take. My piece on how it is irrefutable, the new book about it and how it can’t be an excuse to let the crisis on the streets worsen. https://t.co/KFJjz49Ng1

[Thomas Gonzales @thomasgtweets]

@hanlonbt The hollowness of San Francisco policy statements like this was one of the most disappointing things about living there. Making a statement like "Transit First" supposed to be the first step in further action, not the last. 😞

[Thomas Gonzales @thomasgtweets]

@AlexFischCC 💯 When managing Oakland's first new, large-scale apartment complex built in a decade (and thus the most expensive), I reviewed our resident demographics and saw more than 1/3 moved from other neighborhoods in the city, which means they freed up cheaper apartments nearby.