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Laura

@3deckerlaura

Housing, street safety, ultra-local politics. Somerville, MA

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13.10.2023
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Latest posts by Laura @3deckerlaura

The FPEs did it the way I thought it should be done for the MN study, and came to the conclusion that seven stories and 6,000 sq. ft. per floor puts fewer people at risk in case of catastrophic failures than a big double-loaded corridor building www.dli.mn.gov/sites/defaul...

03.03.2026 23:29 πŸ‘ 35 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

bluesky clippy: hey there! you seem to be mad at something but not the person you’re yelling at. would you like some help self-regulating?

28.02.2026 23:24 πŸ‘ 2379 πŸ” 331 πŸ’¬ 24 πŸ“Œ 7

If California and other relatively LGBT-friendly states want to be helpful, they're going to need to build a lot more housing.

24.02.2026 20:34 πŸ‘ 364 πŸ” 68 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 4

From this angle it looks like it might be clear to pavement in the upper right - it isn’t, that’s dirt pushed up into the berm from plowing over the median strip, which used to be grassy and now is just solid mud

24.02.2026 17:36 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
View of a street corner, with a clear sidewalk and a massive berm of snow between the sidewalk and the street

View of a street corner, with a clear sidewalk and a massive berm of snow between the sidewalk and the street

Hard to know how to interpret this - where they clearly had a sidewalk plow and clearly didn’t bother running it all the way to the street - as anything but a fuck you to anyone who wants to use a sidewalk

(Their parking lot is perfectly clear, for the record)

24.02.2026 17:34 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

also noise pollution in the U.S. is almost entirely from cars and it’s literally giving people heart attacks

I wrote an article about it because it’s so absurd

24.02.2026 04:07 πŸ‘ 1541 πŸ” 329 πŸ’¬ 31 πŸ“Œ 43

People should be scandalized by this: an unelected, unaccountable civic organization demanding control of a million dollars in β€œcommunity benefits” funds. It highlights the backwards and frankly undemocratic nature of our development approval process.

23.02.2026 18:16 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Granted I’m coming at this with my own biases, but I did read it as β€˜he said he wouldn’t allow a tower but he’s allowing this proposal to be considered, that makes him a liar’

24.02.2026 01:18 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

It definitely has the uh style of the extremely anti tower group tho

23.02.2026 23:55 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

This is abundance, in practice. Nothing fancy, no grand ideological disputes, just ... get the fucking snow off the sidewalks in a reasonable amount of time.

23.02.2026 22:43 πŸ‘ 512 πŸ” 66 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 4
Preview
High-End Construction Really Does Help Everyone A new rung at the top of the housing ladder permits people lower down to climb up.

new from me: a story about VACANCY CHAINS, the idea that underlies the argument that more housing is good even if you can't afford it www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

23.02.2026 14:46 πŸ‘ 186 πŸ” 59 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 10

this has been happening to me for a few years and it's not GOOD but it's not a new innovation under this current administration either

23.02.2026 02:14 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

We don’t have to send every negligent and violent driver to prison, but we sure af need to get them off the road.

22.02.2026 02:28 πŸ‘ 58 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

I’ve filed multiple tickets with @311somerville.bsky.social, and they keep getting closed with statements like β€˜the city isn’t doing any more snow removal’. @mayorjakewilson.bsky.social made some nice videos about how you have to clear curb cuts - did anyone at the city actually watch them?

20.02.2026 18:36 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
A giant pile of snow, dead center in the middle of the curb cut, making the crosswalk inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t want to climb over it

A giant pile of snow, dead center in the middle of the curb cut, making the crosswalk inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t want to climb over it

Oh.

20.02.2026 18:34 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

We’ve had a lot of warm days recently, lots of melting, so time to go check on the curb ramp at the city owned property near me. I’m sure with this assist from Mother Nature, they’ll have an accessible path of travel like they’re required to maintain

20.02.2026 18:33 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

the main reason to go after the rich is that if you don’t the entire structure of your society is predicated on the whims of people who are entirely disconnected from ordinary life

billionaires are simply too dangerous to exist, and any budgetary stuff that comes out of it is just a bonus

19.02.2026 16:56 πŸ‘ 5460 πŸ” 1324 πŸ’¬ 55 πŸ“Œ 31

They’re not even clearing their own curb cuts so

19.02.2026 15:37 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I think it's very depressing that there is simply no social stigma against distracted driving. When people join a Zoom meeting from their cars everyone should be deriding that sort of behavior, and yet it's just accepted.

17.02.2026 19:21 πŸ‘ 329 πŸ” 55 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 10

Everyone who worked at this camp should go to prison.

17.02.2026 19:40 πŸ‘ 1922 πŸ” 546 πŸ’¬ 24 πŸ“Œ 9
Preview
When Buses Are Free but Trains Aren't β€” Human Transit I’m in Bloomberg CityLab with a piece on the dangers of applying free fares to buses but not to trains in the same city.Β  Key quote: When we encourage people to get off trains and onto parallel buses,...

Can buses be free but not the subway? I explained to this problem back in β€˜22, and it sounds like more folks would benefit from this piece. Pls share.

humantransit.org/2022/12/when...

14.02.2026 11:52 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Sitting here open-mouthed at this Sound Transit board presentation, because it was just explained that making Ballard Link's Seattle Center station "slightly trapezoidal" would save the agency a HALF BILLION DOLLARS.

12.02.2026 22:37 πŸ‘ 343 πŸ” 31 πŸ’¬ 21 πŸ“Œ 21
13.02.2026 17:29 πŸ‘ 1268 πŸ” 291 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 4
"Moderna's CEO announced the company will no longer invest in new Phase 3 vaccine trials for infectious diseases: 'You cannot make a return on investment if you don't have access to the U.S. market. Vaccines for Epstein-Barr virus, herpes, and shingles have been shelved.”
9:12 AM
Feb 12, 2026
604.8K Views

"Moderna's CEO announced the company will no longer invest in new Phase 3 vaccine trials for infectious diseases: 'You cannot make a return on investment if you don't have access to the U.S. market. Vaccines for Epstein-Barr virus, herpes, and shingles have been shelved.” 9:12 AM Feb 12, 2026 604.8K Views

In terms of what cures are being lost:

- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

13.02.2026 05:44 πŸ‘ 12541 πŸ” 6208 πŸ’¬ 444 πŸ“Œ 785

Say what you will about NIMBYs, but they do know how to organize.

13.02.2026 16:33 πŸ‘ 40 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 2

Anyone who had genuine concerns about youth gender medicine would staunchly and wholeheartedly support social transition. Let kids explore their identities to see what works for them!

The fact that this movement opposes even pronouns and haircuts shows that it's just bigotry all the way down.

12.02.2026 16:28 πŸ‘ 2961 πŸ” 759 πŸ’¬ 25 πŸ“Œ 11
Preview
Inside ICE’s Only Contract with a Blue State - Bolts As part of a 287(g) contract between state officials and ICE, Massachusetts continues to release prisoners into deportationβ€”even as state lawmakers look to ban other forms of ICE collaboration.

There's only one state in the country that voted for Kamala Harris, & voted for a Dem governor, and where a state agency has any sort of contract with ICE's infamous 287(g) program.

Massachusetts.

The MA Gov says she supports it (even days after Spanberger ended Youngkin's same agreement in VA).

12.02.2026 23:34 πŸ‘ 242 πŸ” 109 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 17

This is war zone shit. If you'd see these photos from any other country that's what you'd think.

11.02.2026 21:17 πŸ‘ 238 πŸ” 41 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
Rendering of a possible new YMCA design

Rendering of a possible new YMCA design

Flyer for neighborhood meeting

Flyer for neighborhood meeting

Me with YMCA leaders

Me with YMCA leaders

πŸŒ‡NEW SOMERVILLE YMCA. Second (final) neighborhood meeting to learn details of their new proposal. Join us Weds March 11, 6:30, zoom link in photo πŸ‘‡

11.02.2026 19:42 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

ever since we invented farming the main driving motivation for basically every human who's ever lived is "how can i do as little farming as possible"

10.02.2026 05:26 πŸ‘ 467 πŸ” 73 πŸ’¬ 16 πŸ“Œ 2