@bd_highsmith

institutions, geography, democracy | UCLA Law

 Los Angeles, CA
brianhighsmith.com
Joined June 2010
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  • Followers8.3K
32Media
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
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LA is basically run by a "good old chuds" network. Incumbent officials who have run the city into the ground playing petty-tyrant machine politics are furious that Nithya might actually follow laws and professionalize operation of the city. politico.com/news/2026/10/20…
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I’m always saying this
o@acquaintf8Oct 24
Ideally, LA should consolidate a lot of these cities to mitigate tax base fragmentation ala NYC. The only reason a lot of these cities exist is just less oversight for corporations, like the oil drilling in Signal Hill or Vernon being filled with data centers and no voting base
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stanfordlawreview.org/print/…

Governing the Company Town | Stanford Law Review

stanfordlawreview.org
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Bussit baby@bussit_bbLAOct 24
the irony of LOS ANGELES being one of the best places to be a transit nerd in the 21st century 😍🤓
TODNewsHub
@TODNewsHubOct 23
This is the SECOND major transit project to break ground in Los Angeles this week. First: the East San Fernando Valley light-rail line. Now: the 12.4-mile Vermont Avenue BRT • 12.4 miles of BRT • Dedicated bus lanes • Connections to the B, D, E and C Lines • Trips up to 24% faster • Upgraded service for 38,000 daily riders @metrolosangeles hopes to finish the Vermont Corridor before the 2028 Olympics. No American city is doing more for transit that Los Angeles
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Gabriel Zucman
@gabriel_zucmanOct 24
So let met get that straight: paying a wealth tax is impossible (“billionaires have no liquidity”, “it would be taxing unrealized gains”, “their wealth is virtual”) but paying half a billion to influence elections is possible. Did I understand well?
The Washington Post
@washingtonpostOct 23
Elon Musk has cemented his record as the largest individual political donor in modern American history. Musk poured $446 million of his own money into this year’s midterm elections, mostly aimed at preserving the Republican Party’s control of Congress. wapo.st/4igb5Kq
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Josh Barro
@jbarroOct 23
Padilla is the one you might remember from her bragging to @jonlovett about getting an affordable housing project reduced from 6 stories to 3
Unrig LA@UnrigLAOct 23
CM Padilla goes out of her way to repeatedly turn directly to CM Raman and speak of “betrayal…evil…ingratitude…and arrogance” in City Hall.
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This point of view has been made for years now, and I'm getting frustrated because it's very clear that he means he doesn't think Democrats represent the interests of working class white people, which are not strictly economic. That's what he doesn't want to lose. There is almost nothing in GOP Trump policy that economically benefits the working class, which saw disproportionate wage gains and stable, low unemployment under Biden. I wish our journalists would be more honest and critical when folks say this.
Bobby LaValley
@Bobby_LaVallleyOct 22
MICHIGAN VOTER: "Back in the day when my parents were Democrats, they represented the working class. They've lost that. They've moved so far to the left." "We love our country. We don't want to lose it. That's the truth."
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Alexander Sahn@sahnicboomOct 21
thought these two statements were very well put
Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan on 🟦☁️)@BrendanNyhanOct 21
Replying to @BrendanNyhan
uchicago.app.box.com/s/6ghhc…

Writing Without Artificial Intelligence Principles and Recommendations.pdf | Powered by Box

uchicago.app.box.com
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holden m. accountable@noahpasaranOct 20
this is the exact person to listen to on this issue and I hope people do
Jamaal Bowman
@RepBowmanOct 20
We all need an opportunity to learn and grow and make mistakes. That’s life. Empathy and grace are essential. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the very good.
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brent 🌹🗽@BrentInQueensOct 20
I haven’t followed this closely but regardless of how you feel about the merits of this, doing it literally a week before the election is just incredibly unserious in so many ways
Peter Sterne@petersterneOct 20
DSA's national leadership had been expected to vote tonight on whether to unendorse or expel Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who's been endorsed by DSA-LA. Instead, the vote has been delayed for another week.
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I’ve been doing archival research on municipal socialism for a new project (watch this space), and have to laugh when I see these old headlines: it really has always been this way!
Adam Jentleson
@AJentlesonOct 20
I’m enjoying the @sunraysunray Blueprint book and as usual finding myself in broad agreement with many of his goals. But I’m also reminded of one of several reasons why I could never be a socialist, which is that I hate meetings while socialists really, really love meetings.
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Cassy Horton@Cassy_HortonOct 19
Property owners holding parking lots for this exact reason is one of the things holding DTLA back from its full potentially. Every surface level lot could be housing <on top of even more parking>. Super random interview but it highlights one of the challenges/opps for DTLA.
nuel
@c68tyOct 19
Frankie Muniz reveals he bought downtown LA parking lots that skyrocketed in value and generated massive cash flow with zero overhead "I owned some parking lots in downtown LA." "Then you know downtown LA from, I don't know, 2002, there was really nothing there, and now it became like a pretty trendy, there's so much down there. So they did really well there." "You have like one or two employees who take money all day from cars. There's no overhead. Every once in a while they paint the lines."
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daniel 🐌@escargotpro_Oct 18
Beast Mode Leslie Chang quote - she honestly one of my heros
Daniel Wortel-London@dlondonwortelOct 18
"When talking to D.S.A.-ers, I often had the sense that they sincerely believed in a class revolution that they were not in any immediate way working toward." This one should make the rounds @benwallacewells newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…
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Hayden
@the_transit_guyOct 17
If we block housing over driver views while on a freeway I respectfully ask the aliens to just take us
SFGATE
@SFGateOct 14
View from I-80 will be very different if controversial developer moves ahead sfgate.com/local/article/sf-…
View from I-80 will be very different if controversial developer moves ahead

ALT View from I-80 will be very different if controversial developer moves ahead

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James Surowiecki
@JamesSurowieckiOct 18
There is absolutely no logical reason why someone who has a mortgage should pay property tax while someone who owns their house outright should not. "I own my house, therefore I shouldn't pay property tax" is a total non sequitur.
POLITICO
@politicoOct 18
“I’m old. I’ve paid my home off,” said Ray Warner, a 72-year-old Akron resident. “Why would I pay property tax?” Across the country, homeowners are asking the same question and revolting against property taxes at a scale not seen in a half century. politico.com/news/magazine/2…

Do You Really Own Your Home? A Tax Revolt Says No.

The argument that property taxes make Americans renters in their own houses has fueled the biggest anti-tax uprising in half a century, and local governments are scrambling.

politico.com
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J. Ryder🪿@harbingerofwokeOct 18
Some socialists have revealed their profound inconsistency in the Nithya situation. I understand if you’re anti AOC as well and just want to retract into hermit sectarianism, I’m familiar with this position all too well. But to be Pro AOC, Pro Zohran (all oscillators on Palestine historically), and then Anti Nithya is just myopic inside baseball apolitical personalism to the highest degree.
Matthew J. Hunter@MattHunterMCROct 18
If Nithya Raman should be expelled and unendorsed then so should Zohran Mamdani, Hugo Soto-Martinez, AOC, etc. But I don’t see people in this discourse act consistently in their own logic on this. Quite frustrating.
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Morgan Ricks@MorganRicks1Oct 17
We must continue to "update our priors" re: whether this degree of concentrated economic power is compatible with democracy.
Matthew Yglesias
@mattyglesiasOct 16
What's crazy about Musk's spending on the midterms is that the amount involved is totally trivial relative to his net worth. This is like a normal person sending $150 each to three candidates they like.
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sam
@sam_d_1995Oct 16
extremely common congestion pricing W kinda funny how everyone freaked out over congestion pricing before it went into effect, but now that it’s working, everyone has moved on and it’s quietly reducing congestion & making the subway better
Governor Hochul Press Office
@NYGovPressOct 15
THIS HOLE IN THE GROUND WILL BECOME A BRAND NEW ELEVATOR THANKS TO CONGESTION PRICING
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During the heyday of American municipal socialism (~1908-16), which coincided w Progressive good government reformism, socialist mayors campaigned on promises to improve public services by cleaning up government corruption. Hoan created a whole “Bureau of Economy and Efficiency”:
lej@_lej44Oct 15
continuing to scream from the rooftop that reforming public union shenanigans is key to running progressive cities (ie: true progressivism maximizes services and benefits for all not a select group of in workers and union leadership)
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Chris Hayes
@chrislhayesOct 14
It’s always a fun game to switch “property values” and “housing prices” in any sentence, because they’re the same thing with opposite valences.
David Weigel
@daveweigelOct 14
I keep thinking about this exchange. Blakeman says he's "created wealth" because of the skyrocketing home prices in Nassau County. The idea that young families are priced out just doesn't occur at all
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