Member of the yapping staff at Anthropic; created Snowflake’s Startup Program, cofounded @laylodotcom and directed a movie
San Francisco, CA
Joined July 2010
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Prodan 🔸 retweeted
Where in America can new homes get permitted and built fastest? And are we getting faster or slower over time?
In a new paper with @leonardo_damico and Audrey Wang, we show cities like Raleigh typically *finish* construction before cities like San Francisco even approve it.
Prodan 🔸 retweeted
Democrats and Republicans may be about equally likely to have mistaken policies, but Democrats are less dangerous in the worst case. Worst case Democrats are smug ideologues, but worst case Republicans are movie bad guys.
Prodan 🔸 retweeted
OPINION: There is a better answer for raising revenue than California’s billionaire tax and it cannot move to Florida, Greg Miller and Lars Doucet write. sfchronicle.com/opinion/open…
The Supercuts barber, unprompted, asked me if I’m using Claude through Bedrock. in case you’re wondering how SF is doing
I'm telling my llm to read only high quality travel content, like the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service annual reports on the food culture and market of that country
If Ted Stevens were alive he would say AR is a series of mirrors
A teardown of the $800 Meta Ray-Ban Display reveals a system of mirrors enabling its "geometric" waveguide tech, setting it apart from other AR glasses (@liz_ifixit / iFixit News)
ifixit.com/News/113543/there…
techmeme.com/251009/p8#a2510…
📫 Subscribe: techmeme.com/newsletter?from…
Mayor @DanielLurie @nedsegal and their teams are slowly making Japanese-style urbanism possible in SF (micro businesses in downtown office buildings, dense housing). This is the way, we can have nice things 🌉
Today, I signed an additional package of PermitSF into law. To allow our neighborhoods and downtown to thrive, the City needs to get out of the way of business owners by making the permitting process simple and transparent.
Here is what this package does:
➡️ Eliminates the need for small business owners to acquire permits and pay the City to paint the name of their business on their façade or put up a small sign in their window.
➡️ Amends the exemptions on requirements for ground-floor uses to have at least 60% of the windows and doorways transparent, allowing visibility into the building.
➡️ Expands the range of allowable uses on the ground and second floors.
➡️ Allows offices on the ground floor through 2030.
➡️ Eliminates the Department of Public Health requirement to review and issue permits for laundry facilities and veterinary hospitals. This legislation also reduces fees for certified farmers’ market permits.
Our administration is creating the conditions for San Francisco’s recovery, and with the latest package, we’re cutting red tape, driving downtown recovery, and spreading the word that San Francisco is open for business.
We shouldn’t take that for granted - we could’ve just as easily ended up with someone as unserious as @MayorOfLA. Imagine having a pro-decay mayor!
CA had a bill to cut permitting time for ALL transit projects - buses, bike lanes, light rail, everything. It passed the Senate.
Then, Dems in the Transportation Committee, chaired by @AsmLoriDWilson just amended it to make it worse and ONLY apply to high-speed rail.
Trump states build infrastructure while pass laws to hold meetings about holding meetings and pretend like we’re not hurting poor people in the name of process.
This is what @Scott_Wiener’s bill WOUDL’VE done cal.streetsblog.org/2025/02/…
Newsom read one (1) @ezraklein book and immediately chose progress over process. Urban housing freed from 5 years of shadow studies. Your NIMBY aunt's environmental consultant boyfriend is updating his LinkedIn right now
A decade-spanning political battle between housing developers and defenders of CA's preeminent environmental law likely came to an end this afternoon with only a smattering of “no” votes.
The forces of housing won. cal.news/44sKsuX
📝 @FromBenC
📸 @semanthanorris
ALT Construction of one of the largest mass timber towers in the world at 1510 Webster St. in downtown Oakland on Aug 7, 2023. Photo by Semantha Norris, CalMatters Hed: One of the biggest obstacles to building new housing in California has now vanished
Prodan 🔸 retweeted
I have become abundance-pilled by @ezraklein and @DKThomp.
Both political parties fail us with a scarcity mindset.
On the left: degrowth, regulatory overreach, opposition to nuclear, and a fetish for rationing resources.
On the right: economic protectionism, anti-immigrant policies, opposition to solar, gutting science programs, and nostalgia for a vanishing past.
What we need is abundance!
More housing to end shortages, more clean energy—nuclear, solar, geothermal—to power growth.
Build big again: modern grids, bridges that don’t crumble, high-speed rail.
Support American businesses—not with trade barriers, but by reducing red tape, incentivizing innovation, and opening doors to skilled immigrants who fuel our economy.
Invest in education and R&D to keep us ahead, not just coasting on yesterday’s wins.
Although Ezra and Derek lean left, the Abundance mindset isn't partisan - It’s the progressives dream of immigration and affordable housing, libertarians push for free trade and deregulation, conservatives love of American greatness—and a rejection of zero-sum thinking from all sides.
Scarcity traps us all; let abundance set us free!
Talking to your neighbors is underrated! You learn a lot. I was surprised by how many read our local paper.
So I wrote an op-ed for it, arguing for way more housing and explaining that it will lower costs and make it easier to raise a family in SF.
