Civic Decode ⁽³⁾

In 2013, I was starting my graduate studies at UCLA, and the City of Los Angeles launched one of the most ambitious urban planning initiatives in modern history - re:code LA. The goal was clear and desperately needed. Los Angeles was operating on a bloated, Frankensteined zoning code originally written in 1946. It had thousands of pages of overlays, conditions, and contradictory amendments. It was a bureaucratic nightmare that choked housing production and confused everyone but the most expensive land-use lawyers. The promise of re:code LA was a complete, citywide rewrite. A modern, simplified code for the 21st century. Everyone…

With the recent passage of AB 920 and AB 253, Sacramento has sent a clear message to every city hall in the state: The analog era is over. For decades, the permit process has been a black box—a maze of paper forms, manual reviews, and unpredictable timelines. But under these new laws, cities are now on a strict deadline. By 2028, local governments must fully digitize their permit workflows to better serve their citizens and streamline housing production. The stick is real. AB 253 adds teeth to these requirements, penalizing cities that drag their feet on approvals. The days of…

I just hit "Submit." Applying to Y Combinator is a rite of passage for many startups. It’s nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time. But now that the application is in and the Founder Video is uploaded, I realized something important: Even if we don't get in, the process itself was invaluable. Over the past month, as we've been busy in the weeds building the company site and AI application, the YC application was a nice change up that forces you to zoom out. It demands that you answer hard questions: What is the specific insight you have that others…