GM. Still reading Califailure this morning, now on the chapters about development in Venice Beach and San Jose.

I was supposed to officially move into my space tomorrow, but can’t. My application is delayed another week after sitting with the city for a month. I’ve called so often the admin staff recognizes my voice.

When I finally reached the planning lead, they offered to review it and call me back later. I asked if they would instead stay on the line and read my application with me. They approved it within minutes.

County fire has only responded after I escalated my application to the fire chief through a personal connection. The normal channels led nowhere.

Over the decades, California’s public agencies have come to optimize for caution and legal defensibility, not throughput. Delay is often safer, and more rewarded, than action. Our state is notorious for this.

Individual persistence can cut through the inertia. But how we can build incentives for momentum into the public system itself?

Building a little space by the ocean. More information at /thenextwave coming soon.