“Lighthaven East - A Feasibility Study” by JohnofCharleston

As a bureaucrat, my role is to annoy my friends. Someone voices an idea, “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” or “I wonder if we could…” I make a note. I do some estimates. If it pencils out, I’ll bring it back up, week after week. The discussions are fun, but also practical. We’ll test the waters, what would be a minimum viable scheme? What's easy, what's hard? Who could do the hard parts? Over time the idea gets more detailed, specific, feasible. I’ll pull out a calendar. Soon our scheme has co-conspirators, action items, even a budget. It's just good staff work. I’ve been hearing whispers in the wind for a year now. “Imagine if we had something like this in DC.” “Where can I host an event that might get a dozen or a hundred people?” “It's such a pain in the ass to book event space in the Capitol.” “I think this person has started to see what's coming, where can they go to get caught up?”“The community seems to be growing but it's all fragmented in group chats.” “How is no one planning an afterparty, that's clearly the highest leverage intervention!?”“Why can’t [...] ---Outline:(02:11) How Lighthaven Works(05:45) What Does DC Need?(06:52) A Day in the Life(10:19) Minimum Viable Lighthaven(12:04) ...so you mean a Group House?(14:27) ...so you mean a Co-Working Space?(16:27) Feasibility Study(17:35) Property(22:19) Funding(24:55) What is the Minimally Viable Funding?(28:03) Leadership(31:06) Cultural Fit(33:21) Name and Brand Positioning(35:20) Ability to Scale(37:48) Risks(41:09) First Steps The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: May 31st, 2026 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/95NgkvZKJx8tJbtn5/lighthaven-east-a-feasibility-study --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.