honestly I’m pleasantly surprised Kristi Noem’s “REAL AMERICANS shoot their dogs, you out of touch coastal elite” shtick didn’t land. I 100% thought we’d be in for at least one scolding NYT op-ed

As I told Canada's CBC News:

''We are so used to subsidizing cars, treating streets as car parking, we don't even recognize what we've lost in doing so,' [Zipper] said. He suggested using spaces once occupied by cars for bike lanes, gardens or cafés.'

cbc.ca/news/science/c…

I've long said we're at risk of losing essentially everything due to global heating - all of modern life, much of life on Earth, billions of human lives, our super habitable planet. More and more climate scientists are coming to see this. Please start listening

The SFMTA Citizens’ Advisory Council has recommended that SFMTA move forward with the proposed improvements for West Portal 👏

Please sign the petition for the improvements at WelcomingWestPortal.com

The improvements will improve safety for all people and the area more broadly.

If the US returned to walking as the base unit of transportation augmented by bikes and trains, it would have an enormous positive impact on fiscal and physical health. Automobile dependence is an economic parasite and public health scourge.

You ever think about how completely unstoppable New York State would be if we zeroed out our highway-widening budget moving forward and used that $ instead to build 2-3 metro lines each in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany — and connected all of them to NYC via 200mph rail?

Great thread on how Austin’s front setback requirements, like many urban planning regulations, are based on vibes and nonsense that cannot withstand even mild scrutiny.

Central train stations are like cathedrals of public life: architectural beauty, commerce, culture, art and trains to everywhere you want to go. 😍

The east coast could have amazing produce if we didn't use federal policy to ensure that all the good land gets wasted fattening up cows and SUVs

One of the most enduring myths is that “American cities were built for cars.” No.

Our cities were *destroyed* for the car. We had dense, walkable cities as beautiful as Europe. DOTs razed entire neighborhoods to make way for freeways and demolished downtowns for parking lots.

Many cities have a tree program. Our city gave us a beautiful Chinese pistache we have named Ignis because it looks like a ball of flame in the fall. They need regular care the first few years, but once established are easy to maintain. [Different tree pictured. Same variety.]

Journalism is meant to serve an essential role: finding out what is really going on and reporting it. It’s to find out who is telling the truth and who isn’t. “It is not our job to write what people tell us like we’re scriveners.” Terrific thread from a real journalist. ⬇️

Streetsblog SF Let’s not forget how the Second St bike path literally ends at SFFD HQ, so that they squeeze a few more parking spots in for their vehicles.

Great metaphor for how bike safety ends at SFFD’s doorstep.

Had my first one-on-one with a local traffic engineer, and he did not disappoint! Completely hostile and condescending, he tried convincing me that $$ should be spent on 'education' for pedestrian dum-dums who don't know to use a crosswalk. 1/

This should be an urban center to rival NYC. It's one of the wealthiest areas in human history, with some of the best possible climates on earth. Instead, it's full of 1960s era ticky tacky suburbs.

Bike parking — followed by outdoor dining — generates the most revenue for local businesses, nearly double the amount generated from on-street private car storage 👏

We need to inform local businesses of these facts, but also need SFMTA to make quick decisions based off of them.

It's funny that every NYC suburb has staunchly been against new housing because of the potential 'congestion,' while those same people flood NYC streets daily with their cars, and we have to be okay with it.

'when New York City instituted an Intelligent Speed Assistance pilot program for municipal vehicles, hard-braking incidents dropped 36% and vehicles followed the speed limit 99% of the time.'
cityandstateny.com/opinion/2024/0…

Climate change demands a great de-paving.

cleantechnica.com/2024/05/05/imp…