So glad to live in a place where a lot of absent-minded impatient drivers have transitioned to biking. Before they were deadly. Now they're just fucking annoying. A huge step up.

I used to commute about the same amount of miles in Seattle but most of it was in S Seattle. The amount of stress was incredible. I don't even feel 5% the stress here in France.

E-bikes exist. The end.

I live in a rainy dark city in France & everyone bikes. Moms, kids, young people, old people, commuters, casual riders. Everyone.

The hills in Seattle mean nothing. The deterrent to cycling is dangerous entitled drivers who can't slow down to even follow the speed limit.

@alexis4seattle.bsky.social + Eddie Lin. @mayorofseattle.bsky.social ^^

If they have allies at City Council, it's worth those staff looking into updating the 3rd party billing ordinance. That was my immediate first thought. Mayor's Junk Fee legislation could be a 2nd place to ban the extra fee. Tenants should be charged based on actual consumption, not some vague number

All-Access: Brian Schmetzer addresses team in locker room following win at Houston Dynamo YouTube video by Seattle Sounders FC

It's not an exaggeration when I say that my organizing & policy work was absolutely influenced by Brian's coaching style. His positivity, his openness & willingness to always give credit to those around him. That's real leadership. Sports can be so much more than just a game youtu.be/6zMBAjR03us?...

Sad proof that America is lower-case f fucked. That no one can remove this guy even as he turns more and more into a despot shows that the American experiment has failed.

FC Nantes could have signed Georgi Minoungou & Nouhou, 2 players w/ties to Nantes, from their sister city team @soundersfc.com & I guarantee they'd not be fighting relegation.

Public options for anything normally tend to be cheaper, more well regulated, & can allow you to provide subsidies. The photo below is standard rates for our service in Nantes, but there are discounts of 30-90% for low income families & 50% off through employer subsidies. naolib.fr/fr/tarifs/ve...

Omg, this is what I was trying to get in the 2022 & 23 budgets, funded by the City instead of it going private. CMs (including a few y'all fawned over) just did not get it. "We had public bike share. It failed" or "but we have Lime." They just couldn't grasp a public monthly or yearly rental system.

They lost longtime customers from the line of cars snaking down Pike Place? 🤔 I worked at the market. Those were never regulars. They were visitors who thought, wrongly, that they could pull up & park right in front of a business. Regulars either lived *in* the market or walked there from nearby.

I've now had mine for 5 yrs. It has followed me from Seattle to Nantes. Carries my kid, my dog, groceries, hardware, christmas trees, etc. Done 2 100+ km rides. Got it for $7k & have ridden about as many km. $1 per km + it still rides the same as it did when I got it. Not a bad return on investment.

Like, fuckers like this are basically saying, if anything gets in the way of my amassing wealth, I'll threaten something that gives poor people joy so that they don't second guess or actively work to change the system so that all people benefit. People like this guy are truly deranged.

Rich guy implies he'll take his toy & go home b/c he has to pay his fair share for shit. The right wing wants you to be stuck in poverty while they get richer & they don't even want you to have fleeting entertainment if it means they have to think of anyone but themselves. Robbing you of $ & joy.

Protests are great for getting ppl interested in a cause & cathartic for a public facing a shared issue. BUT pls seek out organizing opportunities when you get home. Build something in your neighborhood, town, or city. You *can* improve the lives of ppl around you & fight tyranny on a daily basis.

Case in point, this weekend, Nantes is doing a massive flea market downtown. In addition to the already pedestrianized city center, they blocked of the equivalent of like 10 Pike Places w/ huge concrete ecoblocks. They did this SDOT achievement with zero fanfare but x10 & all within 1 morning.

I love that I left Seattle for a city with mobility ambition. In this amount of time, Nantes could open multiple city blocks to ppl walking+rolling. It was so tiring fighting for mobility justice in Seattle. Please come visit & take notes. Seattleites deserve ambition too.

Damn, I was hoping his next stop would be France.

Grew up in Seattle. Moved to a place with much more dramatic rain. Will never carry an umbrella because I prioritize having 2 hands free, baby! Let me be soaked, I say.

Dispatches his gestapo to ports of entry & transit to address delays. Sure. Do not travel to the US. That includes Americans abroad. You might get stuck.

You all did great. I hope you feel proud too.

Good on Nantes overall. I'm proud to live here.

Foulques was such a total jerk (in America, I'd say he's an asshole, but can't do that without risking an amende so... 😉) during debates & stuff too, especially to women.

Honestly, these guys with the ancient sounding names drove me crazy during this campaign. Like, we get it, you're right wing. Haha

Yes but the nerdy glasses motherfucker with an equally monarchist name in the 1e tour was RN though and got only 5%. So double win. 😁

Congratulations Nantes. You proved coalition building & people power wins elections. You told nazi RN to fuck off & showed the greater right wing that their campaign of fear mongering won't work here. You showed France how united the left can be & how fractured the right actually is. Great job all.

I've spent my adulthood embedded in politics & civic life, only to be turned away from any political job available in France. Still, I can assess a situation & call it. Been calling it this whole campaign. Here we go.

Election night in Nantes & a 7:30pn Sounders kickoff? It's gonna be an entertaining Sunday night.

Let's follow along together:

bsky.app/profile/medi...

My gut, non-scientific prediction for Nantes:

54% ⬅️

71-72% turnout

The divide is gonna be mostly north-south, w/ predictable trends following population density, income.

Media gonna spin a narrative. Ignore it. I'll have more thoughts around 11pm.

The greatest news to come out of the first tour of the municipal election in Nantes is that the RN got less than 5% of the vote. It's good to live in a place that hates fascists.