White House’s gleeful video shows chained deportees at Boeing Field The president's billionaire adviser Elon Musk reposted the clip shot at Boeing Field — labeled an "ASMR" video by the White House — with the comment: "Haha wow."

The cruelty is the point, these MAGA billionaires hate working people.

Washington Bill Would Cap Excessive Parking Mandates Around the State Washington Bill Would Cap Excessive Parking Mandates Around the State

WA’s bill to cap parking mandates would swap excessive pavement for more trees, senior living, daycares, and lower-cost housing.

#WAleg #ParkinginWA @citizen-cate.bsky.social @jessdbateman.bsky.social

Fascinating early data from NYC's congestion pricing experiment. Overall traffic is down by 8%.

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

#SocialHealth
For decades time with neighbors has been dropping in USA.
Over 1/3 Canadians having less time with neighbors.
Action!!
Sweden created ONE MINUTE CITY.
Neighbors choose their street furniture from many modules.
Plan to increase 400% time outside with others by 2030.

How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness A car is often essential in the US but while owning a vehicle is better than not for life satisfaction, a study has found, having to drive too much sends happiness plummeting

“…a new study…found that while having a car is better than not for overall life satisfaction, having to drive for more than 50% of the time for out-of-home activities is linked to a decrease in life satisfaction.” theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/29/extreme-car-dependency-unhappiness-americans

Excellent illustration of a process I see all the time.

h/t @chesaysthings on the hellsite.

Fueling the crisis - Transportation For America On November 15, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law. The IIJA included a five-year transportation authorization for U.S. Department o...

According to a new report from Transportation For America, the money from Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law has mostly been used on maintaining and expanding highways, to the point that the law has yielded a net *increase* in greenhouse gases. Sigh.

Opinion | America’s homeless population is exploding. But there’s a solution. The story about how homelessness among military veterans fell can tell us a lot about what we need to do in order to end the larger crisis.

Homelessness in the United States is getting worse. But homelessness among military veterans has been getting better. The difference is that with the latter, a HOUSING FIRST approach is used. And like everywhere else that it’s used, it’s working. And it saves money.

So why isn’t it used everywhere?

Opinion | America’s homeless population is exploding. But there’s a solution. The story about how homelessness among military veterans fell can tell us a lot about what we need to do in order to end the larger crisis.

"Without significant land use reforms that remove existing barriers to housing development ... any large-scale Housing First program will resemble bailing out a sinking ship with a measuring cup." www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

This solar paint tech could lead to nearly unlimited EV range A new type of solar paint could give electric vehicles almost unlimited range, at least in places where the sun shines a lot.

There is no world where we solve climate change without consuming less, including driving less. No amount of magical paint can make a car move without substantial external energy input. Ride a bike!

How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness A car is often essential in the US but while owning a vehicle is better than not for life satisfaction, a study has found, having to drive too much sends happiness plummeting

"...while having a car is better than not for overall life satisfaction, having to drive for more than 50% of the time for out-of-home activities is linked to a decrease in life satisfaction."

View toward Fifth Ave from Cedar Hall with about half of the seats filled

View of line at the Olympia coffee walkup in Cedar Hall

I can't think of a bigger Downtown Seattle success story in recent memory than the transformation of the US Bank building lobby into Cedar Hall.

This place is bustling seven days a week because it's a welcoming enjoyable space to spend time.

Vanderbilt Plaza next to Grand Central continues to be a huge W. Feels like it’s been this way for 100 years.

Savannah Union Station before-and-after it was demolished for construction of I-16 and “urban renewal” in the 1960s. More info: www.segregationbydesign.com/savannah/uni...

The report title “Part of the Solution: Transit’s Role in Addressing Homelessness” is on yellow background with a blue shape of a house on which there are two people talking. One appears to be learning about help and services from the other.

New report release from us: “Part of the Solution: Transit’s Role in Addressing Homelessness.” With homelessness growing across the U.S., more individuals are relying on public transit for shelter, leading to complex challenges for both riders and transit agencies.

transitcenter.org/wp-content/u...

Cities on the World's Best List are Putting People First Not Cars According to the latest report, these cities stand out for their approach to urban development with innovative mobility solutions

Cities on the World’s Best List are Putting People First Not Cars.
momentummag.com/cities-on-th...

Urban Planning quote of the week.

“Planning of the automobile city focuses on saving time. Planning for the accessible city, on the other hand, focuses on time well spent.”

- Robert Cevero

The Psychological Traps That Keep Us Stuck Commuting Via Car Even when better options are available, switching modes is tough.

Why it’s psychologically hard to switch to public transit or biking.

“Over time, land use & infrastructure quality will largely dictate how people travel. But nudges can tilt decisions…they can lead people to adjust their current habits before they otherwise would have.” slate.com/technology/2...

Why Americans aren't buying cars anymore Fewer Americans are buying cars compared to a decade ago.

The American vehicular arms race:

"SUVs, meanwhile, are now at a record high of 58 percent of new vehicles for sale, as Americans are increasingly opting for more space and more features."

Which leads to a body count of 45k people per year in the US.

www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/co...

Paris has hiked parking charges on SUVs. Now cities like London are taking note Parisians have voted to hike parking fees on large SUVs — and it's not the only European city to set its sights on heavier, more polluting cars

Remember this? In a referendum in Paris early this year, almost 55% voted in favor of a BIG increase in parking rates for SUVs, which have been surging in sales, for non-residents. Both in the city center & city-wide. www.cnbc.com/2024/03/11/p...

Pop-Up Voting Centers Bring the Polls Directly to Unhoused Angelenos Nationwide, unhoused people have some of the lowest turnout among all voters. Los Angeles County is trying to change this with flexible polling centers that meet people where they are.

Very cool initiative in Los Angeles has provided new opportunities for homeless people to vote by bringing polling centers directly to shelters & service centers, and reminding people that they can legally vote without having to demonstrate a fixed physical home address:

There’s More to Life Than the Federal Government Local government has a huge impact on your life—and you can make a difference!

civicinsighter.com/p/more-to-li...

There’s More to Life Than the Federal Government Local government has a huge impact on your life—and you can make a difference!

“There’s more to life than the federal government. What will you do to improve life where you live?”

Why housing shortages cause homelessness - Works in Progress Why do high-cost cities have more homelessness? It's not just about rents — it’s also about the rooms friends and family can’t afford to share.

A new piece by Salim Furth makes important points on the relationships between homelessness and housing supply, which is more complicated than some analyses suggest: worksinprogress.co/issue/why-ho...

"A successful city neighborhood is a place that keeps sufficiently abreast of its problems so it is not destroyed by them" Jane Jacobs The Death and Life of Great American Cities

We need to talk about the problems we face in order to solve them

I urge younger and middle-aged people to advocate for city design that prioritizes people over cars. Without action, many will spend their final years isolated in places like this, cut off from aging in place within their community and left with a view like this as their connection to the world.

I was in London at the weekend and it was fascinating* how many people want the convenience and proximity of living in a city yet drive a big SUV as though they're out in the countryside. It's amazing* how people don't see the contradictions of trying to live both lifestyles at once

*Appalling

Photo of Vienna street transformed for people

This Vienna street isn’t “closed” because cars have been removed. It has successfully been “opened” to everything else, to a diverse and invigorated civic life, because cars have been replaced by a multitude of wonderful things.

Language matters.

HT @dmoser.bsky.social for pic #OpenStreets #Vienna

What's Up With That: Building Bigger Roads Actually Makes Traffic Worse The concept is called induced demand, which is economist-speak for when increasing the supply of something (like roads) makes people want that thing even more. Though some traffic engineers made note ...

“We found there’s this perfect one-to-one relationship. If a city increased its road capacity by 10% then driving in that city went up by 10%.” Still one of the best articles on why building bigger roads leads to more driving. Understanding #InducedDemand Via @wired.com www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt...

Who's really to blame—and who isn't—for America's traffic death epidemic Politicians love to say that 'road safety is a shared responsibility,' but the reality is that some groups have a much larger duty than others.

We need to stop saying “road safety is a shared responsibility.”

Highway engineers, automakers, and policymakers have the power to reduce the sky-high number of US crash deaths. Individual road users don't.

My latest in @fastcompany.com 🧵

www.fastcompany.com/91233037/who...