Graphic featuring Krista Nightengale as a featured speaker at the 2025 Strong Towns National Gathering in Providence, Rhode Island from June 9-11.

Graphic featuring Krista Nightengale as a featured speaker at the 2025 Strong Towns National Gathering in Providence, Rhode Island from June 9-11.

Time to meet your movement! The 2025 Strong Towns National Gathering has a packed schedule of speakers who share your vision. Here’s one: Krista Nightengale!

Get your tickets before they’re gone! buff.ly/i1CIRxs

Graphic featuring the Dallas skyline and text that reads “Parking News! Dallas, TX updated its 60-year-old parking code with a 14-1 vote.”

Screenshot of the article “Dallas City Council Approves Sweeping Parking Reform in 14-1 Vote.” Read more on strongtowns.org

Dallas has updated its 60-year-old parking code in a 14-1 vote!

Read more from Krista Nightengale of @betterblock.bsky.social on our site! buff.ly/qVd9re4

Dallas City Council Approves Sweeping Parking Reform in 14–1 Vote On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council passed sweeping parking reforms, making it easier to open businesses and build housing in the city.

Dallas City Council Approves Sweeping Parking Reform in 14–1 Vote www.strongtowns.org/journal/2025... via @strongtowns.org and @knightengale.bsky.social

Dallas councilman slams city's 'slow' safety response after car wreck caught on camera Chad West says Dallas has "failed to keep residents safe" after video showed a car careening into an apartment in the latest wreck at a Dallas intersection

Dallas' transportation department refuses to respond to dangerous situations. So, yesterday, a councilman and his office had to take matters into their own hands.
www.wfaa.com/article/news...

Last night, Dallas City Council passed parking reform 14-1. To celebrate, we're doing limited editions of our It's Hard to Find Parking in Great Places tshirt. If you'd to purchase one, send your size to info@betterblock.org by Monday morning (pickup only).

Six years.
28 ZOAC meetings.
3 CPC meetings (each around 9 hours, I believe).
Countless meetings.
And finally, parking reform goes to city council Wednesday.
If you care about the future of our city, come speak starting at 1.

Third places are wherever and however you want them to be as long as there’s community. This is one of my favorite ones in Dallas.

I’m not 100% certain this is cause and effect; however, a couple months after a community member placed one of the @betterblock.bsky.social benches here, a permanent one was installed.

What if there were a chair for crossing guards that had the stop sign built in, cubbies for storage, and was easy to transport?
Over at @betterblock.bsky.social, we’re working on it!

Often, while I’m walking around Dallas, I can’t help but notice the things we need to fix. But I love the #colorwalk trend as it reminds me to notice all the beauty in something as simple as a walk.

Data gathering at @betterblock.bsky.social HQ.

I couldn’t make it across this massive intersection in time so I had to stop and wait for the light in the median.
Standing in the median like this is illegal in the City of Dallas.
But I had only three seconds to get across three lanes and couldn’t risk it.

Feels appropriate that I walk out of a meeting passing parking reform and have my route blocked by a vehicle parked in the middle of the sidewalk.
PS there are multiple street spots and a whole parking garage (which they’re blocking the exit of).

Spent my weekend reading through applications for Better Block University. My faith in humanity and hope for the future of our cities is restored.
This is going to be an incredible group.

Better Block University | The Better Block

Applications for Better Block University close Monday. If you’d like to learn how to make change in your community (and $2,500 to make it happen), click the link.

www.betterblock.org/bbu

Guess I’m bringing a trash bag on my next walk.

I got to work with this little girl to install a ground mural at her school.
At one point, I heard her say, "This is the best day ever."
Agreed, kiddo.
Grateful for what I get to do at @betterblock.bsky.social, whether it's discussing parking at City Hall or painting a sidewalk in West Dallas.

Just a typical walk to the train station in an American city.

Exciting news from Better Block: We are launching BBU, a leadership program for those who want to build Better Blocks. We're looking for 15 folks who love learning, have an idea for a project to address public safety in their neighborhood, and share our passion for getting things done.

What’s Wrong With Downtown Dallas? Violent crime is up. Street life is often lacking. Can a $3.7 billion convention center expansion transform the fortunes of the city’s central business district?

I was asked, "Folks think downtown is dead. Is that true?"
I said, no, not from a Dallas sense. It's the busiest I've ever seen it in my 15 years here.
But in comparison to other downtowns? Yes.
Then I spent an hour talking with Mark, which is captured here.
www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

My first glimpse of the outside world after discussing parking reform in Dallas for 10 hours at CPC.
We got through three of the 18 points. So there is still time to engage with CPC.

Diving into the new draft of the proposed changes to Dallas’ parking code.
Read it yourself at the link below, and let me know what you think. Public hearing February 13.

dallascityhall.com/departments/...

Graphic featuring a photo of broken glass on a road and two cars blurred in the background. The text reads "'Just be more careful' is not an adequate response to design patterns that consistently lead to crashes."

Crashes are not isolated incidents caused solely by driver error. Certain design choices increase the risk of crashes in a consistent and predictable way.

I know I've said it a million times over, but as the Better Block Foundation enters our 10th year, I'm doing a lot of reflecting. And I always come back to just how grateful I am to be allowed to do the work I do.

Like the time the kids waiting for their bus helped pull up tape.
Or the time we witnessed a grown man experience a hammock for the first time.
Or the time we watched students run a robotic arm in the Better Block in a Box.
Or the time we shared billing as grand marshal of a parade with an emu.

One project will have $30 million to permanently implement (due to the efforts of local groups). Another resulted in the first ground-mural daylighting of an intersection; another will inform a long-range comp plan. And all of these things are amazing, but what I'll remember are the tiny moments.

Placemaking in Pittsburgh: Better Block in a Box | BETTER BLOCK YouTube video by Better Block

Last year, we had the honor of working with the Richard King Mellon Foundation on a series of projects in and around Pittsburgh.
We worked with talented videographers to distill those six months down to four minutes. I'm biased but I believe it's worth a watch.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp-1...

We’re continuing the conversation on parking reform in Dallas on February 13. Have thoughts? Send them to me!

Same! I couldn’t figure out where all the new followers were coming from. Honored to be included in such an amazing list.

NEW Starter pack! 🔥

100 Women in Urbanism

Cathy Tuttle (@cathytuttle.bsky.social) and I have curated this list of the 100 most interesting women and non-binary people in urbanism on Bluesky right now.