FRONT-LOAD THE MOST STRATEGIC LEVY INVESTMENTS. Last levy, bike projects lagged, languished, and ultimately got the shaft. This time, the mayor should put the most transformational (walking, biking, and transit) projects first.
šSeattle/London. Board member at Seattle Neighborhood Greenways. Opinions amirite. Safe, sustainable, equitable, healthy cities. Dongho Chang superfan. (he/him)
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FRONT-LOAD THE MOST STRATEGIC LEVY INVESTMENTS. Last levy, bike projects lagged, languished, and ultimately got the shaft. This time, the mayor should put the most transformational (walking, biking, and transit) projects first.
Perfect. We need more of that.
Anyway, my position on this race is decisively neutral. I respect people who picked one or the other but I am 100% in favor of both of them winning. A tie with a power-sharing arrangement would be ideal. Don't pull me off the fenceāI'm happy here.
My last chat with Girmay Zahilay was a couple years ago but he was also cool (and said āletās do a #shoepicā the second we met). Long story short, weāre lucky to have so much talent at the county.
A nice list of things that are way more likely if we elect @wilsonforseattle.bsky.social.
(Revive I-5 is a good crisis too. Really, whichever can be made to sound scariest. Or both. Revive I-5 can drive north-south bike and bus lanes. FIFA can drive pedestrian and car-light streets in the center city and around fan zones.)
If we canāt get Greg back (we probably canāt), Iād like Francisca to get the job. Sheās progressive, qualified, and ready on day one.
I probably donāt have good advice as I have never tried nor had any desire to make a living doing this. Itās a great hobby that occasionally makes the world a slightly better place.
Come to think of it, I wouldnāt be very good.
The pay is ok but the hours and working conditions suck. Maybe deputy mayor if I can get a half-time gig: No meetings until 10:00am unless Iām in London, then no meetings after 11:00am; gym time starts at 3:00pm; twelve weeks of vacation; I post what I want on Bluesky.
NOT my favorite but it is a pretty wild way to enter or exit an interstate
Straight under SDOT.
DONāT LET A GOOD CRISIS GO TO WASTE. Mayor Durkan squandered the āPeriod of Maximum Constraint.ā With the FIFA World Cup, we have a fresh opportunity for transformational change. Make this feel like an absolute fucking crisis and spring into action to solve it.
Yes. Iām certain that creates an uncomfortable situation. Hoping at least one Harrell endorser fully flips.
I had a chat recently with Claudia Balducci and one thing I appreciate about her is she got her start in politics fighting against a particularly insidious brand of design review in Bellevue.
Post your favorite roads through buildings! Seattle convention center.
Best pie: Caravaggio pizza from lāAntica, Hampstead Best ice cream: mint chip Best donut: blueberry-bourbon cake donut, Blue Star, Portland Best bar: Lobby lounge at the Beverly Hilton Best cake: strawberry-pistachio cake from CafĆ© Meyer, Bratislava Best other: Bakewell tart, Metropolitan Market
Post your favorite roads through buildings. The Towers, Narragansett.
I rode the new (still under construction) downtown-to-Georgetown bike route and there are some spots I would fix right now but itās an essential connection to a great neighborhood.
Post your favorite roads through buildings! Iām going to take the obvious one, the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
This is still true, with minor tweaks, 8 years after I first posted it.
Yes indeed. I included some words on that topic in the green row.
Theyāre updating Streets Illustrated right now! (I PDRed the contract.) Itās going slow so far.
Endorse.
SET A BIKE MODE SHARE GOAL. Seattle's current bike mode share is pegged around 3% but any city in the world can reach 20% with effort. So start there.
Seattle's actual mode priority pyramid.
(Congestion pricing is better than free: It generates money for good things.)
BE STRATEGIC ABOUT CONGESTION PRICING. City streets are a classic case of the tragedy of the commons. When provided free to drivers, they are over-used to the detriment of everyone. Use pricing to free up space, reduce negative externalities, and generate revenue for the benefit of all.
NEGOTIATE NARROWER FIRE LANES. This will enable the creation of safer and more comfortable shared streets without sacrificing emergency access. The current 20-foot standard, which basically allows two ladder trucks to pass at speed, is excessive and wasteful.
(Progressive DOT's do modal filters all the time. Seattle needs to shake its bollard allergy.)
STOP PRETENDING CARS ARE THE UNIVERSAL MODE. Walking, biking, and transit projects get dramatically cheaper when you worry less about serving cars in every single place. For example, modal filters instantly protect pedestrians and cyclists for the cost of a row of bollards.
GET WSDOT TO CLOSE A FREEWAY RAMP (or make one bus-only). This will have an immediate impact on downtown streets. We do this all the time for construction, so don't let WSDOT get all whiny about it.
ROLL OUT SHARED STREETS. This instantly changes the rules, dropping the speed limit to 10 mph and giving pedestrians the right of way. Do it en masse at first, perhaps on all greenways. Then circle back with greening and traffic calming to keep speeds below target and welcome people into the street.
(@spottnik.bsky.social gained a lot of ground in the waning years of the prior transportation levy by harnessing the urgency of a looming expiration date and getting projects into construction)
JUST SAY YES. I've said it before: SDOT costs the sameāmore or lessāwhether they do things or not. So, allow them to hit their stride and maintain a pace of putting projects out to bid. Killing a project at 90% design or letting it languish on the mayorās desk is costly.
(Also, business people are notoriously bad at urban design and transportation planning. Most have no clue how their customers get there.)
SCREEN YOUR CALLS. Taking calls from powerful business interests is expensive. Let them participate during the public input phase but donāt let them veto, degrade, or redesign projects already in flight. Youāll save time and money on rework.
LEVERAGE THE PARKS BUDGET.
FINESSE THE PAVING BUDGET.
DO GOOD THINGS AT SCALE. There are some basic things we need everywhere: ā¢ bike racks ā¢ daylighted intersections ā¢ arterial speed cushions ...to name a few. Instead of treating these like bespoke interventions, empower SDOT crews to mass produce them across the city.
CREATE CIRCULATION PLANS. These can cover a few blocks (Barcelona superblocks), a neighborhood (London LTNs), or an entire city center (Ghent, Brussels, Paris, Groningen).
WHAT IF WE HAD POLITICAL WILL? Transportation dollars are scarce, but a new progressive mayoral administration can make a big impact without breaking the bank. Hereās my list. š§µ
For a second, I thought a homeowning comp plan commenter was expressing concern for the well-being of people who live in South Seattle, but I guess āsouthern residentsā are actually whales.
Ryan's got the livepostsš
Thank you, Raised-Fist Solidarity Guy, for gently supporting pro-housing commenters.
I thought we were close to addressing this issue.
Me: Oooh, nice! Are those single-stair? Rachel Nathanson: This is the fireball that will swallow our city if the comp plan passes.
It concerns me that a vocal minority of nimbys in Seattle still believe it is socially acceptable to oppose housing on camera.
Bob Kettle has done a good job deflecting efforts of the worst nimbys on Queen Anne but he hasn't shared which Comp Plan amendments he plans to vote for or against. Councilmember Kettle needs to be transparent with his constituents and stake out his position publicly before he says aye or nay.
My comments on behalf of the Seattle Planning Commission in support of the boldest comp plan possible: text in the image alt:
Member of the Baby Boom Generation Testify in Favor of More Housing without Using the Word "But" Challenge
"I'm in favor of more housing but..." š©...not in my neighborhood š©...not without additional process š©...not without more parking š©...not without new infrastructure š©...not if it looks too boxy š©...not along a neighborhood greenway š©...not if a tree is removed š©...not if a developer is involved
NEIGHBORHOOD GREENWAYS ARE 100% COMPATIBLE WITH DENSE HOUSING.
Let's radically boost tree canopy in our cities by taking space from cars and giving it to trees.
My proposal maintains Seattle's tree canopy by reforesting general purpose lanes. I look forward to full support from the tree advocacy community.
It's remarkable how hard self-described tree advocates will fight to maximize car parking.
The Tree/Parking Industrial Complex
Apparently, Utah Luigi was wearing Converse.
While Northgate Way the song wonāt be out for a couple weeks, Northgate Way the stroad is available right now.
āNorthgate Wayā will be on Smokey Brightsā forthcoming album dropping September 26th.
What itās like to cycle to work during a Tube strike.
No costume but I show up late to the party.
Smokey Brights, welcome to The War on Cars.
I stayed off the internet a bunch and missed that it was GIVING today!
it's a banger
š¶ Thereās a crosswalk (Northgate) šµ Every six blocks (Northgate) š¶ Youāre gonna take your life in your handsā¦
I met with the co-host of this event to figure out how to accommodate more people who want to attend and, after obtaining all necessary spousal approvals, we decided to increase the limit to 75.
The people standing in the people-protected lane are the protectors.
I think whichever way gets you 20+ people willing to stand in the road. The one SNG did in front of City Hall had 25 people, plus a few folks tipped off in advance. Be sure to have āprotectors,ā plus people to cycle through the lane, plus photographers.
Verdict: No chewy texture this time! Nice bake, lamination, crispness, density, and everything else exceptā¦not much butter flavor. I rank this in the middle tier of Seattle croissants, below Freya, Saint Bread, and La Parisienne.
Giving Sea Wolf another try. Youāll recall I tasted a croissant from their farmers market stall but it was chewy from humidity exposure. This one is fresh from the oven.
Peak Late Stage Bruce Harrell
I donāt know any plainer way to say it. Euphemisms arenāt helpful here.
Itās pretty clear President Trump raped children and should be in federal prison but instead heās running the country and murdering civilians in international waters.
Bob Kettle appears not to be listening to them.
Iāve spent more time sitting across a table from Joe Biden than many world leaders but I canāt get Dems to stop the unwanted texts.
One of the worst parts is being so powerless to do anything about it.
š¢
They never use the same number twice so blocking doesn't work.
"We realize the occasional text message may annoy a small minority of recipients but it is, overall, an effective fundraising tool." HOW IS THAT WORKING OUT FOR YOU, DEMOCRATS?
I've had a situation where I'm dealing with a family emergency, coordinating with friends and family by text, waiting for an important one to arrive, and some fucking lieutenant governor candidate from Virginia chimes in with a startling headline. There are days when it feels like harassment.
Clearing these out of my messages so that the text function of my phone remains somewhat useful is a daily chore.
I am a former member of the DNC's National Finance Committee, so I am a supporter. But I am so sick of these unwanted texts that even getting one from a guy with whom I am 99% aligned politically is getting reported as junk. The Party does not realize how much these texts alienate their members.
Hard agree, Democratic Fundraising Text. Hard agree.
Bruce always gets the shot.
Meanwhile, at the Harrell event...
We have a capacity of about 50 for this event and are currently at...46 RSVPs. We assume a certain percentage of folks won't be able to make it on the day (life happens) but we're getting pretty close to our cutoff.
WSDOT has some very detailed guidance, in effect since 1997, on the respective maintenance obligations of the city and state where a state highway passes through a city with a population greater than 22,500.
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If I didnāt have a meeting with WSDOT at the crack of 8, I would totally go watch Sparky on the HMH.
That will be legalized in the next potpourri bill.
I AM CO-HOSTING A FUNDRAISER FOR šKATIE WILSONš ON QUEEN ANNE. Would you like to join me? I think it will be fun and you may even feel a delightful sense of tranquility and joy knowing you helped her get elected.
š„š„š„
what a humiliating way for don jr. to find out his dad sends birthday cards.
They require several gallons of nimby tears per day.
šØšļø Emergency Casual Meeting!
