Now do cars. Headline: DC is slowing down scooters and e-bikes to make roads safer. search.app/8jeNG

The 217 widening project is finished. Let's see how congestion looks tonight. 👀 @nomorefreewayspdx.com www.kgw.com/article/traf...

Happy exploding whale day to all those who celebrate! 55 years ago today, OregonDOT dynamited a whale carcass to achieve lasting infamy. Today @oregondot.bsky.social celebrates by blowing up budgets with billions in cost overruns on its highway projects. cityobservatory.org/reign_of_err...

In 2018, then-Mayor Ada Colau called Barcelona’s new 30% inclusionary housing requirement for projects over 600m^2 a “paradigm shift,” making housing “a right and not a commodity.” It was supposed to produce 330 affordable units a year. The reality: just 31 affordable apartments in all these years.

Horrified to learn of another serious traffic crash on 82nd Avenue. Policymakers are about to make major decisions about how to reshape this critical main street. I'm committed to working with my colleagues to ensure 82nd is safer for everyone biking, walking and driving. https://loom.ly/jOdxsQQ

Sarah Risser, @familiesforsafestreets.org leader & recent BikeLoud Board member, will focus attention on the 20 people killed on SE 82nd in the past decade. World Day of Remembrance 11/16/25 #WDoR2025 www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...

Not to go all Robert Gordon but the potential benefits as a % of GDP are also much smaller. Going from no internet to internet is a much bigger bang for your buck than going from internet to AI

The US federal government's spending on housing—directly through the budget, or through tax expenditures—amounts to more than $400 billion a year. Only about 1/4 of that goes to low-income renters. The majority is spent on subsidizing higher-income homeowners. www.urban.org/research/pub...

The “residential” building code exists in the first place for very bad reasons. Don’t ever forget that. Lawrence Veiller, addressing the NAHB in 1913:

Lars Larson Interview: Is the Interstate Bridge Destined to Fail? https://cityobservatory.org/lars-larson-interview-is-the-interstate-bridge-destined-to-fail/

This was motivated by British stats on this question that spiked our interest. Unfortunately we could not find good Canadian data on shelter cost per square metre, we proxy for this by using shelter cost per room. And consider longer timelines.

A meta-analysis of more than 50 studies of the effect of parking prices on parking demand found that elasticity of demand for parking with respect to parking price averages 0.4 (Lehner & Peer 2019). That is, on average, a 1% increase in parking price results in about a 0.4% decrease in demand.

This planner thinks finding 35% of spaces empty means that “city planners…are actually doing a pretty good job already in understanding how much parking is needed.” That’s wrong. In the Vancouver region, the typical price of parking has been driven far below cost by minimum parking mandates.

As UCLA Professor Donald Shoup explains, "Demand is a function of price, and this does not cease to be true merely because transportation engineers and urban planners ignore it." See: #ParkingAndTheCity, page 73. www.researchgate.net/publication/... See also: www.accessmagazine.org/spring-2002/...

Video from Portland ICE building shows arrest after agents appear to pull protester over line https://www.kptv.com/2025/10/26/video-portland-ice-building-shows-arrest-after-agents-appear-pull-protester-over-line/

My article with @cityobservatory.bsky.social's Joe Cortright giving the history of how the Beltway toll lane traffic modelers altered their model outputs and Maryland DOT and FHWA tried to cover it up. www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

IBR is losing its leader, Greg Johnson, at a very bad time: It is two years behind schedule, late on producing a new cost estimate that will push its price to almost $10 billion, is unlikely to get Coast Guard approval, and may lose $2 billion in federal grants. cityobservatory.org/ibr-johnson_...

Greg Johnson had a massive conflict of interest. He was a WSP Senior VP. Hired as the IBR Administrator he managed a $76 million contract with WSP.

So they didn’t like the ad. Let’s just post Reagan’s 5 min speech against tariffs as it appears on YouTube. Over and over. On all platforms (some of y’all are still on X). *1981 Sherrilyn horrified by 2025 Sherrilyn saying “let’s post Reagan’s speech.” youtu.be/5t5QK03KXPc

They lie, they lie, they lie, and then they lie some more.

LA is building a new $1.5 billion freeway into LAX. The very same airport where we just spent $2 billion on the people mover — actually, more like $3 billion, plus another $900 million if you count Metro's investment in the LAX station; so let's just say $4 billion — to make cars go away

Feds have repeatedly claimed 115+ federal police (25% of force) had to be deployed to Portland over the summer to quell violence. Oregon lawyers found on discovery this was not true and are asking 9th Circuit to reverse Monday decision because feds lied: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Every economist asked about the project said it was a bad idea, with the exception of the one guy the city hired to tell them it would work. Who did they decide to listen to? And they still won't admit they were wrong. wbjournal.com/article/spor...

"my support is based on the clear sociocultural benefits... and from the solid expectation that it won’t cost the Worcester taxpayers one penny. Indeed, the project promises to generate net funds to support additional city services in the areas of education, infrastructure and security."

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u... Protesters sported costumes, including the inflatable frog ensemble that activists in Portland, Ore., began wearing to poke fun at the White House’s attempt to portray activists as anarchists or domestic terrorists.

For those of you who don't understand, and indeed are disparaging, the tactics Portlanders (and now other locations) are using to combat the lies of the regime, this explains it very well. youtu.be/AIOLcNkaoh4?...

Applicable to virtually every beg button in the @cityofnorthvan.bsky.social

Greenwashing the Interstate Bridge Project https://cityobservatory.org/greenwashing-the-interstate-bridge-project/

We hope that other cities across the UK will learn from Cardiff’s leadership and take action on #carspreading. cleancitiescampaign.org/carspreading/

Counterpoint: Reasonable people dismiss concerns about subway crime because *those concerns are factually baseless.* That's a very good reason to dismiss them!

If you look at the variety of industries that thrive in Portland, Oregon — footwear, apparel, food & beverage, restaurants, local business, tech, advertising — what they all have in common is creativity. Our primary export is creativity. Our protests are no different. Keep being Portland, Portland 🫶

(i mean @ronpdavis.bsky.social and i predicted exactly this) www.thestranger.com/slog/2021/10...

'€61 billion: that's what we've saved thanks to our actions against air pollution! AirParif concluded in its latest study that our actions to combat air pollution have saved €61 billion.' mayor hidalgo shows why climate action is also a major win for public health and quality of life

The Portland Frog army has now infiltrated Tulsa, OK and they’ve made an unlikely alliance with the T-Rex infantry and Sharks on Hoverboards mercenary forces. This is truly terrifying.

🫶🏾

Did a quick post earlier to reinforce that in the places where Trump says crime is out of control crime is demonstrably under control. www.pbump.net/o/a-quick-re...

“In London cyclists now outnumber cars in the City by 2 to 1. Paris, where they now outnumber motorists across the whole city, is catching up with Europe’s traditional bike capitals, Amsterdam & Copenhagen…In Copenhagen, bikes account for almost half of commuter trips to work/school.” @economist.com

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

It’s no surprise I had the only bike at Kaiser Sunnyside today. It takes six buttons and seven minutes of waiting to cross the street and two freeway ramps to go from the hospital to the other side of I-205. And that’s on a bike, not walking.

Oregon: On subject of whether events in Portland constitute a "rebellion," I think basically any crime or protest would qualify under DOJ's view, makes statutory provision meaningless.

Oregon: This is one of the most dramatic infringements of state sovereignty in state's history. Based on false narrative. Why federalize on Sept. 28? Still unclear. Deference is due to federal determination, but crosses the line here.

Portland doesn’t need the military. Portland has its own defenses.

Been coming to Paris the last weekend in September for about 8 years. The transformation in terms of the quality of the experience is mind blowing. The air is not polluted, there are people on bikes everywhere. The streets have been reclaimed and sitting outside cafés is even nicer than before.

Next Portland is Relaunching, With Your Help www.nextportland.com/2025/09/25/n...

This is a really revealing and rich passage in what is overall a really good piece. The reason nonprofits aren't producing more affordable housing isn't that they "can't operate at the scale of the federal government"—they literally are operating at the scale of the federal government('s subsidies)

Even as Los Angeles commits to $193m a year in debt service for a convention center expansion, other cities' experience shows that the likelihood of any significant increase in LA’s convention business is effectively nil.

The Interstate Bridge Replacement project is in serious trouble: IBR has taken almost five years in its environmental review--twice as long as its 2020 schedule called for. These delays now threaten billions in federal grants. cityobservatory.org/ibr-federal-...

IBR: Federal Funding in Jeopardy https://cityobservatory.org/ibr-federal-funding-in-jeopardy/

Teddy R. knows...he speaks the truth. What do you think, Donold?