familiar and unfamiliar things in Spain

read this book!!!!!

spending Trans Day of Remembrance among a powerfully wholesome nest of trans girls in a foreign country I gotta say that having friendships with trans people has impacted me for the better and I’m so thankful you are out there being you struggling to find adequate words to express my thoughts here

I'm so excited for The Urbanist to roll into 2026 at full strength, covering new admins at the city and county and major stories elsewhere, including at Sound Transit. I hope you'll consider joining us at our holiday party to support that work. It's also fun! www.eventbrite.com/e/the-urbani...

Marbella, Spain

in Spain, instead of HAWK signals or beg button RRFBs, I’m seeing timed signalized pedestrian crosswalks that stop multiple lanes of cars whether or not a pedestrian is present (and I’m seeing drivers obeying them, whether or not a pedestrian is present)

things I haven’t seen in Spain: - a beg button - a vehicle without both front and back license plates (including teslas) - a single family home - anyone wearing a mask

I’m in Spain right now and experiencing shared streets - most of the places we have been - is really helping the concept sink in

saw someone riding a bike on a bike path from our plane taxying to the runway at AMS ✅

from last weekend ❤️🧡💛

keep an eye out for this stuff ☹️💔

first international trip since 2019! first international trip since hearing the word “urbanism” for the first time 👀

SODO: a place to get wet

spoke with the executive director of my local food bank today and got this really incredible line: "if you donate 1 can of green beans, we can give away 1 can of green beans. but if you donate a dollar, we can give away 6 cans of green beans"

Can anyone confirm if now is the time for hope?

hello here I am I am ready for my update now pleas e hello

👋 Do you participate in group bike rides? What tips or advice would you share about running a successful and safe group ride? How do you like them to work/be organized? How many is the right number of people? What do you *not* want to happen at a group ride? 🚲 ❤️

so many great connections and conversations at the Joiner Jamboree today! thanks to everyone who stopped by, we hope to see you soon! 🧡 🧵 of interesting groups and displays we saw at the fair below~

We'll have a table at the Joiner Jamboree tomorrow (Sat 11/8)! Come up to North Admiral to say hi! 11a-3p 🚍50 & 128 ~ right in front!

idea for urbanist grassroots group or small business: mobile street party setup. like a food truck or sauna truck that enables your closed street to become a party or third space. could range from repurposed bus w cozy interior, to squad of cargo bikes carrying rain protection & heat supply

I ran into a friend I haven't seen in a while in a crosswalk in a rainstorm in capitol hill tonight and I wish my nervous system would remember the dopamine I get when I manage to leave the house!! !

EVERY DIRECTION I LOOK THERE ARE PEOPLE I KNOW I AM SO HAPPY 🥰 @thewaroncars.bsky.social @nerd4cities.bsky.social

paid our respects to some icons today 💞

biked to the Ballard locks yesterday for the first time! what a lovely day for a city bike frolic 🥰

I was an ORCA card reader for Halloween

@publicola.bsky.social and @theurbanist.org.web.brid.gy are straight up more informative for Seattle politics and I'm happy to be a monthly supporter of both! If you only read @seattletimes.com you'd likely be confused about what is at stake in this election

And not only should you vote yourself, you should tell all of your friends to vote too! This isn't a federal election where our votes hardly matter. This is a LOCAL election. These are decided by just hundreds of votes! You individually make a huge difference. Vote by the end of this week!

Just got out of a community council meeting in Georgetown where I was expecting the issue of a potential lane reduction on E Marginal Way to dominate. Instead, there were more questions about getting MORE bike infrastructure, pedestrian crossings, and sidewalk upgrades.

take the good news wherever you can get it

watched some kind of water puppy being a little weirdo for so long in the middle of a Lime ride that we got hit with an improper parking fine lmao beautiful day on Alki today 🥰

I'm still sitting here waiting for the city to tell us if we're allowed to build our accessible DADU or not. this home would have been completed last year if it weren't for city bullshit.

Waiting for a late 8 to get to a #WeekWithoutDriving access ride along and it's wheelchair section is full. Unreliable buses mean more people waiting for a single bus and more likely that the only 2 seats i can use will be full.

I want to make stupid meme-y urbanist shirts/merch tell me your ideas for a stupid urbanist shirt you would LOVE to have 👀 I am likely to make some small-batch with cut retroreflective vinyl, so text and simple graphics in one color are best for those

You guys need to be talking about local politics with your friends. Conversations plant seeds of interest which can become energy towards bettering community.

I feel like part of my job as a millennial organizer is to pull some gen-xers and boomers out of facebook

SODO

look I am just SO HYPE ABOUT THIS are there compilations of clubs in other neighborhoods? would anyone be interested in a lil guide for how to organize this in your own neighborhood?

we just realized that today is basically our 1-year anniversary! Happy Birthday to West Seattle Urbanism! 🥰🧡 We've already made so many connections in the community, can't wait to see what these seeds grow into over the coming years. 🌱✨

I'm sad to see KCEN and related groups advocating against Roots to Roofs. is there something I'm missing? or how can urbanists bring these groups into conversations about land use? R2R seems to be well crafted for equitable outcomes but I don't really know all the details

BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TODAY! 🥰👏💚✨ the-urbanist.fundjournalism.org/donate/

scheming halloween party / trick-or-treater ideas instead of reading the soul-crushing comp plan coverage (ok I read some of the soul-crushing coverage)

"it just occurred to me that what we are trying to build is an ADADADU"

okay so I spent months making a bunch of ridiculous pompoms and I have been stuck because I can't quite figure out how to turn them into retroreflective keychain accessories

HB1110 went into effect months ago & the city just got back to us about how we can proceed with our accessible DADU the city & its zoning rules are 100% of the reason our DADU wasn't FINISHED a YEAR AGO & why it is costing us A LOT more. IT IS DIFFICULT TO BUILD HOUSING IN SEATTLE.

This is the source of the 6PPD-Quinone that is killing coho salmon, the prey base for resident orcas. Hindering dense urban development exacerbates this. Protecting what makes the Puget Sound unique and beautiful requires urbanization.

Rivera's Amendment 93, to codify larger tree planting areas, has been revised since Friday, and now: required planting areas are much bigger (some 200%) have minimum dimension that don't fit in setbacks widen distances between buildings eliminated bonuses for preserving large trees! Bad faith!

First time I see this: cargo bikes outnumbered cars at after-school pickup. 5 bike arriving almost at the same time to pick up 8 kids. The weather helped, but the shift feels real.

👀👀👀 Bellevue's first #parkingday Friday 9/19!

every day I see posts from the city that they still have free trees available for yards (not street trees, all gone). it seems homeowners are nervous to plant trees in their yards because it may limit options in the future. it's almost like we should focus effort on tree canopy in other spots.