These three tweets are basically my entire book

Local govts have stopped funding pre-HS youth sports almost entirely. Field near us has two ballfields with snack shack & bathrooms - all no longer maintained. Just one (1) FT parks staffer for a town of 15K. One of 1000 ways America has given up on investing in our kids & communities.

The New York Times positively comparing Trump to FDR should really be the nail in the coffin on the idea that it’s anything but a hard right wing paper

He's right, folks

there's a conflict in Dem circles over Piker, over Platner, that basically boils down to "Trump means we have to give up everything we stood for and believed in and be terrible if we ever want to win again" vs. "no, we don't"

Exactly this. She is easily one of the most important influencers on the Dem side, with a sizable reach, and a functioning Dem donor class would lavish her with money.

American politicians should overall be paid far more.

Well that was the shortest security line I’ve ever been in at SeaTac. 4 minutes at most from when I entered the line to when I got my bags off the conveyor belt and walked away. TSA precheck, north side (near the escalators to the the train for N gates). No ICE visible.

A crucial part of Project 2029 has to be performative trials and draconian sentencing for Trump administration officials up and down the organizational ladder. Treat all of them like Timothy McVeigh so that the gravity of their criminality and treason become enduring images in American history.

Has the NYT ever quoted an “independent” critical of Trump who turned out to be a Democratic Party county chair or some such? These “mistakes” and “oversights” pretty much only happen in one direction.

Northgate to Redmond and back on the 2 Line - in just 3 minutes!

Agreed! There are lots of great solutions in here, including Tax Increment Financing. We definitely need regional cooperation, and participation by #waleg, to enact these and save ST3.

To nerd out on Sound Transit, read the Policy Opportunity Register from their retreat. It's full of good stuff! These won't close a $34.5B gap alone (cities need to show up with more), but read it if you care about getting trains built 🚃 www.soundtransit.org/st_sharepoin...

The best part about 1917 is SD leaders told women not to turn out for International Women's Day protests in March because it was a lib-coded distraction and they wanted to save their juice for May Day. Instead the women turned out anyway and those protests literally sparked the revolution

the biggest lie the democrats tell, that their supporters believe, is that they are being wildly outspent by the right. it just isnt true. there are billions being spent on the left (to be fair its on the liberal/democratic side not "leftist") but its being thoroughly wasted on garbage.

For those of us who came to the transportation advocacy scene after 2007, it's important to remember that we only got to Sound Transit 2 by defeating the "Roads and Transit" behemoth that would have expanded transit but also doubled down on highway expansion. It was a bad deal and voters rejected it

Crime in the United States has dropped immensely in the last 35 years

None of this exists without Patty Murray, she is the GOAT

Absolutely. That was a huge win and @kccclaudia.bsky.social made it happen

Redmond is doing the work to build homes & make it easy for people to get around without driving. It is a model for suburbs around the city on how to retrofit. I am so proud to work there and lead in the transportation space!

I'm still amazed the SJJPA asked Siemens to *not* include a cafe car on the new Gold Runner trains. Thankfully Amtrak Cascades will have a cafe car on their new Airo trains that debut later this year.

I voted for Cynthia Sullivan in that election and regret nothing

Some good ideas here from Issaquah leaders Mark Mullet, @kellyjiang.bsky.social, and @kevinnichols.org. I particularly like Tax Increment Financing and giving Sound Transit its own permitting authority. Let's get it done and #BuildTheDamnTrains!

We CAN win a democracy that isn’t controlled by billionaires & the politicians they control. And @workingfamilies.org knows it! Had another amazing signature gathering Saturday today, #NoKings edition. :) Thank you to our amazing volunteers who bring the people-power!

Eight million patriots > one wannabe king.

Northgate to Redmond and back on the 2 Line - in just 3 minutes!

Seriously though, I want to really note my appreciation for Tim Walz’s specific, by-name defense of our Somali neighbors. “Your great-grandchildren will still be here when this administration is dust” hit me harder than every other speaker combined

lol already?!

The north side of the I-90 floating bridge is full of #NoKings protesters and you absolutely love to see it

More than anyone, it’s been the ultra normies who were radicalized in Trump 2.0. If you go to Bethesda in the DMV or Orange County, California or Cobb County, Georgia, you will meet white normies who make $200k+ who don’t just want to Vote Blue No Matter Who. They want to punish Republicans

The patagonia moms in question are objectively more radical than the self-styled revolutionaries who like to sneer at these protests.

Did you know this is what Downtown Redmond looks like? Well now you do. Low rise has become a dense neighborhood - and the train station to Bellevue, Seattle, and beyond is right here as well. #BuildMoreHomes #BuildTheDamnTrains

Really appreciate our electeds who took the time to tour the Rainier side of the new Judkins Park light rail today. There's still work to do to make this a safe and comfortable place for people to walk, roll, ride & live and it's going to take all of us pushing and dreaming of something better!

It is astoundingly busy on the trains today. Business owners are excited, too. I talked to two people doing booths at Mercer Island who said the train will be good for them. One said, “I can’t imagine why people were against this.”

A 2024 study found 96% of residential land in California is zoned single-family only. Cities reserving 95%+ of land for single-family homes were 20 percentage points whiter than the state average — and had significantly higher median incomes. cayimby.org/blog/more-ho...

"They like Trump and want him to rule you like a king" remains undefeated

A cheer goes up from the crowded train as the 2 line emerges from the Mount Baker tunnel onto the floating bridge on Lake Washington!

Proposal: Fund ST3 through a series of limited edition Boop plushie releases

Build the damn trains!

Maybe not a popular view among my fellow Seattle progressives but I think @mayorofseattle.bsky.social is being completely reasonable and sensible in how she is going about this. Surveillance cameras are not inherently bad and we need to do audits and research to assess them, as Wilson is doing.

Just a note to remind everyone that my work (including everything you read on PubliCola.com, weekly podcasts, and live-posting at events like tonight's town hall on police surveillance, is funded entirely by readers, so please consider a contribution! publicola.com/support

It cannot be stressed enough how much legacy media hates activists. The whole basis of the "objectivity" artifice is that human dignity is up for debate, so anyone who thinks it isn't makes them uncomfortable and is inherently the enemy.

Right-NIMBYism is the generally correct belief that you can keep your city exclusive by blocking new housing. Left-NIMBYism is the mistaken idea that you can keep your city affordable and attainable by blocking new housing.

Trains are popular! Let’s build more.

People love trains! The absolute best thing local and state politicians could do for their careers is to cut the red tape, find whatever funding sources are necessary, and open more of them as soon as humanly possible.

they like trump and want to help him rule over us. so you set the narrative to dismiss the impact of protests (contrast to promotion of much-smaller anti-lockdown or "truckers convoy" protests)

This whole thread is spot on, and why I subscribe to smaller and local writers and publications. Until center-left donors internalize and act on what is in this thread, we will keep losing.

Maybe not a popular view among my fellow Seattle progressives but I think @mayorofseattle.bsky.social is being completely reasonable and sensible in how she is going about this. Surveillance cameras are not inherently bad and we need to do audits and research to assess them, as Wilson is doing.

Anything I could hope to write about Kemper Freeman's quest to stop tomorrow's grand opening from happening could never top @goldy.horsesass.org from 2010. horsesass.org/2010/01/29/p...

We need to put this back on the table for Seattle. For so many reasons, one of which is it can help fund rail to Ballard (and other transit projects).