5 December 1920 | A Norwegian Jew, Mendel Jaffe, was born in Horten. Photography apprentice. On 26 November 1942 he was deported to #Auschwitz. He did not survive.

A chunky interior block in Gothenburg filled with homes.

I sure do love this pedestrian bridge over the train tracks heading into the #Zürich HB. Especially at night, it's a gateway into the city.

In redistricting lingo, this is "cracking." The other is "packing" where all of your opponent's support is concentrated in as few districts as possible. Think about this as Minnesota is likely to lose a congressional seat in the 2030 census. It would be *easy* to draw a 6-1 Republican map.

Münster Basel

A really nice figure of population and partisan malapportionment in national legislatures around the world from Beramendi, Boix, Guinjoan, and Rogers (yassified by The Economist) priceschool.usc.edu/wp-content/u...

Stumbled across workers installing climate infrastructure that doubles as place-making in Copenhagen. One VERY big plaza will have a hand-full of these additions, that capture stormwater in soil trays, with planted areas on one side and seating areas on the other.

Copenhagen is all in on using air rights over public right of way to build stuff. Here's "The New Theater" built over a road. The main station train tracks also have some land bridges.

In Switzerland, around 16k people with disabilities who are under full guardianship remain disenfranchised nation-wide, a clear violation of the UN Convention. At the cantonal level, Geneva’s voters approved re-enfranchising these citizens in 2020. Today, voters in Vaud went firmly the other way

Wandering past Tivoli in central Copenhagen, I started imagining Downtown Minneapolis if the Commons were home to an amusement park.

The Copenhagen central train station.

Once I got into neighborhoods along canals, Copenhagen showed its appeal. A morning crew rows along the canal and tall, narrow buildings line the strip of water.

My first impression of Copenhagen was one of huge, many-laned streets (yes, with protected bikeways on either side).

The new Sihl River seating now has a #Foxtrail #Zürich scavenger hunt stop that requires you to put water in it to get the next clue. The info talks how the river creates a biodiversity hotspot, flood mitigation, and recreation space.

It's annoying that the US (also, my home country) successfully exported Black Friday. We have better things to offer than shopping culture. (No, I don't want your Black Friday German language class offer, for 50% off French classes.)

Found another pretty door in my neighborhood.

Half of a pair of... sculptures? seating areas? at the Wintertur, Switzerland train station. These stairs go nowhere, but to a platform you can stand on and watch people come and go.

When I lived in Mobutu's Zaïre, there had been internal war/conflict on average every 2 years, soldiers were sometimes paid in bullets, people bought durable goods they could resell to buy food when inflation was most extreme - at times 100% overnight when Mobutu needed ➡️ printed more money. 🧵

I did a double-take walking past this thermoplastic sidewalk marking, then categorizing it as some sort of street art I didn't understand. Three doors later, I realized my error, that instead it marks where public sex work is legal.

LOL. queenseagle.com/all/2025/11/...

(1/5) In July, we asked organizations working to remove barriers to housing abundance at a local or state level or those supporting housing justice work with a focus on tenant's rights to apply for a subgrant. Today we are excited to announce the four awardees! moreneighbors.org/2025/11/18/2...

River stone streets are being relaid in Basel, Switzerland, and I found one in-process. The rocks are set in what looks like a permeable concrete foundation. I'm not sure if they'll fill in the gaps with soil or concrete.

Under Negrellisteg pedestrian bridge was a perfect place for a City of #Zürich walking tour about the city's Plan Lumiere.

In this episode of UCLA Housing Voice we talk with @benschneider.bsky.social about progressive era housing reformers, strengthening building standards, and unintended consequences for housing affordability www.lewis.ucla.edu/2025/11/19/1...

19 November 1890 | Swiss Jewish woman, Marthe Bader (née Weil), was born in Basel. She lived in France during the war. On 3 February 1944 she was deported from #Drancy to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber after the arrival selection.

Also when you can count truly urban places on two hands that isn’t choice.

Found my first observed #Zürich pedestrian design fail, where signs attempt to tell people how to walk between a tram stop and a crosswalk. To be continued...

When the built a new central library in #Zürich, they made sure to include this tunnel into the courtyard to maintain access to the 2-block-long Chorgasse.

#Zurich has put the temporary trees and seating in the old city into hibernation for winter.

Roughly 40,000 people are killed in traffic crashes each year, with speeding contributing to nearly a third of those fatalities. On #WDoR2025, we remember and honor those who have lost their lives and those who have been injured, and we act to implement evidence-based solutions to end this crisis.

“How can anyone believe in the ethics of the DFL when someone like this can remain in multiple party leadership positions, especially one determining appropriate conduct in the party?” taylordahlin.com/f/the-dfls-c...

The circus has come to #Zürich, I hear this one has live music, no animals, acrobatics, and a story. It set up 4 blocks from the main train station, in the heart of the city.

Fall sidewalks

The worst weather for biking is cars, and unfortunately it’s not seasonal

The trees have arrived. Imagine what this seating, right by the #Zürich main train station, will be like in 10 years.

Wandering Chur, Switzerland, no matter which direction you face, almost every street you look down, there is a mountain view at the end.

Cool things about this fountain: 1. it exists 2. the metal strip tells you where the water comes from 3. the grate to the right lets you hear the burbling stream while using it Chur, Switzerland

So it turns out... the US air travel system was incredibly, deeply dependent on federal funding to just run day-to-day all this time, to the benefit of private airline shareholders, when everyone thinks that state-run trains are leeching off the government. Weird!

The center L and center R voters are needed to build the coalition to beat the far right Jacob. When all the progressive electeds and orgs get behind the furthest to the left candidate (rather than one that can pick up voters in the center) they express their sincere preference, and help Jacob win.

Stairwell to a train station parking garage (Chur, Switzerland).

Continuing my photo series from Chur, Switzerland, taken while heading from "Energy Park" to the Rhine, with tall apartment buildings totally not ruining the view in any way.

I found this container mini-museum in Chur, Switzerland. With one big swinging wall/door, and a small door on the other end, it was welcoming and people flowed through easily. The artifacts illustrated travel during Roman times through that area of 🇨🇭

Minneapolis has had two women mayors, both ousted as incumbents in intraparty challenges from men who went on to win re-election two more times.

People are out here blaming RCV for Jacob's win. And I cannot stress this enough: RCV had literally nothing to do with it. Everything about this outcome was entirely predictable. Jacob had huge structural advantages: compliant local media, off-cycle election, PAC $, patronage networks.

you've got to click around on this map, and the graphics here ... it's astounding. @haidee.bsky.social did such a great job with this:

The French perspective: Mamdani's political position represents "a progressive left, but it is no way radical" when compared to French politics.

Walking here felt very Minneapolis. Lovely path, woodsy, river/water (let's pretend there's no mountain), but the real source of memories was deafening highway noise, unusual in my experience of Switzerland. This Chur path is tucked between the Rhine and a highway.

Posting through my Minneapolis election day stress. Help me relax, tell me: When are you going to vote? My favorite voters guide naomikritzer.com/2025/10/31/e... Everything you need to vote today vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/where...

Here, I found the link for you naomikritzer.com/2025/10/31/e...

Chur, Switzerland is full, full, full of benches. Brightly colored, plain weathered wood, they are plentiful. (Chur is no outlier in 🇨🇭.)