After housing, this is the next big zoning reform: the right to do business. Always found it odd that the USA, supposedly the land of the free market, makes it the hard if not outright illegal to open a business in most places. Like many other planning failures, this one's also rooted in racism.

People overwhelmingly want family sized stacked flats and no matter how much time and money we throw at plans we simply never deliver due to the restrictions of zoning

Still gobsmacked by this Sacramento Planning Commission meeting. 300 unit project. Tons of public support. Commissioners said state law required them to approve, but that they’d support it regardless. All agreed they’d prefer less parking. 10-0 vote to support. Done in 2 hours. Magical.

I'm still SHOCKED by the obscene rise in billionaire election spending since Citizens United in the NYT piece, despite already knowing that election corruption w/ $ was profound. (Recall that BCRA fought dangerous campaign $ in *2002*) The article data didn't have a graph, so I made one to show it.

Good article. Capitalism demands political solutions which maximize profit, not public utility. Giant SUVs, not transit. McMansions, not social housing.

The extent that public spaces are essentially giant dog latrines is really unfortunate.

One reason why the US continues to lean right politically is our over-reliance on corp media. We need something like @senkhanhpham.bsky.social's local media bill to provide support for small outlets like @thewesternedge.bsky.social and @eastportlandvoice.bsky.social bikeportland.org/2023/02/09/o...

Reddit is unearthing some incredibly awful testimony within the newest Epstein files, stomach churning stuff with girls under 10. It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup. Impeach.

This is quickly becoming a fascinating political partnership. With the Gov and Mayor working in tandem to clear blockages, they can move mountains and reshape the city.

Hey, it's not like we have Washington's train-friendly geography! The only way we could run trains cheaply and efficiently in Oregon is if the majority of our population lay in a straight line across a flat plan--perhaps a river valley of some sort.

I usually don't post music I'm going to play on my radio show here, so as not to spoil the surprise, but this contemporary prog duo is absolutely wild, and you need to see them play in full costume. youtu.be/0Ssi-9wS1so #prog

Absolute no-brainer for some shoe company to sponsor these folks. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Instead of AVs, what about legalizing new classes of smaller city-friendly EVs? Golf carts, quads, trikes, basically legalize anything electric under 500kgs and top speed of 25 mph. We need Affordable, not Autonomous. 🚗

💯👇

I must have missed quite a Ring ad, huh?

The only reasonable implication of saying this is he must be removed from office. That's a binary yes/no. To explicitly say no would be insane. To studiously avoid saying either way makes the allegation seem cynical and insincere. There's no splitting "he's a child rapist" from "he must be removed."

US bike safety has been an absolute disaster over the last 15 years. 2024 saw the highest number of deaths on record. bikeleague.org/another-year...

Concentration camps: “For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick."

Alternatives to Substack (which allows neo-nazi and fascist content)

Why can’t I balance my budget

Building dense housing near transit is THE most green thing a local politician has immediate power to implement, after maybe just funding transit.

People are mad at @samuelmoyn.bsky.social but this is a good piece from him and @ryandoerfler.bsky.social on need to accept that SCOTUS has become functionally illegitimate. Key point is legitimacy does require the public to think the court operates in good faith: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Friday 3pm, the timing checks out.

I am done with collaborationist bullshit

Incredible.

I think we're way beyond writing letters. Letters dignify and legitimize the Trump admin. I'd like my elected leaders to ignore them & communicate directly with the people abt what you're doing to fight back. Why communicate w/ this fascist, lying, pathetic regime? www.opb.org/article/2026...

Dutch cycling infrastructure isn't luck. It's a deliberate design choice putting people first. This could be your city. Check out Dutch and international examples here: buff.ly/JBqqovW

To everyone just now finding out Isaac Asimov was rather famously a sex pest: He's been gone 34 years now, you can handle this truth, I believe in you

China's decarbonizing its transport sector WAY FASTER than the US.

Nathan Vasquez does not consider himself an ICE agent watchdog. But he did win the DA seat on a “tough on crime” platform. As federal officials flout the law and hurt Portlanders, attention is turning to the DA to hold them to account.

A big part of the reason we need to massively expand transit systems (in terms of geography, capacity, and frequency) is that there are just a ton of people who should not be allowed to drive

every time someone alleges that we don’t *actually* have a housing supply shortage i just think of this cartoon. what if the supply shortage is a big hoax and we allow cities to integrate and be more sustainable environmentally and fiscally and get rid of a bunch of pointless rules for nothing?

If you've noticed how disgusting the city is right now, you're mad at cars.

Lake Theater & Cafe, a movie theater in Lake Oswego, is banned from showing the film Melania after making jokes at the expense of the movie (and the First Lady it's based on).

Reminder that "jaywalking" was literally made up by american car manufacturers to shift the blame for accidents from drivers to pedestrians. "Jay" was a slang term meaning "idiot" or "rube".

Construction scaffolding in Lisbon includes their iconic tiles, what a great detail.

Cooperative housing in Bern, Switzerland The striking feature is the bright yellow ‘communal terrace’ that acts as both circulation and an extension of the living space for residents (plan in thread 🧵) By Studio DIA

WSDOT: Hi SEPA we want to build a massive "diverging diamond" interchange on I-90 at SR-18 to facilitate additional sprawl is that cool? SEPA: Sounds fine to me City of Seattle: Hey SEPA, we'd like to allow people to build more homes in the heart of our city SEPA: Slow down just a minute fella

A Democratic lawmaker from Portland is introducing legislation that would allow the state to withhold certain payments from the federal government when courts find that federal officials have unlawfully withheld money due to Oregon.

This clock in Schiphol is amazing to see. It’s a 12 hour video of a guy constantly drawing and redrawing the hands. www.atlasobscura.com/places/schip...

The Ws just keep piling up for decongestion pricing.

Portland's public transit agency is in a dire financial place, and it's unclear when—or if—help will arrive. In the meantime, TriMet is going to have to make major bus and MAX service cuts. Riders still have a limited time to weigh in on the changes through a survey.

This collection has been all over Amtrak TikTok but I didn't share it because it's entirely too Gen Z for a person of my age or body type.

Portland’s east waterfront after we demolish I5 next year

I wonder how much of the masking has to do less with protecting agents from being doxed and more to do with protecting the government from us finding out how many of the agents are know figures from the world of white nationalists, Jan 6ers, accelerationists, and militias, or just plain unqualified.

Read the highlighted sentence a few times, jfc From @lukeferrell.bsky.social's "THE MEANS-TESTING INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX" lpeproject.org/blog/the-mea...

This thread is worth reading right to the end.

This isn't mine, and I can't definitively find the original source. But I love this little bit of wisdom: "If you're a fifteen-minute walk from a coffee shop, but the server there has to drive an hour to get to work, you don't live in a walkable city. You live in a theme park."

Cargo bike delivery is much faster than polluting vans and trucks with massive benefits. momentummag.com/cargo-bikes-...