"Americans prefer a car-dependent lifestyle." I can't tell you how much I hate this glib sentiment. The only way to determine someone's true, enduring preference is to give them full familiarity with their options. Americans have no familiarity with their options! They've only seen sprawl!

Great recap of the legislative session

Have you heard of the Bowdish Bump? Daniel Walters' first story for RANGE, and first story of a new series we're calling Accident By Design, focuses on the infamous intersection in Spokane Valley that was plagued by two problems: a sudden incline and a poorly placed stop sign:

Prospective Car Buyer Takes SUV Out For Test Hit And Run https://theonion.com/prospective-car-buyer-takes-suv-out-for-test-hit-and-run/

American traffic engineering is fundamentally sociopathic and in need of root and branch reform.

Spokane as a haven for those fleeing the southern US climate makes me bullish on the city’s future.

The State Senate just approved Washington's elevator reform bill 41-6 after it was amended in the House, sending it to the Governor's desk. The House's amendments removed language around international harmonization but it still represents a major reform for elevators in smaller buildings.

A reminder that humans in cars - notably omitted from this thanks to motonormativity - kill 1.2m people every year

The City is competing against 15 other cities in the Strongest Town Contest! In this bracket-style voting tournament, Spokane will compete for the “Strongest Town” title by shining a national spotlight on our work to become a stronger, more resilient city. Vote every week at strongesttown.com.

Even more big news, SB 5156, the bill to allow smaller elevators passed the House! Shoutout to @sightline.org for their leadership on this bill. You know what this means? Clean sweep for Futurewise's priority legislation 🧹🎉 The state is taking some big steps to Growing Together in every community!

Objectively, the highest-impact use case for AI is automating code compliance and permitting. You should be able to propose a townhome development and find out if it’s code and zoning compliant within 60 seconds, with a human giving final approval.

Let’s goooooo This is real environmentalism, not that fake 70s shit that demonized cities

Before (2022) / After (2026) the recent pedestrianization and greening of Rue de Gravelle in the 12th arrondissement of Paris

Just got word that the Tacoma planning commission advanced a motion to fully eliminate parking mandates citywide at their meeting tonight, by a 8-0 vote with one abstention. If implemented, Washington's second and third largest cities would have both beat Seattle to eliminating parking mandates.

Publicly, nonprofit Latinos en Spokane is a passionate defender of immigrant and worker rights. Behind the scenes, though, ten workers and contractors interviewed by RANGE described high turnover, toxic working conditions and threats of retaliation:

I spoke with two ICE watchers who lost their Global Entry after brushes with federal agents. Now an internal memo shows Customs and Border Protection is evaluating cases where people's Global Entry could be revoked based on "encounters" with its officers. www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-wa...

Single stair is going mainstream yall

NEW STORY // Neighborhood Cafe and Corner Store Bill Fails for Third Straight Year By Ryan Packer via @theurbanist.org. www.theurbanist.org/2026/03/02/n...

We're in! Spokane Reimagined entered @spokanecity.org in the Strongest Town competition organized by the national urbanist nonprofit @strongtowns.org. Towns move through a March Madness-style bracket, with public votes dictating who moves ahead. Voting begins TODAY! www.strongesttown.com

Me talking to the city engineer about the new Vision Zero plan.

We killed 85 schoolgirls. We are not the good guys.

It is happening! We're going to build more middle housing in Spokane!

After decades of prioritizing new highway projects ahead of basic maintenance, the Washington Senate wants to add $2 billion in new debt to pay for state highway and bridge upkeep. The state transportation budget is already 11.6% debt service. www.theurbanist.org/2026/02/24/s...

New meta-analysis of 26 published studies concludes that AVs will lead people to use cars a lot more — which would thicken congestion and worsen pollution (even if AVs are electric). "AV deployment is anticipated to lead to an overall increase in Vehicle Miles Traveled." doi.org/10.1016/j.tb...

Are we confident we’re sending our best and brightest to Olympia? Yikes www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...

Don’t look now, but this year’s condo reform bill has passed both houses of #waleg! 🎊 🎉 #HB2304 allows builders to provide a simpler 2-10 warranty (the same as offered for new-build oneplexes) for projects of up to 4 stories/12 units. The bill heads to the governor’s desk for signature.

A Milwaukee police officer was criminally charged after using license plate recognition technology to surveil a person he was dating and the person’s ex for two months last year, the authorities said.

Disappointments in the WA leg session: - killed 0.5 BAC - killed neighborhood cafes - killed presumed liability laws for drivers who hit folks on foot or bike What are we even doing. Do we have a dem majority or what

Also dead this week: the neighborhood cafe bill, despite a 94-2 vote in the House on the fourth day of the session. It didn't even get a hearing in Senate local government. www.theurbanist.org/2026/01/16/w...

I keep thinking about drunk driving penalties in Latvia (BA limit .05, .02 for new drivers). As of 2022, if you're caught with a BAC of .15 or refuse a test, your car is confiscated & either auctioned or donated to Ukraine. This new policy has (unsurprisingly) reduced DUIs

Washington state legislators once again standing up for my right to drive a little bit drunk

It’s ok, at least the legislature *checks notes* spent some time thinking about snowmobile registration fees What a fucking joke

"You might think that our rules about elevators would help wheelchair users, but they can inadvertently achieve the opposite: overkill in elevator code kills elevators." Thank you @ceceliablack.bsky.social for spelling this out so clearly! www.seattletimes.com/opinion/miss...

I got so much shit on Reddit once for saying I didn’t want to subsidize the insurance for those living on the urban wildland interface. “That’s what insurance is; the healthy subsidize the unhealthy.” etc Important distinction between health insurance and home insurance: YOU CHOOSE WHERE TO LIVE

Pleasantly surprised that our judicial system actually levied justice for a ped killed by a driver. Feels so rare these days.

He is right, things are not looking good for the neighborhood cafe bill.

These words by Supreme Justice Gorsuch should be printed, in full, on tomorrow’s front pages.

Traffic violence is killing Spokanites. We need urgent action from our leaders to stop it.

House Republicans wanted to cut funding for public transit by 98%! I stood in the way and STOPPED them. I was at Community Transit today to talk about new funding I secured for the Swift Gold Line bus rapid transit project. People want MORE public transit—let's keep building it! 🚌🚌🚌

Despite some opposition on Facebook and Nextdoor, public comment was about 60-40 in favor of Option 1, which restripes Grand to one lane each direction (from two). Better yet, Transportation Commission voted *UNANIMOUSLY* to recommend Option 1 to @mayorspokane.bsky.social and City staff! 🎊 🎉

Today at 5pm, #Spokane’s Transportation Commission will hear public testimony on a plan to restripe Grand Boulevard to improve safety for pedestrians and reduce the severity of crashes.

HB2095 passed the House with a 53-44 vote!! Thank you everyone who contacted their Reps, and thank you @staterepjuliareed.bsky.social for your tireless efforts to shift liability to drivers who hit people in crosswalks, bike lanes, and sidewalks. Safer drivers means safer streets.

This speed-bump-in-a-bulbout is super interesting. The city of Spokane has corners where it’s wanted to build bulbouts with flex posts but the intended bulbout radius prevents fire truck access, so it ends up painting the bulbout instead. Imagine if this corner had a speed bump in it!

I’m planning not one, not two, but THREE trips to ride bikes on car-free national park mountain passes in the next few months In order: - North Cascades - Mount Rainier - Glacier

People walk more in places that make it easier to walk.

Bills in the Washington legislature that are dead for 2026 include: -even year local elections -design review reform -passenger rail advisory commission -capping VMT in regional transpo plans -mobile dwelling units -frontage improvement reform -expired car tab pentalities -declaring 11/22 Kimchi Day

A 41-7 vote in the Washington State Senate advances a proposal that would allow builders more flexibility to install smaller elevators in smaller apartment buildings, a small step toward bringing U.S. elevator costs more in line with the rest of the world. Story: www.theurbanist.org/2026/02/17/w...

WA's bill to allow housing in commericial zones SB 6026 passed the Senate today 36 -12. It's a good housing abundance bill that could be even better if it didn't exempt so much land from its provision to make ground floor commercial optional. lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/202...

HB2095 would strengthen accountability for drivers who hit people biking and walking -- let's get it through the House by emailing your Reps to tell them to Vote Yes! cascade.quorum.us/campaign/155...