"Comparing the performance of European & American fire trucks: Aerial ladder trucks used in major European and Asian cities such as London and Tokyo provide equivalent or greater ladder height & reach with improved vehicle maneuverability." Why is this is good news for traffic safety in the US?🧵

This is important as more of us take up single stair reform and others that bring out the fire department. We can build stronger neighborhoods and buy the appropriate equipment to keep them safe. These are mutually SUPPORTIVE goals!

Free parking has immense costs to society at large and is one of the worst possible urban policies

@parkingreform.org exists to generate headlines like this. Join us!

Has any city, county, or state ever assigned a single person (e.g., a deputy mayor) the responsibility of improving OVERALL life safety (fire, traffic, etc.) and let them oversee multiple departments (e.g., public works, transportation, and fire/rescue)?

US fire truck makers are now building ladder trucks designed to work well on slender streets. This is a big step forward for traffic safety.😊🧵

Many global fire vehicle manufacturers build aerial ladder trucks designed to work well on slender streets (with just 10 to 12 feet of clear, unobstructed width. Rosenbauer builds such vehicles for the US market. Who else does? #emergencyresponse #firefighter #firefighting #trafficcalming

These days, the conversation inside US city governments often goes like this: 1️⃣Traffic engineer proposes traffic calming measures, like a road diet with roundabouts, to reduce traffic fatalities. 2️⃣Fire marshal blocks it, citing IFC section 503 (mandates 20’+ of clear width) &/or Appendix D (26’+).

Why does SF have a minimum parking mandate in the code for just ONE land use, even though the Board of Supervisors passed and the Mayor signed an ordinance removing all minimum parking mandates? My theory: the staffer responsible for updating the code did a find-and-replace on the word “minimum”…

I’m pretty sure speed cameras don’t do this.

We need to stop prioritizing parking lots over people. Today, I assembled a roundtable to discuss our Building Up Illinois Developments Plan — and the consensus was that we need to act fast. Looking forward to passing it and getting to work in our neighborhoods.

"The rising cost of parking is prompting cities to rethink development rules. At least 12 of the 17 cities studied by #UCLA have fully or partially eliminated minimum parking requirements in recent years."

"A report from the UCLA Center for Parking Policy found that required parking accounts for about 39% of construction costs for office and retail projects when built underground and about 31% when aboveground."

"In late 2025, Baltimore scrapped its minimum parking requirements citywide. Other cities, such as Minneapolis, Austin, Chicago, & Denver have also eliminated MPRs. Some cities are finally realizing that deregulating asphalt can be a surprisingly effective way to increase home supply & lower costs."

Learn how to build walkable cities for free. From the prosaic (building, fire, and zoning code reform) to the sublime (designing & drawing beautiful public spaces), we’ll be covering it. Apply for a #CNU34 scholarship by March 31st. Learn more and apply here: cnu.org/cnu34/schola...

What share of American environmentalists think imposing minimum parking mandates is a good way to prevent environmental harm? @ceqaworks.bsky.social, @ceja.org , have you seen any data on this question?

Have questions about single-stair apartment buildings? @alexhrwtz.bsky.social & I will be presenting on this on May 14 at #CNU34. Come ask us! Alex co-authored The Pew Charitable Trusts groundbreaking research on the safety of single-stair buildings in the US. Here's the session description:🧵

When did a US fire code first include a section requiring new buildings to have a fire apparatus access road with an unobstructed width of no less than 20 feet? I've traced this standard back to the 1976 edition of the UFC, but did an earlier version of any US model code include such a standard?

Non-leading question: are you, or have you ever met, a vision-limited person who consumes Twitter, Bluesky, or Threads by relying on alt text?

Upzoning reverses gentrification.

1️⃣ Which one of the following countries has removed virtually all minimum parking mandates, nationwide?

"We might expect one of the largest cities in the world to share London’s, New York’s and the Bay Area’s stratospheric housing costs, but surprisingly, Tokyo’s housing prices are far below those of its peer cities."

How does #Switzerland, where the average annual wage is HIGHER than in the US, manage to build apartments for just $300K per gross sq. ft.? Is it by cutting corners on fire safety? Nope. America’s fire death rate is five times higher than Switzerland’s.

Anyone studied the ALL the deaths caused by driving (traffic fatalities; heart attacks, strokes, and cancers resulting from air pollution caused by vehicles; etc.)? Has this been estimated on a national scale? Typical measures omit deaths due to pollution, as if your child's cancer doesn't matter.

@elpaavo.bsky.social, any advice for PhD students who want to study US building & fire codes (why they vary wildly from city to city, impose heavy costs yet deliver poor safety results compared to many other nations, etc.) and still get a tenure-track job?

“'We do not have parking as part of this project,' Ritchie said. He said the developers have been in touch with the city’s parking authority. 'They have plenty of spots' at nearby publicly owned garages...'"

Meanwhile virtually every town in the state mandates parking spaces be built for bars and restaurants, not only guaranteeing drunk drivers but in fact making it more likely because it’s harder to build bars in walkable places!

California cities impose high impact fees to help close budget shortfalls. Why do they have budget shortfalls? They face high costs because they must pay high wages to attract employees to work for them. Why do they have to pay such high wages? Because housing in the area is extremely expensive…

#UCLA Professor Donald Shoup made his name, in no small part, by writing articles & delivering (often hilarious) lectures comparing the wildly-divergent parking policies in different cities. Where's the young academic who will do the same with fire and building codes?

Google’s AI summary thinks “In #Berkeley… renting a self-storage unit the size of a one-car garage (typically a 10' x 20' unit) costs between $310 and $540 per month on average.” To save that much cash, many men will angrily insist they are entitled to store private cars on public streets for free.

Most US cities spend too much on costly code mandates placed on new buildings & streets. They spend too little on inspecting old ones. “The road was blocked due to the fire activity. The other way is a small path that leads to the UC Berkeley…parking lot, which is supposed to be an escape route…”

Is it too many cars, or too many cars parked on the many narrow streets of the #Berkeley Hills, while simultaneously, existing off-street driveways and garages are used to store junk?

US fire departments are often reactive, instead of proactive. Fire marshals are often charged with reviewing proposed changes to the status quo (new building & renovation plans, street redesign plans, etc.), rather than creating an integrated master plan to address EXISTING, long-accepted hazards.

In #Massachusetts, "58% of voters surveyed said they would support a candidate seeking to allow more 'reasonably priced' homes to be built, even if it meant that local governments had less authority... 52% of respondents said they were in support of eliminating parking minimums."

"AFP-VA celebrates the passage of a package of commonsense pro-growth reforms that modernize zoning to boost housing supply and affordability..." They include "HB888, which curbs excessive minimum parking requirements in transit-oriented areas to support denser, more affordable development."

#Hawaii's "HB1919, proposed prohibiting the state’s counties from imposing minimum parking requirements on certain construction projects, such as smaller homes, affordable housing, senior housing and accessory dwelling units."

America's auto-oriented environmentalists think of this Ritz Carlton hotel as more eco-friendly than a proposed housing project for retired farmworkers. Why? It prevented the "environmental impact" of "inadequate parking" by building a massive 3-level parking garage to "mitigate" environmental harm

I am a parking reformer because I live in a country where self-professed environmentalists, like this @sierraclub.org leader, oppose affordable housing because it ”doesn’t have enough parking.”

As an "extraordinary, climate change-fueled heatwave envelops the West", I'm reminded that on hot days, humans really like shade. This Saint Tropez street shows how to provide it on the cheap.🧵

#Austin removed virtually all minimum parking mandates, citywide, and adopted other pro-housing reforms. The sky didn't fall, but rents did. Inflation-adjusted rents declined 19% from 2021-2025.

"...if it were to be constructed today, parking requirements would force buildings to be demolished to provide parking." People like the vibrant, walkable neighborhoods built before parking mandates, and they will like the ones built after parking mandates are removed, too. Familiar dynamics here!

Whether to charge for parking (and when and how much) should be based on observations of parking demand/supply, not on revenue goals. The goal is not revenue but rationing scarce street parking so that parking and mobility systems work better. Revenue will follow as a nice side-benefit.

“When you go to buy a car, you don’t get 6,000 parts shipped to your house and then someone comes and builds it for you.” But if politicians and building code officials were allowed to write their own bespoke, city-by-city regulations for building cars, the way they do for buildings, you would.

When normal people discover how America’s quasi-privatized building code is developed. Process was “unique”, did not analyze impact on end users, its costs, or constructability. “If I had done something like this during my career I’d be fired.” www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/h...

Ken Cofflin, retired SF fire marshal, previously wrote SF’s controversial and costly fire sprinkler mandate for pre 1974 high rise condo owners. Now he’s offering services as a consultant to help owners demand exemptions or scope reductions to the ordinance. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/h...

“…free parking on Sunday does not have to be a divine right in #SanFrancisco. #Oakland did away with it last year, and officials expect the new fees to generate at least $1.3 million annually.”

When similar technology reaches American buses, they’ll recharge in less than the time it takes for a driver to make their end-of-route bathroom break.

Speeders caught driving >10 mph over the limit made up only “about 1.5% of all drivers who passed locations with speed cameras.” Another good reason why electeds should support speed cameras: the scofflaws who howl about losing the ability to endanger people with impunity are a tiny minority.

I'm fascinated by the difference in traffic engineering practices between the US and nations with better traffic safety records. When French engineers want to improve safety on a two-way street that is just wide enough for one traffic lane and two bike lanes, they often stripe a 'Chaucidou' layout.