“Holy crap, these things just keep getting bigger”. At Seattle Auto Show The car guy is surprised, many of us are not. Larger vehicles kill people walking or biking. They throw a toxic brew of chemicals into the air from tire/brake/road wear. Worse than the tailpipe Seattle should tax them heavily

"I want great safe public spaces where kids can run around with abandon" Said the new Mayor of Seattle Katie Wilson yesterday, a woman of course. First time I've heard an executive say kids safety is a priority. She's going to change the City!

Ban “bull bars” in Seattle. Safety of people outside the vehicle is a legitimate area for regulation. These bars alter collision dynamics of vehicles, increasing the risk of severe injury to people walking & biking.

We should triple fees on SUVs parking on Seattle streets. Higher levels of tire and road particles released from these vehicles is dangerous too. Our new mayor could push this as a public health imperative.

Healthcare should be based on need rather than ability to pay. We could do that in Washington State if people demand it.

This story brings a tear to my eye. I remember the police hiding in the bush on the Burke Gilman trail at Brooklyn (We're like NY!) To ticket people on bikes who did not come to a complete stop. While ignoring the cars not yielding to the crosswalk! nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/11/11/d...

WA doctors filled out 731 death certificates for people killed by cars & trucks in 2024. The majority of these deaths are from poor policy. But you won't learn this at the Seattle Auto show on Nov 14th. Cars are too big and go too fast. www.seattleautoshow.com

Shoulder to Shoulder in Seattle. In the pouring rain today. 4 women working to makes things better Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal CM Alexis Mercedes Rinck Dionne Foster for City Council Erika Evans for City Attorney (speaking)

"Social Ties Are More Important to Health and Longevity Than Many Realize" When I enter a hospital room, I can guess how someone will do based on the number of visitors at the bedside. Cars are one reason social ties are broken. They limit street level interactions. We need to limit cars instead.

How to eat kidney friendly treats on Halloween by Dr Glaucomflecken. www.facebook.com/reel/8203952...

The high cost of health care in America is caused by the insatiable greed of corporate middlemen who get rich by standing in between you and the healthcare you need. We already have a solution. Medicare for All.

In WA State more people die from heat than cold By law landlords must meet a mandated min temperature for renters but no max. Landlords stop people from installing AC. Counties often have no emergency heat plan. Look for new bills on these issues coming soon!

The only solution is to get the greed out of healthcare. Stop defending. Stop letting Republicans set the agenda. We need Medicare for All.

"They want us poor and sick and abused and desperate. They did it in red states and now want the same for the entire United States" I wondered why officials don't seem to care if people get sick or injured. Sick people are too busy to bother them.

If you make $60,000/year, $36 of your taxes pays for SNAP while $700 of your taxes pays for corporate subsidies. Guess which one the Trump administration is going to cut off at the end of the week?

More shadow hearings please!

Plan to leave your car at home on Halloween Night (this Friday night) between 5.00 pm and 9.00 pm, and if you do need to drive, take it slowly and carefully to help keep children safe on the most dangerous night of the year for child pedestrians.

Is the US really interested in zero traffic deaths or Vision Zero? That depends according to this article. A patient brought me this publication today. Which means my message is getting thru ie that transportation built around cars makes us sicker and often kills.

Just visited TJs. They pay their employees a living wage on Sundays Why not every day?

Today, I hosted the fourth shadow hearing in my series Kidnapped and Disappeared focusing on Trump’s assault on Chicago. We must continue to shine a light on the unlawful and inhumane way this administration is treating immigrants across the country.

Doctors are writing more paper prescriptions Apparently you can mail a paper prescription to Canada. Jardiance costs $1800 for 90 days here with insurance. Cash pay in Canada costs $150. Jardiance has a good track record of keeping people off dialysis.

“Busses are the backbone of Seattle’s transportation system. They connect our neighborhoods. They get people to work in school. They reduce traffic congestion, cut emissions, and they are the most affordable way to get thousands of our neighbors around town.”

It's time to acknowledge reality:   Our health system is broken. It's time to guarantee good-quality care to every man, woman & child in this country.   Our campaign finance system is broken. It's time to get rid of Citizens United and publicly fund elections.   Let’s do it.

Hope everyone knows about @wholewashington.org

Today on Volts: Redwood Materials, the biggest battery recycler in the US, has launched Redwood Energy, which will gather used batteries & hook them up to power banks to serve as grid-scale storage until they're depleted. I talk with the CTO about the logistics & potential of second-life batteries.

Time to start talking about Medicare for All. Yes we can afford it.

This lady using helpful hand gestures to indicate she is looking for I-90 as she drives the bike lane under the University bridge. Right after she nearly hit my 16 year old on a bike. @seattledot.bsky.social might need a better design. 😊

A dangerous left turn by a driver this am onto a crosswalk. This one at least was going slow. A new bill to be introduced by @staterepjuliareed.bsky.social will hold drivers liable for hitting people in crosswalks and bike lanes. No more excuses like “they came out of nowhere”

Love using my bike to knock on doors before the election. Because while I’m locking my bike outside a home getting things together, people wonder why I’m there. They often come talk to me!

"No kids are allowed to bike to school because its too dangerous". That Medina Elementary rule from a few years ago was a ridiculous response to the danger posed by cars to children. We need more kids on bikes, not fewer.

Great news: Julia Reed is reintroducing the presumed liability bill this session (it was HB 1518 last session). The new bill will be slightly narrower in scope. If passed, drivers will be presumed at fault if they collide with a pedestrian or cyclist in a bike lane, crosswalk, or intersection.

Teenagers dying at the park is terrible. We need more space for them to hang out safely. Our street space is so dominated by cars, we push kids to the periphery. Maybe convert parking lots to places where teenagers can hang out at night. www.axios.com/local/seattl...

Enough. Awesome to see this billboard up in Vancouver. Was really incredible to work with the people at @visionzerovancouver.ca to bring this to life.

Listened to a corporate CEO berate my patient on Zoom. That his work absence was inexcusable My patient sat with his back to the wall in his hospital chair. We waited silently to put him on a dialysis machine. He doesn’t want his boss to know. I think we need to tax CEOs more.

“I’m not into politics” I’d love to tell the people behind these doors that “politics is into you”! 5 days a week, 8hrs a day paid lobbyists swarm city hall to make sure politics extracts as much money as possible from average people. We’re all into politics whether we know it or not.

More discussions like this please! People end up in the ER and admitted to the hospital whether they have insurance or not. As a result everyone has longer wait times. Sometimes there are no beds. Means more bad outcomes for everyone.

"Figure out why places like Boston and Seattle have so few pedestrian deaths compared to other cities" The answer is many things: speeds dropped to 25, more safety cameras, narrower lanes, protected bike lanes, bus only lanes ... Courage from politicians to say no to those opposing safety measures

Misinformation also in WA State. A massive power strain during a Jan 2024 cold snap was caused by the malfunction at a natural gas storage facility south of Seattle. Yet prominent people spread rumors that the the power strain was due to wind being "near zero once the cold air was in place".

Here's why I'd like to write prescriptions for e-bikes. Much cheaper than Ozempic. From an e-bike user. "E-bike changed my life. I bike everyday, down 100lbs since getting the e-bike". Full report: reactlab.civil.ubc.ca/bc-ebike-inc...

Excited to see an arrest made for LA fires. Unfortunately not a fossil fuel executive. Instead police arrested a young man who lit fireworks. It would be great if we could hold the real individuals responsible i.e. oil & gas billionaires. Poor journalism. www.seattletimes.com/nation-world...

Thank you to @theurbanist.org & so many other orgs for co-hosting this event with us! Saturday, October 11th from 3-5 pm. There'll be some good food & great questions for the candidates - you won't wanna miss it. www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/03/j...

Having to do CPR on a young man at 2nd & Marion downtown Seattle did not surprise me. What did shock me was that no bystander had thought to stop and help him before I arrived. Impressed as always with speed and professionalism of Seattle paramedics.

What can go wrong when the military uses cities as “training grounds”. Here’s Northern Ireland during Bloody Sunday when British paratroopers patrolled the streets.

Emergency at Overlake hospital. Overflowing bike rack. Response from the hospital within 3hrs of when I asked? “We’re putting in 2 new racks” Just goes to show. When you ask, things can improve. But you have to ask.

What went wrong with evacuation orders? What went wrong is that we're not prepared for increasingly violent weather related to climate change. In the US, heat will kill more people than floods, hurricanes and tornados combined. We're relying on a frail emergency system that will quickly collapse.

I just read in hospital chart: "Her quality of life has kind of sucked since she gave up driving as she was more isolated" Our transportation & land use policy limits social connections increasing isolation. This problem is a choice. We can change land use to make walking & biking easier.

Tylenol is not the problem. What will hurt pregnant women? The rising levels of wildfire smoke in the Pacific NW and elsewhere. Leading to an increased risk of preterm birth and low birth weight. Lets electrify faster and get more people walking & biking www.nber.org/system/files...

Data centers need a lot of juice — but we’ve got the power 🔋 Our new analysis shows that U.S. households could provide enough capacity to meet 100% of the projected electricity demand growth from data centers. Here's how (🧵): www.rewiringamerica.org/research/hom...

“After cuts by US President Donald Trump forced the closure of the popular climate.gov website, experts have launched an independent successor. They say climate literacy is important in Trump's war against science.” www.dw.com/en/fired-cli...

WHAT IF WE HAD POLITICAL WILL? Transportation dollars are scarce, but a new progressive mayoral administration can make a big impact without breaking the bank. Here’s my list. 🧵