Another reminder that it's expensive to be low-income/not a home-owner: $4.50 was the cheapest washer I could find at my closest laundromat. Amazingly more convenient when my washer isn't down, but also a big cost saver.

This is what leadership looks like! @uofilsystem.bsky.social

Top-down elimination of DEI in hiring & promotion by @uofilsystem.bsky.social make me suspicious regarding UIC announcement: Office of Diversity & Equity will be "renamed and reoriented" to "engagement". Don't want to belabor names, but is unnecessary retreat esp. given @govpritzker.illinois.gov

Illinois people - please join one or all of these virtual meetings to tell IDOT to prioritize transit, biking, and walking over automobility.

Happy @chicagocta.bsky.social is doing engagement to substantially improve bus service on key corridors with Better Streets for Buses. Thrilled with operations & capital funding in the transit bill (thanks to those who made it happen) that can support increased frequency & capital projects!

Do love the idea of a city-owned bus terminal! Great idea from @mayorofchicago.bsky.social & team! Don't love that some yucky firms making money from the deal, but that's our real estate/private equity/late capitalism landscape(Conway's critique doesn't feel sincere given whole his whole ethos)

When celebrities are seeing the problems of AI...why don't university administrators? Also, a little funny. But not funny when labor (@aft.org) is partnering when it should be resisting the very premise.

Thrilled about so much in the public transit bill! More $, coordination, TOD!! Congrats to many! Still concerning loss of electoral leverage for Chi folks. Many groups concentrated in Chi (305,989 carfree households=82% of Cook's carless). & fear Rauner repeat. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/05/t...

The Department of Geography invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Indigenous Geographies, preferably with a focus on Human–Environment Relationships. Read more 👉 www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...

tired: leaders throw folks under the bus wired: leaders invite folks on the bus in a dedicated lane

Excited for today and watching NYC with hope!

Research on "millionaire migration" shows that it rarely happens and that states could raise their top tax rates way higher. www.asanet.org/wp-content/u...

New awareness campaign

Love of Halloween plus burn out. This Logan Square neighbor sees me.

Yes! We can support ending exclusionary single family only zoning but that does not mean market rate, supply side emphasis will trickle down and move the needle significantly for those with the lowest income.

this gets even funnier if you map it onto the "viewpoint diversity" discourse in higher ed

Anyone know of anyone live posting from Springfield on public transit stuff? @capitolfax.bsky.social fax had a tiny snippet earlier this afternoon.

Burrito taxi tax is off the table? Illinois Retail Merchants Association website ties food deserts & grocery deliveries, but bill that passed the Senate exempted groceries and RX. Trying to confuse? They have ads on Capitol Fax (who posted not exempt w/other items). www.saynotoildeliverytaxes.com

A stopgap is much better than cuts, but we actually have to get past 2026 to avoid resources going to planning for cuts. The fiscal cliff is not newly known, so it's been hard to watch revenue be on the backburner. @rtachicago.bsky.social & CMAP put revenue options out there years ago.

Riders & non-riders have a lot at stake with the public transit fiscal cliff ($2.6 billion GDP, congestion, emissions). Riders will face devasting cuts & missed opportunities. An alternative of investment could yield share benefits (riders & non-riders). Two scenarios for @chicagocta.bsky.social

Happy it's (this time) a short wait for thru service on the Blue Line but do not like short runs ending at UIC. Glad Green Line and buses serve the West Side and OP/FP, but look forward to slow zone elimination and more full runs (yes, $$$ needed) with collective environment & equity benefits.

Don't believe trendy VC-backed transport hype--study (Narang, Liu) challenges claims of equity & environmental benefits: news.illinois.edu/study-electr... Yes, another opportunity to be smug, my 2019 @chicagotribune.com piece saying scooters aren't all that: www.chicagotribune.com/2019/10/14/c...

this is what will happen if mamdani makes bus rides free

Federal agents were also active on Chicago's northwest side this morning, per rapid response teams. They report multiple people "questioned and detained" near a Burger King in Humboldt Park, near North & Mozart, and at least one person detained at a gas station in Hermosa, near Armitage & Pulaski.

Delighted to share that we're hiring an Assist. Prof in community development/housing or urbanism and development! Job description here uic.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... Please share! Phil Ashton (department head) & I (search committee chair) will be at ACSP. Schedule a meeting here

Hi friends! Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning looking for folks to share their perspectives on transportation and be in the regional transportation plan: morrealecomm.wixsite.com/submission

And here's where you can find the source of the diagram: www.urban.org/research/pub... A great @urbaninstitute.bsky.social report by @yonahfreemark.com & Lindiwe Rennert (not in original post due to character count limits...)

While we need to be building more housing we also need to be pairing it with policy that ensures that prices stay low. But also protect tenants rights.

I hope even Red Line Extension skeptics (admittedly I'm a supporter) see that @chicagotribune.com comments about the Far South Side are problematic. It is not "simply" "hollowed out" but facing decades of structural racism & disinvestment (which they use to rationalize another investment deferred).

Right-size=cuts & the vicious circle for transit. Reflecting limited ideas of public transit/sector, they use ridership, not accessibility (see @davidzipper.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...). Collective benefits beyond ridership (which enable jobs retained, drs appointments, etc)

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.

Illinois Retail Merchants Association trying to create confusion? They talk food deserts & grocery deliveries, but the public transit bill that passed the IL Senate (not IL House) exempted groceries and RX from fee. They're advertising @capitolfax.bsky.social www.saynotoildeliverytaxes.com

If the media is going to keep pushing their crime & inefficiency narrative on public transit then agencies should fight back. Car dominance is personally and societally unpleasant, transit is by-and-large convenient, affordable, and socially beneficial. No more needless concessions to big auto.

Delightful design (with impressive message) from my partner @ryanlindburg.bsky.social!

Hi transportation friends! I have a class that is doing a pedestrian safety audit along an arterial. We'll use a customized instrument drawing from existing tools. What's your favorite safety audit tool? I'm looking at those reviewed by Safe Routes in 2018, but wondered about more recent favorites.

We are excited to announce that the Racine Blue Line station will now be accessible for ALL riders!

What's up on ridehail taxes and fees for Chi? (most rides aren't shared so disklike term rideSHARE). Lyft has no qualms about trying to mobilize its riders (Ventra emails about CTA townhall could have been more compelling about the risk of dire cuts? Or would there have been legislator pushback?).

Great ideas for public transit funding by @chicagocta.bsky.social board member Requejo: www.linkedin.com/pulse/chicag... He notes tremendous economic benefits & transit gets crumbs from investment it spurs. Non-riders also have a lot at stake with the fiscal cliff! What's feasible for Oct?

Thoughtful op-ed from @uofilsystem.bsky.social Springfield colleague Akash Belsare @chicago.suntimes.com chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/... Encouraging complex ideas and critical thinking, while acknowledging our positionality, instead of hiding power and forcing both sidesism

From @arielparrella.bsky.social: Federal Agents Handcuff Chicago Alderperson At Hospital ER blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/03/f...

State Representative Lilian Jimenez on the tear gassing of protesters near Rico Fresh on Armitage and Central Park.

Kind of confused by some of the statements highly critical of RTA (e.g., trying to delay, downplaying dire risks). This statement calls for action now. It says risks of inaction are devasting cuts, while other regions have acted.

Revisiting some student work from Fall 2023 on mobility justice & the 157/Ogden bus in North Lawndale. Check out their excellent, holistic, and rigorous work!

Wow! Have only been on Instagram a month or two but there's already a fake account that has one of my pictures and an extra s on the handle. I'm kateontransport NOT kateontransports

@swcollectivechi.bsky.social hosting a bike ride Saturday!

Operating losses on Brightline Miami to Orlando airport. More shift from short flights to speedy rail would be ideal, but this scenario seems reinforce that for-profit model not promising in the current landscape & we might need to price air travel emissions? www.railwayage.com/passenger/in...

“AI” isn’t a tool or technology or even a cluster of technologies with a misleading name. It’s the infrastructure at the foundation of a form of capitalism dependent on data brokering. We should be teaching our students about this and not teaching them about “responsible” use.

Is anyone downloading census data? Some pages seem live but when I tried to download a zipped shapefile I got this message and was never redirect.

To avert the great harms of cuts (collective but most acute for disadvantaged) imperfect, feasible funding sources? Yet in Illinois we need long term visions of progressive (income, corporate) revenue & radically investing in our shared future via collective goods like public ed & transit.