Alaina Pitt
@alainapitt.bsky.social
Bikes, housing, safe streets, people-friendly places “If we can build a successful city for children, we can build a successful city for all people.” #BanCars 📍Massachusetts ❤️ DC
Insane that democrats keep trying to cave on this issue rather than amplifying the fact that it’s being spearheaded by bigots and freaks
Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 5d agoAn initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play
Literally thought this was about city grocery store “discourse”
Queerhawk 🏳️🌈 | 🇺🇦 | 🇬🇱@alwaysadorecats.bsky.social · last wk.This is also part of Everyone-is-12 Theory, in that there’s this tendency among way too many adults to 1) Divide the world up into a simple mental model, and 2) Get upset when this model ultimately fails and looks foolish because the world is way bigger than they want it to be.
I don’t normally wade in on these kerfuffles, but truly wtf. This is like saying “I’m rubber you’re glue; it bounces off me but it sticks on you!” because you want to deflect from the fact that you don’t have an answer. Do you want to fix shit or just dunk on people?
Kat Abughazaleh@katmabu.bsky.social · last wk.I have never seen someone so flummoxed by the concept of feeding people lmao
The people who complain about empty bike lanes do not want full bike lanes. They want no bike lanes.
If you want a vision of the future imagine a growing number of seniors slamming their foot on the gas when approaching a store front for some reason. Forever.
Warren Wells, AICP@warrenjwells.bsky.social · 2w agoLikely another elderly driver stepping on the wrong pedal.
What is the point of this? “He also called for an increase in railroad funding and asked lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow Amtrak to collect payments from the developers of properties surrounding its stations, rather than having them pay property taxes to local or state governments.”
Jennie Coughlin@jenniecoughlin.bsky.social · 2w agoThe Trump administration is no longer dodging the question of whether it wants to rename Penn Station in New York City. In a letter to the leaders of three Senate committees on Wednesday, the transportation secretary, Sean P. Duffy, listed renaming Penn Station as an administration priority.
In the wake of Louisa Gag’s death in Boston, I’ve been thinking back to 2019 in DC, after Dave Salovesh was killed. There’s parallels. Two people who were widely beloved. Cities that made some big plans, and some progress, but stalled over some big projects (Blue Hill Ave, 9th St NW cycletrack).
“There never had been real discussion or planning or design for bike safety along Tremont,” she said.
Peter Cheung@bostonaruban.bsky.social · 2w agoWu released a letter pledging the city will install more permanent “cast-in-place” concrete barriers along bike lanes, consult with outside advisors, develop truck safety legislation and evaluate the intersection where cycling advocate Louisa Gag was killed.
A person died. Lots of people, in fact. But don't go to fast on fixing streets, Mayor Wu, lest people not "understand the trade-offs."
The post hoc reasoning people come up with for why we have the housing we have is fascinating. One reason I heard today: Duplexes and triplexes were built for factory workers. We no longer have factories so therefore we don’t build duplexes and triplexes anymore.
Car dependency was not a choice. It was and is the deprivation of choice.
Remember, if you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan cities for people and places, you get people and places. Via Fred Kent & @ppsplacemaking.bsky.social. #UrbanTruth
These can be added back in just as easily, right? …right?!
National Association of City Transportation Officials@nacto.bsky.social · 3w agoIn @npr.org today: FHWA has removed bike lanes, speed cameras, and other essential, data-driven safety countermeasures from its official federal guidance on street safety interventions. This list provides shared, national resources to support decision-making.
Fuck this guy and the bike he rode in on.
Gravel Influencer@gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 3w agoThis is a disgusting thing to publish in the wake of Louisa Gag's death. Yes, safety education is important for bicyclists. But Louisa is dead because of unsafe infrastructure and because of dangerous blind spots on trucks. Why does this piece not even mention steps the trucking industry could take?
Get rid of your imposter syndrome (which tends to afflict smart people more than dumb people anyway). NO ONE is a "real expert." You have every right to be there. And you can make an enormous difference if you're in the room at the right time. Get involved. Participate. You can matter.
The biggest issue with Dem politicians is how they want everyone to like them and do nothing “controversial”. Everything must be consensus based and everyone must like the thing. One whiff of opposition and they fold like a fucking cheap suit.
Gravel Influencer@gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 4w agoIt really is remarkable the extent to which Josh Kraft succeeded in setting back — and really rolling back — safe streets progress in Boston. How many people will die because of his anti-bike campaign and because Mayor Wu capitulated on life-saving infrastructure?
Michelle Wu beat Josh Kraft BY FORTY NINE BY GOD PERCENT and her response was to act like HE was the one with a mandate to make our streets more dangerous
Gravel Influencer@gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 4w agoIt really is remarkable the extent to which Josh Kraft succeeded in setting back — and really rolling back — safe streets progress in Boston. How many people will die because of his anti-bike campaign and because Mayor Wu capitulated on life-saving infrastructure?
This should be the basis for a massive lawsuit. We can't make people in power who value car owner convenience above the lives of everyone else care, but we can make them afraid of being sued.
StreetsblogMASS@mass.streetsblog.org · 4w agoSCOOP: In 2023-24, @mayorwu.boston.gov's streets cabinet IDed hazards and prepared safety improvement plans for the intersection where a driver killed Louisa Gag last week. But under her new second-term administration, those plans never got built. mass.streetsblog.org/2026/07/14/w...
"Corridor zoning" amounts to jamming low-income residents into big, bland apartment buildings alongside stroads, where they can serve as a buffer, absorbing all the noise & air pollution cars produce, protecting the precious single-family homes that dominate everywhere around them. It's abominable.
Qagggy!@qagggy.bsky.social · 4w agoThe @seattleparksfoundation.org is a founding member of the Green Neighborhoods Coalition, bringing together groups like Tree Action Seattle to oppose @mayorofseattle.bsky.social Katie Wilson's comprehensive plan proposals and concentrate density along Seattle's busiest corridors.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing half the population that the "manly" way to get around is on a giant rolling couch controlled by gently depressing your toe.
"To lose her on a morning commute at an intersection the city has explicitly documented as dangerous for years is just an unmitigated tragedy, a systemic failure." Deaths like Louisa's occur because our leaders prioritize the convenience of drivers over the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.
‘Systemic failure’: Crash that killed Boston transit planner sparks furor over road safety efforts - The Boston Globe
Residents and public officials alike have been concerned about pedestrian and cyclist safety on the stretch of Tremont Street in Mission Hill near Parker Street for years.
bostonglobe.com
Okay who got to Yankee Magazine? I’m floored to see a pro-housing article in this magazine (which I love but doesn’t normally weigh in such topics).
The people in charge of your city’s streets do not care if their road designs kill people, so long as traffic flows freely.
Grant Henninger@granthenninger.com · last mo.Two years ago, I was removed from the Anaheim Planning Commission because of a fight with the city’s traffic engineer. I wanted him to prioritize safety. He wanted to ensure cars could move quickly through our city. The city council of the largest city in the county backed his vision of our roads.
Great article, and it think this is the key passage Parents see the benefits of giving their kids mobility through ebikes. But they don't have the proper information and end up buying emotos, which are often cheaper than ebikes. That's what we need to fix
The News & Observer@newsobserver.com · last mo.They thought they were buying independence for their kids. Instead, many landed at the center of one of Charlotte’s most divisive debates.
If you can reverse a red card, you most certainly can reverse on street parking into a bike lane.
Cars & sprawl consume more fossil fuels, produce more pollution, drive more climate change, occupy more productive land, destroy more communities, drive up more healthcare costs, and generate more antisocial politics than ... ... whatever else. Name it.
