Jamie had built a power tool for the California legislature. If you do work in Sacramento, you should do yourself a favor and spend an hour checking it out.

Jamie Pew@jpew.bsky.social · 18h ago

Excited about two new features on CALege.com -- Now you can build customizable legislator lists, or "caucuses," to track targets for lobby days + generate scorecards on your bills. And the big one... share everything - lists, notes, vote counts - with your team using the new CALege team plans!

“Something is going terribly wrong.” Last week, more than a mile-long stretch of the Spokane River dried up. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

SF remains behind in working to remove Flock from our streets. As far as I can tell, no one has brought it up in City Hall. Congrats to El Cerrito for helping to lead the way!

Rebecca Saltzman@rebeccaforec.bsky.social · 18h ago

Extremely frustrated that Flock continues to drag its feet on removing El Cerrito cameras. We ended our contract more than two months ago, and on 7/29 - after many communications from PD - Flock committed to removing all cameras by today, 8/18. We just heard they've only removed 10 of 40 cameras.

What a misleading headline! The bill to "fix" CA-37 is $11 billion, as stated later in the article. $100M is just to widen a portion of a road that is already sinking under the waves. Note you don't need to vote on CA-37. That's because the state will just spend the money. Imagine that for transit!

Bay Area’s Highway 37 could be underwater by 2050. California could spend $100 million on a fix

California officials will weigh whether to invest $100 million in one of the Bay Area’s most ambitious transportation projects: the effort to raise a 21-mile highway before it sinks into the sea.

sfchronicle.com

Never let yourself become inured to the fact that this is how the people running this country talk

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

The White House is pissed after Senator Jon Ossoff questioned Trump’s relationship with his much younger aide. trib.al/TZOU7HK

The Mayor's language around Prop I amounts to propaganda. His office will control the money. That his team wants to create the impression it is otherwise signals a rather large separation from the truth.

Mission Local@missionlocal.org · 2d ago

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie last week blasted affordable housing measure Prop. I as an "unaccountable slush fund." Well, that's odd: If it passes, his office would administer the money. Latest column from @esksf.bsky.social missionlocal.org/2026/08/mayo...

Time to go see the wonderful #flowers all blooming their hearts out for free at the #SanFrancisco #dahlia garden in #GoldenGatePark. They are at their peak!

SoCal Gas must be pissed about all the money they spent supporting pro-hydrogen astroturf. Then again, they won themselves years of delaying electrification.

Californians for Electric Rail@calelectricrail.org · 2d ago

As we've predicted since our founding, the hydrogen bubble burst and H2 is now on the decline across California. Transit agencies are left holding the bag for a failed experiment - and the state is still committed to 10 expensive H2 trains with nowhere for them to go. www.latimes.com/environment/...

Newsom cares deeply about his national (and international) public image. Hitting him where it hurts -- early primary states -- is exactly the sort of thing that gets his attention. And @sfchronicle.com, it's not "bashing" to tell the truth!

California groups have a new way to get Newsom’s attention: Bash him in swing states

The groups going out of state to influence the governor represent various political factions Newsom will court if he runs for president.

sfchronicle.com

Someone has retooled "wheels on the bus" to "this is the way we drive the car." 🤢

Who needs ICE and the Trump DOJ when you have SFPD pulling stuff like this:

Marc@schoenen.bsky.social · 5d ago

Shit, this is grim www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/u...

This news should be as big as the police and fire unions opposing. SEIU represents a lot of city workers, workers at risk of losing their jobs if the city budget can't be made whole. But they've weighed the tradeoffs and voted to support dedicating this money to social and affordable housing.

Dean Preston@deanpreston.bsky.social · 5d ago

The largest public sector union in San Francisco, SEIU 1021, has endorsed Prop. I, the Affordable Housing Guarantee Act

A progressive and YIMBY dem club could be a great start to re-arranging the political playing field in SF! I hope that everyone is wise enough here to avoid the trap of Chakrabarti becoming some sort of all powerful totem at the club; they at least appear aware of the risk.

A second act for Saikat Chakrabarti backers? A left-leaning YIMBY Democratic club.

“Maybe it was only 20 percent, but 20 percent in a city like this is more than enough, far more than enough to swing a race”

missionlocal.org

Zero surprise that these are explicitly designed to cause pain without leaving a mark, not to incapacitate. Yes, we're spending $20M to buy ICE agents torture devices.

The Painful Truth of Exactly How ICE’s New Shock Gloves Actually Work

ICE is spending millions on shock gloves designed to overpower subjects through intense, localized pain.

wired.com

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · last wk.

Let's give the unhinged, untrained, unaccountable bullies electroshock gloves. While we're at it, do a no-bid contract for this bullshit.

Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio are being required to wear ankle monitors and turn their passports over to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/08/14/h...

Haitians in Springfield are required to report to Ohio's ICE offices and wear ankle monitors • Ohio Capital Journal

Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio are being required to wear ankle monitors and turn their passports over to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ohiocapitaljournal.com

The only "problem" that hydrogen trains like the Arrow between San Bernardino and Redlands solves is not having overhead electrical lines that the geriatrics in charge of California cities consider ugly. If you've not visited, this is the marvelous built environment they're trying to preserve:

Streets For All@streetsforall.org · 6d ago

California's groundbreaking hydrogen trains’  'clean' fuel doesn't come from where you think. We need electrification, not unproven technologies. Let's take a look at the state's hydrogen train scam. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssWN...

Hydrogen trains are a scam. Slow and power inefficient if powered by electrolysis, but largely powered by hydrogen created from steam methane reforming. It's greenwashing, promoted by fossil fuel giants. @streetsforall.org reviews the situation in California in a new video.

California's hydrogen train scam

YouTube video by Streets For All

youtube.com

M Gessen is often a vital read, and this story is no different. It's always good to see people call anti-trans laws what they are: creeping fascism.

Opinion | What’s Happening in Kansas Should Alarm Us All (Gift Article)

Is Kansas just the beginning?

nytimes.com

"As state lawmakers return to the Capitol from summer recess on Monday, Democrats are spoiling for a fight with Gov. Gavin Newsom over the future of California’s signature climate fund."

Inside the Fight for the Future of California’s Climate Dollars | KQED

Changes to the state’s cap-and-invest program could leave billions of dollars less for housing, transit or high-speed rail — forcing lawmakers to make tough spending choices.

kqed.org

Literally what everyone in the bike advocacy community predicted, and what would have happened in CA without timely and effective lobbying from @calbike.bsky.social, @streetsforall.org, @peopleforbikes.bsky.social, and advocates like me.

Larry Higgs@commutinglarry.bsky.social · last wk.

Unintended consequence of NJ's new e-bike law. Bike shop business is drying up as customers balk at the new law requirements www.nj.com/news/2026/08...

I’ve wanted a study to prove this too, and here it is. Anyone have good examples of global shared micromobility systems that *don’t* operate on a per-minute fee?

David Zipper@davidzipper.bsky.social · last wk.

Looks like I got my answer: "The presence of the [per-minute] fee nudged cyclists toward several unsafe behaviours." "The policy recommendation is to avoid such strategies in favour of less time-pressuring schemes." doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

Great to meet and see so many allies fighting for affordable housing, transit, and clean air and water in Sacramento today. Hopefully the ~200 attendees were heard in our constituent meetings with Assemblymembers, and the legislature sees fit to back fill lost GGRF funding from CARB's May decision.

June US transit data is in today, & all of the 10 largest US rail networks are growing! SF is seeing a real boom, with ridership up 16% on Muni & 14% on BART SEPTA (Philly, 9.1%) and PATH (NY/NJ, +8.7%) are also seeing strong growth, while MTS (San Diego, +1.4%) is the slowest🧵

I am now officially doing safe streets advocacy as my full-time job, and for this incredible organization at that. make sure you are following @walksf.org!

Walk San Francisco@walksf.org · 2w ago

🎉Say hello to our 4 new staff members! It’s a big moment that’s thanks to our amazing supporters. This is our biggest team ever to advocate on behalf of pedestrians and we're thrilled to introduce these passionate folks who will help take our work to the next level! walksf.org/about-us/mee...

Populism is always at risk of rejecting expertise and embracing reactionary thought, which then eats the movement, bending it toward conservative ends. This is the root of liberal suspicion toward the whole enterprise.

Tony Byrne@tonybyrne.bsky.social · 2w ago

Depressing to see populist-style revolts against things like bike lanes and free parking. Car owners: “We’re under attack and need to rebel against The Man.” @thewaroncars.bsky.social Gift link: www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Amazing where you can go with public transit and a bike.

South Carolina is now the first state in the nation for the Democratic Primary and this just ran in The State, the newspaper of Columbia, South Carolina. Come out to the rally and lobby day next week in Sac and help get our legislators to undo the cuts! actionnetwork.org/events/emerg...

one policy debate we deserve but are never going to get to have is what demands to be done to make blue states and cities whole after this presidency

Stephen Judkins@stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 3w ago

this absolute scumbag www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/20...

The updates on Watch Duty are very disheartening. The fire is right up against dense residential and pushing in hard. Sounds like evacuation traffic may not be flowing ("use side streets"). There was very little time from the start of the fire until now: just four hours.

Daniel Swain@weatherwest.bsky.social · 3w ago

Serious wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire situation in Spokane, WA amid "extremely critical/Particularly Dangerous Situation" fire weather conditions. Two separate fires, #OldTrailsFire & #FairViewFire, are actively burning near/in neighborhoods; mass evacs ongoing. #WAwx