Robin
@jesusurbanist.bsky.social
jesusurbanist.substack.com | benches, buses, South Nashville, etc. | Lutheran pastor
Strong Towns republished (with permission, obvs) my latest Substack.
Can We Feel Bad for the Drivers Who Kill Pedestrians? | Strong Towns
Every fatal crash leaves two lives permanently altered: the person who died, and the person who now has to live with having taken another person’s life.
strongtowns.org
CM Welsch reports that the condemnation process has begun for residents of D16. Their homes are being taken to widen the interstate by adding toll lanes.
I get a little tired with all the "houses used to be beautiful with intricate architectural details!" posts online, because you know what's even better than every house having bespoke details? Every human having a place to live.
Of these individuals, 3 were pedestrians, 2 motorcyclists, and 3 were in vehicles when they died last month. Additionally, 24 pedestrians, and 9 cyclists suffered non-fatal crashes with vehicles in July 2026.
One year ago I put a bench up on KVB, which I thought would be a funny little protest but has been a surprisingly life changing event. Grateful for the best group of people who work hard on it and all the excellent people I've met through the bench parties
How to Win Friends & Irritate Local Government
One year of building benches in Nashville
open.substack.com
Cycling with your child is dangerous. Putting my toddler on the back of my bike has resulted in a new obsession with fire hydrants, and now I have to talk about them 12 hours a day.
Can confirm, @nashville.gov lost their collective mind when we started placing benches. I still don't really understand why
wishda@wishda.bsky.social · 5d agoThe DSA in Wilmingotn, N.C. has created a "crisis" by putting benches at city bus stops, after literal decades of the city promising and failing to do so.
Nashville's problems are not caused by Texans and Californians.
@kjgarner.bsky.social gave me this sticker for my birthday, but my spouse, a Homophobe, refused to let me put it on my car
Bike Lane Uprising@bikelaneuprising.bsky.social · last wk.Back in stock * white icing spoke reflectors * 12mo baby onesie * reflective frame bag * reflective shoelaces * reflective crossbody bags * reflective spoke beads www.bikelaneuprising.com/shop
The most densely populated part of Nashville (and Tennessee) is not downtown, or East, or near the universities - it's South Nashville.
Robin@jesusurbanist.bsky.social · last wk.A little desner/essentially the same - South Nashville. Notice the huge discrepancy in bus service: hundreds of stops in West Nashville, 51 in South. Also consider how many more parks, greenways, and bike lanes service in Edgehill, Hillsboro, West End and 12 South.
The people have spoken. I'll see you and your babies there. (the entire city is invited.)
Friends!!! Huge news!! I have a literary agent! (!!!) I'm writing a book!
Madelyn Knecht ✨🌈@madelynknecht.bsky.social · 2w agoExcited to welcome Robin to Team MadHope! I can't wait to get this actionable nonfiction about community, isolation, religion, and the path to change in a world centered around cars, in front of editors 🤩 @jesusurbanist.bsky.social
Who has a baby, a bike, and wants to go on a group ride? (Kid-itical Mass???)
A lot of (maybe meandering?) thoughts this week - on what justice means, on moral injury, on carceral logic, and on Turturro v. NYC, where a city was found liable for not implementing traffic calming.
Can we feel bad for the drivers who kill pedestrians?
Moral injury, the limits of a carceral response to pedestrian deaths, and creating a culture of shalom.
open.substack.com
Me: I can get up at 5:30 to write, I'll write so well in the morning. Also me: writes this absolute nonsense sentence, hits post.
Robin@jesusurbanist.bsky.social · 2w agoI'm looking for someone who has ever been involved in a fatal crash to talk to me for something I'm writing, especially if you were the driver. If that's you, send me a DM? Thanks internet. (Picture of my dog for internet tax.)
I'm looking for someone who has ever been involved in a fatal crash to talk to me for something I'm writing, especially if you were the driver. If that's you, send me a DM? Thanks internet. (Picture of my dog for internet tax.)
This should be shown to the east bank planners every day
Arif Hasan, but NFL🔨⚒️🛠️@arif.bsky.social · 2w agothis shot is so bleak lmao
Today we painted Louisa’s Ghost Bike. It used to be Jessica Mink’s bike. Since 2015, I’ve created about 30 ghost bikes, but this one was the hardest to make so far. I couldn’t have done it without my best friend and brother Galen Mook. We Need Each Other. #NoMoreGhostBikes
Watching Spain vs. Argentina on Fox instead of Telemundo should be a crime.
Today I'm channeling the audacity of a delivery truck driver.
This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days. ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.
If you're an Irish American whose ancestors came during the famine (aka ~economic refugees~) and you're not pro-immigrant today, I reckon your ancestors are ashamed of you.
The point of Christianity is not to make more Christians, but to become more Christlike. If we've forgotten the second for the first, we deserve to become irrelevant.
Got to speak to Jon Jon Wesolowski, aka the Happy Urbanist across the internet, Tennessee's own certified urbanist influencer on Chattanooga, DIY urbanism, homelessness, joy, etc etc etc
The Happy Urbanist
A conversation with Jon Jon Wesolowski (@thehappyurbanist) on joy, growth, and DIY urbanism in Chattanooga.
open.substack.com
If you think e-bikes are a hazard for teenagers, wait until you hear about cars.
I go on vacation for one week and come home to find Nashville has a brand new local news source! Excited to check out: peoplesjournalism.org @jesusurbanist.bsky.social
People's Journalism
peoplesjournalism.org
