Kate Howell
@drkatehowell.bsky.social
Assoc Prof; Director @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social; posting about cities, housing, public spaces...and all the other stuff I'm excited about.
Of course he’s a dc kid…on an electric unicycle…leaving an early showing of Spider-Man…being super respectful to someone in a horrible situation
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 14h agofrom the video (on FB) bro got off his electric unicycle (lol) when he heard cries for help and just kind of maneuvered to give the woman a chance to get away. he didn't even end up having to fight the guy. peak performance www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/g...
They could always sign up to give comment at a public meeting.
The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · yesterdayNew York City’s business elites are long accustomed to direct access to City Hall, where even Democratic mayors felt the need to court the city’s wealthiest and most influential corporate leaders. That access is getting shredded by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Sometimes students/career seekers ask what my day to day is like. In future, I will be sure to skip over the part where I deal with the issue of dead mice in the HVAC system.
My academic work will never see this kind of impact. My Hat’s off to Dr. Wilson - if she weren’t already full, this would have been great in the application packet.
EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 6d agoNo professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...
Working hard creating an interactive map of Texas that visualizes the forced migration of enslaved people into Texas from 1800 to 1865. Check us out at enslavedtexas.org We are about halfway in this initial stage, so visit us often for updates! debbie@enslavedtexas.org
Enslaved Texas
Visualizing the forced migration of ~48,000 enslaved people into Texas (1800-1870) based on Freedmen's voter registration records.
enslavedtexas.org
what if i just decided not to participate in tuesday this week
The geologic formations that hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Virginia rely upon for their drinking water don’t hold enough water to supply the kind of large data centers developers are rushing to build in the state.
DEQ warns on data center impact on groundwater supply
The geologic formations that hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Virginia rely upon for their drinking water don’t hold enough water to supply the kind of large data centers developers are rushing to build in the state.
richmond.com
Like…wasn’t this the goal? www.ft.com/content/43c3... Is a second home in New York or London more trouble than it’s worth?
Is a second home in New York or London more trouble than it’s worth?
New York’s new tax on second homes is prompting owners to rethink. Are these city pads still worth it? It’s a question that those in London have long been asking
ft.com
My husband texted me "IT HAPPENED" but it turned out to be about LeBron going to the 76ers. I had 2 minutes of beautiful serenity.
Not UMD, but yes my previous institution of VCU use it. This tracks if the way student protesters were treated is one indicator of many...
Alex Hanna@alexhanna.bsky.social · 2w ago"We found that at least 150 institutions of higher ed... are using Flock’s surveillance network.. many campus police departments have facilitated immigration related investigations, even when they are located in sanctuary states and are legally prohibited from doing so" by @torinmonahan.bsky.social
The things people propose to avoid being considered old are hilarious to me. I would be more embarrassed to be perceived as trying to seem younger than I am than to be perceived as "old." Young people think people older than them are "old." There's no avoiding that. I am 45 and totally fine with it.
This was quite a nice write up in my dissertation...the number of people I interviewed who told me they could take their whole families for a sit down meal or have a long conversation with a friend without harassment...& the number of wack-a-doodle people saying ugly things on the n'hood list-serv!
PoPville@popville.bsky.social · 2w agoIHOP in Columbia heights has been CLOSED FOR DAYS. Calls Go Unanswered. Looking Like an End of an Era… - THERE. WAS. A. TIME. Opened here in 2010 and let me tell you, there were OPINIONS when they did: www.popville.com/2026/07/ihop...
today, more evidence that DoorDash workers earn bottom of the barrel amounts. surveillance wages + surveillance pricing + anti-home rule.
Amazon, gig companies see spike in workers on SNAP and Medicaid, study shows
Amazon workers on federal aid nearly tripled between 2020 and 2025, while ride-hailing and food delivery app drivers shot up on lists compiled by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
washingtonpost.com
Josh Jacobson@districtjosh.bsky.social · 2w agoFine to disagree on tax policy, but not fine to work with GOP to significantly limit DC home rule. If DoorDash thinks DC will accept them intervening in our tax code, they don't deserve our business. I've deleted my DoorDash account and encourage others to do the same.
Just canceled my DashPass and sent this email to DoorDash. I encourage you to do the same if you support D.C. home rule. press@doordash.com and ir@doordash.com
A few things: First and foremost, you cannot claim to support DC Home Rule and simultaneously publicly advocate for a bill that cripples the District’s ability to compete for economic development. Second, Comer’s ANS wouldn’t even cover the delivery fee because it’s 20 cents.
Martin Austermuhle@maustermuhle.bsky.social · 2w agoIn a statement, DoorDash tells me that the council passed the "arbitrary" new fee without holding any hearings. "We have always supported home rule for D.C.," says the company. "But will continue to defend D.C.'s small businesses, local economy, and underserved residents."
Who else looks forward to treating the congressional switch board as our new 311 system?
Free DC@freedcproject.bsky.social · 2w agoCongress is attempting to destabilize DC's finances for the third time — because creating a fiscal crisis would be the easiest way for them to take control of DC. Call key reps and tell them to oppose H.R. 9720, the "D.C. Taxing Authority Review Act." freedcproject.org/news/oppose-...
This building has a history - it was a Section 8 building. Around 2009 the owner opted out - before the District had a policy for preservation & just as advocacy & organizing was coming together - a big loss just as we got started. It's exciting to see the TOPA continues to be a critical backstop!
DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb@dcattorneygeneral.bsky.social · 2w agoYesterday, OAG's Equitable Land Use Section testified before the Zoning Commission in support of a map amendment in Shaw. The rezoning triples the allowable onsite density directly next to a Metro station. The nonprofit developer plans to develop the site with 200+ all-affordable housing units.
I was super skeptical of the GAT Trap, but definitely just changed the sticky paper & found a lot of dead baby mosquitoes. We still have mosquitoes but it’s definitely not the swarming situation we usually have.
The 51st@51st.news · 2w agoMosquitoes are one of summer's most persistent miseries. In Capitol Hill, a group of neighbors have banded together to fight back. Here's how you can join them in your own backyard:
Everyone coming on my feed and explaining to me that all is lost, I note what I have noted before, that there are no Negro Spirituals entitled, “Welp, I Guess It All Sucks and I Am Giving Up.”
Education is preparation to be a participant in a democracy. Which is, of course, a significant part of why it’s under attack.
And the winner is…(and seriously, tough competition - the referenced thread compared miller to gargamel/mr. Potatoehead/gollum at point along the line)
Democracy and trains@wingedisis.bsky.social · 3w agoY’all are out here being mean about the way this man looks, when obviously he hasn’t been able to see his own reflection in a mirror in several hundred years.
If renter households collapse into other households, including of owner-occupants, or become homeless, the proportion of homeowners among all “households” rises.
Another way to say this is that a rising homeownership rate can result from rising distress among potential renter households.
Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com · 3w agoUS homeownership rate is conventionally described as being ~ 65%. But that measure fails to take into account the large number of adults living in homes where *other* adults actually own the homes. People like young adults, elderly, friends. Once you account for that, the rate declines to… 53%.
For whatever reason, this @ggwash.org article came to mind this morning ggwash.org/view/89899/t...
Twenty years ago, it was common to have dozens of “Code Red” bad air days per summer
In the recent past, the DC area typically saw 20 or more Code Red days every summer. What changed?
ggwash.org
Anyone else suddenly thinking about B. Dalton books for the first time in decades?
