We found the perfect affordable, moderate density housing format and then just made them illegal
Jason Cox
@jasoncoxnc.bsky.social
Real estate development, urbanism. Fire trucks are too big, streets are too wide, and the IBC kills good development. Tree canopy aficionado. Sometime restaurateur.
Whoa that’s crazy. I hear the other side demanded right sized elevators.
But in the history of the US, no fire chief has ever showed up at a public meeting to oppose on-street parking. Which DRASTICALLY curtails access far more than bike lanes. In fact wide bike lanes are perfect for emergency vehicle access.
A U.S. fire chief will show up at a public meeting proposing this & call it an unacceptable public safety hazard. That the trees impede fire response. As does that bike lane. The bus lane will cause an increase in response times & untold deaths, despite being able to be used as an emergency lane.
This is in fact not the top priority in many cases when it comes to American fire departments. “Tradition, pride, history, honor, patriotism.” No facts at this time please.
randomperson Fire Alarms@randompersonfire.bsky.social · last mo.Shouldn’t usability more important than looks?
“Yeah but European fire helmets are stupid looking” An actual reason American firefighters will say the first example here is better. Just before then telling me a 10 second delay in response speed from safer streets will kill people.
The Paris Fire Brigade (serving a metro of 10M) has an average fire response of 12 minutes. 7 for EMS. Houston as a US example has 90th-percentile times of 13 minutes for fire & 15 for EMS. Smaller apparatus & alternative vehicles improves medical response times without out sacrificing capability.
Jason Cox@jasoncoxnc.bsky.social · 2mo agoStockholm’s pedestrian fatality rate per 100k is 0.45. The U.S. is over 5x that. Like much of the EU Stockholm uses standards of 9.8’ for city street lanes and allows for 10.8’ in bus and truck corridors. The U.S. sets a 26’ minimum width for streets and common lane widths are 12-14’.
BREAKING: lobbyists disguised as public servants, still wearing their former uniforms while selling an unwanted, complicated solution to a nonexistent problem to give a multibillion dollar corporation a mandated monopoly loses. Rare code body win for common sense
randomperson Fire Alarms@randompersonfire.bsky.social · last mo.Update: NFPA's technical meeting was yesterday... and the FARS scam has run out of air (get it?), at least as far as NFPA 1 is concerned. Results are linked from this page: www.nfpa.org/events/techn...
“Dad, why don’t we build streets that allow cars, pedestrians and bicyclists to all use them?” “We can’t, we don’t know how. But we also can’t copy them from elsewhere because this is America. Now stop this nonsense, we’re got a 20 minute drive to get milk & traffic is terrible”
The same people who acted as if the creation of Uber et al was a cataclysmic event are now saying Waymo being allowed to disrupt them will mean urban ruin and mass unemployment so I’m admittedly suspicious of their doomsday prophesying.
The Vienna fire department downsized their fire engines to save weight & space after determining their water network made the prior spec excessive. Meanwhile American FDs mandate 300’ hydrant spacing but buy oversized engines while fighting 10’ lane widths like the city will spontaneously combust.
Jason Cox@jasoncoxnc.bsky.social · last mo.You’re never going to believe this but our apartment in Vienna is next to a fire station.
Brexit Brits being forced to sell their apartments in Spain to newly wealthy Poles is genuinely entertaining to me ngl.
Behold, the magical device that allows cars and walkable density to exist in the same space at the same time, defying the laws of American urban physics.
You’re never going to believe this but our apartment in Vienna is next to a fire station.
Two weeks in Scandinavian cities and I’ve not seen a single fire truck. Lots of vans. No ladders. No engines. It’s almost like if you don’t send them out on the 97% of calls that aren’t fires you need fewer of them and can use cheaper & faster vehicles for those.
Jason Cox@jasoncoxnc.bsky.social · 2y agoFrom NACTO & the USDOT Volpe Center re: research supporting the downsizing of fire trucks in urban areas. 1/ Smaller, more maneuverable emergency response trucks often have similar, or **better**, capabilities than the most common trucks on U.S. streets.
Our kid walked in last night and asked where we are right now because his older cousins asked in a group chat and he doesn’t know. He’s 16.
The “nonprofit” behind this happens to share an address w/ Johnson Controls, maker of the only approved system. Johnson & other manufacturers who make related required equipment are its funders. The retired fire chiefs who lobby for it on their behalf are highly compensated for such. Such a scam.
Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 2mo agoWhile YIMBYs try to slim down vertical circulation in codes, product manufacturers are using firefighters to beef them up. Not just defending multiple, wide, remote stairs and huge elevators, but getting entirely new systems into buildings. Enter: the firefighter air replenishment system.
“If you take away space for bikes and pedestrianize streets contractors can’t work on buildings and delivery trucks can’t get inventory to businesses. The whole idea is ridiculous.” European streets are like European fire trucks. Better spatial discipline, more flexibility, higher ~actual~ utility.
Kind of get the 🇳🇴 fjord hype now
Jason Cox@jasoncoxnc.bsky.social · 2mo agoSo Bergen is pretty cool.
Norway has wood buildings and smaller fire trucks and somehow it hasn’t all burned down.
There is simply no available space to make American fire trucks any smaller. Every square inch is occupied with a large amount of specialized equipment that’s unique to us. Elsewhere people just die because they can’t hold the needed equipment on their smaller trucks.
Jason Cox@jasoncoxnc.bsky.social · 2mo agoThere is simply no room in American fire trucks to reduce their size. They are completely full due to the high amount of equipment they must carry. We couldn’t try to incorporate examples from elsewhere. We’re just too different.
This feels like a better option for handicap accessible restrooms. Far more flexibility in terms of layout with these drop down arms compared to the fixed 18” from the wall ADA setup. And a lot easier for a retrofit situation vs tearing out concrete, running new waste lines.
Had a real life “why building code matters” with our son in Stockholm. Coming back from some exploring a door was open to the interior courtyard at our building & we could hear kids playing. As we walked out there was an elevated patio area where three young ones were practicing riding their bikes
Stockholm’s pedestrian fatality rate per 100k is 0.45. The U.S. is over 5x that. Like much of the EU Stockholm uses standards of 9.8’ for city street lanes and allows for 10.8’ in bus and truck corridors. The U.S. sets a 26’ minimum width for streets and common lane widths are 12-14’.
Jason Cox@jasoncoxnc.bsky.social · 2mo agoLots of cars in Stockholm. Lots of bicycles. Lots of pedestrians. Seems fine?
We have already spent a somewhat ridiculous amount on bike rentals here in Stockholm.
Lots of cars in Stockholm. Lots of bicycles. Lots of pedestrians. Seems fine?