They taught us about all of these things in elementary school. They called them “simple machines.” Maybe once America is done inventing artificial general intelligence, we can investigate them.

Jesse Orr@jessezorr.bsky.social · 3w ago

Going to Europe now I am like “Wow so many tower cranes for mid-sized construction,” “omg look at this garbage collection” and “Huh so these are the famed exterior blinds you can control from the inside.”

Going to Europe now I am like “Wow so many tower cranes for mid-sized construction,” “omg look at this garbage collection” and “Huh so these are the famed exterior blinds you can control from the inside.”

@ Chicago / Transit / Urbanist etc. Bluesky - About to leave for Amsterdam and Lisbon for two weeks - any recommendations? Especially things outside of the obvious!

I am once again calling for more some bike racks at the California Park Pool @davidpowe.bsky.social even though this isn’t you any more 👀

It would be cool and at least slightly beneficial for their PR if the CTA could talk about ridership this quickly - @chicagocta.bsky.social what was Lolla ridership like last weekend? Top weekend of the year??

David Powe@davidpowe.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Divvy keeps breaking its own ridership records! Yesterday, riders took 47,700+ trips. Divvy is adding hundreds of new stations this year to support record growth, including the newest and IMHO most iconic station in Chicago at North Avenue Beach! 🚲🌊🏙️

Something that’s very underrated is a lot of elite universities have basically decided certain topics are irrelevant or unfashionable so vast swaths of the American economy simply had no questions asked about them.

Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 2mo ago

Sidebar: one of the highest-value things anybody could do for building code reform in America would be for an Ivy League or other equivalent university to snap up Mike Eriksen and all of his collaborators, to show other academics that research into building codes will be rewarded. Zoning reform...

Divvy keeps breaking its own ridership records! Yesterday, riders took 47,700+ trips. Divvy is adding hundreds of new stations this year to support record growth, including the newest and IMHO most iconic station in Chicago at North Avenue Beach! 🚲🌊🏙️

This is very interesting and speaks to the importance of building codes, and I am looking forward to the day when we have code reform tools to bring down costs of denser typologies that do not involve simply making the structure flimsier, more flammable, and less soundproof

Daniel Kay Hertz@danielkayhertz.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New post, in which I try to coin an awkward new housing typology name (the "III-5"), and describe how what I thought was a parking reform story was actually a building code and parking reform story daniel-kay-hertz.ghost.io/the-birth-of...

New post, in which I try to coin an awkward new housing typology name (the "III-5"), and describe how what I thought was a parking reform story was actually a building code and parking reform story daniel-kay-hertz.ghost.io/the-birth-of...

Big crowds on train and at stations tonight post game, and I’ve seen nobody smoking - @chicagocta.bsky.social is really making a comeback!

The thing is, Chicago also downzoned in the 60s-early 2000s--in fact, a huge chunk of Humboldt Park was downzoned. You will be shocked to hear that this has not prevented gentrification, and that in fact downzoned areas are associated with disproportionate growth of white residents.

Mike Eliason@holz-bau.bsky.social · 3mo ago

seattle downzoned in the 50s - 80s and those neighborhoods are now some of the most expensive in the city - even after sizeable upzones oops

I think Metra takes their extra board (additional workers on-hand without a scheduled run who can fill in for absent co-workers) more seriously, and I wouldn't be surprised if Metra also had fewer call-offs because they're less reliant on part-time shifts

Looks like there are two stairs outside the unit as well as the private stair between the two levels within the unit. The dual stairs appear to be between the north tier and south tier.

Genuine and basic question - why does Metra basically always meet its scheduled headways and CTA consistently has these sorts of issues? Or am I wrong about metra? Is it about: 1) Staffing (more CTA surprise call-offs) 2) Public safety / “rider incidents“ more common on CTA? 3) ??

Mac the squirrel :)@macsquirelera.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Looking around at chicago transit makes me so sad

Someone should write up a blog post about the major break points in the Chicago building code

🚲 New Divvy record: 47,400 rides yesterday! The previous record (42,000 rides) was set just last Saturday. For context, there was only one day over 40,000 rides in all of 2025. Divvy has now had three in the last 8 days. Chicago keeps riding 🚀

If the Mayor can’t recognize Nora’s stellar performance as Acting President I hope the NITA Board does. @govpritzker.illinois.gov @tonipreckwinkle.bsky.social

It’s Sunday evening. It’s raining. And @chicagocta.bsky.social Acting President Nora Leerhsen is on site at the Fullerton Red/Brown Line station helping to manage the Red Line reroute during construction this weekend.

Always 2-3 months behind. Would love to get on BART’s level. Top line number is usually available the next day, they’re behind right now but still have data through 5/31. www.bart.gov/news/article...

Please, join us in community as we celebrate the life of Riley O'Neil and Jam in his honor. 📍 Palmisano Park (Fitness Course) - 41.84177, -87.64905 ⏰ Monday, June 8th, 7p Start, 6:30p Meetup

Chicago, Bike Grid Now!@bikegridnow.org · 4mo ago

We are hosting a vigil and bike jam for Riley. Flyer forthcoming. It will be on Monday, 6/8 at 7pm. Palmissano Park (Fitness Course; across from McGuane Park's playground)

Last summer Armitage was doing 80-90% of peak weekday service on Saturdays. Since purple doesn't run downtown on weekends, it was already seeing more riders per car than weekdays! Its not 2019 anymore. Cutting brown line weekend service in half makes no sense.

NCS Enjoyer@fixingnorthamerica.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This seems like a bad idea. Brown, blue, orange and purple trains will reduce in size during the off peak times. For some reason

Is CTA ridership lower on summer weekends than weekends during the rest of the year? If anything I'd expect ridership to be higher as folks are more out and about? (Unless there's significant CTA -> biking, especially divvy, shift in the summer) @acannon.bsky.social

Mr Fengi@mrfengi.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The CTA: Overcrowded trains & no seats on weekends because f you & the best way to drive down ridership is making service worse for alleged low usage times, i.e. the entire weekend.

Single funniest part of this hearing by far

Abundant Housing Illinois@abundanthousingil.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Ald. Burnett: “I lived in New York for a long time, and may or may not have started a fire in a single-stair building.”

When 3/4-flats aren’t allowed by right, neighbors don’t not gentrify - just the opposite! Moreover, if 3-4 flats *were* allowed by right, neighborhoods like this would absorb more demand and reduce the displacement pressure on the “gentrification frontier” in Logan, Humboldt, and Avondale.

Protect Bridgeport Bicyclists@stevevance.net · 5mo ago

today I went on a little walk in the part of Chicago that's seen the biggest change in neighborhood character, where in 2013 the dominant land use was multifamily housing to 2023 when single-family housing was the dominant land use

My nutso conspiracy is that lawyers have a stranglehold on policy creation on the United States even in areas where they are vastly below median contributors, and this is responsible for like 95% of USA policy underperformance.

a man in a blue shirt and tie is pointing at a bulletin board with papers taped to it .

ALT: a man in a blue shirt and tie is pointing at a bulletin board with papers taped to it .

media.tenor.com

the 46th and 48th ward surveys are basically the same the 46th Ward survey asks if the respondent would vote for Hoan Huynh over Angela Clay

It’s a great day to get out there and clear some drains, Chicago

Reading Wuthering Heights and gotta say it I’m confused how they’re making a romance movie about this, when (~60% through) it seems best summarized as “BPD girl with a weak constitution and her abusive paramour screw up their own lives and also everyone else’s.”

Conor's not on Bluesky, but he's got a *really* good Op-Ed in the Tribune today about teacher pensions. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/06/o...

Public policy experts: The hidden inequity in school funding? Illinois’ teacher pension funding structure

Illinois will never truly achieve equitable school funding unless it fixes teacher pension funding.

chicagotribune.com

Reading both of these at the same time and lots of interesting nuggets / comparisons - among them, the questionable existence of “Greeks” as a useful category for at least ~1,000 years between these two events.