After the second day of counting, the measure to extend a 0.2% sales tax that funds ~40% of Spokane Transit’s service hours, plus major capital projects like Division BRT, is still passing! Yes: 37,609 (50.55%) No: 36,240 (49.42%) I still want another couple days of counting, but I’m feeling good.

Spokane Rising@spokanerising.com · yesterday

Proposition 1––which extends and expands Spokane Transit service for another 20 years––is a nail-biter. Yes: 31,153 (50.38%) No: 30,686 (49.62%) It needs 50% + 1 to pass.

It’s still too early but would be interested how the map changes after Spokane’s housing and parking reforms have a couple years to bear fruit.

Jarrett Walker@humantransit.bsky.social · 11h ago

When you ask voters to approve taxes for public transit, what you mostly get is a map of residential density. Here's the latest from Spokane, WA where the measure narrowly leads at the moment.

Beginning to feel like I need to budget a week on the blog for a military primer on 'how the US Navy is the load-bearing pillar of your ability to eat bananas and of folks in developing countries to eat at all.' Not saying that is an optimal situation, merely that it is the situation.

Funny how none of the local news or the neighborhood reacting to the new tenant bring up this angle if they would rather have a convenience store. Also interesting that the shop had to move because the rent at their downtown location doubled, tried to move to an industrial zone but got “pushback”.

slate@pleasebegneiss.bsky.social · 3d ago

my neighborhood 7-11 closed a couple years ago and tried to reopen but couldn’t get the permit approved because there’s a preschool next door and 7-11s sell alcohol (the previous permit was grandfathered in). i saw a fence going up around the lot recently and looked up what was moving in: a gun shop

ATTENTION TO ALL DEM TAX CUT SLOPULISTS

For so long, Thai medical personnel have superstitiously believed that "having KFC on the shift, messy situations will follow soon after." Then some surgeons tried to prove it scientifically. The Influence of Food Superstition (KFC) on the On-Duty Surgeon’s Workload www.ovid.com/jnls/aosopen...

The Influence of Food Superstition (Kentucky... : Annals of Surgery Open

Objective:To determine whether consuming Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) before a surgical on-call shift increases operative workload, as is widely...

ovid.com

One of the biggest gaps in California transit right now is the lack of a cohesive intercity network. The Gold Runner already coordinates with lots of regional partners – build on those relationships and add more partners, and such a network begins to take shape! cal.streetsblog.org/2026/08/04/g...

Gold Runner Bus Study Sparks Push for a Seamless Statewide Transit Network - Streetsblog California

As officials seek feedback on the future of the Gold Runner Thruway Bus network, transit advocates argue the state has an opportunity to build a truly integrated system with coordinated schedules, far...

cal.streetsblog.org

The Spokane fire conspiracy theories are almost identical to the Altadena fire conspiracy theories. These people have no understand of how fire works, how science works, or why some things burn. I'm writing a book chapter about it, but the people who need to read it don't read books.

LorennaCleary.bsky.social@lorennacleary.bsky.social · yesterday

The internet is filled with really dumb people who right now think the fires in Spokane WA were fake because the houses burned but trees didn’t. What they’re forgetting is that dead, thin, dry wood burns. Wet, dense, living wood is harder to burn. Old living pine and house vs fire: house loses.

YES FOR BUSES YES FOR BUSES YES FOR BUSES

RANGE Media@rangemedia.co · yesterday

This is your reminder to get your ballots in by 8 pm today! (Tuesday, Aug 4) Find all the info you need on candidates and how to cast your ballot here: www.rangemedia.co/sp...

Some say returning cars to State Street will help businesses and yet the 400 block, which isn’t part of the pedestrian promenade and nearest the freeway, is the one struggling the most with 6 available storefronts. www.edhat.com/news/state-s...

Downtown Santa Barbara Sees Major Redevelopment Despite Flat State Street Storefront Vacancies - edhat

Downtown Santa Barbara saw little change in storefront vacancies, but redevelopment projects continued to reshape State Street.

edhat.com

Belated Monday morning bunny

you up #Honolulu #Oahu #Hawaii if our transit systems are important to you, support and follow the brand new @oahutransitriders.bsky.social ❤️

Oʻahu Transit Riders@oahutransitriders.bsky.social · 3d ago

We are O’ahu Transit Riders! Built by riders, for riders!

When you look globally, there are many more countries that consistently abandoned street-running railways in the postwar years than ones that retained them. The simpler answer is that technology, decaying infras and the zeitgeist killed streetcars everywhere but in a bunch of countries.

Christof Spieler@christofspieler.bsky.social · 3d ago

I think the conspiracy is comforting to people -- "a few bad guys did this." The reality -- "electeds, planners, and most of the public believed that the car was the future and rail transit was outdated" is actually more unsettling since it raises the question of what we're getting wrong now.

this is not true. there was no conspiracy. it didn't matter whether the streetcars were publicly owned (seattle, detroit) or private (los angeles, atlanta). a thread (because i wrote a whole-ass book on this): 1/?

David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 3d ago

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

Here on a stopped train in Ventura looking at a map of Tacoma… seeing Manitou, Sprague, Cheney Stadium… reminds me of Spokane. Hope our friends and colleagues there are staying safe from the fires.

A geographer that studied a deadly fire near Santa Barbara said, “Tell me the number of houses between yours and the exit (to your hillside neighborhood), and I can predict your probability of survival.” bsky.app/profile/edwa...

Anthony Edwards@edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · 4d ago

Disastrous situation in Spokane, Wash. where a wildfire is burning through the northwest side of the city amid extreme dry winds. Gridlock traffic as emergency management rapidly expands evacuation zones eastward. Follow on @watchduty.org: share.watchduty.org/i/112554?ts=...

"We can't use cut and cover in historic downtown San Jose." Meanwhile Les Halles, Paris, 1973:

In America, mass transit is widely considered to be an alternative of last resort for the extremely poor rather than a safer, cheaper, cleaner and more efficient means of moving people around a metropolitan area.

CAHSR's Strongest Soldier@emoscientist.bsky.social · last wk.

One thing that stands out about the Metrolink fight is how much pressure there is to center transit-dependent riders. That's the only demo journalists or board members want to hear from, which is pretty hard to do for a commuter rail line. Nobody cares about giving people options or reducing VMT

Update: the Italian embassy issued an apology, lmao imagine behaving so badly your entire embassy has to apologize to a whole country. This is going to follow these morons around probably forever.

Benjanun Sriduangkaew @ Persephone Effect out now@benjanun.bsky.social · 2w ago

Haha holy shit, a bunch of Italian tourists were shitty to a Thai woman in Bangkok when she asked them to lower their voices on public transport. They have ALL been doxxed and their socials hunted down within 24 hours.

It's funny that before Reynolds v. Sims, many states had their upper house representing counties which is even dumber than each state having equal representation in the US Senate. In 1960, LA County (6 mil) had 1 state Senate seat as did Imperial County (72,000.)

Reconstructionist@unavaleable.bsky.social · 2w ago

no reason why states should have bicameral legislatures

In my fantasy world Washington has a full-time well compensated unicameral legislature. And no voting for judges while we are at it.

Reconstructionist@unavaleable.bsky.social · 2w ago

no reason why states should have bicameral legislatures

Companies are institutional silos where information goes to die. After 15/20 years, a process should enter the public record. We are now forgetting how to do very basic things.

Why Sony Can’t Bring Back Its Classic Walkman Models

Explained by a former Sony engineer

obsoletesony.substack.com

I keep thinking about this and even had a nightmare that soured my enthusiasm for the new rolling stock. We’re still boarding trains like it’s the Wild West.

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

Great example of why level boarding is so important for speed and reliability. With level boarding, passengers with mobility impairments can board unaided - increasing their autonomy while reducing delays and padding.

Why is Spokane’s transit renewal on the primary election ballot next month rather than at the general election in November like when it was approved back in 2016?

Jarrett Walker@humantransit.bsky.social · 2w ago

Spokane's transit agency is going to the voters on Aug 4 to renew (not increase) their tax funding. Here's a good article explaining who's on which side of the debate. www.rangemedia.co/the-regions-...

Reminds me of when Bill Gates Sr. was soaked in a dunk tank on TV in support of the I-1098 wealthy earners income tax initiative.

The Downballot@the-downballot.com · 2w ago

Two big names have joined the campaign to defeat a ballot measure that would repeal Washington state's new "millionaire's tax": @kenjennings.bsky.social & @ricksteves.bsky.social. Steves: “A new tax on fat paychecks like mine was just signed into law in my home state — and I like it.”

Polanyi calls knowledge that isn't written down in texts or drawings but that exist within people and groups of people as "implicit/tacit knowledge". The loss of this unwritten, often unspoken, knowledge is often considered to be one of the reasons why institutions lose the capacity of doing stuff.

Nina Metz@ninametz.bsky.social · 2w ago

Why Aren’t There More Imax 70mm Screens for ‘The Odyssey’? variety.com/2026/film/ne...

Wow the contrast between TriMet’s ongoing service cuts and Seattle’s transit expansion measure to be voted on in November.

Saw the trailer for Running Train a while back and was impressed by the realism. Good to know it runs okay on older hardware. And the controller adds to the experience.

RUNNING TRAIN w/ ZUIKI MASCON PRO l Best Train Sim + Best Controller?

YouTube video by The Yamanote

youtube.com

Trailside cat in the usual spot

Seattle is essentially a deep blue one-party town, so our political poles have mutated in an interesting way. We now have 2 parties: The "Cities Are Good, Actually, and We Can Have Nice Things" Party and the "Cities Are Bad, Actually and We Can't Afford Nice Things (Unless It's for the Cops)" Party