@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

kurtn

@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org

Mostly housing, walking, bikes

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kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

Longmont, CO is the first city in the state to remove all parking mandates city-wide.

https://kdvr.com/news/local/longmont-to-do-away-with-parking-minimums/

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

A driver killed a toddler in Boulder. 😢
https://x.com/boulderpolice/status/1790441642626789824

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

"Let's resist the tidy narrative about how '57 companies' are ruining the planet. We all are ruining the planet. And we all must change."

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/04/29/how-the-myth-that-100-companies-are-responsible-for-climate-change-hides-the-true-impact-of-automobility

jef, to random
@jef@mastodon.social avatar

Here's my concrete (heh) proposal for what SF should do about Vision Zero: install these in the middle of every block of every non-arterial street. It's a one-lane neckdown made of four large concrete bollards. Drivers can go through, but they have to slow down.

kurtn,
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

@jef I don't know the stats for SF, but if it's like most cities, the majority of severe & fatal crashes are on the arterials.

So traffic calming on local streets is important for livability, but from the Vision Zero perspective, the arterials are what you need to focus on.

ai6yr, (edited ) to cycling
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

Mmmm.... new use for evaporated milk.

kurtn,
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

@ai6yr Why carry a patch kit when you can carry a can of evaporated milk?

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

"Enacting state-level land use reform to encourage compact development can... deliver more climate impact than half the country adopting California’s ambitious commitment to 100% zero-emission passenger vehicle sales by 2035."

https://rmi.org/why-state-land-use-reform-should-be-a-priority-climate-lever-for-america/

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

40% of US climate emissions come from cars, when you include both tailpipe emissions and embodied emissions from manufacture.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/01/18/report-transportation-is-still-the-leading-source-of-u-s-emissions-and-not-just-from-tailpipes

capntransit, to random
@capntransit@urbanists.social avatar

RT @nathanjrobinson my god there's an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today arguing that blocking traffic is an act of domestic terrorism

kurtn,
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

@capntransit @nathanjrobinson And Rosa Parks was a terrorist for refusing to go to the back of the bus

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

A surge in new supply of apartments has pushed vacancy higher, making it harder for landlords to raise prices.This is great news!
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/apartment-rent-relief-is-expected-to-continue-in-2024-9acf43d1?st=t5cdkvnvetqharm&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

More and more land-use planners are talking in terms of "land efficiency" instead of just "density". This is a Good Thing.

Sometimes efficient land use means higher density -- when it's the right thing in the right place. Sometimes it means lower density, like putting a small park in an area devoid of them. Sometimes it means a better mix of uses, like adding retail in a sea of housing.

It should always be our goal to use land efficiently. Density is one tool to get there, but it's not always the right tool.

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

This article talks about the needs and possibilities for the federal government to be more active on housing policy:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/housing-crisis-hud-authority

Another thing the feds could do is to just build more housing, especially in areas that are supply-constrained by zoning. The feds can't change zoning, but they're also not constrained by it on federal property. HUD or other agencies could buy land, develop it densely, and bond against the lease revenue (or even sell it off to private owners) to repeat the process.

It would piss off local jurisdictions, but it would get housing built.

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

It explodes my brain that in Boulder, the height limit in industrial areas -- industrial areas! -- is 40 ft.

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

Every single state now takes more from the Highway "Trust" Fund than they put in.

https://enotrans.org/article/even-counting-mass-transit-there-are-no-more-htf-donor-states/

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

Sign me up!

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

Wyoming still desperately clinging to carbon capture as a way to save fossil fuel production.

https://wyofile.com/gov-gordon-western-states-can-lead-on-carbon-capture-technologies

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

Important but heartbreaking reporting here on the income-based disparity in recovery from the Marshall Fire.

"After a year, only 12% of households with annual incomes lower than $75,000 had permits to rebuild – versus nearly half of households with incomes between $150,000 and $200,000."

https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2023/0925/Rebuilding-after-wildfire-Help-is-scarcest-for-those-who-need-it-most

enobacon, to random
@enobacon@urbanists.social avatar

What an absurd waste of city resources to grind off a lane because some NIMBY with the commissioner's phone number didn't like it. should be grinding off the yellow centerlines, which nobody was consulted on.

https://bird.makeup/users/bikeportland/statuses/1719748276839424467

kurtn,
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

@enobacon Do you know if there's a written policy about which street segments should have centerlines, or is it ad hoc/whatever some PBOT engineer feels like?

kurtn,
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

@enobacon Thanks. I was just wondering if you knew of any PDX-specific guidance beyond what's in the MUTCD, but sounds like not.

FWIW, as far as I can tell all the research on safety benefits of centerlines is from rural roads, where the benefits are pretty clear. There's one study from Britain showing higher speeds on an urban street when centerlines were added. Boulder also did a trial of before/after centerlines on an urban/suburban street and found slightly higher speed with the centerlines.

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

Why didn’t all the trees that have turned into coal just decompose instead?

Turns out, in the Carboniferous era, lignin was a new “invention” by woody plants, and there were no bacteria yet that could break it down.

futurebird, (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

These are wireless bluetooth headphones. I find the fact that they do... um... have a wire (but it just goes around in a circle) ... adorable.

This must be how my dad felt when I used to borrow his old reverse Polish notation calculator then programed my TI to do arithmetic the same way.

(Also if it's called "reverse Polish notation" wouldn't that imply "Polish notation" is just doing it the normal way?)

kurtn,
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

@futurebird I believe "Polish notation" is prefix. RPN is postfix.

enobacon, to beer
@enobacon@urbanists.social avatar

begging the industry to make 9-variety 18 packs of 4oz cans so my partner will stop buying 4 pints of pineapple hazy or mango or vanilla coconut butter ale nonsense to try and then we have 3.8 cans of it leftover.

kurtn,
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

@enobacon I would love it if they sold 4oz cans. I've mostly stopped drinking beer because 12oz is too much (yes, I'm a pathetic lightweight).

kurtn, to Colorado
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

Hey , how big would you say this large boulder is?

https://www.denverpost.com/2023/08/19/rockslide-boulders-western-slope-i70

bkeegan, to boulder
@bkeegan@hci.social avatar

NextDoor NIMBYs are having a normal one claiming that a change to the city’s occupancy limits that a majority of the council campaigned on reforming is indistinguishable from the January 6 insurrection overturning the will of the voters. Such serious people. 🙄

kurtn,
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

@bkeegan But a city council member, who likes to scold colleagues about being responsible, put them up to it.

kurtn, to random
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

“If you have single-family zoning and bury your head, you will eventually face San Francisco’s problems.... All cities should look at San Francisco as an example of what happens when you do nothing.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/08/rural-montana-housing-crisis-supply/674950/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

amaditalks, to random
@amaditalks@wandering.shop avatar

Why is this place so dry? It’s like being in the middle of a desert. Not a single breath of fresh air or moment of levity anywhere.

Is the Fediverse the place where humor and human connection go to die? It feels like everybody here is posting from up on a soapbox about Issues and if conversations happen it’s incidental.

Can someone point me toward the people who are not boring as hell and high on their own opinions about Important Topics?

kurtn,
@kurtn@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

@kissane @amaditalks Please keep it down

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