kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈

captimes.comAmtrak’s plans to restore passenger rail in Madison are on trackThe plans include a temporary station near Wisconsin's state Capitol and initial twice-daily service to Milwaukee, with future expansion expected.

17 Apr

Transit, cycling, and pedestrian advocacy is also an advocacy of peacemaking. No more wars for oil means we have an ultimatum to fundamentally transform how we get around. There is no way around it.

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈@itskylelucas.com

The people do not want to be shackled to this system that ultimately sends us into endless wars over oil. They want trains. They want true freedom. They want peace. And it's why we're winning. This is the way!

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 reposted

Better Streets Chicago Action Fund

@bscactionfund.org

We've been hard at work building our next chapter – and we need your support! Help power our work for another year at our annual fundraiser, and learn about how we plan to build a more powerful movement with you. 🗓️ November 12th @ 7pm 📍 Pilot Project (2140 N Milwaukee) 🎟️ Tickets available now!

act.bscactionfund.org2026 Annual Fundraiser | Our Next Chapter - Better Streets Chicago Action Fund

@brandonfriedman.bsky.social

Hilario Dominguez taking aim at Alaina Hampton in the most recent debate really solidifies things for me. She’s a brave whistleblower who dared to take on powerful men, and Springfield is better for it. Now another man seeking power is looking to hang his actions around her neck. Nope 👎

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 reposted

Radley Balko

@radleybalko.bsky.social

ICE agents tackled a U.S. citizen riding his bike, tased him, and broke his arm. Note the reaction from Trump’s attorney. No contrition. No sympathy for the victim. Just ire for the congressman who had the audacity to criticize the agents.

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 reposted

Brandon Friedman

This is Nazi talk

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "You go up to Minnesota -- number one place in the entire country for the sale of Mercedes-Benz. And Somalians are buying them. They come here with low IQs and no money and they get rich. Do we feel stupid? Our fraud division is getting them all."

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 reposted

David Zipper

@davidzipper.bsky.social

Rivian's CEO predicts that the self-driving future revolves around personally owned cars— not robotaxis. Indeed, surveys show that's what most ppl want. But it would be a disaster for cities/climate b/c personally owned AVs would massively expand car use and sprawl. techcrunch.com/2026/10/19/r...

So let me get this straight, DSA is is likely to revoke their endorsement of Nithya Raman — who openly calls what Israel is doing to Gaza a genocide — because the LA chapter didn’t ask her if she’s anti-Zionist. Just days before an election. Meanwhile Karen Bass openly denies genocide.

Both have challengers to their right, and instead of choosing to participate in defending seats in an era where every vote in council comes down to 1-2 votes, they are drawing lines over power that’s not there. In the end, not having CDSA’s endorsement may actually be a plus in those races.

But in LA it feels like self-sabatoge and only Karen Bass stands to gain from it. Foolishness.

Unserious organization. And the response from their leaders is constantly “if you don’t like it, join it” and to that I say no, absolutely not, I’m not participating in your mess and inability to meaningfully power build.

It explains a lot more why CDSA pulled the stunt they did with Jeanette Taylor and Daniel La Spata, and to what end? Both supported the ceasefire resolution to great political cost, and Daniel co-sponsored it. There is very little in their power to do anything more.

news.wttw.comChicago Has Spent at Least $225M to Resolve Police Misconduct Lawsuits, Just 6 Months Into the YearThe city’s 2026 budget set aside just $82.5 million for police misconduct settlements, and authorized officials to borrow an additional $283.3 million to cover the soaring cost of lawsuits alleging wr...

We could have nice things if…..

Gourd (pumpkin)@gourdisin.space

One cop cost the city two entire Uptown Theater restorations and CPD has no desire to prevent this from happening news.wttw.com/2026/06/17/c...

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 reposted

Gourd (pumpkin)

@gourdisin.space

One cop cost the city two entire Uptown Theater restorations and CPD has no desire to prevent this from happening news.wttw.com/2026/06/17/c...

What an incredible space, and what a crime that it has been disused for so long. We need to #BringBackTheUptown!

Incredible atmosphere that they put on by having live organ music playing. 10/10, no notes, completely and absolutely worth the wait!

Waiting in line to see the Uptown Theater and it took over an hour to get from the end of the line at Winona to Argyle. I would in fact wait in a longer line, but I just hope that I actually got in line soon enough.

Also, confirmed that Maria Pappas is indeed petitioning for mayor.

Holyyyyyyyy worth the wait!!

Finally, some evidence that bus priority IS a priority of the Johnson administration. Now, let’s have a serious conversation about DLSD. You said we should return the drive to the people. The people have pretty explicitly spoken between open houses and CMAP meetings.

Mayor Brandon Johnson@mayorofchicago.bsky.social

🚨 Transit Update 🚨 The new Michigan Ave bus lane will serve 21 CTA bus routes, helping improve reliability for more than 22,000 riders every weekday.

Bout to cancel myself I guess but IMO leftist messaging in Chicago has become a bit of a facsimile to national corporate Dem messaging in identifying an enemy, but really struggling with quantifying to voters why they should vote for us lefties, what we offer, what we accomplish, what we get DONE.

33rd Ward Working Families@33rdwardworking.bsky.social

Billionaires and charter school lobbies have spent more than $5.2 million on the Chicago school board race, more than $2.8 million in the last two weeks alone. So we built thebillionaireboard.com to help track how much is spent and which candidates are supported by charter schools and billionaires.

This is not an attempt at an autopsy, no this is not an endorsement, and no Michael Sacks has not given me a dime. What fuels me is first-hand experience, an honest commitment to my values, and most importantly a commitment to tangible action.

I don’t currently see a leftist movement in this city that matches that energy.

33rd Ward Working Families@33rdwardworking.bsky.social

It is both true that we had the world stacked against us heading into this, and that folks fucked up. Big time. And there’s an immense amount of evidence and experience that is on offer from folks who have tried and haven’t given up.

Of course, it requires first admitting that’s the case to be able to openly and honestly assess the past 3 1/2 years of progressive leadership in Chicago. I worry how few are actually willing to have that honest conversation.

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈@itskylelucas.com

Our current political climate on the left in Chicago reminds me a LOT of the echo chambers, insistence on conformity, etc from my upbringing in fundamentalist evangelicalism. Safe to say I’m not a fan.

33rd Ward Working Families@33rdwardworking.bsky.social

This was far more effective when we had less power, when the mayor wasn’t “one of us,” when the only option was fight against the bad guys. But, as a lefty, it really falls flat when we’ve had nearly 4 years to deliver and we have deeply fallen short.

I find it fascinating that we are incessantly told that contemplating supporting Jessica Biggs makes one a billionaire sellout, a fake progressive and a Rahm shill. And then you listen to her speak and she is a very thoughtful, specific, and experienced candidate.

17 years of deconstruction and I am still far from perfect and have a long way to go of shedding myself those kinds of tendencies. But I’m really not looking to try and replicate that in a political sphere instead of a religious sphere. I think it’s unhealthy and bad in any context.

Like it is pretty clear that she is in no way the monster that CTU and allies are trying to make her out to be.

This post was not sponsored by Michael Sacks or any other billionaires, just my own independent thoughts.

So let me get this straight….a Brandon Johnson affiliated creator is going after Alexi from the *right* on a minimum wage increase, using all the typical right-wing arguments against….and it’s being amplified by CTU leaders? What is going on? MBJ’s camp better get his ship tight on messaging quick.

Waymo is not a last-mile solution, nor a transit solution. And most certainly should not benefit from any of the transit funding we won in fighting for NITA. It is a car-centric proposal that offers no real systems change, shares all the same geometry, capacity, and environmental ills of cars.

Because they're....drumroll please...cars.

Y’all the Waymo stans are so hilariously naive. I *just* said they are not systems change because they are literally what we already have. You described a bunch of things that already exist — it does not fix the logistical problems that come with them other than paying a human to operate them!

Eric Dew@drewthedoo.bsky.social

The current iteration of the vehicle is just like a car. But in the near future, it may resemble a bus. Or a small delivery vehicle. Or a mid-sized truck for deliveries. The form factor can be anything. It doesn’t have to account for a human driver in the driver seat.

You just described the promise of Uber and Lyft that never materialized! The ONLY difference in that equation is the driver.

Ken from Chicago@kenfromchicago.bsky.social

No. Waymos break the vicegrip people in the US have on steering wheels. Refills oil changes & tune ups aren't delayed cuz folk don't like waiting. Elderly are driving dangerously. You're not blinded by bright headlights. Waymos go to your door unlike trains & buses. They can be private--eventually.

I’m about to be so fucking annoying about this and especially at any weirdos that try and make this claim.

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 reposted

Gwen C. Katz

@gwenckatz.bsky.social

Things Gavin Newsom has vetoed this week: -A ban on secretly recording people with smart glasses -A ban on ICE agents working for the state government -A ban on websites selling your data -A bill giving native tribes more say over water rights -A bill protecting transgender healthcare providers

cbsnews.comChicago to install dedicated bus lane on northbound Michigan Avenue downtownSeeking to reduce delays for CTA riders in downtown Chicago, officials plan to install a new dedicated bus lane on Michigan Avenue.

Only northbound AND doesn’t go north of Wacker lmfao

CBS News Chicago@cbschicago.bsky.social

Seeking to reduce delays for CTA riders in downtown Chicago, officials plan to install a new dedicated bus lane on Michigan Avenue.

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 reposted

Dave Byrnes

@djbyrnes1.bsky.social

In our latest for @unraveledpress.com, @peoplesfabric.bsky.social and I tracked months of ICE using Chicago police parking lots, in defiance of a mayoral executive order barring immigration enforcement operations in city-owned lots. Some of these incidents happened in full view of CPD officers:

unraveledpress.comIn plain sight: a year of ICE using Chicago police parking lots for its operationsVideos and witness testimony show immigration agents continue using Chicago police station parking lots despite a ban on their access to city property. Records obtained from the Civilian Office of Pol...

The Google Earth images of Rafah are just… Holy hell, the total devastation is abundantly clear.

nytimes.comRahm Emanuel Makes His 2026 Play (Gift Article)The longtime Democratic insider has emerged as a behind-the-scenes force in his party’s push to win back Congress. After that, he’ll think about 2028.

Not short enough.

Gregory Pratt@royalpratt.bsky.social

“Talking to Rahm, it’s like middle-age married sex,” said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster who has known him for decades. “It’s focused. You know what you’re going for. And it’s short.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/u...

bit.lyEd Sheeran Gillette Stadium concerts canceled due to nor'easterEd Sheeran's tour stops at Gillette Stadium – the Robert Kraft-owned stadium at the center of the Macklemore controversy – have been canceled.

Mother Nature said Free Palestine 🇵🇸

USA TODAY@usatoday.com

Ed Sheeran's tour stops at Gillette Stadium – the Robert Kraft-owned stadium at the center of the Macklemore controversy – have been canceled.

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 reposted

Alder Andre Vasquez, Political Account

@andrefor40th.bsky.social

Today, I, along with @daniellaspata.bsky.social and an overwhelming number of our colleagues, introduced the expansion of the Smart Streets pilot! When this passes, the map with be citywide, and it will be an ongoing program, not a pilot! We will also partner with the Mayor’s office to budget it out

chicago.suntimes.comChicago extends Divvy contract; parking changes, new bike model comingThousands of new bikes and scooters will be added to Chicago's streets as part of the new contract, the city announced Wednesday.

One clarification is this article makes it seem like the contract extension has already been done, but this is a proposed contract extension that was introduced to City Council today. It will need to be voted on and approved in both the Committee on Pedestrian & Traffic Safety then full council.

Better Streets Chicago@betterstreetschicago.org

Divvy is a critical transportation resource for our city, and we fully support its continued growth and expansion across our region. Every Divvy trip is one less car trip, to the benefit of everyone! Stay tune for more ways you can support bike share coming soon!

Better Government Association

At City Hall and a landlord providing public comment just had the nerve to refer to the Protecting Renters Oridnance as Trumpian....

kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 reposted

@bettergov.bsky.social

21 Sept

NEW ANALYSIS: Which Chicago city departments stayed within budget? 💵 Most stayed within budget in 2025. 💵 One big exception: Chicago Police Department, which outspent its nearly $2 billion budget by roughly $146 million.