John Ericson

The MTA’s primary union is spending a ton of money to try and swing the vote against Hochul (the most pro-transit governor in generations) When Hochul wins by double digits anyway, I hope she remembers this and plays hardball with the union on efficiency improvements like OPTO and automating IBX

In other cities this is recognized as corruption, and it is illegal. SF on the left, LA on the right. Anyway if you read this thread now you know what "non-profit industrial complex" means. 🎬

update: wild moment in the NY governor debate where Hochul says she wishes she pushed even harder on YIMBY policies… meanwhile, Blakeman literally *brags* about how his NIMBY policies have made housing so expensive

ggwash.org/view/105078/...

It's unreal how poorly California is governed relative to the size of our economy. We're going to tear out the copper wire on train service for a region of about 20 million people because our extremely dumb state thinks that Orange County Republicans should be able to veto mass transit for everyone.

Seoul is aiming for 500 autonomous buses in their public transit network by 2030. They will be 11m long (longer than the one in this image looks to me). Not surprised that fast-aging South Korea is leading on this. www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/o...

I love the utter lack of subtlety in the marketing at Pope John Paul Airport

When the Brits are (rightfully) calling us out on our journalistic bullshit, you know you've fucked up

Europeans do mainline rail level boarding challenge (impossible)

Oh wow, a Central European casement super-window with a screen! Best of both worlds! ...oh wow, huge af spider on the wrong side of the screen

You say "Molotov Cocktail", I say "Khamr ibn Mallet"

Look how they indoctrinate (laudatory) the youth in Krakow

I think we should punish Colorado River valley farmers by building data centers on their land

Wishing away Knightian/Keynesian uncertainty remains their singular thing, philosophically. Keynes back from the dead: look, you can practice epistemic humility without losing your polycule, OK?

NEW CPE REPORT on the urgency of building an interregional transmission macrogrid! @cthelala.bsky.social and I argue that only the federal government can get it built; no other actor on the grid is capable of doing so! Really, this is a paper about the theory of transmission as an asset class:

New Jersey gives me hope for America

We obtained early data from the Marine Corps’ new fitness standards for women in combat roles after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered that women serving in combat jobs be scored against the male fitness test standard. thewarhorse.org/hegseth-mari...

Yesterday, a judge ruled that the Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair has no right to change the party rules post-election to prevent a legitimate handover of power. We look forward to the election of a new chair on September 23. Full statement: www.newkingsdemocrats.com/court_stops_...

love to experience the platonic discourses

You joke, but one time I was doing calls for a campaign and called a number that automatically started polling me

Having a road and not a street here is totally pointless, but if you ignore that for a second I think this is actually nice. NYCHA when there's no damn parking is actually pleasant. Towers and Park ain't all bad.

Very silly when they redid this sidewalk after removing the lane they didn't extend to connect to the island

If "luggage", "storage", "stowage", and "shippage" are words, then "skippage" is also a word

California's ruling Democrats are just fundamentally unserious about governing this state. They pulled the coward's veto on a bill that'd make it easier to build condos.

A 125 St subway should be a slam dunk. But at $7.7B for 1.25 miles, and with stations deep underground, current plans would not only build the most expensive subway in the the world, but would cost riders valuable minutes every single trip. It's not too late, however: www.etany.org/reports/digg...

One thing Zohran could do to get cheaper groceries for New Yorkers is have the City take over Hunts Point and operate it as a public service rather than a cartel.

Abundance as an ideological project to create an alternative to socialism as a real vision for the future failed miserably, largely because establishmenty center left democrats are (for largely contingent reasons unrelated to being center left) the most nimby group in the country

Or maybe it’s about keeping contributions from current members up for pensions/healthcare in retirement? If so, yet another reason why backloaded public sector compensation is so fucked up

Re Amazon delivers: I'm very glad the government is passing anti small business legislation

One of the greatest points of difference between my career as a transport consultant in '10s Moscow and my experience with transport advisory in Australia is what the deliverable of a consultant actually is.