likeluke

likeluke

@likeluke.bsky.social

a magical operation of maximum importance

620 followers1K following1.3K posts

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

In Seattle, we use giant concrete panels that were put in place a hundred years ago. They are fundamentally indestructible and will outlive us all. No one knows what is under them. Ripping them up costs ten million dollars and requires sign-off from 60% of residents within a 2 mile radius

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls.bsky.social

Workers constantly dig up and relay brick sidewalks and streets in the Netherlands. Water pipe break? Laying fiberoptic cables? The same team opens and closes the and does the work. This team is smoothing out a street that got uneven after 20 years. "It's normal maintenance, just sand below."

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

It's Bizarro King St Station.

Marco Chitti@chittimarco.bsky.social

Find someone who loves you as much as the Victorian-era Britons loved their cramped urban stations. (BTW, not sure I get the utility of reconstructing the road grid on top of those tracks to fit what looks like very local streets with a handful on-street parkings)

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

My memory is hazy. Is it normal for the Olympics to be completely devoid of snow for so long in the summer? They seem unusually naked.

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

Excellent air and light in Seattle these days. While the air and light here are often excellent, there is a lucid sense of change and vibrance that you really only get in October.

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

It is time to listen to our forefathers. The wheel of progress must spin.

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social

I'm trying to figure out if this ferries captain who wrote a Times op-ed about the sick-out actually thinks we could build bridges to replace state ferry routes.

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

Somewhat amusingly, there's a fairly popular Danish social media account that loves to rant about how terrible and ugly Copenhagen is: instagram.com/copenhagenugly

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David Roberts@volts.wtf

One thing about Copenhagen is that there's tons of dense housing but you *never* find it fronting a busy road with cars racing past, which describes about 90% of the apartments in the US. They manage to make it feel tucked away, private, cozy. (These are all from Sluseholmen, my dream neighborhood.)

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

Over on Facebook, the emergent sentiment is that SDOT should build a parking garage or buy the private parking lots to make them free.

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social

SDOT is proposing to implement paid on-street parking in both West Seattle's Alaska Junction and across Upper Queen Anne. Steel yourselves for the fight (and the discourse) that is coming next.

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

"Seemed like a great idea at the time"

Seattle Bike Blog@seattlebikeblog.com

While it makes a lot of sense to talk about why Pinehurst Station is a not a good transit station location today, let's look at why the area is the way it is. It was initially developed in the 1930s, a time with some of our worst traffic engineering crimes. Then WA dug the I-5 trench.

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

What we've done instead of any official policy is tacitly allow homeowners and businesses to place concrete blocks on streets to physically stop RVs from parking. See 8th Ave NW between Leary and Market, or Fremont Brewing (pictured here in 2022).

Erica C. Barnett@ericacbarnett.bsky.social

In San Francisco, Lurie's RV ban—on which Dan Strauss' similar proposed ban in Seattle appears to be modeled—hasn't gotten people into shelter, but it has pushed them outside city limits, often after losing their RVs and becoming unsheltered. Is this what "success" will look like here?

missionlocal.orgS.F. cracked down on RV dwellers. A year later, many have left the city altogether.Data shows that a year after San Francisco's RV ban, 1/3 of RV dwellers using city aid have moved outside city limits.
likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

I find this outcome to be the worst of all possible arrangements - it's obviously illegal, shady, and doesn't come with any kind of city services for the people it hurts.

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

Boy, it sure is fun to see a Truman State alumni succeed in Missouri politics.

Sahil Kapur@sahilkapur.bsky.social

A phenomenal moment in the Senate. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., claims he has evidence Jack Smith went to a HAWKS game in Atlanta. Smith denies it. Schmitt declares he has busted Jack Smith for perjury. Smith, vexed, says he went to HAWKEYES game in Maryland. WATCH IN FULL, UNINTERRUPTED

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

Hello and good morning. It is 48 degrees, party cloudy, with a slight south-southeast breeze and changing fall leaves in Seattle. Please have a wonderful week, and seek to spend some time outside.

likeluke reposted

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
@modacitylife.com

When it comes to road safety, cities have two choices: Adapt kids to traffic: keep them indoors and drive them everywhere. Or adapt traffic to kids: make streets safe enough to move as autonomous members of society. The choice says a lot about the kind of city we want to build. youtu.be/O_WjWRmQwtg

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

The "fixed" view of traffic is a common opposition tactic for safety improvements. "But the traffic will just go to side streets now" is how I've heard it materialize.

Marco Chitti@chittimarco.bsky.social

And if traffic is like rain or heat, what can engineers do if not plan accordingly? It's an easy way for the profession to avoid the social, political and behavioural aspects of their profession, something the average "cartesian" engineer is really very uncomfortable with.

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

It's at least somewhat reasonable for a very surface-level "common folk" analysis. I find claims that safety improvements aren't worth it - or actually cause more harm - much more pernicious and dishonest.

likeluke
@likeluke.bsky.social

No one really wants more traffic on their street, but they also don't want longer travel times or disruption of their routines. Communicating trade-offs is very challenging because everyone interprets them differently.