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Kirsten Bladh

@kerstanley

Policy @ Open New York. She/her. Cargo bike mom. Bassist for Leggy in my former life. NYC via LA via Cincinnati. Left urbanist πŸ™οΈπŸš†πŸŒΉ Lamentably, a Bengals fan πŸ… NYCWHL πŸ’

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Latest posts by Kirsten Bladh @kerstanley

By "exempt" I meant exempt from CEQA, not exempt from streamlining. Should have made that clearer.

06.03.2026 17:05 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Oh sorry, no. My read is that it exempts "ancillary" road and highway projects, as well as transit.

06.03.2026 16:30 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

But also, building transit to serve sprawl would be a massive waste of money.

06.03.2026 16:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I don't think that transit projects being included somehow makes the highway part okay.

06.03.2026 16:27 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

The CA Assembly Transportation Chair is also running a bill this year that will abolish VMT analysis and mitigation requirements for highway projects.

06.03.2026 15:54 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 2
An excerpt from the Building Affordable California Act that defines which transportation projects will be exempt from environmental review, namely projects described in subdivision (a) or subdivision (b) of the California Constitution. Subdivision (a) is any highway or road project, while subdivision (b) is mass transit projects.

An excerpt from the Building Affordable California Act that defines which transportation projects will be exempt from environmental review, namely projects described in subdivision (a) or subdivision (b) of the California Constitution. Subdivision (a) is any highway or road project, while subdivision (b) is mass transit projects.

It explicitly exempts highway projects.

06.03.2026 15:53 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
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When in doubt about what’s driving high home prices, just read what fancy Brooklyn real estate agents send out in their public mailers

06.03.2026 15:22 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This type of thing is why I have been critical of the Abundance branding. This measure is a premier example of co-opting pro-environment, pro-people urbanist branding to deregulate data centers and greenfield sprawl for corporate interests, at the expense of the public.

05.03.2026 21:27 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

more than 500 people have been killed in traffic crashes on LA streets since HLA was passed

06.03.2026 01:23 πŸ‘ 30 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

3 of 6 cross votes (2 R, 1 D) represent the greater Cincinnati area, in contiguous districts I think. Odd.

06.03.2026 00:03 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I think it’s a legitimate issue on low ridership and/or low frequency train systems (especially for women riders), but people like Duffy obviously don’t want the things that would improve the situation, like more frequency and transit funding.

05.03.2026 16:10 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Wow. I have a friend who is traveling to LA for the game vs Belgium.

05.03.2026 15:56 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

One of the matches in LA is supposed to be Belgium vs. Iran, right? Anyone know if that's still happening in roughly 3 months from now?

05.03.2026 15:41 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

And our buses are constantly delayed by cars that are double or even triple parked.

05.03.2026 14:19 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It's actually sooooo psycho that there are streets in New York City that are constantly half-occupied by parked cars while pedestrians must shuffle past each other with barely any room.

05.03.2026 13:38 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Or they buy a multi-family building and convert it to a luxury home. It’s no coincidence that these mansion conversions are mostly happening in neighborhoods that build little to no new housing.

04.03.2026 15:44 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The people who would live in the new β€œluxury” units don’t just disappear if the project doesn’t get built, though. Instead, they add to competition for the existing housing, bidding up the market rent for everyone.

04.03.2026 15:43 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

40% of US rail freight is also fossil fuels, mostly coal. Wind coal down and you free up a lot of rail resources! Some of which could be converted to fast electric passenger trains, which in countries with modern transport infrastructure are faster than air travel for most trips under 1000 miles.

04.03.2026 13:06 πŸ‘ 112 πŸ” 44 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 3

To most of these people, β€œhistoric” preservation just means preserving the neighborhood exactly how it was the day they moved there.

04.03.2026 15:18 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

If we can’t build new housing on a parking lot in the densest part of the city, we are a fucking joke.

04.03.2026 13:48 πŸ‘ 29 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Nothing reveals just what a fundamentally unserious bunch of wreckers NIMBYs are than when they fight to keep parking lots from being developed in Manhattan of all places

04.03.2026 13:21 πŸ‘ 80 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 1

Why is it seemingly impossible for a politician to be good on both housing and transportation, simultaneously?

03.03.2026 20:52 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
03.03.2026 15:55 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Adding a net 80+ units is the opposite of what this article is describing.

02.03.2026 15:49 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Monday's Headlines Took the Keys Away β€” Streetsblog USA A demographic disaster is coming as a generation of aging suburbanites become either dangerous drivers or trapped in their homes.

A demographic disaster is coming as a generation of aging suburbanites become either dangerous drivers or trapped in their homes. usa.streetsblog.org/2026/03/02/m...

02.03.2026 13:45 πŸ‘ 38 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3

(Most) police officers also believe it’s exculpatory.

02.03.2026 14:01 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s not defeating the purpose if you think that the purpose of transit is to be a welfare system instead of a transportation system.

23.02.2026 21:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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It breaks both NPR-lib & comrade brains (because we have internalized that nothing is better than gardens!! and community!!) but 90% of our community gardens should be either housing/retail or actual city-run parks. This stretch will go un-shoveled until it melts, all so 8 ppl can grow 5 potatoes/yr

23.02.2026 17:57 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

20% of American households are in the upper class (income > ~$175k), and those households are heavily concentrated in cities.

23.02.2026 16:25 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Definitely not the Enquirer of my youth! Happy to see this shift.

23.02.2026 15:34 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0