Matt da Silva
@mdasilva.bsky.social
2K followers 680 following 6.3K posts
City planner. Reconstruction Democrat. Housing is good and fascism is bad.
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mdasilva.bsky.social
@idothethinking.bsky.social I put this walk together for an approximate quick circuit of the Jersey City Experience. maps.app.goo.gl/wGgG8NYhySq9...
maps.app.goo.gl
mdasilva.bsky.social
Yes - huge contrast with Canada, where there is a robust crossborder automobile supply chain with most North American cars containing components from both countries, no matter what country final assembly is in.
mdasilva.bsky.social
Insane there’s no Canadian equivalent of the Interstate Commerce Clause.
mdasilva.bsky.social
TIL.

I thought Hudson County was the only place stupid enough to tear down an elevated rapid transit line without replacing it.
mdasilva.bsky.social
Then there’s Philadelphia, which basically pioneered what became the Australian model, but investment in modernization abruptly stalled in the mid-1980s.
mdasilva.bsky.social
No. Delhi and Calcutta also have extensive suburban rail networks that dwarf and pre-date their metro systems.
mdasilva.bsky.social
Why electrify your rail system, which would mean having to import tractions from the U.S. or (gasp!) Europe, when you can buy GMD or MLW diesels!

Remember, pre-NAFTA Canada was extremely protectionist.
mdasilva.bsky.social
India!

Also non-London UK cities - most notably Liverpool and Glasgow.
mdasilva.bsky.social
Canada (and especially Ontario) has a much larger auto industry which influenced policy decisions. It’s no coincidence Canadian firms dominate the North American transit bus industry.
mdasilva.bsky.social
Domestic shipping over water is nearly nonexistent aside from trash barges because of it.

Hawaii gets more stuff from Asia than it gets from the U.S. due to the Jones Act. It’s bad for domestic industry.
mdasilva.bsky.social
Man why was Obama so hostile towards bikes? And why was Biden so meh on transit?
Reposted by Matt da Silva
yonahfreemark.com
GOP candidate for NJ Gov complains about suburban “overdevelopment.”

Reality: suburban NJ cities & towns are developing at a very slow pace www.urban.org/urban-wire/w...

In the NYC region, wealthy suburban cities like those in NJ continue to exclude subsidized housing www.urban.org/urban-wire/h...
Housing growth in the NJ suburbs of the New York City region is quite slow. Wealthy suburbs in the NYC region have very few affordable units.
Reposted by Matt da Silva
regimecpa.bsky.social
The mythic YIMBY Republican speaks
atrupar.com
Ciattarelli: "We've got a severe overdevelopment crisis in our suburban communities because of the Democrats' idea of social engineering."
Reposted by Matt da Silva
elikahn.bsky.social
New Jersey Republicans are bar none the most anti-housing state party in the country.

Partly this is because NJ has long had a requirement that every town accommodate its fair share of affordable housing and they’ve opposed that the whole time, but they’re also just opposed to urbanism writ large
atrupar.com
Ciattarelli: "We've got a severe overdevelopment crisis in our suburban communities because of the Democrats' idea of social engineering."
mdasilva.bsky.social
Big age divide here unfortunately. People older than 45 or so see the NIMBY bankroller as a hero still.
mdasilva.bsky.social
Meanwhile FSHC is still all-in on sprawl and won’t entertain tweaks to Mount Laurel to encourage infill and discourage greenfield sprawl.
mdasilva.bsky.social
I don’t get why people like this live in the middle of the city in the first place.
mdasilva.bsky.social
I’m surprised there isn’t more focused opposition to the Hannibal Doctrine amongst American Jews. Israeli liberals are pretty uniformly against it.
mdasilva.bsky.social
Wait Metra still doesn’t have TVMs at every station? NJT, despite the dinosaur it is, has had TVMs everywhere for almost 20 years.
mdasilva.bsky.social
Maybe he’s such a creature of the suburbs he thinks the “bus” is the premium fare express buses and doesn’t even notice the existence of the normal local bus.
Reposted by Matt da Silva
colindickey.com
[Me, a poor, on the subway, glowering jealously at all those fat cat, fancy pants rich people on the public bus]
Andrew Cuomo tweet:

@ZohranKMamdani's "plan" provides no relief for working families who take the subway, and unnecessary benefits to wealthy New Yorkers who take the bus and can afford the fare.

I focus on working families, while @ZohranKMamdani the mansion boy focuses on helping the rich.
mdasilva.bsky.social
This would’ve absolutely reinvigorated the franchise if executed well, and could’ve even ascended into RDR2 “video games as art” territory.
Reposted by Matt da Silva
gelliottmorris.com
we have been working on this new polling aggregation website for a few months now, and are excited to share it with the world! plenty more features and polls to come.
mdasilva.bsky.social
I mean that’s why Rome needs a larger metro system.
Reposted by Matt da Silva
ericmgarcia.bsky.social
Just saying: if you have any stories about working in Katie Porter's office, my Signal is Emgarcia.85.