Frank Chiachiere
@fchi.bsky.social
Seattle-based designer of digital products, fan of buses bikes and trains.
I cop to being a little smug. Especially soccer practice, where everyone else has a quarter-mile walk from the parking lot and I just roll right up to the turf.
This week I wrote about the rise of the e-bike dad - this piece was originally going to run alongside the story I did in September about the bike boom in general, and we didn't have space in print, but here it is:
www.economist.com/united-state...
www.economist.com/united-state...
Parents on e-bikes are transforming the school run
They’re smug, snug and often faster than drivers
www.economist.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I cop to being a little smug. Especially soccer practice, where everyone else has a quarter-mile walk from the parking lot and I just roll right up to the turf.
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
lol at the replies saying it must be a russian bot farm stirring up resentment. have you ever lived in a city where they tried to expand public transportation to a Nice Part of Town
"The more-than-300 comments responding to that anonymous post are full of mothers looking for property in New Jersey or Florida, predicting that Mamdani’s promise to make buses free will lead criminals to rape and kill innocent passengers."
LMAO @ UES mommies crashing out
LMAO @ UES mommies crashing out
Upper East Side Moms Are Melting Down Over Mamdani
A 35,000-person Facebook group devolved into panic and infighting after the mayoral election.
www.thecut.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:39 PM
lol at the replies saying it must be a russian bot farm stirring up resentment. have you ever lived in a city where they tried to expand public transportation to a Nice Part of Town
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections
November 5, 2025 at 12:49 PM
ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
Which is not only absurd from an energy standpoint (uses more energy than it "saves"), it's poisoned the soil, led to Iowa being #2 in the nation for cancer, and destroyed crop diversity that has created dependency from abroad. 90% of Iowa's food is imported. Iowa!
100 million acres of US farmland is used to grow corn to turn into gas for cars.
October 29, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Which is not only absurd from an energy standpoint (uses more energy than it "saves"), it's poisoned the soil, led to Iowa being #2 in the nation for cancer, and destroyed crop diversity that has created dependency from abroad. 90% of Iowa's food is imported. Iowa!
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
Father of 2 here: it's completely insane that this guy has six kids and somehow doesn't know that the placenta is located on the exterior of the mother and does not interact with the baby at all.
October 10, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Father of 2 here: it's completely insane that this guy has six kids and somehow doesn't know that the placenta is located on the exterior of the mother and does not interact with the baby at all.
They were a mere 24 hours away from putting the UN in Philly when Moses stepped in and whipped up the Turtle Bay plan. Just incredible.
Robert Moses is the reason NYC has UN Week, btw.
September 23, 2025 at 9:08 PM
They were a mere 24 hours away from putting the UN in Philly when Moses stepped in and whipped up the Turtle Bay plan. Just incredible.
There’s a study somewhere showing district councils are more NIMBY than at-large ones and this thread is a vivid example of why.
Rivera is conflating public parks and trees in public spaces, which urbanists support and which are not in conflict with housing development, with privately owned trees in house owners' private lawns.
September 19, 2025 at 2:28 AM
There’s a study somewhere showing district councils are more NIMBY than at-large ones and this thread is a vivid example of why.
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
This article is pretty damning.
-Political pressure to maximize units led affordable housing projects to target just below the income thresholds
-Market pushed rent growth below expectations, subsidized units face competition
-Buildings stuck, lower rents because bankruptcy, so they sit empty
-Political pressure to maximize units led affordable housing projects to target just below the income thresholds
-Market pushed rent growth below expectations, subsidized units face competition
-Buildings stuck, lower rents because bankruptcy, so they sit empty
Must read story about the failure to support the people in our region … means testing housing and other public benefits always results in inefficiency. We are a wealthy state, county, city… we need to get this housing to the people who need it most.
Affordable housing units in Seattle were built with subsidies. Why are so many empty?
Officials thought there would always be huge demand for affordable housing, so they aimed to maximize it for the working class. But now those units are vacant.
www.seattletimes.com
August 31, 2025 at 4:57 PM
This article is pretty damning.
-Political pressure to maximize units led affordable housing projects to target just below the income thresholds
-Market pushed rent growth below expectations, subsidized units face competition
-Buildings stuck, lower rents because bankruptcy, so they sit empty
-Political pressure to maximize units led affordable housing projects to target just below the income thresholds
-Market pushed rent growth below expectations, subsidized units face competition
-Buildings stuck, lower rents because bankruptcy, so they sit empty
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
Seattleites love their summers, but it’s a little more complicated for parents. What if we had universal summer care for all children in Seattle? This isn’t a pie in the sky idea. We can make Seattle a great place for working families.
August 29, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Seattleites love their summers, but it’s a little more complicated for parents. What if we had universal summer care for all children in Seattle? This isn’t a pie in the sky idea. We can make Seattle a great place for working families.
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
we used to build household shrines to Going On The Computer and it's no coincidence that as we abandoned these we started straying further from god's light
August 22, 2025 at 9:19 AM
we used to build household shrines to Going On The Computer and it's no coincidence that as we abandoned these we started straying further from god's light
Wake up, babe, new @davidl206.city frequent transit network dropped.
We could have this incredibly useful bus network with:
- the same number of service hours as today's network (with planned RapidRide additions)
- no changes to any service not on this map
Neither Metro nor SDOT has ever focused on the central city bus network. It's time to start.
More to come. 🧵
- the same number of service hours as today's network (with planned RapidRide additions)
- no changes to any service not on this map
Neither Metro nor SDOT has ever focused on the central city bus network. It's time to start.
More to come. 🧵
August 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Wake up, babe, new @davidl206.city frequent transit network dropped.
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
Alaska Airlines safety brochure features a dude in a Sub Pop shirt
July 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Alaska Airlines safety brochure features a dude in a Sub Pop shirt
Recently did this with my kids as well; all the stuff you remember of the kid flying the spaceship is basically in the last 15 minutes.
Watching Flight of the Navigator with the kids, first time seeing it as an adult.
-did not realize Sarah Jessica Parker was in it
-Paul Reubens is the alien’s voice, actually least surprising revelation imaginable
-NASA has mind reading technology in 1986
-did not realize Sarah Jessica Parker was in it
-Paul Reubens is the alien’s voice, actually least surprising revelation imaginable
-NASA has mind reading technology in 1986
June 22, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Recently did this with my kids as well; all the stuff you remember of the kid flying the spaceship is basically in the last 15 minutes.
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
very funny to read walter lippmann capture the basic dynamic of 21st century housing politics in 1922
June 16, 2025 at 9:03 PM
very funny to read walter lippmann capture the basic dynamic of 21st century housing politics in 1922
Special shout out to our Canadian brothers and sisters. You answered the call, you deserve better than our current US leadership.
June 6, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Special shout out to our Canadian brothers and sisters. You answered the call, you deserve better than our current US leadership.
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
Well this couldn’t have come at a better time www.bbc.com/news/article...
Scientists at Loughborough University create 'world's smallest violin'
The violin is smaller than a human hair and has "laid the groundwork" for future research.
www.bbc.com
June 5, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Well this couldn’t have come at a better time www.bbc.com/news/article...
The other fun thing from this era is that everyone had a canonical route to their house they could explain on the phone for visitors. “Exit 24, left at the light, go one mile, 3rd house in the right.”
When I was in college in LA c. 1990, it was very common for people to have this 2" thick book of street maps covering LA/Orange counties in their cars (the Thomas Guide)
June 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM
The other fun thing from this era is that everyone had a canonical route to their house they could explain on the phone for visitors. “Exit 24, left at the light, go one mile, 3rd house in the right.”
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
According to this chart we are currently experiencing the lowest rate of COVID deaths since March 14, 2020.
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t...
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t...
June 2, 2025 at 11:01 PM
According to this chart we are currently experiencing the lowest rate of COVID deaths since March 14, 2020.
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t...
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t...
No spoilers, but just to say that the fictional heavy rail subways depicted allow movement between cars that proves to be very important. Had they used actual Link Light Rail vehicles… 😬 🍄
May 22, 2025 at 4:57 PM
No spoilers, but just to say that the fictional heavy rail subways depicted allow movement between cars that proves to be very important. Had they used actual Link Light Rail vehicles… 😬 🍄
This creates some really perverse incentives. Neighborhoods can prevent housing by blocking their local frequent bus line from getting a RapidRide upgrade.
That map is where we have frequent transit service. The state law identified “major transit stops” as rapidride and light rail stations. So its scope drops to this. Seattle can go further and just use frequent transit map but is choosing not to
May 21, 2025 at 7:28 PM
This creates some really perverse incentives. Neighborhoods can prevent housing by blocking their local frequent bus line from getting a RapidRide upgrade.
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
This is a portrait of an unambiguously successful policy ... www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Here Is Everything That Has Changed Since Congestion Pricing Started in New York
Fewer cars. Faster travel. Less honking. And some questions we still can’t answer.
www.nytimes.com
May 12, 2025 at 1:53 PM
This is a portrait of an unambiguously successful policy ... www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Frank Chiachiere
Restoration of native grassland habitat at solar farms in the midwestern United States triples pollinator supply, increases soil carbon potential by 65%, and improves sediment and water retention. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
~45% of US corn production is now used to make ethanol, mostly for mixing into gasoline.
That's ~13% of all US crop land already used for energy production.
Using some of the same land for solar panels would capture 50-100 times more energy per acre.
That's ~13% of all US crop land already used for energy production.
Using some of the same land for solar panels would capture 50-100 times more energy per acre.
May 10, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Restoration of native grassland habitat at solar farms in the midwestern United States triples pollinator supply, increases soil carbon potential by 65%, and improves sediment and water retention. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...