Matt Staub
@staubio.com
Jaded KCMO urbanist. Marketing agency owner. Curious person. Creative generalist. Traveler. Visited 49/50 largest US metros.
I was excited that a small, relatively affordable EV was not only going to be available in the U.S. market but also that it was being built here in KC. But they're scrapping it after a year for a bigger, heavier, more expensive EV and gas cars.
What is this country doing?
What is this country doing?
A gas-powered Buick is moving from China to Kansas, but at the expense of the new $30,000 Chevy Bolt.
insideevs.com/news/785214/...
insideevs.com/news/785214/...
2027 Chevy Bolt Production Will End Next Year As Plant Shifts To Gas
A gas-powered Buick is moving from China to Kansas, but at the expense of the new $30,000 Chevy Bolt.
insideevs.com
January 23, 2026 at 4:57 PM
I was excited that a small, relatively affordable EV was not only going to be available in the U.S. market but also that it was being built here in KC. But they're scrapping it after a year for a bigger, heavier, more expensive EV and gas cars.
What is this country doing?
What is this country doing?
To be fair, it is currently making record time.
JD Vance compares the Trump/Vance economy to the Titanic.
🤔
🤔
Vance on the economy:
"You don't turn the Titanic around overnight"
"You don't turn the Titanic around overnight"
January 23, 2026 at 2:32 AM
To be fair, it is currently making record time.
Took advantage of the @amtrak.com Rail Pass sale and just booked an epic work and play journey out west. Recommendations welcome!
Denver > Glenwood Springs > Truckee/Tahoe > Portland > Whitefish/Glacier > St Paul > Chicago > KC
Denver > Glenwood Springs > Truckee/Tahoe > Portland > Whitefish/Glacier > St Paul > Chicago > KC
January 22, 2026 at 8:26 PM
Took advantage of the @amtrak.com Rail Pass sale and just booked an epic work and play journey out west. Recommendations welcome!
Denver > Glenwood Springs > Truckee/Tahoe > Portland > Whitefish/Glacier > St Paul > Chicago > KC
Denver > Glenwood Springs > Truckee/Tahoe > Portland > Whitefish/Glacier > St Paul > Chicago > KC
This tradition is off and rolling! Chance of a Northern Lights sighting tonight! 6pm departure from City Market Park. Bring good lights and a snack.
Restarting an old tradition I used to do when I first moved to KC: winter darkness bike rides every Tuesday night, no matter the weather.
Exploring renegade trails, abandoned streets and interesting areas in the city. Steady pace 2–3 hour drop ride with a dinner break somewhere in the middle.
Exploring renegade trails, abandoned streets and interesting areas in the city. Steady pace 2–3 hour drop ride with a dinner break somewhere in the middle.
January 20, 2026 at 5:07 PM
This tradition is off and rolling! Chance of a Northern Lights sighting tonight! 6pm departure from City Market Park. Bring good lights and a snack.
Let's definitely continue to build cities such that buying and maintaining private autos is absolutely essential.
January 15, 2026 at 8:21 PM
Let's definitely continue to build cities such that buying and maintaining private autos is absolutely essential.
How American cities get destroyed based on bonkers impressions of reality, in one screenshot.
January 15, 2026 at 7:10 PM
How American cities get destroyed based on bonkers impressions of reality, in one screenshot.
Reposted by Matt Staub
That’s why dressing up as pikachu and frogs and blasting Yakety Sax at them through a loudspeaker is so effective! The authoritarian wants you to cower in fear. Turning their entire operation into a dipshit circus is the way.
one of the most effective weapons we have against fascism is mockery, especially when its really funny
It occurs to me all the yelling at ICE in MPLS isn't merely funny. Getting made fun of like this is awful for morale. ICE is losing field officers faster than it can wave them through training, and a big part of it is how little of this these little weasels can take.
January 12, 2026 at 7:52 PM
That’s why dressing up as pikachu and frogs and blasting Yakety Sax at them through a loudspeaker is so effective! The authoritarian wants you to cower in fear. Turning their entire operation into a dipshit circus is the way.
All of those "annoying" street designs and new bike facilities that make drivers slow down and pay attention are saving lives!
Kansas City, Missouri has had a very positive decline in traffic deaths:
102 traffic deaths in 2023
97 traffic deaths in 2024
68 traffic deaths in 2025
>15,500 non-fatal vehicle crashes in 2025
www.kcur.org/housing-deve...
(graph from article)
102 traffic deaths in 2023
97 traffic deaths in 2024
68 traffic deaths in 2025
>15,500 non-fatal vehicle crashes in 2025
www.kcur.org/housing-deve...
(graph from article)
January 6, 2026 at 4:47 PM
All of those "annoying" street designs and new bike facilities that make drivers slow down and pay attention are saving lives!
Duolingo, welcome to @thewaroncars.bsky.social
January 3, 2026 at 5:18 AM
Duolingo, welcome to @thewaroncars.bsky.social
Wilder that some KC biz owners would rather have a net 20–30 more parking spaces next to their businesses than 300+ new residences.
Because those of us who walk and bike don't complain about parking, and because owners drive and can only see from that perspective, they don't know their customers.
Because those of us who walk and bike don't complain about parking, and because owners drive and can only see from that perspective, they don't know their customers.
“Survey after survey has shown that business owners overestimate how many customers drive to their stores vs walking or biking. In a 2012 Los Angeles study, more than half of the store owners on the bike-laned part of the boulevard thought most of their customers drove. The actual number was 15%.”
I read all the studies on the economic impact of bike lanes. Here's what I learned.
Research proves that bike lanes are good for business. So why do so many stores and restaurants still oppose them?
www.businessinsider.com
January 2, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Wilder that some KC biz owners would rather have a net 20–30 more parking spaces next to their businesses than 300+ new residences.
Because those of us who walk and bike don't complain about parking, and because owners drive and can only see from that perspective, they don't know their customers.
Because those of us who walk and bike don't complain about parking, and because owners drive and can only see from that perspective, they don't know their customers.
Instead of insisting that transit go everywhere (especially in a sprawling region), let's work on doing more and more where it does go.
December 31, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Instead of insisting that transit go everywhere (especially in a sprawling region), let's work on doing more and more where it does go.
Don't regularly drive in the city but had to today. Y'all are boiled frogs. Driver behavior is nuts.
December 31, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Don't regularly drive in the city but had to today. Y'all are boiled frogs. Driver behavior is nuts.
Reposted by Matt Staub
@staubio.com Trivia: guess which road has a higher Daily Traffic Volume between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.?
December 31, 2025 at 8:22 PM
@staubio.com Trivia: guess which road has a higher Daily Traffic Volume between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.?
I'm a little face blind and pop culture ignorant, so I have no idea what sighting I've totally missed.
But if you want minor, I once spotted (since canceled) Garrison Keillor in the taxi queue at LaGuardia as I made my way to the bus.
But if you want minor, I once spotted (since canceled) Garrison Keillor in the taxi queue at LaGuardia as I made my way to the bus.
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
December 29, 2025 at 10:05 PM
I'm a little face blind and pop culture ignorant, so I have no idea what sighting I've totally missed.
But if you want minor, I once spotted (since canceled) Garrison Keillor in the taxi queue at LaGuardia as I made my way to the bus.
But if you want minor, I once spotted (since canceled) Garrison Keillor in the taxi queue at LaGuardia as I made my way to the bus.
Restarting an old tradition I used to do when I first moved to KC: winter darkness bike rides every Tuesday night, no matter the weather.
Exploring renegade trails, abandoned streets and interesting areas in the city. Steady pace 2–3 hour drop ride with a dinner break somewhere in the middle.
Exploring renegade trails, abandoned streets and interesting areas in the city. Steady pace 2–3 hour drop ride with a dinner break somewhere in the middle.
December 29, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Restarting an old tradition I used to do when I first moved to KC: winter darkness bike rides every Tuesday night, no matter the weather.
Exploring renegade trails, abandoned streets and interesting areas in the city. Steady pace 2–3 hour drop ride with a dinner break somewhere in the middle.
Exploring renegade trails, abandoned streets and interesting areas in the city. Steady pace 2–3 hour drop ride with a dinner break somewhere in the middle.
Just a shockingly bad deal. So happy Missouri didn't try to compete with this madness.
Remember, there is always a way to make the project work when it is a priority. This is apparently what we value.
Remember, there is always a way to make the project work when it is a priority. This is apparently what we value.
To pay off stadium bonds, Chiefs-related new spending would need to be $2.7B a year — for a team whose total revenue is less than a quarter of that. Each and every Chiefs fan would need to spend an extra $4,000 per game for Kansas to break even.
How Kansas governor claims $4B Chiefs stadium subsidy will cost “no new taxes,” and whether this makes any damn sense
Judging from my email, the proposed Kansas City Chiefs stadium deal with the state of Kansas has set off a wave of cognitive dissonance among sports fans and taxpayers: Gov. Laura Kelly says that the ...
www.fieldofschemes.com
December 29, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Just a shockingly bad deal. So happy Missouri didn't try to compete with this madness.
Remember, there is always a way to make the project work when it is a priority. This is apparently what we value.
Remember, there is always a way to make the project work when it is a priority. This is apparently what we value.
Future home city of the Chiefs, where over $6 billion in taxpayer money will be "invested" in the team. Two major Kansas River bridges are closed indefinitely due to deferred maintenance making them unsafe, and parts of the city have been given up on to leap-frog out to 435 to build a mall.
December 24, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Future home city of the Chiefs, where over $6 billion in taxpayer money will be "invested" in the team. Two major Kansas River bridges are closed indefinitely due to deferred maintenance making them unsafe, and parts of the city have been given up on to leap-frog out to 435 to build a mall.
Gonna go ahead and pour cold water on calls for rail transit. It's an almost always idle structure 20 miles from the center of the region partially through under- and undeveloped land that was leapfrogged to build a mall by the freeway.
Ain't happening.
Ain't happening.
BREAKING: The Chiefs will relocate to Wyandotte County, Kansas, after lawmakers offered a major tax incentives package that could cover up to 70% of construction costs for a new stadium.
It's official: The Kansas City Chiefs are moving from Missouri to Wyandotte County, Kansas
The Chiefs will relocate to Wyandotte County, Kansas, after lawmakers offered a major tax incentives package that could cover up to 70% of construction costs for a new stadium.
www.kcur.org
December 22, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Gonna go ahead and pour cold water on calls for rail transit. It's an almost always idle structure 20 miles from the center of the region partially through under- and undeveloped land that was leapfrogged to build a mall by the freeway.
Ain't happening.
Ain't happening.
No amount of bedazzling can fix the super-human scale problem. We should think of these things like fields because they're totally incompatible with dense, human-scaled neighborhoods.
The AI data center building boom is spreading large-scale facilities across the U.S., but few are being designed with even an iota of aesthetic distinction. f-st.co/8RZ4VuD
Data centers are the buildings of our era. Do they have to be so boring?
The AI data center building boom is spreading facilities across the U.S., but few are being designed with aesthetic distinction.
f-st.co
December 22, 2025 at 4:59 PM
No amount of bedazzling can fix the super-human scale problem. We should think of these things like fields because they're totally incompatible with dense, human-scaled neighborhoods.
One of the uniquely delightful aspects of living in a bi-state region is that we fight back-and-forth for sports stadia and office relocations, effectively negotiating against ourselves on behalf of billionaires and corporations.
a computer screen displays greetings professor falken hello and a strange game
Alt: An iconic scene from the movie "War Games," where it intuits from a simulation of mutually assured destruction that "the only way to win is not to play."
media.tenor.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
One of the uniquely delightful aspects of living in a bi-state region is that we fight back-and-forth for sports stadia and office relocations, effectively negotiating against ourselves on behalf of billionaires and corporations.
We connect the district with a premium transit option and one its largest? employers promptly announces plans to decamp to a car-dependent suburb for fresh tax breaks.
Quintessential Kansas City.
Quintessential Kansas City.
Reader, the answer is yes.
"It's official: Lockton will leave Plaza for new HQ in Leawood's Hallbrook North"
www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n...
"It's official: Lockton will leave Plaza for new HQ in Leawood's Hallbrook North"
www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n...
December 19, 2025 at 9:39 PM
We connect the district with a premium transit option and one its largest? employers promptly announces plans to decamp to a car-dependent suburb for fresh tax breaks.
Quintessential Kansas City.
Quintessential Kansas City.
I really don't think it matters a ton in which state the Chiefs play in the scheme of things, but putting this thing twice as far from downtown in an area with no density or real transit will make access more difficult and make us less competitive for major events.
Legislators will consider public funding package in hopes of luring the NFL team to Kansas. The Royals will not be discussed Monday, leaving the MLB team’s future uncertain.
www.thepitchkc.com/kansas-legis...
www.thepitchkc.com/kansas-legis...
Kansas legislators to meet Monday about deal to bring Chiefs to domed Kansas stadium, entertainment district
Kansas legislative leaders will meet Monday to consider using STAR bonds to finance a stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs that could be built near the Legends shopping area. (Photo by Grace Hills for K...
www.thepitchkc.com
December 19, 2025 at 6:35 PM
I really don't think it matters a ton in which state the Chiefs play in the scheme of things, but putting this thing twice as far from downtown in an area with no density or real transit will make access more difficult and make us less competitive for major events.
KC, how the heck did we allow a hotel this close to the streetcar to have no ground floor presence other than parking and a tiny door to the elevator used to access the 2nd floor lobby? Let's hope our standards have elevated.
December 19, 2025 at 2:49 PM
KC, how the heck did we allow a hotel this close to the streetcar to have no ground floor presence other than parking and a tiny door to the elevator used to access the 2nd floor lobby? Let's hope our standards have elevated.
Last minute, but hit me up if you want a couple of tickets to the NCAA Volleyball semis tonight!
December 18, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Last minute, but hit me up if you want a couple of tickets to the NCAA Volleyball semis tonight!
On the "Divided Lines" tour exploring race and real estate in KC. Familiar themes for me but never ceases to depress.
"Prairie Village today is 95% white. But that wasn't how it was intended. It was supposed to be 100%"
Also struck by how many teardowns there are in PV.
"Prairie Village today is 95% white. But that wasn't how it was intended. It was supposed to be 100%"
Also struck by how many teardowns there are in PV.
December 18, 2025 at 3:36 PM
On the "Divided Lines" tour exploring race and real estate in KC. Familiar themes for me but never ceases to depress.
"Prairie Village today is 95% white. But that wasn't how it was intended. It was supposed to be 100%"
Also struck by how many teardowns there are in PV.
"Prairie Village today is 95% white. But that wasn't how it was intended. It was supposed to be 100%"
Also struck by how many teardowns there are in PV.