Faith
@fcable.bsky.social
Mom, urbanist, bicyclist, and developer of sustainable buildings.
I’m glad to live in a great part of Minneapolis where kids traveling alone is okay. Didn’t start for us regularly until 2nd and 5th but now a year later they are pretty competent on their own.
"Can [your 1st grader] travel alone in the neighborhood (4-8 blocks) to the store, school, playground or to a friend’s home.”
Psychologist, Louise Bates Ames, book "Your 6YO: Loving and Defiant" in '79, on childhood development.
Life After Cars continues to surprise me. @thewaroncars.bsky.social
Psychologist, Louise Bates Ames, book "Your 6YO: Loving and Defiant" in '79, on childhood development.
Life After Cars continues to surprise me. @thewaroncars.bsky.social
November 21, 2025 at 4:12 AM
I’m glad to live in a great part of Minneapolis where kids traveling alone is okay. Didn’t start for us regularly until 2nd and 5th but now a year later they are pretty competent on their own.
Reposted by Faith
Story time. This is why I love the city of Minneapolis!
October 31, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Story time. This is why I love the city of Minneapolis!
Reposted by Faith
“What I need you to know is we are organized.
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them.”
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them.”
What I Need You To Understand, Notes from Chicago in Late October | dansinker.com
dansinker.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:07 AM
“What I need you to know is we are organized.
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them.”
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them.”
Reposted by Faith
“I find Hampton a breath of fresh air and a reason for hope. He connects with people, listens intently, is pragmatic and values-driven and rejects the politics of division and anger.”
October 7, 2025 at 7:36 PM
“I find Hampton a breath of fresh air and a reason for hope. He connects with people, listens intently, is pragmatic and values-driven and rejects the politics of division and anger.”
Reposted by Faith
Why local developers aren't building apartments anymore. A case study.
Flux Apartments in Uptown (pictured here). 216 units
2019: Sold for $54M
Tuesday: Sold for $36.1M
That's $167,000 per unit.
If you wanted to build Flux today it would likely cost in the ballpark of $71M or $330K per unit.
Flux Apartments in Uptown (pictured here). 216 units
2019: Sold for $54M
Tuesday: Sold for $36.1M
That's $167,000 per unit.
If you wanted to build Flux today it would likely cost in the ballpark of $71M or $330K per unit.
September 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Why local developers aren't building apartments anymore. A case study.
Flux Apartments in Uptown (pictured here). 216 units
2019: Sold for $54M
Tuesday: Sold for $36.1M
That's $167,000 per unit.
If you wanted to build Flux today it would likely cost in the ballpark of $71M or $330K per unit.
Flux Apartments in Uptown (pictured here). 216 units
2019: Sold for $54M
Tuesday: Sold for $36.1M
That's $167,000 per unit.
If you wanted to build Flux today it would likely cost in the ballpark of $71M or $330K per unit.
Reposted by Faith
Best thing California could do to fight fascism is build more housing.
September 9, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Best thing California could do to fight fascism is build more housing.
Reposted by Faith
This is a totally fascinating deep dive into one of those European social housing projects that goes mini-viral in North American housing circles because it's so pretty and cheap--and it turns out to be a lot more complicated. brendanwhitsitt.substack.com/p/24-does-eu...
#24 - Does Europe Really Build For Less?
A Case Study: 18 rue Pradier, Paris
brendanwhitsitt.substack.com
August 14, 2025 at 3:46 PM
This is a totally fascinating deep dive into one of those European social housing projects that goes mini-viral in North American housing circles because it's so pretty and cheap--and it turns out to be a lot more complicated. brendanwhitsitt.substack.com/p/24-does-eu...
This is the best discussion on transit funding I have ever read. All MSP urbanists who have followed the ‘how can we improve Met Council’ debate should read this.
Today on Volts: I talk with the brilliant researcher @alonlevy.bsky.social about why it's so expensive to build public transit in the US, how countries like Spain & Italy do it better/cheaper, & what the US could do if it learned those lessons (eg, high-speed rail in the Northeast!).
US transit costs and how to tame them
Alon Levy explains how the US can build cheaper, better public transit by learning from the rest of the world.
www.volts.wtf
August 1, 2025 at 1:53 AM
This is the best discussion on transit funding I have ever read. All MSP urbanists who have followed the ‘how can we improve Met Council’ debate should read this.
I hate that one of my kids is at camp all week sleeping in a tent during an air quality alert. I did not send along masks and potable air purifiers but maybe I should in the future...
What if… instead of dealing with toxic air every other week for the rest of our lives… we did something about this whole climate change thing?
I hate that my kids are growing up in a world literally & figuratively on fire.
They, and we, deserve better.
#MSPCycleCast
I hate that my kids are growing up in a world literally & figuratively on fire.
They, and we, deserve better.
#MSPCycleCast
Air quality alert for all of Minnesota through Saturday
A northerly wind flow will send multiple waves of Canadian wildfire smoke into Minnesota for the next few days. Air quality will reach the unhealthy range for most of Minnesota.
www.mprnews.org
July 30, 2025 at 1:01 AM
I hate that one of my kids is at camp all week sleeping in a tent during an air quality alert. I did not send along masks and potable air purifiers but maybe I should in the future...
Reposted by Faith
There’s gold in them hills
July 6, 2025 at 11:18 PM
There’s gold in them hills
Reposted by Faith
For some numbers : undocumented people account for 10% of the construction labor force and Trump's deportations could result in a loss of roughly 720,000 construction workers at a time when the industry is short about 275,000 workers
Spot on. This is the clearest explanation I’ve seen. It ‘s relatable, and humanizes the issue in a way everyone can understand.
June 28, 2025 at 2:50 AM
For some numbers : undocumented people account for 10% of the construction labor force and Trump's deportations could result in a loss of roughly 720,000 construction workers at a time when the industry is short about 275,000 workers
Home appliances should have custom melodies and beeps that can be selected after purchase. And a volume button.
Home appliances with melodies > home appliances with only beeps
This was fun last time, let’s do it again. Quote this with a take that has nothing to do with politics or Bluesky
June 13, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Home appliances should have custom melodies and beeps that can be selected after purchase. And a volume button.
I’m buying my kids a map to look at in the backseat of the car this summer so they learn how to read a map.
I kept a road atlas on the side of the passenger seat for years until I got a smartphone. I also drew little maps with key streets after looking directions up online.
I kept a road atlas on the side of the passenger seat for years until I got a smartphone. I also drew little maps with key streets after looking directions up online.
I am officially one of The Ancients, Keeper of Knowledge of the Before Time
June 4, 2025 at 4:31 AM
I’m buying my kids a map to look at in the backseat of the car this summer so they learn how to read a map.
I kept a road atlas on the side of the passenger seat for years until I got a smartphone. I also drew little maps with key streets after looking directions up online.
I kept a road atlas on the side of the passenger seat for years until I got a smartphone. I also drew little maps with key streets after looking directions up online.
Maybe it’s okay Mpls and St Paul didn’t get a lot of compromised streetcars.
DC streetcar was so poorly designed:
—No dedicated lanes & thus frequently obstructed by traffic
—No connection to Metro or even the front of Union Station
—No enforced signal priority, slowing trains
—No real effort to improve the streetscape
—Too many stops (8 stations/2.4 mi)
—No dedicated lanes & thus frequently obstructed by traffic
—No connection to Metro or even the front of Union Station
—No enforced signal priority, slowing trains
—No real effort to improve the streetscape
—Too many stops (8 stations/2.4 mi)
Very sad coda to the circa 2010 vicious DC Streetcar blog debates: the H St. streetcar will be shut down and, supposedly, replaced with trolleybuses www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
May 28, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Maybe it’s okay Mpls and St Paul didn’t get a lot of compromised streetcars.
Reposted by Faith
DC streetcar was so poorly designed:
—No dedicated lanes & thus frequently obstructed by traffic
—No connection to Metro or even the front of Union Station
—No enforced signal priority, slowing trains
—No real effort to improve the streetscape
—Too many stops (8 stations/2.4 mi)
—No dedicated lanes & thus frequently obstructed by traffic
—No connection to Metro or even the front of Union Station
—No enforced signal priority, slowing trains
—No real effort to improve the streetscape
—Too many stops (8 stations/2.4 mi)
Very sad coda to the circa 2010 vicious DC Streetcar blog debates: the H St. streetcar will be shut down and, supposedly, replaced with trolleybuses www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Mayor says D.C. Streetcar is going away, ‘next generation streetcar’ is coming
The streetcar that took more than a decade and $200 million to launch will shut down in two more years.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 28, 2025 at 2:40 AM
DC streetcar was so poorly designed:
—No dedicated lanes & thus frequently obstructed by traffic
—No connection to Metro or even the front of Union Station
—No enforced signal priority, slowing trains
—No real effort to improve the streetscape
—Too many stops (8 stations/2.4 mi)
—No dedicated lanes & thus frequently obstructed by traffic
—No connection to Metro or even the front of Union Station
—No enforced signal priority, slowing trains
—No real effort to improve the streetscape
—Too many stops (8 stations/2.4 mi)
Turkeys are rewilding themselves in Minneapolis. Same with foxes and hawks.
By 2050, nearly 70% of the world’s population will live in cities, where biodiversity declines faster than almost anywhere else.
Urban rewilding to combat global biodiversity decline
Abstract. Rapid urbanization is contributing to unprecedented biodiversity decline worldwide. Despite biodiversity loss being more pronounced in cities, tr
academic.oup.com
May 27, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Turkeys are rewilding themselves in Minneapolis. Same with foxes and hawks.
@holz-bau.bsky.social @stephenjacobsmith.com Open question: how do we pay more and get lower quality housing in North America compared to Europe? What does a line by line hard cost comparison look like? Why do the costs differ so much?
As a European who now lives in North America I just can’t get over how many apartments here are of significantly lower quality despite having significantly higher construction costs compared to what we see in Europe.
In terms of public perception: light wood frame looks like shit, and it performs like shit. It gives “living on top of each other” a bad name.
May 24, 2025 at 3:49 AM
@holz-bau.bsky.social @stephenjacobsmith.com Open question: how do we pay more and get lower quality housing in North America compared to Europe? What does a line by line hard cost comparison look like? Why do the costs differ so much?
Reposted by Faith
It's not just you - it's hypernormalization
Systems are crumbling - but daily life continues. The dissonance is real
If everything feels broken but strangely normal, the Soviet-era concept of hypernormalization can help
www.theguardian.com
May 23, 2025 at 12:34 AM
It's not just you - it's hypernormalization
Reposted by Faith
Reposted by Faith
my buddy @resnikoff.bsky.social off the top rope with some actual class analysis www.thenation.com/article/soci...
A YIMBY Theory of Power
Pro-housing advocates offer an analysis of class relations that is more sophisticated and has more explanatory power than the one held by many critics of the “abundance agenda.”
www.thenation.com
April 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM
my buddy @resnikoff.bsky.social off the top rope with some actual class analysis www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Our windows may be contributing to our vitamin d deficiency
Almost every window sold today has a Low-E coating to save energy, cutting out the infrared and UV and letting the middle visible spectrum through. But our bodies need those wavelengths; “Daylight is a drug, and nature is the dispensing physician.” but the Low-E coatings are messing with the dose.
Low-E coatings on windows save energy but may be messing with our health
The coatings let visible light in but reduce frequencies of light that we need for our health.
lloydalter.substack.com
April 11, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Our windows may be contributing to our vitamin d deficiency
Reposted by Faith
It’s “funny” that in the U.S. they consider the right wing owning most social & main stream media, unlimited money in politics, gerry-mandering in congressional seats, massive voter suppression efforts and even Russian bomb threats to be “free & fair elections.”
And that’s just what we KNOW about.
And that’s just what we KNOW about.
I just want to say for the record that when the history books are written centuries from now, I believe the election of Donald Trump in a free and fair election in 2024 will go down as one of the most senseless and self-destructive own goals in human history
April 7, 2025 at 1:30 AM
It’s “funny” that in the U.S. they consider the right wing owning most social & main stream media, unlimited money in politics, gerry-mandering in congressional seats, massive voter suppression efforts and even Russian bomb threats to be “free & fair elections.”
And that’s just what we KNOW about.
And that’s just what we KNOW about.
Reposted by Faith
Smart writeup from my colleague @pewilliams.bsky.social on how housing shortages impact the efficacy of voucher programs. More supply = more successful redistribution!
www.firesidestacks.com/p/the-musica...
www.firesidestacks.com/p/the-musica...
The Musical Chairs Theory of Housing
For hundreds of years, thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers all moved on the same day. Moving Day, which fell on May 1 each year, coincided with near-universal annual lease renewals from landlords ...
www.firesidestacks.com
March 25, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Smart writeup from my colleague @pewilliams.bsky.social on how housing shortages impact the efficacy of voucher programs. More supply = more successful redistribution!
www.firesidestacks.com/p/the-musica...
www.firesidestacks.com/p/the-musica...
Reposted by Faith
Build housing. Support a grocery store. Pedestrianize streets. Go nuts with a mural program. Expand farmers markets, sidewalk patios, and play spaces. Convert whole streets to trails. Add seating, public bathrooms, and shade trees.
Just think of a place you like to spend time and why!
Just think of a place you like to spend time and why!
Nothing makes a downtown more vibrant than forcing people to be there!
www.startribune.com/walz-minneso...
www.startribune.com/walz-minneso...
Brooks: Nothing makes a downtown more vibrant than forcing people to be there
Gov. Tim Walz ordered state workers back to the office in downtown St. Paul. But what’s left in Minnesota’s capital city?
www.startribune.com
March 27, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Build housing. Support a grocery store. Pedestrianize streets. Go nuts with a mural program. Expand farmers markets, sidewalk patios, and play spaces. Convert whole streets to trails. Add seating, public bathrooms, and shade trees.
Just think of a place you like to spend time and why!
Just think of a place you like to spend time and why!
Someone should offer this man an auditorium for a community meeting to share the 36 hour NYC subway improvement plan.
Sec of Transportation Sean Duffy apparently called the subway as a “shit hole” in New Jersey today. With Phil Murphy standing next to him. www.nj.com/news/2025/03...
March 23, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Someone should offer this man an auditorium for a community meeting to share the 36 hour NYC subway improvement plan.