Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
@magicbroomcycle.bsky.social
Anonymous urbanist lurker with roots in the DC area. My bicycle is my magic broomstick.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
I don't like this type of curb ramp design either. But why do we end up with ones that look like this? Some aspects of curb ramp design:
Yes, the city needs to actually repave streets. Yes, the city needs to repair sidewalks. Yes, the city needs to install curb ramps.
But the bigger problem is that when LA decides to do anything at all to "help" pedestrians, the result looks like this complete and utter bullshit
But the bigger problem is that when LA decides to do anything at all to "help" pedestrians, the result looks like this complete and utter bullshit
December 30, 2025 at 8:12 AM
I don't like this type of curb ramp design either. But why do we end up with ones that look like this? Some aspects of curb ramp design:
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
It’s been half a century and it seems like this still isn’t widely understood.
(from Robert Caro, 'The Power Broker', Vintage: 1975, p. 897)
(from Robert Caro, 'The Power Broker', Vintage: 1975, p. 897)
![Even before the war, of course, some urban planners had begun to see largely because of the effects of Moses' creations that building more traffic facilities would not in itself cure traffic congestion. These planners had said the Regional Plan Association had been saying it since 1929 and, after the opening of Moses' creations during the 1930's, w ith increasing urgency that the movement of people and goods In a great metropolitan region required a balanced transportation system, one in which the construction of mass rapid transit facilities kept pace w ith the construction of roads. During the last two or three years before the war, a few planners had even begun to understand that, w ithout a balanced system, roads not only would not alleviate transportation congestion but would aggravate it. Watching Moses open the Triborough Bridge to ease congestion on the Queensborough Bridge, open the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge to ease congestion on the Triborough Bridge and then watching traffic counts on all three bridges mount until all three were as congested as one had been before, planners could hardly avoid the conclusion that "traffic generation" was no longer a theory but a proven fact: the more highways were built to alleviate congestion, the more automobiles would pour onto them and congest them and thus force the building of more highways —which would generate more traffic and become congested in their turn in an inexorably widening spiral that contained the most awesome implications for the future of New York and of all urban areas. The only remedy that could check that vicious spiral was the coordination of new highways with new mass transit facilities– […]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:x4d7yazerbjhjwnwfgi4tv7q/bafkreieazhjjvr5ha3rdble7h6dwrgatwvhsd6pbr7frfwcqjawt4ck6eq@jpeg)
December 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM
It’s been half a century and it seems like this still isn’t widely understood.
(from Robert Caro, 'The Power Broker', Vintage: 1975, p. 897)
(from Robert Caro, 'The Power Broker', Vintage: 1975, p. 897)
@wmata.com at 11:20pm car 7549 rocking side to side after coming to stop at VA square. Seems abnormal.
December 13, 2025 at 4:24 AM
@wmata.com at 11:20pm car 7549 rocking side to side after coming to stop at VA square. Seems abnormal.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
“We haven’t built enough housing in the Country for a long time.”
- Fed Chair Powell
- Fed Chair Powell
December 11, 2025 at 2:35 AM
“We haven’t built enough housing in the Country for a long time.”
- Fed Chair Powell
- Fed Chair Powell
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
"we don’t set different air quality standards or fire codes based on neighborhood. If density restrictions actually protected public health, we could identify a scientifically 'safe' density level and apply it uniformly citywide, as we would with any other health-related regulation."
November 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
"we don’t set different air quality standards or fire codes based on neighborhood. If density restrictions actually protected public health, we could identify a scientifically 'safe' density level and apply it uniformly citywide, as we would with any other health-related regulation."
My 3 story walk up apartment has 4 units per floor (8 above ground level). It has two wide exterior stairwells right next to each other. All 20 of us could evacuate down a single stair in 30 seconds. But we have two and I’m not even allowed to lock my bike up underneath the bonus staircase.
Current code allows a realistic capacity of about 100 units per floor with two stairs, which gives you about 200 people per floor.
Proposed single stair rules would allow 8 units (16ish people) per floor.
Is the 100 people per stair per floor status quo safer than the 16 people per stair proposal?
Proposed single stair rules would allow 8 units (16ish people) per floor.
Is the 100 people per stair per floor status quo safer than the 16 people per stair proposal?
November 19, 2025 at 7:07 AM
My 3 story walk up apartment has 4 units per floor (8 above ground level). It has two wide exterior stairwells right next to each other. All 20 of us could evacuate down a single stair in 30 seconds. But we have two and I’m not even allowed to lock my bike up underneath the bonus staircase.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
part of what gets me is the particular double-think involved in left-nimbyism. left nimbyism has been the dominant mode of thinking in urban governance for like fifty years, they won the war and achieved total control of policy, and they *still* think they're the plucky upstarts fighting The Man
October 25, 2025 at 8:38 PM
part of what gets me is the particular double-think involved in left-nimbyism. left nimbyism has been the dominant mode of thinking in urban governance for like fifty years, they won the war and achieved total control of policy, and they *still* think they're the plucky upstarts fighting The Man
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
More than anything, I want a system where rules are straightforward and predictable.
Having “fake” rules just teaches people that rules don’t matter.
Choose the rules you actually want and then actually enforce them.
Having “fake” rules just teaches people that rules don’t matter.
Choose the rules you actually want and then actually enforce them.
September 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
More than anything, I want a system where rules are straightforward and predictable.
Having “fake” rules just teaches people that rules don’t matter.
Choose the rules you actually want and then actually enforce them.
Having “fake” rules just teaches people that rules don’t matter.
Choose the rules you actually want and then actually enforce them.
August 18, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
I often use it to reformat lists. Easy to drop a list of things in, not asking it to "think," very easy to see if errors were made in the output.
Love it for that but I've just described a $5 tool, not a $500b one.
Love it for that but I've just described a $5 tool, not a $500b one.
August 11, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I often use it to reformat lists. Easy to drop a list of things in, not asking it to "think," very easy to see if errors were made in the output.
Love it for that but I've just described a $5 tool, not a $500b one.
Love it for that but I've just described a $5 tool, not a $500b one.
@wmata.com unusually bumpy ride on car 7190 between Innovation center and Herndon at 5:12 pm
August 4, 2025 at 9:14 PM
@wmata.com unusually bumpy ride on car 7190 between Innovation center and Herndon at 5:12 pm
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
I'd say the most common response to universal basic income is some variant of "it will just increase prices!" In response, I frequently find myself explaining how it's not that simple, and there are many variables involved. So here's my summary of 17 of those variables to consider.
17 Key Variables That Determine UBI’s Inflationary Impact
Will universal basic income cause inflation? Will the prices of everything rise? I get asked that all the time. Here's the deal about UBI and inflation: it all depends.
Can UBI be inflationary? Sure,...
www.scottsantens.com
July 25, 2025 at 11:19 PM
I'd say the most common response to universal basic income is some variant of "it will just increase prices!" In response, I frequently find myself explaining how it's not that simple, and there are many variables involved. So here's my summary of 17 of those variables to consider.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
"The mechanics of parking minimums essentially tax new housing and new businesses that we say we really want, and we use that tax toward building something that creates more traffic and more pollution."
Absolute banger description.
Absolute banger description.
Here were Mayor Mason Thompson's comments ahead of the final vote:
July 9, 2025 at 12:05 PM
"The mechanics of parking minimums essentially tax new housing and new businesses that we say we really want, and we use that tax toward building something that creates more traffic and more pollution."
Absolute banger description.
Absolute banger description.
The housing market is so broken that some observers assume supply and demand must not apply to housing, instead of recognizing that the market needs to be fixed.
June 21, 2025 at 3:12 AM
The housing market is so broken that some observers assume supply and demand must not apply to housing, instead of recognizing that the market needs to be fixed.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
DC, Maryland and Virginia agree to funding to fully automate @wmata.com — new signals, trains, and platform doors — over next two decades.
Local leaders say they’ll pay $5.6 billion to automate Metro
A regional task force is working on how to fund a modern Metro system.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 18, 2025 at 11:37 AM
DC, Maryland and Virginia agree to funding to fully automate @wmata.com — new signals, trains, and platform doors — over next two decades.
To the driver who called me a stupid shit because she didn’t notice me in a crosswalk (even though I was already clear by the time she noticed): You are lashing out because you realized you could have killed somebody with your inattention. I’m sorry you have to drive, but please don’t be rude.
March 6, 2025 at 12:57 AM
To the driver who called me a stupid shit because she didn’t notice me in a crosswalk (even though I was already clear by the time she noticed): You are lashing out because you realized you could have killed somebody with your inattention. I’m sorry you have to drive, but please don’t be rude.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
"We must place as many people as we can near the source of pollution" says planner who believes deeply in zoning - the purpose of which was supposedly to separate people from sources of pollution
“Transit Oriented Development” in the US is so dire
February 22, 2025 at 12:14 AM
"We must place as many people as we can near the source of pollution" says planner who believes deeply in zoning - the purpose of which was supposedly to separate people from sources of pollution
Med school isn’t the bottle neck, it’s residencies. We already graduate more doctors than there exist residencies for.
February 13, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Med school isn’t the bottle neck, it’s residencies. We already graduate more doctors than there exist residencies for.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
Continuing to explore the potential for Single Lot, Single Stair urbanism. This is a corner 50x122, 45% site coverage, 18 units of varying sizes.
February 6, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Continuing to explore the potential for Single Lot, Single Stair urbanism. This is a corner 50x122, 45% site coverage, 18 units of varying sizes.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
If we hadn't already had trains for the last 150 years we would think trains were some sci fi future
January 25, 2025 at 8:44 PM
If we hadn't already had trains for the last 150 years we would think trains were some sci fi future
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
As you've probably already seen, we launched a new think tank this morning, the Missing Middle Initiative, focused on the young, urban, middle class in Canada. And we have an ambitious vision for the country.
January 20, 2025 at 3:30 PM
As you've probably already seen, we launched a new think tank this morning, the Missing Middle Initiative, focused on the young, urban, middle class in Canada. And we have an ambitious vision for the country.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
This is what happens when the people designing bike infrastructure don't actually use bikes.
Functional design matters.
Functional design matters.
January 18, 2025 at 9:05 PM
This is what happens when the people designing bike infrastructure don't actually use bikes.
Functional design matters.
Functional design matters.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
Break the vicious cycle!
January 19, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Break the vicious cycle!
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
As a country we are somehow simultaneously obsessed with counting our steps/tracking fitness and appalled at the idea of walking somewhere 10 minutes away.
January 6, 2025 at 3:08 PM
As a country we are somehow simultaneously obsessed with counting our steps/tracking fitness and appalled at the idea of walking somewhere 10 minutes away.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
Because so many people, planners, and engineers seem to miss the mark on proper design, I'm zooming in here to highlight the loading zone parking for commercial service vehicles, located right between the bike parking.
We can remove street parking and still address the 'what abouts' effectively.
We can remove street parking and still address the 'what abouts' effectively.
December 30, 2024 at 1:09 PM
Because so many people, planners, and engineers seem to miss the mark on proper design, I'm zooming in here to highlight the loading zone parking for commercial service vehicles, located right between the bike parking.
We can remove street parking and still address the 'what abouts' effectively.
We can remove street parking and still address the 'what abouts' effectively.