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Yonah Freemark

@yonahfreemark.com

27K followers 890 following 19K posts

Transport / Housing / Land Use / Politics / @urbaninstitute.bsky.social / Le progrès ne vaut que s’il est partagé par tous / yonahfreemark.com / thetransportpolitic.com

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · Mar 13

New data tool launch today 🚨 @urbaninstitute.bsky.social's Federal Infrastructure site.

It includes detailed information on funds from 110 programs across all states, counties & metro areas.

Tool pinpoints the support that communities receive for transportation, housing, energy, water & broadband.

Are Federal Infrastructure Dollars Meeting Your Community’s Needs?

Data analysis tracking whether the billions in funding that the US has committed to its roads, bridges, housing, and other infrastructure are getting to the communities that need it most.

apps.urban.org

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Blair Lorenzo / The Fox and the City @thefoxandthecity.com · 7h

Print this and frame it on the wall with the title, "Why North American Transit Construction Costs are So High"

Ryan Packer @typewriteralley.bsky.social · 7h

I just can't get over the differences in scale between Ballard Link's Westlake Station as proposed and the original Westlake Station, off to the left.

Ballard Link's Westlake has two separate entrances underneath separate buildings, with one showing a long tunnel to get to the train guideway. They are at least five stories deeper than the original Westlake, which is tiny and only around 10-15% of the size

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Rebecca Saltzman @rebeccaforec.bsky.social · 10h

This is what we hope to do in El Cerrito - build a new library at Plaza BART, along with 743 homes.

This is our best opportunity for a new library, as there’s not space to rebuild on current site and the lease for the BART site will be $1.

A citizens measure is circulating now to fund the library.

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 14h

Cities are developing a new approach to developing housing: Integrating it into mixed-use library projects. These investments improve neighborhood vitality, add housing & improve services.

In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social, I create a database of such projects & point to success stories ⏬

Aging Libraries Could Offer Cities a Unique Opportunity to Build New Housing While Improving Public Services

Since 2000, more than 1,800 apartment units have been built in combined library-housing developments. These projects not only address local housing needs but…

www.urban.org

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 10h

Will do!

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 10h

I’ll have to add it!

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 11h

Happy to be of assistance!

Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Gordon Padelford @gordonofseattle.bsky.social · 12h

Imagine being the Secretary of Transportation for the entire country and cheering ripping up a crosswalk because of your hatred. Sad little man

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 14h

Just openly cheering the destruction of any representation of gay people in public space. They think their power is totally unrestricted, and the entire country will support them rolling back society to the 1950s, or maybe the 1850s

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 13h

Oh, nice!

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 14h

Very exciting!

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 14h

Whatever the case, I suspect we're going to see a lot more of these combinations in the coming years.

They offer examples of how to leverage public land to combine public facilities & housing, something we could see for schools, fire stations, police stations, and more.

Read the article:

Aging Libraries Could Offer Cities a Unique Opportunity to Build New Housing While Improving Public Services

Since 2000, more than 1,800 apartment units have been built in combined library-housing developments. These projects not only address local housing needs but…

www.urban.org

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 14h

Library-housing combos can potentially reduce the costs of library construction, because these can be absorbed by the housing developer.

Or, they can make affordable housing more feasible by relying on the "free" public land.

But cities are unlikely to get both of those outcomes at the same time.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 14h

There are about two dozen of these projects that have been completed so far, all since 2000, integrating more than 1,800 units, & in states around the country—as well as Canada.

There are several other projects planned in Boston, Cleveland, Denver, New York City, Oklahoma & more.

Across the US and Canada, more than 20 new libraries have been integrated into apartment complexes—and more are coming.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 14h

What's cool about these library–housing projects is that they leverage publicly owned land to:
—Provide the space for dozens to hundreds of new housing units.
—Create brand-new library facilities, absolutely necessary at a time when resources for libraries are declining.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 14h

Aging Libraries Could Offer Cities a Unique Opportunity to Build New Housing While Improving Public Services

Since 2000, more than 1,800 apartment units have been built in combined library-housing developments. These projects not only address local housing needs but…

www.urban.org

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 17h

JUST IN: The Republican Mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska’s second biggest city, lost re-election last night to a Democrat.

Mayor David Pruhs is a conservative who fought protections for LGBTQ+ residents; he made comments this year drew condemnation this year from Alaska Natives. He lost to Mindy O'Neall.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 17h

The result: the US, already far behind other countries on EV adoption, will stick to gas cars even longer. People will be punished because of increased pollution. And households will be punished by higher transportation costs. 🤷

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 17h

Electric cars can be huge money savers—in addition to helping reduce transportation’s environmental impact.

Unfortunately, House GOP killed tax incentives for EVs. And the Trump admin put tariffs on foreign EVs & eliminated mileage requirements for automakers, dissuading them from making more EVs.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 18h

we charge our hyundai ioniq 5 around once every two to three weeks at a muncipal charger and i’d say it runs about $9 for 250 miles of range.

How Much It Costs to Drive an E.V. and a Gas Car in Every State

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Ted Mann @whereisted.bsky.social · 1d

went on @thewaroncars.bsky.social to talk about the war on the war on cars

thewaroncars.org/2025/10/07/e...

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

Let me see if I have this right: US Supreme Court is likely to rule that it’s a violation of “free speech” to ban religious fundamentalists from torturing gay kids, just a few months after it ruled that it was fine for states to ban gender care assistance for trans kids.

Here’s the latest.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 2d

“… the data out of Montgomery County, Maryland makes one thing unmistakably clear: this crusade is not a mass movement. It’s the obsession of a vanishingly small minority …”

Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 2d

1. 4 months ago, The Supreme Court gave families a right to opt out of LGBTQ+ education in schools.

Now, in Montgomery County, Maryland, where the case originated, the results are in.

Only 43 families out of 160,000 students have exercised that new right.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

Only 0.03% Opt Out Of LGBTQ+ Education In Maryland After SCOTUS Gives Them A Right To

After SCOTUS gave families a right to opt out of LGBTQ+ education, Montgomery County, Maryland is reporting only 43 families took them up on it.

www.erininthemorning.com

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 3d

the hardest part of living in Portland is having your house burn down every single night and then having to rebuild it during the day. the amount of money i spend just in drywall is insane.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 3d

Trump: Portland is burning to the ground—insurrectionists all over the place. The politicians are afraid for their lives. That’s the only reason they say there’s nothing happening.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 2d

My understanding is that contributions to TRB programs are voluntary, not obligatory. For example: "Each year, state DOTs voluntarily commit to NCHRP research 5.5 percent of the State Planning and Research (SPR) portion of their Federal-Aid-Highway funds" onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/n...

onlinepubs.trb.org

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 2d

Fed dollars through states

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 2d

An intriguing call for “soft secession.”

Consider the Transportation Research Board, to a large degree funded by state DOTs. The TRB bent the knee to Trump, cancelling dozens of research projects on equity & the environment.

Should Blue states pull out of TRB & create their own research org?

Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 2d

“California, and the country, cannot await the outcome of the midterms to repel Trump’s siege on democracy. More drastic action is required.”

My piece exploring "soft secession": www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

It’s time for soft secession

How blue states can use their economic clout to stand up to Trump’s agenda—starting with California.

www.motherjones.com

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Reposted by Yonah Freemark

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3d

wrote this line yesterday:

"If President Trump were, in other words, trying to instigate some kind of national divorce, it is hard to imagine what he would be doing differently than this."

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 3d

Statement from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker

This evening, President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.
We must now start calling this what it is: Trump's Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state's military troops.
I call on Governor Abbott to immediately withdraw any support for this decision and refuse to coordinate. There is no reason a President should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation.
The brave men and women who serve in our national guards must not be used as political props. This is a moment where every American must speak up and help stop this madness.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 3d

About 1% of US railway mileage is electrified, with only tiny steps taken to electrify more in recent years (Caltrain) www.fastcompany.com/91178844/ind...

Patrick Reynolds for a greater Auckland @patrickreynolds.bsky.social · 3d

Not nearly enough is made of the incredibly impressive feat Indian Railways has made to electrify almost 100% of its 135,000km of track, while also growing renewable sourcing. Huge:

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/ind...

Indian Railways to achieve net zero targets in 2025 itself - 5 years ahead of 2030 goal - Times of India

India Business News: Indian Railways is set to achieve net-zero targets by year-end, surpassing its 2030 goal through extensive electrification. Aiming for 95% electric tr

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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