urbanism

get out of the way, the bus of the future is here

More wheels is more better

Obviously I know why railroads are often built on the banks of rivers - they offer a flat/low grade path that penetrates far inland, often through mountains that would pose great difficulty for railroads. And railroads are not the only transportation often built along rivers, roads are also often built along rivers for similar reasons. Although with roads theoretically there's more freedom to build them elsewhere since the flat/low grade isn't completely necessary, although it does make building them easier.

Anyway, the reason I'm thinking about this is because I live on a fairly large river, and it always depresses me a bit that it's difficult to actually reach the water's edge because there's a railroad going along it for nearly the entire length. Only in a couple spots that there happens to be land on the other side of the tracks can I actually reach the water's edge.

The other side of the river has a bit more parkland or undeveloped land on the riverbanks, but it's similar over there too - rail takes up a very large portion of the riverbank. I would never swim in the river or anything due to pollution, but the fact remains, it's really hard to enjoy and make use of the defining geographic feature in my area due to development. And not even "bad" development, but railroads!

Anyway there's no real point to this post, I was just sitting around thinking about things and figured I'd post my thoughts here in case anyone wants to share their thoughts related to this.

Earlier this summer I was riding along a new bike lane under construction when I came across this poster: “Help save our neighbourhood. Big new bike path endangers schoolchildren, removes parking, and was imposed without neighbourhood consultation.” It advertised a meeting to take action and organize resistance at a local church, so I went to see what they had to say.

Insane Canadian shitlibs argue against bike lanes.

the Anchorage subreddit's response to the assembly's proposal to reduce speed limits on streets where it is currently 45 or 50 mph is to blame homeless people for being hit by speeding cars and I can't take it anymore

it's even in communism colours

there's got to be old propaganda with maos head on a train

I'm not sure I agree with the premise that automatic license-plate readers are "AI," but shit is fucked:

Spencer and the other Regal customers found themselves in the middle of a controversial business practice that utilizes A.I. surveillance technology and exploitative tactics in order to target drivers for simply parking at the garage. They aren’t the only ones to have been targeted, either. Around the country and the world, more and more parking companies are quietly installing automated license plate readers—ALPRs—in their lots and using them to track clients, and, in some cases, send out fines the way ABM is doing at the Regal City North parking lot.

While the tech is annoying and even scary when used to send out unexpected parking fines, it’s an indicator of a much larger problem surrounding A.I. and its increasing intrusion into our private lives—one that could even be weaponized against marginalized communities like women, trans people, people of color, and undocumented immigrants.

ABM is now one of at least six parking companies facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly violating the 1994 Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. The law was passed in response to the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, whose killer hired a private investigator to track her down using her license plate number, and limits who can access vehicle registration information and use it to track people. But it’s full of loopholes, and may not be sufficient to protect customers’ privacy, according to experts.

. . .

The fight to prevent private companies from using ALPR data to track vehicles has implications beyond parking fines. Landlords and homeowners associations have also begun using ALPRs to track who is coming and going in their buildings, which could lead to discrimination against tenants based on who they associate with, among other problems.

Also, by selling ALPR location data directly to law enforcement, private companies allow their customers to bypass the need for a search warrant. This could be especially threatening for people traveling through multiple states who face persecution from the law, like people who need abortions, or undocumented immigrants. (The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union have both expressed concern that state law enforcement could go after citizens who seek abortions in other states using similar techniques.)

I cannot explain otherwise how so many people can nearly hit a vulnerable road user at like 20kph and then be mad when those people are quite irate they nearly just got hospitalized. Like yeah this'd be a nuisance if I was in a car, but I'm not.

Anyways give everyone not in a car a gun so they can retaliate. You may not hit the car, you may shoot periliously close, though.

this is the most boomerlogic policy one can imagine

When city-dwellers report feeling lonely, it could be an urban design problem. When cities structure themselves to make sharing easier, people thrive in every way—including socially. But what should cities build to foster sharing?

https://web.archive.org/web/20240915173553/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/15/world/europe/tramdriver-competition-frankfurt-tram.html/

I would 1000% go to this

Also this cannot possibly be OSHA-approved