Ben Gotow
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bengotow.com
Ben Gotow
@bengotow.com
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Reposted by Ben Gotow
gilbertjasono.bsky.social
Zohran mamdani you have 48 hours to release how fast you ran the mile in 7th grade or the New York Times will publish without comment
July 8, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
neilkornutick.bsky.social
Being a supporter of Choose How You Move should probably include putting information about the WeGo routes that will be operating before and after the massive event downtown. But hey, parking.
July 2, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
offline.mountainherder.xyz
OH: The enemy gets a vote? We don’t even give congress a vote!
US-Iran attack latest: Iran votes to close Strait of Hormuz
The Iranian parliament has approved the closure of the Strait of Hormuz after the US launched strikes against the country’s nuclear facilities.
www.telegraph.co.uk
June 22, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
thetnholler.bsky.social
WATCH: “You’re a U.S. senator and you don’t know anything about the country you want to topple.”

Tucker Carlson embarrasses @sentedcruz as he pushes for war with Iran
June 18, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
startleseasily.bsky.social
Motion passes, the budget ordinance is approved as substituted, with amendments 1, 2, 8; and late-filed amendments 1 & 2.

32-6-2.
June 18, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
cbowe34.bsky.social
LiDAR was deployed on 12S and indicated that pedestrian peak traffic was much higher than was hypothesized. This may help justify future investments in safe ped infrastructure in the area!

Broadway is getting LiDAR sensors very soon. Data from weekend evenings should be… interesting, haha!
May 13, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
jimmusilpainter.bsky.social
My painting WISCONSIN FARM
An acrylic painting by Jim Musil depicting a farm in Wisconsin. A red barn sits at the end of a dirt road in the middle of a verdant green field. A colorful sky dominates the composition.
May 26, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
1stbascombe.bsky.social
Goodbye to an American Deathcamp and Charming Wedding Venue
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
Goodbye to an American Deathcamp and Charming Wedding Venue
Yesterday, Nottoway Plantation in Louisiana burned to the ground. It was the main house and command center of an American death camp that, at its height, held up to 176 human beings in the bonds of sl...
www.dailykos.com
May 17, 2025 at 4:35 AM
bengotow.com
The Gulch is our densest, most successful neighborhood, and serves a bunch of parking garages, etc - I really can’t fathom why we would not replicate 11th Ave (+a bus lane) on the east bank.
urbaneastnash.bsky.social East Nashville Urban Design @urbaneastnash.bsky.social · May 14
The Gulch has tall buildings

Streets in The Gulch are primarily 1 lane of automobile traffic in each direction.

It works great! Businesses are thriving, people are living, eating, working!

The Gulch is a great neighborhood.

The East Bank will not be a good neighborhood as currently designed.
May 14, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
ledbydonkeys.org
TANK vs TESLA

"We've crushed fascism before and we'll crush it again"

- ⁠WW2 veteran Ken, 98, in the tank
May 7, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
startleseasily.bsky.social
Here is the full text of @ginnywelsch.bsky.social's epic takedown of business as usual in Nashville's planning apparatus.
Thank you, Vice Mayor. I will be indefinitely deferring my bills. But I would be remiss if I did not point out that the process of getting here has clearly shown that the priorities of the planning department are at odds with the broader community as embodied in the community plan, NashvilleNext. How those priorities are chosen is anyone’s guess. The community plan clearly outlined what Nashvillians want, like walkability and affordability - yet planning continues to focus on things like the East Bank, where we have a blank canvas and can create whatever we can imagine, yet have a design that includes a 6-lane road through the middle of it. It’s mind boggling. My district has not grown in the over 20 years since being down zoned in 2003, and without adequate housing, we are losing the people and places that make our district unique. And our zoning is at fault. Three studies have come out recently that show that what I'm trying to do in my district with this legislation and how I am trying to do it is what needs to be done in Nashville, if we are to comprehensively address the housing crisis we face. It will allow new types of housing and create more housing opportunities that are sorely needed for the residents of Nashville. And yet, Planning continually asked me to slow down, to wait, to stop until they could present their own housing proposals in June. My intent was always to defer third reading on my bills, until after Planning’s housing & infrastructure study recommendations were put forth, and adjust accordingly. But I was very clear with Planning that I would not wait to start this process until June because Planning has a history of not meeting timelines, and slow walking real reform, and I wasn’t going to let my district’s housing situation continue to be unaddressed. And nowhere was this more obvious than at the planning commission. The outcome of my planning commission hearing was quite obviously preordained. Rehearsed was the word most people used. Commissioners did not talk about the substance of my legislation, or land use policy, which is the basis on which they are supposed to be making recommendations. They didn't even ask me a single question. Instead, they recommended disapproval because they didn't like the process. They looked me straight in the eye and said that planning should be leading rezonings like I am proposing, not me, and told me not to bring my legislation to council. But zoning is the exclusive purview of the legislative body, this council, and neither I nor my colleagues need to ask permission from or get the blessing of planning to move zoning in our districts. As the council, we should expect our departments to serve the people of Nashville. I know other council members have also had trouble working with the planning department, and regardless of what your issue has been with the Planning Department, I think we’re all wondering what guides Planning, and what determines their priorities? Because it’s not Nashville Next’s action plan. So, really, what guidance are they following? The planning department needs to have an accountable work agenda, and update council on a regular basis about what they are doing now and what they expect to do in future, as well as providing a comprehensive analysis of past efforts and their real life results. We as a council need to know if what is being done is actually addressing our needs. As was always my plan, community engagement and education about my legislation is continuing in my district. And my legislation will be back in some form because we need to tackle the housing crisis in my district. And we will do it, with or without planning. Because we cannot afford not to. With that, I renew my motion to indefinitely defer.
May 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
tomflood.bsky.social
evolution of a revolution.
picture of a car with text car below is the car faded with a bike showing through text Car go below is the bike clearer and the car faded and moved to the right text car go bye Clear shot of a cargo bike with text Cargo bike Replacing car trips one ride at a time
April 27, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
danielahorwitz.bsky.social
Yo what the fuck, I was told that the General Assembly had already adjourned for the year

www.wkrn.com/news/local-n...
17-year brood of cicadas set to emerge in Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee will soon get a little noisier thanks to a new brood of cicadas set to emerge.
www.wkrn.com
April 26, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
wildman.bsky.social
Nashville has a housing affordability crisis and a Planning commission that disapproves proposals to upzone urban neighborhoods by transit.

And when it’s time to design a main road for its blank-slate East Bank neighborhood, it throws its vision zero & sustainability goals into the river: 6 lanes!
The “preferred alternative” for Nashville’s East Bank Boulevard, the “Main Street” of the new East Bank neighborhood. Six total travel lanes, including 4 for private automobiles, lanes that will quite likely encourage speeds above the signs for 25 MPH. Not a pedestrian-friendly road, no facilities for bicycles, in spite of survey respondents asking for the east bank to prioritize pedestrians and bicycle riders.
April 25, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
gonebabygone.bsky.social
What if Elon is the first autistic person RFK has ever actually met and that’s why he assumes we don’t pay taxes or go on dates
April 18, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
anildash.com
There were *far* more than 200 people gathered to watch that guy eat a whole jar of cheese balls. The New York Times is just Facebook. The algorithm is rigged.
schooley.bsky.social Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · Apr 18
They are absolutely trolling us now. A conference for 200 people! Or one tenth the attendance of Las Vegas Fur Con, which notably does not get a trend piece in every major publication. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/s...
The Women Who Think the World Needs More Babies (Gift Article)
At a convention of the pronatalist movement, the relatively few women in attendance agreed: Motherhood needs a rebrand.
www.nytimes.com
April 19, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
cycling.city
NDOTs letting lobbyists make decisions on bikelanes. You ok with this, @freddieoconnell.bsky.social ? Egregious is a word...
April 18, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
burke.bsky.social
I’m glad we wasted everyone’s time with this. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/f...
S.F. made it easier three years ago to build fourplexes. None have been built as a result
Legislation in 2022 aimed to spur construction of small apartment buildings in San Francisco. The city has received 11 applications and nothing has been built.
www.sfchronicle.com
April 11, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
joshtpm.bsky.social
You may be fearing your 401k is no longer enough for you to retire. But with all the cuts to NIH and Medicare you also won't live as long. So the policies are integrated.
April 7, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
dieworkwear.bsky.social
Andrew Chen, co-founder of one of my favorite denim brands, 3sixteen, breaks down how the tariffs affect his company

IG 3sixteen
April 5, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
thetransitguy.com
Putting a 25% tariff on automobiles and then saying congestion pricing is a "tax on the working class" is actually so funny tbh
April 2, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
bransonreese.bsky.social
I see a lot of talk like "AI is here to stay. Get used to it. You'll be fine, buttercup" and I would take that more seriously if a single talented or interesting person was embracing it
March 29, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
clivethompson.bsky.social
So, the DOGE kids intend to rewrite the social-security administration's COBOL code-base!

and they want to do it ...

... in *a few months*

I did a huge dive into COBOL a few years ago (www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/magazi...) ...

... so let me explain why DOGE is *way* over its skis here

1/9
browse by category
www.wealthsimple.com
March 30, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
urbaneastnash.bsky.social
Couldn't sell so it's now listed for rent.

We had the opportunity for 33 small apartments (NIMBY'd in 2018) and then about 16 townhomes (NIMBY'd in 2022). So now we hv one giant house that nobody wants.

Right next to places many people enjoy eating & drinking.

www.zillow.com/homedetails/...
March 26, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Ben Gotow
neilkornutick.bsky.social
Every single person had a home worth more than ours. Incredible context.
jspencersharpe.bsky.social Spencer Sharpe @jspencersharpe.bsky.social · Mar 19
I looked up every address that was mentioned from those against the MHZC bill on Zillow.

Every single one is > 1mil, except for 2, which were over 800k.
March 19, 2025 at 1:37 PM