mattsauer.bsky.social
@mattsauer.bsky.social
Architect in Dayton, Ohio
Reposted
"People drove 1.8 million fewer miles on city streets....City Council voted this summer to extend it [free transit] another year, paying for it with a 1 percent increase in utility taxes and by doubling most public parking rates to $2 from $1"
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/c...
Iowa City Made Its Buses Free. Traffic Cleared, and So Did the Air.
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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Sign me up for free transit in exchange for a small municipal tax increase + doubling parking fees
November 22, 2025 at 9:01 PM
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Steven Conn's book "Americans against the City" is an essential history of American anti-urbanism. It will help you understand why fear and hostility toward people who live in cities runs so deeply in US culture and politics. Good summary:

www.governing.com/urban/why-we...
Why We Despise Cities and Yet Are Drawn to Them
Americans have always feared crowding and congestion, blaming the anonymity of the city for a decline in community feeling. But cities’ energy and vitality continue to pull people toward urban life.
www.governing.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:08 PM
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Removing urban highways is one of the most difficult challenges in the Strong Towns playbook. But the story of I-195 in Providence, Rhode Island shows that it can be done.
July 26, 2025 at 3:19 PM
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At some point in a long life, you will reach an age where driving is no longer viable or desirable. The key to retaining your freedom of independent mobility is equitable active infrastructure within cities.

Holambra, São Paulo 🇧🇷
February 27, 2025 at 5:48 PM
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Imagine the livability and vibrancy that could occupy the spaces where highways carve through our cities.
February 16, 2025 at 7:33 PM
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Since MassDOT installed separated bike lanes on the Mass Ave Bridge in 2021, Boston has counted a daily average of 6,160 bikes, a 51% increase. 🚲
February 9, 2025 at 1:56 AM
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Rather than pausing to linger, American pedestrians are racing through streets – and doing so alone.

A new study from Ed Glaeser, Carlo Ratti, et al. raises troubling questions about the decline of streetlife.

Me, in CityLab 🧵
What Happened to Hanging Out on the Street?
Urban pedestrians are walking faster and doing less socializing, according to a new study of NYC, Boston and Philadelphia. Is technology to blame, or public space itself?
www.bloomberg.com
January 23, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Dayton’s too, though at the moment it’s exacerbated by 8” of snow and lax property owners
The fact that Berkeley's powered wheelchair users seem to exclusively travel in the street is such a sorry indictment of our city's sidewalks.
January 19, 2025 at 2:32 AM
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In Georgia, a mom facing eviction reached out to DFCS for help. They offered her nothing. Soon the agency took her kids away because of "inadequate housing."

The state then paid *$6,200 a month* to house her kids in foster care.

One of the most important and infuriating stories I read this year:
When Families Need Housing, Georgia Will Pay for Foster Care Rather Than Provide Assistance
In more than 700 cases over five years, Georgia reported inadequate housing as the sole reason for taking a child into foster care, a WABE and ProPublica analysis found. Advocates say it would be chea...
www.propublica.org
December 30, 2024 at 8:02 PM
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Today it felt like I could have stepped up onto the platform and walked through the portal right into Poland!
January 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM
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Dayton's population density in 1950
December 18, 2024 at 6:40 PM
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Parking lots turn streets into miserable places to walk.

New study finds that parking lots "negatively - and substantially - impact walkability; their objective walkability score is half that of other road segments."

findingspress.org/article/1271...
December 18, 2024 at 12:58 PM
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As said this before, but one of the secrets of the generally high-quality urban public spaces in France is that they can design them with way narrower lanes and with way more obstacles for cars in and immediately adjacent to the lane than what NA design practice and guidelines allow.
December 12, 2024 at 4:06 PM
Dayton needs this more than just a UD to downtown shuttle
December 8, 2024 at 3:50 AM
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It’s VERY important that #Vancouver’s Downtown Business Association, who were originally against downtown bike-lanes, are now among their most vigourous supporters, because of the evidence that they are better for downtown business than any street parking they replaced.

Bike-lanes mean business.
December 1, 2024 at 10:06 PM
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Thursday, Nov 21st, at 7pm, the @allaboardohio.bsky.social Dayton chapter will host a public info meeting at the Goodwill Easter Seals at 660 S Main St! Come on over if you want to be a part of bringing the 3C+D corridor to Ohio! www.wyso.org/2024-11-04/o...
Ohioans can weigh in on passenger rail, freight train safety via statewide survey
Responses will help update the Ohio Rail Plan, which is used by the state to compete for federal grant opportunities.
www.wyso.org
November 20, 2024 at 4:54 PM