RJ Sheperd
@rjsheperd.com
Sentient human interested in all things Cycling / Transit / Cities / Decentralized Web / Lisp / Clojure / Geospatial.
📍 Portland, OR
Check out: #RailSky #WalkNRoll #PDXBikes #BikeBus #Transit #YIMBY #DWeb #Clojure #GIS #maps
📍 Portland, OR
Check out: #RailSky #WalkNRoll #PDXBikes #BikeBus #Transit #YIMBY #DWeb #Clojure #GIS #maps
Pinned
RJ Sheperd
@rjsheperd.com
· Jun 27
#HB2025 funding for roads, transit & rail needs your help! If you or people you know live in the Oregon Coast or Eastern Oregon, please ask contact these legislators: Sen. Todd Nash, Sen Suzanne Weber, and Sen. Dick Anderson.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
TIL Japan built the bullet train before California built the 5 freeway.
The best time to build a high speed rail line was 20 years ago, the second best time to build one is today.
The best time to build a high speed rail line was 20 years ago, the second best time to build one is today.
December 29, 2025 at 11:20 PM
TIL Japan built the bullet train before California built the 5 freeway.
The best time to build a high speed rail line was 20 years ago, the second best time to build one is today.
The best time to build a high speed rail line was 20 years ago, the second best time to build one is today.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
I’m so excited to see more grants supporting cargo bikes!
This one is for businesses and awards are $3k-$24,500.
😍
This one is for businesses and awards are $3k-$24,500.
😍
Minnesota businesses can apply *right now* for a grant to purchase e-bikes for commercial use through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) Small Business Environmental Assistance Program!
More info: content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MPL...
More info: content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MPL...
Cargo Bikes for Business: Grant Opportunity
content.govdelivery.com
December 29, 2025 at 5:43 PM
I’m so excited to see more grants supporting cargo bikes!
This one is for businesses and awards are $3k-$24,500.
😍
This one is for businesses and awards are $3k-$24,500.
😍
Wait wait wait - Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft are all getting tax breaks PAID FOR by Climate-mitigation dollars?
When did the companies that are committing climate arson become eligible for tax breaks??
cc @volts.wtf @sightline.org
When did the companies that are committing climate arson become eligible for tax breaks??
cc @volts.wtf @sightline.org
Over $500 million in funding that likely would have been allocated to sustainable transportation and clean energy programs will instead be used to backfill an existing tax credit under Washington Governor Bob Ferguson's budget package.
Story: www.theurbanist.org/2025/12/29/f...
Story: www.theurbanist.org/2025/12/29/f...
Ferguson Proposes ‘Unprecedented Sweep’ of Climate Dollars to Balance State Budget » The Urbanist
# Over $500 million in funding that likely would have been allocated to sustainable transportation and clean energy programs will instead be used to backfill an existing tax credit under Washington Go...
www.theurbanist.org
December 29, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Wait wait wait - Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft are all getting tax breaks PAID FOR by Climate-mitigation dollars?
When did the companies that are committing climate arson become eligible for tax breaks??
cc @volts.wtf @sightline.org
When did the companies that are committing climate arson become eligible for tax breaks??
cc @volts.wtf @sightline.org
1. Riding the Lent Bike Bus (the longest Bike Bus in PDX!)
2. Downtown Sunday Parkways - closed for cars, open for PEOPLE
3. Hopping the train & ferry to BC (Galloping Goose 🫶)
4. Shoving my Cargo Bike into an elevator with hundreds of Tamales for Single Stair Kickoff w/ @holz-bau.bsky.social !
2. Downtown Sunday Parkways - closed for cars, open for PEOPLE
3. Hopping the train & ferry to BC (Galloping Goose 🫶)
4. Shoving my Cargo Bike into an elevator with hundreds of Tamales for Single Stair Kickoff w/ @holz-bau.bsky.social !
December 29, 2025 at 7:56 PM
1. Riding the Lent Bike Bus (the longest Bike Bus in PDX!)
2. Downtown Sunday Parkways - closed for cars, open for PEOPLE
3. Hopping the train & ferry to BC (Galloping Goose 🫶)
4. Shoving my Cargo Bike into an elevator with hundreds of Tamales for Single Stair Kickoff w/ @holz-bau.bsky.social !
2. Downtown Sunday Parkways - closed for cars, open for PEOPLE
3. Hopping the train & ferry to BC (Galloping Goose 🫶)
4. Shoving my Cargo Bike into an elevator with hundreds of Tamales for Single Stair Kickoff w/ @holz-bau.bsky.social !
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
tabling intersections solve this but we've given over 98% of urban public realm to cars so we're forever doomed to have terrible and expensive sidewalks
Here's one I complained relentlessly about and got the city to remove the river rocks BLOCKING THE PATH TO THE BEG BUTTON and weirdo curb/tripping hazard, but it still sucks!
December 29, 2025 at 5:13 PM
tabling intersections solve this but we've given over 98% of urban public realm to cars so we're forever doomed to have terrible and expensive sidewalks
What the fuck. A 15 YEAR car loan???
December 29, 2025 at 5:42 PM
What the fuck. A 15 YEAR car loan???
Santa takes the MAX too!
December 29, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Santa takes the MAX too!
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
State funded projects should be entitled and permitted by the state. This situation is absurd.
Call it Schrödinger's affordable housing project — both dead and alive at the same time.
Now after nearly a decade of dispute the fate of a 120-unit, low-income apartment building along the iconic canals in Venice Beach may affect all development in LA
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...
Now after nearly a decade of dispute the fate of a 120-unit, low-income apartment building along the iconic canals in Venice Beach may affect all development in LA
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...
‘Dead’ to City Hall, but funded by the state: The high-stakes fight over a Los Angeles affordable housing project
State housing officials could limit Los Angeles' access to funds and strip it of some zoning authority over its efforts to block low-income housing in Venice.
www.politico.com
December 29, 2025 at 12:12 AM
State funded projects should be entitled and permitted by the state. This situation is absurd.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
I spent the bulk of Christmas Day teaching 14 year old who wants off the algo how to use their brand new CD player. I have never in my life felt more like the holder of sacred arcane knowledge.
Buttons are back. Knobs are back. Dumb devices are back. Own-it-forever software is back. Print is back. Personal websites and chronological feeds are back. Touching grass is back. People keep saying 2015, but it’s not far enough. The entire 2010s were a mistake. We must retvrn to… 2009.
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its senses.
December 28, 2025 at 3:58 AM
I spent the bulk of Christmas Day teaching 14 year old who wants off the algo how to use their brand new CD player. I have never in my life felt more like the holder of sacred arcane knowledge.
CA utility prices are so high ($0.54/kWh), it pencils out to install solar & storage for most homeowners.
We’re getting to the point where solar & storage providers allows you to cut yourself out from the grid entirely, and just lease the system for a low fixed rate.
We’re getting to the point where solar & storage providers allows you to cut yourself out from the grid entirely, and just lease the system for a low fixed rate.
Solar power installations in the U.S. in 2025 are expected to exceed the record set in 2024. www.utilitydive.com/news/solar-g... ☀️🔌💡
December 28, 2025 at 5:19 PM
CA utility prices are so high ($0.54/kWh), it pencils out to install solar & storage for most homeowners.
We’re getting to the point where solar & storage providers allows you to cut yourself out from the grid entirely, and just lease the system for a low fixed rate.
We’re getting to the point where solar & storage providers allows you to cut yourself out from the grid entirely, and just lease the system for a low fixed rate.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
Buttons are back. Knobs are back. Dumb devices are back. Own-it-forever software is back. Print is back. Personal websites and chronological feeds are back. Touching grass is back. People keep saying 2015, but it’s not far enough. The entire 2010s were a mistake. We must retvrn to… 2009.
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its senses.
Rejoice! Carmakers Are Embracing Physical Buttons Again
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its…
wrd.cm
December 28, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Buttons are back. Knobs are back. Dumb devices are back. Own-it-forever software is back. Print is back. Personal websites and chronological feeds are back. Touching grass is back. People keep saying 2015, but it’s not far enough. The entire 2010s were a mistake. We must retvrn to… 2009.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
All of the money that changed hands in the Teapot Dome scandal totaled less than $10 million after adjusting for inflation, and it was considered so corrupt we still teach it in high school government classes a century later.
Corruption so pungent, it wafts right off the page:
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Even some of the president’s closest advisers have been surprised by a number of the recent series of pardons.
www.wsj.com
December 27, 2025 at 9:24 PM
All of the money that changed hands in the Teapot Dome scandal totaled less than $10 million after adjusting for inflation, and it was considered so corrupt we still teach it in high school government classes a century later.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its senses.
Rejoice! Carmakers Are Embracing Physical Buttons Again
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its…
wrd.cm
December 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its senses.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
I snapped this image of the MAX at Pioneer Courthouse Square tonight in war ravaged Portland, Oregon. My favorite part: no right on red. 🥰 #PDX
December 27, 2025 at 3:41 AM
I snapped this image of the MAX at Pioneer Courthouse Square tonight in war ravaged Portland, Oregon. My favorite part: no right on red. 🥰 #PDX
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
Speaks to something deeply wrong with capitalism that Lampert was allowed to annihilate the value of this company to less than nothing while still walking away with hundreds of millions in profits for himself from the saga.
Sears had more than 3,400 stores in 2005 -- then it was purchased by a hedge fund magnate.
Why Sears’s Last Great Hope Was a Promise That Never Materialized
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Speaks to something deeply wrong with capitalism that Lampert was allowed to annihilate the value of this company to less than nothing while still walking away with hundreds of millions in profits for himself from the saga.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
Robotaxis make urban transportation more fragile.
If you want resilience, invest in transit.
If you want resilience, invest in transit.
waymo paused its robotaxi service as national weather service issued flash flood warnings in SF on christmas - @cnbc.com
www.cnbc.com/2025/12/25/w...
www.cnbc.com/2025/12/25/w...
Waymo pauses robotaxis in SF again due to flash flood warnings on Christmas Day
Waymo again paused it robotaxi service, citing a flash flood warning on Christmas Day.
www.cnbc.com
December 26, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Robotaxis make urban transportation more fragile.
If you want resilience, invest in transit.
If you want resilience, invest in transit.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
“Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor & strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself.”
Obvious to any REAL Christian. #MerryChristmas
Obvious to any REAL Christian. #MerryChristmas
Pope Leo, on Christmas Eve, says denying help to poor is rejecting God
Leo has made care for immigrants and the poor key themes of his early papacy.
www.reuters.com
December 25, 2025 at 4:00 AM
“Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor & strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself.”
Obvious to any REAL Christian. #MerryChristmas
Obvious to any REAL Christian. #MerryChristmas
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
I would knock a million doors, fundraise, cartwheel down the middle of my street for a candidate who promised to tax the rich and fully fund schools. I am not even sure I can muster energy to fill in the bubble on my ballot for whatever this is.
Cutting property taxes for Oregonians affected by wildfires. Canceling planned freeway tolls. Pausing local new taxes in the Portland area. We have to keep going to make life more affordable for Oregonians.
December 24, 2025 at 10:47 PM
I would knock a million doors, fundraise, cartwheel down the middle of my street for a candidate who promised to tax the rich and fully fund schools. I am not even sure I can muster energy to fill in the bubble on my ballot for whatever this is.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
I see there’s a post about microplastics going around with a photo of drinking straws, so here is my semi-regular reminder that the 3 biggest sources of microplastics are tires (45%), synthetic clothing particles (35%) and paint (~10%).
Lay article attached:
Lay article attached:
One of the biggest microplastic pollution sources isn’t straws or grocery bags – it’s your tires
Every few years, the tires on your car wear thin and need to be replaced. But where does that lost tire material go? The answer, unfortunately, is often waterways, where the tiny microplastic particle...
www.pbs.org
December 24, 2025 at 4:49 AM
I see there’s a post about microplastics going around with a photo of drinking straws, so here is my semi-regular reminder that the 3 biggest sources of microplastics are tires (45%), synthetic clothing particles (35%) and paint (~10%).
Lay article attached:
Lay article attached:
All I want for Christmas is a TBM — for the downtown Portland MAX tunnel 🚈💨
Hope Santa’s got a big enough sleigh for you @trimet.org !
Hope Santa’s got a big enough sleigh for you @trimet.org !
Progress of the excavations for the Athens Metro Line 4 and photos from two visits 10.2024 & 12.2025. TBM2 has almost reached the end of its path, TBM1 is almost halfway. Line 4 will serve 15 stations and will be 12,8 km long, with GoA4, 80 m long 4 car trains and PSDs. Planned 2029, expected 2031.
December 23, 2025 at 9:29 PM
All I want for Christmas is a TBM — for the downtown Portland MAX tunnel 🚈💨
Hope Santa’s got a big enough sleigh for you @trimet.org !
Hope Santa’s got a big enough sleigh for you @trimet.org !
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
And it wouldn’t even be all that hard to make US roads safer and save those lives. It only SEEMS “hard” because the US has chosen to make it hard, in part because they’ve convinced themselves those deaths are unavoidable.
All they’d have to do to change all that is change their minds. That’s it.
All they’d have to do to change all that is change their minds. That’s it.
Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.
December 23, 2025 at 8:35 AM
And it wouldn’t even be all that hard to make US roads safer and save those lives. It only SEEMS “hard” because the US has chosen to make it hard, in part because they’ve convinced themselves those deaths are unavoidable.
All they’d have to do to change all that is change their minds. That’s it.
All they’d have to do to change all that is change their minds. That’s it.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
blue states should create escrow accounts into which citizens pay their federal taxes but are withheld by the state until the federal government stops acting like its only obligated towards states that support the maga agenda
Sean Duffy on blue states: "What I can do is I can pull their money. That's the leverage I do have ... I guarantee you that the federal taxpayer is not going to fund their roads and bridges and their systems when they are putting illegals on the roads."
December 23, 2025 at 2:34 PM
blue states should create escrow accounts into which citizens pay their federal taxes but are withheld by the state until the federal government stops acting like its only obligated towards states that support the maga agenda
WA putting highway maintenance on the “credit card” WHILE expanding highways is rich.
This just means more costly debt burden for young people and fewer tax dollars for the healthcare and education. All to help subsidize sprawl.
This just means more costly debt burden for young people and fewer tax dollars for the healthcare and education. All to help subsidize sprawl.
NEW STORY // Ferguson Proposes Borrowing $3 Billion for Highway Maintenance, Ferries
Story by Ryan Packer via @theurbanist.org // 🔗 www.theurbanist.org/2025/12/22/f...
Story by Ryan Packer via @theurbanist.org // 🔗 www.theurbanist.org/2025/12/22/f...
Ferguson Proposes Borrowing $3 Billion for Highway Maintenance, Ferries » The Urbanist
# The governor's proposed $3 billion in bonds would add onto a Washington state transportation budget that already allocates nearly 12% to debt service. With a 60% vote needed to authorize, the idea w...
www.theurbanist.org
December 22, 2025 at 11:38 PM
WA putting highway maintenance on the “credit card” WHILE expanding highways is rich.
This just means more costly debt burden for young people and fewer tax dollars for the healthcare and education. All to help subsidize sprawl.
This just means more costly debt burden for young people and fewer tax dollars for the healthcare and education. All to help subsidize sprawl.
Reposted by RJ Sheperd
An unmarked, marked, or beaconed crosswalk is malpractice on a 4-lane high speed road.
You have to add grade separation (bridge/tunnel), time separation (traffic signal), or narrow the road to one lane per direction and add a refuge island.
Otherwise people die!
You have to add grade separation (bridge/tunnel), time separation (traffic signal), or narrow the road to one lane per direction and add a refuge island.
Otherwise people die!
Drivers often struck people on foot and bike in an unsignalized marked crosswalk w/ beacons near the Salt Creek Trail. In 2022, instead of installing a stoplight, IDOT removed the crosswalk. Last month, a driver killed ex-Trib VP Walter Mahoney, 74, there.
chi.streetsblog.org/2025/12/08/d...
chi.streetsblog.org/2025/12/08/d...
December 22, 2025 at 5:12 PM
An unmarked, marked, or beaconed crosswalk is malpractice on a 4-lane high speed road.
You have to add grade separation (bridge/tunnel), time separation (traffic signal), or narrow the road to one lane per direction and add a refuge island.
Otherwise people die!
You have to add grade separation (bridge/tunnel), time separation (traffic signal), or narrow the road to one lane per direction and add a refuge island.
Otherwise people die!