Rob Galanakis
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robgalanakis.bsky.social
Rob Galanakis
@robgalanakis.bsky.social
1.1K followers 580 following 2.5K posts
Proud parent of two children, a failed school board campaign, cargo bike, bike bus, small business, two rats, three chickens, and dozens of mortal enemies.
❤️ PDX
https://bikebuspdx.org and https://robgforpps.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
bikestuffpdx.bsky.social
SE Uplift is giving a free presentation on starting a free fridge! We could use more of those in District 3
January 3, 2026 at 3:19 AM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
Since I care more about winning than dogma, I'll point out this is a safely blue seat that has seen the Dem unopposed or with 70/30 vote split the last two decades. We need better people in the seats.
drmitchpdx.bsky.social mitch (he/him) @drmitchpdx.bsky.social · 1d
i was not joking. i have just endorsed Waz for the HD 38 race. Why? Because he’s willing to fight to properly resource our investments in the statewide transit system. And he supports protecting our investments in education at all stages. please support him.
January 2, 2026 at 4:15 PM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
Cars cost $10k+/year and the couple does not own a car. She could buy one of these a month and come out way ahead, plus the boots will keep higher resale value.
thorbenson.bsky.social Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 2d
New York Post looks normal
New York Post article about Mamdani's wife wearing expensive boots
January 1, 2026 at 9:03 PM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
What's to eat at PPS? ppsmenus.net is all up to date, *and* the 'Add to Google Calendar' stuff works right. Happy New Year!

cc @brianell.in @arudwick.bsky.social
PPS Menu Calendar Feeds
ppsmenus.net
January 1, 2026 at 7:33 PM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
Currently fixing up ppsmenus.net to parse the new PPS site format. Sorry it wasn't working for December! The CMS PPS chose is not so terrible at least.

Also going to try once again to get the google calendar quick-add links working.
PPS Menu Calendar Feeds
ppsmenus.net
January 1, 2026 at 6:40 PM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
Whew almost forgot, in just under the gun. Happy new year @councilortkl.bsky.social @pnwpolicyangel.bsky.social and Novick too!
3 political contribution receipts with timestamps of 11:55, 11:58, and 11:58
January 1, 2026 at 8:04 AM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
tigard-stripes.bsky.social
This is a motivating video! Can YOU leave the car at home for just 1 day a week? Drive less. Get healthy.
December 31, 2025 at 3:48 AM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
Something like 75% of child mortality used to be due to dehydration. It's why we invented sports drinks and water bottles and market them so hard. Thank you consumerism!
December 31, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
davidzipper.bsky.social
E-cargo bikes sound pretty amazing in this new UK study:

"Parents’ and children’s enjoyment, curiosity, and sense of adventure encouraged additional travel, transforming routine journeys into playful and memorable family experiences."

doi.org/10.1016/j.tb...
December 31, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
bikeportland.org
Cool ride alert!

On Jan 4, @oregonmetro.gov and @coachbalto.bsky.social have teamed up for an educational ride with world-renowned mobility and public space expert Simon Battisti More info on the BP Advocacy Calendar

bikeportland.org/events/educa...
Educational Ride With Simon Battisti
Oregon Metro is sponsoring an educational ride with Simon Battisti, Executive Director of the Relationship Center in Tirana. Simon joined a small group ride this summer and is returning for another...
bikeportland.org
December 29, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
koriander.bsky.social
dummies in local power think that Portland is just a few parking lots, or drive thru’s, or tax cuts away from eating the sun belt’s lunch. But our comparative advantage was always in how we distinguished ourselves from paved America. If we lose that, we have nothing.
December 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
arudwick.bsky.social
This thread is awesome. Stewing on it for a few days I have a few thoughts.

a) Naysayers will try to find a small fault in the plan and write off the whole thing despite it having a LOT of good ideas in it. Commit to fighting that narrative for / with @jakz92.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/jakz...
jakz92.bsky.social Jonathan @jakz92.bsky.social · 13d
With a little bit of creativity, HB2017's promised freeway improvements could be delivered immediately for just the cost of paint and a bit of asphalt. It would look something like this. The promised improvements were:
- Address Rose Quarter congestion
- Improve north-south vehicle flow
December 26, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
bigblinkpdx.bsky.social
The term "revolving door" describes movement from the public sector to the private sector (and vice versa).

Many Portlanders have walked through the revolving door and slowly, bit by bit, Big Blink PDX has been taking steps to surface the phenomenon as it exists in Portland City lobbying data.
December 25, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
oregonian.com
Officials say there could be more victims in the case and are looking for accomplices.
Suspect in string of Portland area bike thefts indicted on burglary charges
Officials say there could be more victims in the case and are looking for accomplices.
www.oregonlive.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:30 PM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
It's not political, it's about ethics in (games) journalism!

I'm still amazed by how easy it is for these people to be fooled.
sallyjenx.bsky.social Sally Jenkins @sallyjenx.bsky.social · 11d
The Bari Weiss hysteria continues. Exactly what in "this piece isn't ready" and "try harder to get comment from the administration" constitutes the death of American journalism? www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
What Bari Weiss Got Right
And what she got wrong
www.theatlantic.com
December 24, 2025 at 7:58 AM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
That's a full welfare, all the way.
Double welfare, oh my god, double welfare.
What does it mean,
Starting to look like a triple welfare,
That's a full welfare now ohhhhh.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11d
Rep. Comer: "The early numbers that I'm getting in on the Somalis in Minnesota is 75% of the Somalis in Minnesota are on full government assistance. That's full welfare."
December 23, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
fischer.bsky.social
allowing apartments in the entire portland inner eastside is going to go from groundbreaking zoning policy to table stakes for west coast cities in the time it’s taken us to study it. going big these days has to mean going BIG
December 23, 2025 at 3:12 AM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
Finally lack of sickness, weather, and work schedules synced and we have our #treebybike!
December 23, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
drmitchpdx.bsky.social
Centrist Dems have enabled austerity by ceding ground to reactionaries in the state legislature, and we're worse off for it. If you have a plan to win and a vision for a budget that invests in our communities by actually taxing those with the ability to pay, then let's talk about your campaign.
December 21, 2025 at 7:33 PM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
The more I worked on this public comment the more I learned about zoning and permitting and the more I believed the DQ drive through is toast. I expect PP&D's decision and justification will be close to what I've come up with since there's no way the applicant's narrative holds up in court.
After reviewing the Applicant's submission in detail, and hearing from Applicant in the media and at Neighborhood Association meetings, I would like to point out the following weaknesses with their case that should result in denial. First, the context is that the project has seen delays (now active more than six years) which have been largely the fault of Applicant. • Permitting delays due to PP&D and COVID were obviously present, but we're now more than double the legal timeline for preservation of nonconforming use. • As is evidenced by permitting history and emails, Applicant changed plans many times and was often late on payments and revisions, including a change in architect. This added significant delay to the project outside of what PP&D is responsible for. • It is well established that reasonable permitting delays do not continue a non-conforming use (and as we will see, PP&D has been very generous on this point). None of the cases referenced by Applicant state otherwise. • The fact that the permitting delays are not entirely or even mostly the fault of PP&D is evidenced in at least three places: ◦ Applicant's aforementioned delays due to payment and revisions. ◦ Statements to journalists in this Franklin Post article (https://fhspost.com/8671/feature/the-inside-scoop- on-the-division-street-dairy-queen/), indicating Applicant believed construction was imminent: ▪ “We had some missteps along the way that caused us to change architects.” ▪ “We were granted permits to rebuild at the beginning of this year (2023).” ▪ “We are hopeful to begin construction early next year (2024).” ◦ The fact that the Burger King at Grand and Hawthorne burned down at a similar time as the DQ was demolished (2019), and opened this year, much faster than the DQ even with the unexpected event of a fire and a franchise change. • Applicant was told many times that their right to build a drive through expired in 2022. The key part of Applicant's case rests on two sentences in the August 7, 2024 email Jill Grenda in PP&D. Applicant was told that permit 18-210965, issued October 11, 2022, would extend Applicant's rights to build a drive though until October 11, 2025. • Applicant's narrative asserts that these two sentences, highlighted in Applicant's submission, establish an active permit as a perpetual right to construct a drive though. ◦ "PP&D treated issuance of the Building Permit as continuing the use and preserving your right to reestablish the associated drive through." ◦ "If your permit expires, the code will not allow you to reestablish the drive through on the property." • In context, however, it is clear enough that Ms Grenda's clause "if your permit expires", means "if the permit is expired by PP&D in December 2024 because no construction has started", as stated in the preceding line: "PP&D intends to begin expiring permits in December 2024 if no construction activity has begun." ◦ That is, Ms Grenda's email states that unless construction is begun by December 2024, the right to build a drive through would expire then, not October 2025. It is trying to be helpful to Applicant by explaining that their drive through rights may expire before October 2025. ◦ The statement "continuing the use and preserving your right" is meant in the same way as the original demolition permit does according to City Code (establishing the 3 year timeline). The statement does not and cannot establish new City policy that allows perpetual nonconforming rights. ◦ Ms Grenda's email further warns Applicant that the revision accepted in April 2023 maintains the drive through, even though it will be nonconforming in about 14 months. ◦ The full text is: "PP&D treated issuance of the Building Permit as continuing the use and preserving your right to reestablish the associated drive through. On April 26, 2023, PP&D accepted a revision request to the Building Permit and as of August 1, 2024, it is still in “Under Review” status. The revision requests reconfiguration of the first and second floors but does not change the location of the drive-through depicted in the 2018 Building Permit. In 2020, PP&D temporarily suspended expiration of inactive building permits due to financial hardships caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. Prior to 2020, permits with no activity for 180 days moved to “expired” status, but PP&D has not expired any permits since 2020. PP&D intends to begin expiring permits in December 2024 if no construction activity has begun. If your permit expires, the code will not allow you to reestablish the drive through on the property." PP&D should not have made the extension for drive through rights at all, but they did as a gesture of goodwill. • The unusual nature of this extension is alluded to in the same email: "Further, PP&D’s decision to approve revisions and allow construction of the restaurant and drive through could be appealed. If an appeal is successful, PP&D could be required to modify or reverse its approval." • Applicant believes that this email establishes the right to build a drive through as long as the permit is active. • But PP&D makes no statement, and there should be no expectation, that simply having an active permit preserves Applicant's right to a drive though. To do so would have been unprecedented and could have created legal risk for PP&D by following arbitrary processes. PP&D cannot start treating only some permits as perpetual extensions of nonconforming use. • Indeed, the arbitrary behavior PP&D is being accused of would be true if they meant for this permit to establish perpetual rights, since this is not how nearly all permitting cases have been treated. • Ms Grenda's email instructed Applicant to consult with an attorney. It would be obvious to anyone familiar with zoning that the right to build the drive through established by the permit must expire, even if the permit continues to be active. The idea that it would continue in perpetuity would strike them as impossible without an unambiguous concrete policy to that effect. But Applicant did not ask for clarification at any point. • Applicant, in the narrative and statements to the media and neighborhood groups, has implied that PP&D has come out of nowhere by expiring the rights in October 2025. This is not the case, as explained above- Ms Grenda's email implies the October 2025 expiration. PP&D contacted Applicant on September 17, almost a month before the permit expired, informing them about the expiration. Applicant has implied that PP&D should have proactively reached out to him about the October 2025 expira…
December 22, 2025 at 3:54 AM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
Excellent thread!
seancasten.bsky.social Sean Casten @seancasten.bsky.social · 14d
1. First, let's talk about the elephant in the room that he doesn't mention explicitly but haunts the whole piece: climate change is real, we've overshot the goal and the only way to turn the corner is to leave fossil fuel in the ground. To ignore that is to talk about rocketry and ignore gravity.
December 20, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
mattvillers.bsky.social
With respect, "I don't want my neighborhood streets choked up by cars in a drive-thru line" and "I want getting an ice cream bar to be ever so slightly more convenient" are really not comparable and should not be weighed equally by the people making policy decisions.
December 18, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Reposted by Rob Galanakis
tonyjordan.bsky.social
Fuck cars.
Fuck all cars.
Fuck this car.
Fuck that car.
Fuck their car.
Fuck your car.
Fuck cars.
Fuck all cars.
warrenjwells.bsky.social Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 19d
"A woman was seen on the ground screaming and wailing as two other women tried to comfort her."

This is 100% my biggest nightmare. It is increasingly dangerous to just *walk* around our cities, and our electeds are mostly asleep at the wheel while kids die.

www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
4-year-old boy dies after being run over in S.F., police report says
The driver remained on the scene after the Sunday morning collision in Hayes Valley, police said.
www.sfchronicle.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:35 PM
robgalanakis.bsky.social
This is an absolutely incredible take. Can you imagine the circles this person rolls in that this opinion is so popular and normalized he'd write a letter to the editor?

Readers respond: Business-friendly Oregon falters on land development - oregonlive.com share.google/VTQGHXW6eYow...
At the same time, development and infrastructure costs soared to many multiples of the original estimates. We finally worked with a homebuilder/land developer, spending millions and millions of dollars to solve the development hurdles and justify and quantify the costs. Only closing the golf course and planning to build almost 1,000 homes made it feasible to cover all the development costs.
December 16, 2025 at 3:23 AM