Ben S
@bensh3.bsky.social
Transit planning & geospatial analysis
Ed Bacon fan | 平均地权 upholder | Philadelphia maneto
Posts are mine only and don't reflect anyone else
Ed Bacon fan | 平均地权 upholder | Philadelphia maneto
Posts are mine only and don't reflect anyone else
With two NJ light rail projects now not poised to not get federal funding (+Glassboro-Camden Line), maybe NJ Transit should trade in NEPA planners for in-house capital engineers and incrementally build out the extensions with state funding
“The Northern Branch Project”from NJ Transit will bring the Light Rail tracks 10 miles further north to an anticipated terminal at Englewood Hospital
NJ Transit Announces Plans to Expand Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Service
The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line will extend service into North Bergen with a proposed station at Englewood Hospital. Read more.
www.hobokengirl.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM
With two NJ light rail projects now not poised to not get federal funding (+Glassboro-Camden Line), maybe NJ Transit should trade in NEPA planners for in-house capital engineers and incrementally build out the extensions with state funding
Reposted by Ben S
Police say a woman was struck and killed by a car while walking to work with colleagues in University City early Thursday morning. The driver fled the scene. www.audacy.com/kywnewsradio...
Woman fatally struck by car while walking to work in University City
Philadelphia police said a woman was struck and killed by a car while walking to work with colleagues in University City on Thursday morning. The driver fled the scene.
www.audacy.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Police say a woman was struck and killed by a car while walking to work with colleagues in University City early Thursday morning. The driver fled the scene. www.audacy.com/kywnewsradio...
"over the past century most of the vacant property in the city has been developed, the budget says"
November 20, 2025 at 4:33 AM
"over the past century most of the vacant property in the city has been developed, the budget says"
Just like how @councilmemberjg.bsky.social hopes the courts will rule in her favor to build housing, I hope that future upzoning efforts by the Councilmember will enable housing to be built by-right without years of delays and legal risk. It's only the logical thing to do
November 20, 2025 at 4:23 AM
Just like how @councilmemberjg.bsky.social hopes the courts will rule in her favor to build housing, I hope that future upzoning efforts by the Councilmember will enable housing to be built by-right without years of delays and legal risk. It's only the logical thing to do
Reposted by Ben S
Why does Philly have so much public art? Because we demand it! Come learn about Philly‘s historic Percent for Art mandate. A history-making work of dual legislations that cities across the country are still emulating to this day.
November 20, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Why does Philly have so much public art? Because we demand it! Come learn about Philly‘s historic Percent for Art mandate. A history-making work of dual legislations that cities across the country are still emulating to this day.
Love that WMATA has a portable pylon they can break out for photo ops
Exciting news for West Falls Church! Today, we broke ground on a mixed-use project that'll be developed in three phases and include up to 1 million square feet of new residential, office, and retail space! Thank you to all who came out to celebrate.
➡️: wmata.com/about/news/M...
➡️: wmata.com/about/news/M...
November 19, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Love that WMATA has a portable pylon they can break out for photo ops
The irony of this normative argument is that it's been much harder to get the suburbs to densify even incrementally than it is in cities for obvious reasons. And getting suburbs to be sustainable *requires* restricting greenfield sprawl, putting upward pressure on affordability.
Because people actually advocate for worse policy when they can't concede that the core preferences of Americans (which are culturally derived! but still real!) seem to point towards car ownership and single-family home ownership. We need more emphasis on sustainable suburban development and density
What is the point of having abstract discussions about what people might want in the absence of subsidies for one kind of lifestyle or another? Why not focus on adopting good policies (removing subsidies for pollution, etc.) and see what emerges?
November 19, 2025 at 6:16 PM
The irony of this normative argument is that it's been much harder to get the suburbs to densify even incrementally than it is in cities for obvious reasons. And getting suburbs to be sustainable *requires* restricting greenfield sprawl, putting upward pressure on affordability.
Reposted by Ben S
The policy of funding public education through the tax base of the people being educated creates some uniquely bad incentives in the USA compared to other developed countries: the Japanese really quickly stopped using that funding model when we introduced it to them postwar.
November 19, 2025 at 2:36 AM
The policy of funding public education through the tax base of the people being educated creates some uniquely bad incentives in the USA compared to other developed countries: the Japanese really quickly stopped using that funding model when we introduced it to them postwar.
Reposted by Ben S
NEW: The Philadelphia Housing Authority is planning sweeping layoffs that will affect more than 300 of the agency’s 1,200 employees.
Instead of directly employing union electricians, carpenters and other workers, beginning next year, the agency will contract out for those jobs as needed.
Instead of directly employing union electricians, carpenters and other workers, beginning next year, the agency will contract out for those jobs as needed.
Philly Housing Authority plans to lay off more than 300 workers in 2026
The layoffs come as the authority is pursuing an ambitious expansion plan.
www.inquirer.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:17 PM
NEW: The Philadelphia Housing Authority is planning sweeping layoffs that will affect more than 300 of the agency’s 1,200 employees.
Instead of directly employing union electricians, carpenters and other workers, beginning next year, the agency will contract out for those jobs as needed.
Instead of directly employing union electricians, carpenters and other workers, beginning next year, the agency will contract out for those jobs as needed.
Reposted by Ben S
It's kind of funny because Will stancil is normally a big believer in the idea that ideas not material conditions shape history and like one of the best examples of this is how 1950s elites were convinced cars were The Future™ and completely destroyed American urbanism with negligible public debate
I mean it's not this simple but a handful of policy elites really did drastically reengineer our urban fabric in ways that were popular in the immediate term and created massive social dysfunction beyond that.
Because a lot of leftists/progressives have pseudo conspiratorial models of reality where they think the only reason Americans live in suburbs is bc GM tore up the streetcar lines in LA etc.
November 19, 2025 at 3:05 AM
It's kind of funny because Will stancil is normally a big believer in the idea that ideas not material conditions shape history and like one of the best examples of this is how 1950s elites were convinced cars were The Future™ and completely destroyed American urbanism with negligible public debate
Reposted by Ben S
I have a feeling this suffers heavily from the data completeness problems encountered by European-compiled indices lol
November 19, 2025 at 4:01 AM
I have a feeling this suffers heavily from the data completeness problems encountered by European-compiled indices lol
Reposted by Ben S
November 19, 2025 at 1:52 AM
That's all folks, all that supposedly-YIMBY Gov Shapiro is getting you in Harrisburg. No Mt Laurel, no zoning/building code preemption. Maybe we can work some amendments in the preapproved housing plans but not hopeful
Upcoming package of housing bills made the consponsorship memo page today
They'd create:
-A Residential Economic Development District (REDD) grant program to be paired with job creating projects
-System of preapproved designs
-Housing opportunity agency
-State housing ombudsman
They'd create:
-A Residential Economic Development District (REDD) grant program to be paired with job creating projects
-System of preapproved designs
-Housing opportunity agency
-State housing ombudsman
November 19, 2025 at 2:35 AM
That's all folks, all that supposedly-YIMBY Gov Shapiro is getting you in Harrisburg. No Mt Laurel, no zoning/building code preemption. Maybe we can work some amendments in the preapproved housing plans but not hopeful
The fact that Dems left both transit and skill game regulation off the budget is a sign they will try the exact same playbook next year, that their proposal was just fine. No marijuana, no tolling, just an awful leftover revenue source that should frankly be banned
Gov. Josh Shapiro is calling the state budget that came out of the Pennsylvania legislature’s monthslong stalemate an across-the-board victory. What does it mean for his national brand?
Gov. Josh Shapiro says national Democrats folded in the federal shutdown, while he stayed ‘at the table’ for Pa.’s late budget deal
As Shapiro portrays the outcome of Pennsylvania’s 2025 state budget as an across-the-board victory, the path to get there was harder, messier, and longer than anyone in Harrisburg would have liked.
www.inquirer.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:49 PM
The fact that Dems left both transit and skill game regulation off the budget is a sign they will try the exact same playbook next year, that their proposal was just fine. No marijuana, no tolling, just an awful leftover revenue source that should frankly be banned
Now that REM is open, it would be really cool to see the unused rail bridge on Île-Bigras converted to a trail, directly connecting the island and western Laval to Montreal on ped/bike.
November 18, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Now that REM is open, it would be really cool to see the unused rail bridge on Île-Bigras converted to a trail, directly connecting the island and western Laval to Montreal on ped/bike.
Go off king
All of the excitement over the ‘British single stack’ in the 1970s resulted in a slightly rivalrous memo drafted by an AHJ at the City of Philadelphia.
November 17, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Go off king
Reposted by Ben S
Homes barely appreciate, if at all. Owners struggle to maintain old homes while houses on their block go vacant. They (or heirs) too often lose the home or just leave if conditions get too bad, creating another vacant. The choice to add an income unit could help some people buy —or save—a home. 2/2
November 17, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Homes barely appreciate, if at all. Owners struggle to maintain old homes while houses on their block go vacant. They (or heirs) too often lose the home or just leave if conditions get too bad, creating another vacant. The choice to add an income unit could help some people buy —or save—a home. 2/2
Reposted by Ben S
Harsh reality is SF homeownership in Black n-hoods of segregated, Rust Belt cities like Baltimore & Detroit do not built wealth. Just the opposite. As even City admits, many of these areas do not have “functioning housing market.” Baltimore is not high demand Brooklyn, SF, LA.
What happens…1/
What happens…1/
Baltimore residents, including Black residents, favor zoning that promotes home ownership as a way to build wealth and have a good quality of life. Why dismantle that with the @mayorbmscott.bsky.social administration's Bill 25-0066? [OP-ED] tinyurl.com/43psx9tb
Eroding the bedrock of single-family-zoned neighborhoods in Baltimore doesn’t make sense | Baltimore Brew
Residents, including Black residents, favor zoning that promotes home ownership as a way to build wealth and have a good quality of life. So why dismantle that with Bill 25-0066? [OP-ED]
tinyurl.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Harsh reality is SF homeownership in Black n-hoods of segregated, Rust Belt cities like Baltimore & Detroit do not built wealth. Just the opposite. As even City admits, many of these areas do not have “functioning housing market.” Baltimore is not high demand Brooklyn, SF, LA.
What happens…1/
What happens…1/
Reposted by Ben S
Inclusionary zoning is not just terrible policy. It’s also extremely neoliberal policy that outsources a key state function—providing subsidized housing for poor people—to private, market-based actors and shifts the financial burden for the subsidies from wealthy homeowners to middle class renters.
It's also the most '90s Third Way-ish policy idea imaginable, which is why it is both bemusing and frustrating that so many leftists embrace it with such vigour. "Let's solve affordable housing with technocratic, market based incrementalism" really isn't all that progressive!
So-called “inclusionary zoning” is a tax on new housing that reduces the amount of housing that gets built, worsening the housing shortage and driving up rent. It is bad, counterproductive policy and we should stop doing it.
November 17, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Inclusionary zoning is not just terrible policy. It’s also extremely neoliberal policy that outsources a key state function—providing subsidized housing for poor people—to private, market-based actors and shifts the financial burden for the subsidies from wealthy homeowners to middle class renters.
Reposted by Ben S
Major announcement in just-posted board documents: DC's Metro is moving fast toward automation.
Over 15 years, Metro plans full automation & platform screen doors, which the agency says will improve safety, reliability, & travel times—at reduced costs.
www.wmata.com/about/board/...
Over 15 years, Metro plans full automation & platform screen doors, which the agency says will improve safety, reliability, & travel times—at reduced costs.
www.wmata.com/about/board/...
November 17, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Major announcement in just-posted board documents: DC's Metro is moving fast toward automation.
Over 15 years, Metro plans full automation & platform screen doors, which the agency says will improve safety, reliability, & travel times—at reduced costs.
www.wmata.com/about/board/...
Over 15 years, Metro plans full automation & platform screen doors, which the agency says will improve safety, reliability, & travel times—at reduced costs.
www.wmata.com/about/board/...
Reposted by Ben S
I calculated change in access to jobs by transit before and after Winnipeg's bus network redesign. 🚍
The median resident experienced an increase of 4% in access to jobs within 45 minutes, according to my analysis in R.
The redesigned network gets more people to more places within the same time.
The median resident experienced an increase of 4% in access to jobs within 45 minutes, according to my analysis in R.
The redesigned network gets more people to more places within the same time.
November 17, 2025 at 12:47 AM
I calculated change in access to jobs by transit before and after Winnipeg's bus network redesign. 🚍
The median resident experienced an increase of 4% in access to jobs within 45 minutes, according to my analysis in R.
The redesigned network gets more people to more places within the same time.
The median resident experienced an increase of 4% in access to jobs within 45 minutes, according to my analysis in R.
The redesigned network gets more people to more places within the same time.
Reposted by Ben S
The dam is breaking. The world's leading public health news organization is now reporting US driver violence as a public health crisis.
"American roads have become more dangerous than violent crimes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and other major cities." t.co/BEcu5JJ457
"American roads have become more dangerous than violent crimes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and other major cities." t.co/BEcu5JJ457
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/traffic-deaths-pedestrian-safety-vision-zero-los-angeles-dot-nhtsa/
t.co
November 16, 2025 at 3:56 AM
The dam is breaking. The world's leading public health news organization is now reporting US driver violence as a public health crisis.
"American roads have become more dangerous than violent crimes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and other major cities." t.co/BEcu5JJ457
"American roads have become more dangerous than violent crimes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and other major cities." t.co/BEcu5JJ457
Reposted by Ben S
This perspective is a near consensus position across the political spectrum in this country.
Moderate democrats, socialists, conservatives, and Nazis agree that urban professional class renters are not deserving of political representation.
Moderate democrats, socialists, conservatives, and Nazis agree that urban professional class renters are not deserving of political representation.
These people do not believe that the middle and professional classes have moral standing to do politics in their material self interest.
November 16, 2025 at 8:35 PM
This perspective is a near consensus position across the political spectrum in this country.
Moderate democrats, socialists, conservatives, and Nazis agree that urban professional class renters are not deserving of political representation.
Moderate democrats, socialists, conservatives, and Nazis agree that urban professional class renters are not deserving of political representation.
Reposted by Ben S
915 S 3RD ST
November 16, 2025 at 9:40 PM
915 S 3RD ST