Aaron Goldbeck
@goldbeck.bsky.social
DC city planner, shared micromobility expert. not a poster
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
something i've only realized in the last 5 years ago is the role of car use in dissemination of propaganda - the cognitive load required to drive is quite large, which lowers your resistence for receiving or evaluating false information you hear on, say, talk radio.
I truly believe that car dependency and sprawl help create the sort of superfluous, alienated public that Arendt wrote about in Origins of Totalitarianism
“In a typical week, relying on a car more than 50% of the time for out-of-home activities is associated with a decrease in life satisfaction. This implies that at high levels of car dependence, there are negative implications that outweigh the benefits of car-based travel.” ssti.us/2024/12/09/t...
December 12, 2024 at 1:44 AM
something i've only realized in the last 5 years ago is the role of car use in dissemination of propaganda - the cognitive load required to drive is quite large, which lowers your resistence for receiving or evaluating false information you hear on, say, talk radio.
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Using Arlington as the example of a 15 minute city in this piece is genius. YIMBYs need to reassure suburbanites they can have all the convenience of a walkable neighborhood without being forced to give up the environmental sensation of sterile, existential dread they are accustomed to
December 7, 2024 at 11:52 AM
Using Arlington as the example of a 15 minute city in this piece is genius. YIMBYs need to reassure suburbanites they can have all the convenience of a walkable neighborhood without being forced to give up the environmental sensation of sterile, existential dread they are accustomed to
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
One of my long held theories is that a bike actually provides the freedom of movement and exhilaration that a car promises in a city at a fraction of the cost and the dissonance there drives the people in cars *completely fucking insane*
every commenter on the internet who complains about bike lanes once saw a cyclist pedal through a red light and now uses it as justification for why they should be allowed to run over anyone else on the road
December 6, 2024 at 4:33 AM
One of my long held theories is that a bike actually provides the freedom of movement and exhilaration that a car promises in a city at a fraction of the cost and the dissonance there drives the people in cars *completely fucking insane*
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Woohoo! You all just smashed it with a jaw-dropping 725,346 rides in October! That's not just a record for the month, but for the whole year! Thanks for being the best ride-or-die crew, fam! #RecordBreakingRides 🎉🏆
November 21, 2024 at 7:04 PM
Woohoo! You all just smashed it with a jaw-dropping 725,346 rides in October! That's not just a record for the month, but for the whole year! Thanks for being the best ride-or-die crew, fam! #RecordBreakingRides 🎉🏆
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Very important finding on crosswalks, yield rates, and speed.
At 20 mph, 3 out of every 4 drivers yield to a pedestrian in the basic crosswalk.
At just 30 mph, that rate drops to 1 in 8 drivers.
At 20 mph, 3 out of every 4 drivers yield to a pedestrian in the basic crosswalk.
At just 30 mph, that rate drops to 1 in 8 drivers.
November 7, 2024 at 4:49 PM
Very important finding on crosswalks, yield rates, and speed.
At 20 mph, 3 out of every 4 drivers yield to a pedestrian in the basic crosswalk.
At just 30 mph, that rate drops to 1 in 8 drivers.
At 20 mph, 3 out of every 4 drivers yield to a pedestrian in the basic crosswalk.
At just 30 mph, that rate drops to 1 in 8 drivers.
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
This week Jews around the world will celebrate Sukkot, which commemorates the invention of the accessory dwelling unit
October 15, 2024 at 9:00 PM
This week Jews around the world will celebrate Sukkot, which commemorates the invention of the accessory dwelling unit
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Highway traffic models are so messed up that they often conclude extra lanes will *reduce* greenhouse gas emissions.
Traffic engineers claim they're too complicated for non-experts to understand, but the reality is they're just BS.
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Traffic engineers claim they're too complicated for non-experts to understand, but the reality is they're just BS.
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
October 14, 2024 at 1:42 PM
Highway traffic models are so messed up that they often conclude extra lanes will *reduce* greenhouse gas emissions.
Traffic engineers claim they're too complicated for non-experts to understand, but the reality is they're just BS.
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Traffic engineers claim they're too complicated for non-experts to understand, but the reality is they're just BS.
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Driving is unambiguously the absolute worst way to travel, especially with little children, and I hate the boomers and silent generation for making our lives like this
October 5, 2024 at 1:16 AM
Driving is unambiguously the absolute worst way to travel, especially with little children, and I hate the boomers and silent generation for making our lives like this
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Though the idea may seem laughably backward to us, many people of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries considered being the mayor of New York City a natural and unavoidable condition, rather than an obvious symptom of a more serious underlying illness.
December 25, 2023 at 7:02 PM
Though the idea may seem laughably backward to us, many people of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries considered being the mayor of New York City a natural and unavoidable condition, rather than an obvious symptom of a more serious underlying illness.
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #220,874!
September 17, 2024 at 11:34 AM
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #220,874!
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Yeah sure this is really weird but it’s also exactly the kind of thing that any one of the people who fight bike lanes in the city would do if they had the opportunity
August 4, 2024 at 9:00 PM
Yeah sure this is really weird but it’s also exactly the kind of thing that any one of the people who fight bike lanes in the city would do if they had the opportunity
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
"its really hard to find a good parking spot" is an underrated anti-fascist defense strategy
May 1, 2024 at 8:12 AM
"its really hard to find a good parking spot" is an underrated anti-fascist defense strategy
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Housing, land use and zoning, transportation planning are all technocratic issues that should be managed by electeds and bureaucrats. Most citizens dont think about them much or particularly coherently and delegating that authority down to "the community" just lets a tiny cadre of NIMBYs dominate it
2. But Dr. E noticed that a follow-up poll had accidentally hit a bunch of the *same individuals* a second time … and that their stated housing price opinions were often totally different!
“Barely better than chance,” they write
“Barely better than chance,” they write
April 30, 2024 at 7:26 PM
Housing, land use and zoning, transportation planning are all technocratic issues that should be managed by electeds and bureaucrats. Most citizens dont think about them much or particularly coherently and delegating that authority down to "the community" just lets a tiny cadre of NIMBYs dominate it
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Conservatives understand perfectly well that keeping people in car-mandatory suburban isolation makes more conservatives, and connecting them with transit and walkability creates empathy and solidarity:
Both Houses of the Florida state legislature have passed a bill, HB 1301, that would impose heavy limitations on the ability of cities & transit providers to convert a traffic lane to other uses, like bus or bike lanes www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill...
March 27, 2024 at 5:29 PM
Conservatives understand perfectly well that keeping people in car-mandatory suburban isolation makes more conservatives, and connecting them with transit and walkability creates empathy and solidarity:
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
If state govs deployed the military to enforce traffic laws it would rightfully be decried as totalitarian overreach despite the fact that traffic deaths have skyrocketed since the pandemic. But since transit riders are seen as subhuman it's fine to hold them up at M16-point for a photo op
If the governor of NY wants to keep New Yorkers safe from danger caused by flagrant criminality, she should deploy the National Guard to the Verrazzano Bridge to pull over anyone who has an obscured or missing license plate and impound their car
March 7, 2024 at 5:21 AM
If state govs deployed the military to enforce traffic laws it would rightfully be decried as totalitarian overreach despite the fact that traffic deaths have skyrocketed since the pandemic. But since transit riders are seen as subhuman it's fine to hold them up at M16-point for a photo op
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
cars should be built with non-refillable gas tanks. they roll out of the factory with full tanks, and once they're empty, the car goes straight to the scrap yard. this would create lots of jobs
February 19, 2024 at 7:16 PM
cars should be built with non-refillable gas tanks. they roll out of the factory with full tanks, and once they're empty, the car goes straight to the scrap yard. this would create lots of jobs
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
being against automated red light camera enforcement is one of those areas where you can easily parse the difference between someone whose politics are on the left and someone whose politics are libertarian but cosplaying as being on the left
Describing a red light camera ticket where they have you dead to rights breaking the law as "the state stealing money" is a sign of a deeply anti-social world view
February 16, 2024 at 5:28 PM
being against automated red light camera enforcement is one of those areas where you can easily parse the difference between someone whose politics are on the left and someone whose politics are libertarian but cosplaying as being on the left
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
I estimate how many pedestrians would be saved if front-end vehicle heights were capped at 125 cm (about the height of a new Honda CRV). I estimate 500 fewer pedestrians would die each year if taller front-ends could be lowered to 125 cm.
January 22, 2024 at 9:17 PM
I estimate how many pedestrians would be saved if front-end vehicle heights were capped at 125 cm (about the height of a new Honda CRV). I estimate 500 fewer pedestrians would die each year if taller front-ends could be lowered to 125 cm.
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
i think every major city should widen its entire street grid so that every street is about 1400 feet wide, and then have one really huge, really fast car that everyone rides around in. anyone who is caught walking would be arrested and sent to mine the coal required by the huge car
December 28, 2023 at 6:15 PM
i think every major city should widen its entire street grid so that every street is about 1400 feet wide, and then have one really huge, really fast car that everyone rides around in. anyone who is caught walking would be arrested and sent to mine the coal required by the huge car
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
Every small city in North America has two tall buildings: The first is a 1910s Main Street bank building that has not been fully leased since the day it opened. The second is a 1970s brutalist tower that houses 40 percent of the senior population of the city.
December 11, 2023 at 9:18 PM
Every small city in North America has two tall buildings: The first is a 1910s Main Street bank building that has not been fully leased since the day it opened. The second is a 1970s brutalist tower that houses 40 percent of the senior population of the city.
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
An absolute national disgrace www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
December 11, 2023 at 3:04 PM
An absolute national disgrace www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Aaron Goldbeck
There are three (very well-fed) albinos on the National Mall in DC. I managed to get all 3 in one pic here (one is at top left)
December 8, 2023 at 2:18 PM
There are three (very well-fed) albinos on the National Mall in DC. I managed to get all 3 in one pic here (one is at top left)