Josh Linden
banner
joshlinden.bsky.social
Josh Linden
@joshlinden.bsky.social
Is this the one? Spend a little too much time thinking about housing // transit // climate // cool maps. And not enough time learning how to garden properly. Member of the Montgomery County Planning Board, but all posts and opinions here are my own
Wow, big night for Dems across the country. Let's see how the major news orgs are framing it at the top of their homepage!

WaPo - "Dems' big night ... a rebuke"
CNN - "Dem sweep as voters send a message"
CBS (yes, even them) - "Dem sweep"

...

NYT - "Trump Tariffs! High-Stakes at SCOTUS!"

lol
November 5, 2025 at 3:04 PM
They have arrived
October 24, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Finally made it over to the newly renovated Caroline Freeland park. Fun & biiig play area, blend of active & social areas, tables with built in shade umbrellas (!), walkable from lunch, and overall good vibes on an autumn weekend morning. 10/10 kid approved

Awesome job @montgomeryparks.bsky.social!
October 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
John Yoo as a voice of constitutional restraint was not on my 2025 bingo card
September 23, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Re: a generalized question about more MF buildings in the respondent's own SF neighborhoods, an even split, with large "not sure" group. And the sample had slightly fewer renters than countywide

Renters & transit users favor ~ 2 to 1. And...a plurality favored in every income bracket, except $150k+
September 17, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Single family homes were intentionally untouched by these early fire safety reforms

It was largely an effort to make a widely desired and affordable type of home less desired and less affordable, as a means to make neighborhoods more exclusive and support the emerging push for SF-only zoning
September 14, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Many of our land use / building codes are rooted in exclusion + prejudice, even if they are facially anodyne and widely accepted as common sense today

Case in point: early 1900 fire safety reforms were primarily designed to ⬆️ the cost of tenements / MF apts (old and new) to reduce immigration
September 14, 2025 at 3:56 PM
In fairness, she does add this footnote at the end. I agree that elections are won at the margins, and we don't need to focus on eliminating opposition to immigration altogether (because we can't!
September 5, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Another day conquering* the longest escalators in the western hemisphere

* reaching the top completely out of breath. Why does it never get easier?
September 4, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Nice piece, huge problem. And I think this has *at least* as much to do with race/class discrimination, as it does with anti-kid bias

Would an affluent homeowner object to kids moving into a SFH next door?

This quote reveals that anti-kid bias w/ apts is a proxy for other forms of discrimination
August 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Finally got a chance to see the new protected lane on Marinelli near the N Bethesda metro. Love the wide concrete barriers! The lane itself does feel a bit narrow, esp with the 10-12 inches of curb. But the bus island looks great
August 24, 2025 at 9:07 PM
(push piece from Microsoft when logging on this morning)

Oh, has AI figured out a way to dramatically reduce its own energy use so it's not cancelling out all clean energy gains and further locking us into a climate change disaster?

Read on to find out!

(narrator: it has not done that)
August 8, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Ugh, another day, same blockage

Ultimately the infra should prevent it in the first place. Policy or enforcement only goes so far

This really ain't a place you want to get kicked into traffic
August 6, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Very good bill, but important to note that the county itself can do a lot by just ensuring its own workers don't obstruct bike lanes

Riding home with my kid yesterday, had to go around not one but two county vehicles parked in the Wayne Ave protected lanes. We can do better
July 24, 2025 at 1:59 AM
In 2017, pulled over at a random overlook on US 1, somewhere near Big Sur heading to LA. Saw Colin Farrell taking pics of the ocean. We pretended not to see him (and he was w someone)...but he kindly offered to take a pic of me and my spouse

Then he chatted me up about seasonal whale migration 😂
July 18, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Interesting new active transpo data out from Streetlight. Nearly 25% of all trips (not just commute) in DC are now by walking/biking! Still far behind NYC, but a strong showing.

Arlington not far behind at 19%

MoCo comes in at 13%

(link requires name/email to get the report, fyi)
July 15, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Visible progress on the brand new 650+ car parking garage in the heart of downtown Silver Spring! Checks all the boxes

✅ 1/4 mile from metro
✅ 1/4 mile from purple line
✅ < 1000 ft from existing 1350 space garage
✅ 1 block from a lively pedestrian area
✅ Locked-in carbon emissions

A masterpiece 🙃
July 7, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Love the Ride On art on display in Wheaton, for @rideonmct.bsky.social's 50 year anniversary art contest. Beautiful stuff, and gets to the heart of what makes public transit great (even the bus in space!)
May 16, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Total WMATA trips took a bit of a dip last year, but hey...still good bang for the buck with total miles!

Also gotta love how they point you to merch for your #1 station, which for Silver Spring appears to only be...a mini pylon sign 😂. Still, love it

Check out your 2024 rewind metrorewind.com
January 15, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Parking reform is having a banner year, thanks to @parkingreform.org and the hundreds of energetic advocates and local electeds who understand the power of removing costly parking mandates. At least 90 cities in the US alone have now repealed minimums!

credit to @andersem.bsky.social for the chart
December 31, 2024 at 4:15 PM
Tough morning...the kiddo just said, "let's make a parking garage!". These are the times that try a parent's soul @parkingreform.org
December 13, 2024 at 3:54 PM
Probably late to the game on this, but was excited to see the (MoCo side) Met Branch Trail got resurfaced along Fenton St / Takoma Ave! That section had been nearly unrideable w/ tree roots, potholes, etc. Made today's fam ride down to Takoma Park quite lovely, thanks @mcdotnow.bsky.social 💯
December 8, 2024 at 8:38 PM
In your opinion, what is the best N64 game that isn’t Mario or Zelda related?
November 27, 2024 at 12:04 PM
New twist on yesterday's map, looking at home locations for federal government workers

Not surprisingly DC has highest concentration, and many fed gov workers also live in close-in areas (MoCo, PG, Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria).

Arlington + Silver Spring (🙌) + Bethesda especially stand out
November 14, 2024 at 7:44 PM
#30DayMapChallenge day 13, new tool (to me at least!). Inspiration from @kylewalker.bsky.social and his Day 4 map, made a 3d hexbin map of jobs in the close-in DC metro suburban counties. Props to @surlyurbanist.bsky.social as well for the lehdr package

Code: github.com/jlinden19/30...
November 13, 2024 at 5:30 PM