Kirk Westphal
@kirkwestphal.bsky.social
Planner and housing + safe transportation activist. ED of Neighborhood Institute. Everyone should be able to live and meet their daily needs in the neighborhood of their choice.
Helps that gasoline here is never more than 50% of EU prices. 🤷🏼♂️
December 2, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Helps that gasoline here is never more than 50% of EU prices. 🤷🏼♂️
The EV proportion of the overall fleet will be in the low single digits for the next decade at least. But that’s not stopping my state (MI) from pausing a mere inflation adjustment on gas taxes because of the “growth” of EVs 🤣🤣🤣 Can’t let that handful of Tesla drivers get away with that!
December 2, 2025 at 4:53 AM
The EV proportion of the overall fleet will be in the low single digits for the next decade at least. But that’s not stopping my state (MI) from pausing a mere inflation adjustment on gas taxes because of the “growth” of EVs 🤣🤣🤣 Can’t let that handful of Tesla drivers get away with that!
YIKES did this “organization” form just to oppose this? Or do they NIMBY other stuff? Also: sorry for your neighborhood veto layer. 😬
December 2, 2025 at 4:46 AM
YIKES did this “organization” form just to oppose this? Or do they NIMBY other stuff? Also: sorry for your neighborhood veto layer. 😬
I'd love to see places like #umich and other universities cultivate discussions around how to fix it. Here's one scholar I'd like to hear more from. time.com/6958382/case...
America Should Embrace a Parliamentary Democracy
To stop a dictator from becoming president, we must give up our right to vote for one, writes Maxwell L. Stearns.
time.com
August 2, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I'd love to see places like #umich and other universities cultivate discussions around how to fix it. Here's one scholar I'd like to hear more from. time.com/6958382/case...
In Ann Arbor, we had a practice years ago of handing out a piece of paper to planning commissioners showing everyone's attendance for the last quarter. It helped encourage people to step up or step out. In a paid position, paying per meeting has been a good option for some munis.
August 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM
In Ann Arbor, we had a practice years ago of handing out a piece of paper to planning commissioners showing everyone's attendance for the last quarter. It helped encourage people to step up or step out. In a paid position, paying per meeting has been a good option for some munis.
Exhibit A: if you don’t like the direction, attack the process.
Exhibit B: split the opponent’s base.
Exhibit C: exploit the BS asymmetry principle (Brandolini’s Law) and flood the zone with misinformation.
Exhibit D: keep moving the goalposts.
Some folks have not read the playbook.
Exhibit B: split the opponent’s base.
Exhibit C: exploit the BS asymmetry principle (Brandolini’s Law) and flood the zone with misinformation.
Exhibit D: keep moving the goalposts.
Some folks have not read the playbook.
July 21, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Exhibit A: if you don’t like the direction, attack the process.
Exhibit B: split the opponent’s base.
Exhibit C: exploit the BS asymmetry principle (Brandolini’s Law) and flood the zone with misinformation.
Exhibit D: keep moving the goalposts.
Some folks have not read the playbook.
Exhibit B: split the opponent’s base.
Exhibit C: exploit the BS asymmetry principle (Brandolini’s Law) and flood the zone with misinformation.
Exhibit D: keep moving the goalposts.
Some folks have not read the playbook.
“Faced with such requirements, developers may choose not to build, or to build fewer projects, limiting housing supply and driving up rents.” www.upjohn.org/research-hig...
New construction makes homes more affordable—even for those who can't afford the new units
New market-rate housing can lower housing costs in neighborhoods across a metro area
www.upjohn.org
July 9, 2025 at 2:02 PM
“Faced with such requirements, developers may choose not to build, or to build fewer projects, limiting housing supply and driving up rents.” www.upjohn.org/research-hig...
Reminded of: “building 100 new market-rate units opens up… 70 units in neighborhoods earning below the area’s median income. In the poorest neighborhoods, it opens up… 40 units. That’s far more than the…affordable units policymakers often require new developments include… [in] inclusionary zoning.”
July 9, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reminded of: “building 100 new market-rate units opens up… 70 units in neighborhoods earning below the area’s median income. In the poorest neighborhoods, it opens up… 40 units. That’s far more than the…affordable units policymakers often require new developments include… [in] inclusionary zoning.”
So this is better than having left turns, but my guess is that it is still significantly more dangerous overall than a roundabout. The writer exposes the typical speed-first, traffic engineer mindset by criticizing roundabouts for their potential to get gridlocked.
June 30, 2025 at 6:50 PM
So this is better than having left turns, but my guess is that it is still significantly more dangerous overall than a roundabout. The writer exposes the typical speed-first, traffic engineer mindset by criticizing roundabouts for their potential to get gridlocked.
Mind you, city council already made the political decision to preemptively limit single-family areas to 35' — which of course did nothing to appease the bad-faith actors behind the "Pause the Plan" movement.
June 30, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Mind you, city council already made the political decision to preemptively limit single-family areas to 35' — which of course did nothing to appease the bad-faith actors behind the "Pause the Plan" movement.
Ann Arbor Neighbors for Responsible Development
YouTube video by Tom Stulberg
youtu.be
June 15, 2025 at 2:24 PM
The map should have been changed but wasn't. There are lots of higher-density townhouse and multifamily complexes (R3-R4) that are now proposed to be downzoned to Residential. They should be Transition. (E.g., most/all the brown areas on the left, my map, should be Transition on the right.)
June 15, 2025 at 2:18 PM
The map should have been changed but wasn't. There are lots of higher-density townhouse and multifamily complexes (R3-R4) that are now proposed to be downzoned to Residential. They should be Transition. (E.g., most/all the brown areas on the left, my map, should be Transition on the right.)