Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
@magicbroomcycle.bsky.social
Anonymous urbanist lurker with roots in the DC area. My bicycle is my magic broomstick.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
"we don’t set different air quality standards or fire codes based on neighborhood. If density restrictions actually protected public health, we could identify a scientifically 'safe' density level and apply it uniformly citywide, as we would with any other health-related regulation."
November 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
"we don’t set different air quality standards or fire codes based on neighborhood. If density restrictions actually protected public health, we could identify a scientifically 'safe' density level and apply it uniformly citywide, as we would with any other health-related regulation."
My 3 story walk up apartment has 4 units per floor (8 above ground level). It has two wide exterior stairwells right next to each other. All 20 of us could evacuate down a single stair in 30 seconds. But we have two and I’m not even allowed to lock my bike up underneath the bonus staircase.
Current code allows a realistic capacity of about 100 units per floor with two stairs, which gives you about 200 people per floor.
Proposed single stair rules would allow 8 units (16ish people) per floor.
Is the 100 people per stair per floor status quo safer than the 16 people per stair proposal?
Proposed single stair rules would allow 8 units (16ish people) per floor.
Is the 100 people per stair per floor status quo safer than the 16 people per stair proposal?
November 19, 2025 at 7:07 AM
My 3 story walk up apartment has 4 units per floor (8 above ground level). It has two wide exterior stairwells right next to each other. All 20 of us could evacuate down a single stair in 30 seconds. But we have two and I’m not even allowed to lock my bike up underneath the bonus staircase.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
part of what gets me is the particular double-think involved in left-nimbyism. left nimbyism has been the dominant mode of thinking in urban governance for like fifty years, they won the war and achieved total control of policy, and they *still* think they're the plucky upstarts fighting The Man
October 25, 2025 at 8:38 PM
part of what gets me is the particular double-think involved in left-nimbyism. left nimbyism has been the dominant mode of thinking in urban governance for like fifty years, they won the war and achieved total control of policy, and they *still* think they're the plucky upstarts fighting The Man
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
More than anything, I want a system where rules are straightforward and predictable.
Having “fake” rules just teaches people that rules don’t matter.
Choose the rules you actually want and then actually enforce them.
Having “fake” rules just teaches people that rules don’t matter.
Choose the rules you actually want and then actually enforce them.
September 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
More than anything, I want a system where rules are straightforward and predictable.
Having “fake” rules just teaches people that rules don’t matter.
Choose the rules you actually want and then actually enforce them.
Having “fake” rules just teaches people that rules don’t matter.
Choose the rules you actually want and then actually enforce them.
August 18, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
I often use it to reformat lists. Easy to drop a list of things in, not asking it to "think," very easy to see if errors were made in the output.
Love it for that but I've just described a $5 tool, not a $500b one.
Love it for that but I've just described a $5 tool, not a $500b one.
August 11, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I often use it to reformat lists. Easy to drop a list of things in, not asking it to "think," very easy to see if errors were made in the output.
Love it for that but I've just described a $5 tool, not a $500b one.
Love it for that but I've just described a $5 tool, not a $500b one.
@wmata.com unusually bumpy ride on car 7190 between Innovation center and Herndon at 5:12 pm
August 4, 2025 at 9:14 PM
@wmata.com unusually bumpy ride on car 7190 between Innovation center and Herndon at 5:12 pm
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
I'd say the most common response to universal basic income is some variant of "it will just increase prices!" In response, I frequently find myself explaining how it's not that simple, and there are many variables involved. So here's my summary of 17 of those variables to consider.
17 Key Variables That Determine UBI’s Inflationary Impact
Will universal basic income cause inflation? Will the prices of everything rise? I get asked that all the time. Here's the deal about UBI and inflation: it all depends.
Can UBI be inflationary? Sure,...
www.scottsantens.com
July 25, 2025 at 11:19 PM
I'd say the most common response to universal basic income is some variant of "it will just increase prices!" In response, I frequently find myself explaining how it's not that simple, and there are many variables involved. So here's my summary of 17 of those variables to consider.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
"The mechanics of parking minimums essentially tax new housing and new businesses that we say we really want, and we use that tax toward building something that creates more traffic and more pollution."
Absolute banger description.
Absolute banger description.
Here were Mayor Mason Thompson's comments ahead of the final vote:
July 9, 2025 at 12:05 PM
"The mechanics of parking minimums essentially tax new housing and new businesses that we say we really want, and we use that tax toward building something that creates more traffic and more pollution."
Absolute banger description.
Absolute banger description.
The housing market is so broken that some observers assume supply and demand must not apply to housing, instead of recognizing that the market needs to be fixed.
June 21, 2025 at 3:12 AM
The housing market is so broken that some observers assume supply and demand must not apply to housing, instead of recognizing that the market needs to be fixed.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
DC, Maryland and Virginia agree to funding to fully automate @wmata.com — new signals, trains, and platform doors — over next two decades.
Local leaders say they’ll pay $5.6 billion to automate Metro
A regional task force is working on how to fund a modern Metro system.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 18, 2025 at 11:37 AM
DC, Maryland and Virginia agree to funding to fully automate @wmata.com — new signals, trains, and platform doors — over next two decades.
To the driver who called me a stupid shit because she didn’t notice me in a crosswalk (even though I was already clear by the time she noticed): You are lashing out because you realized you could have killed somebody with your inattention. I’m sorry you have to drive, but please don’t be rude.
March 6, 2025 at 12:57 AM
To the driver who called me a stupid shit because she didn’t notice me in a crosswalk (even though I was already clear by the time she noticed): You are lashing out because you realized you could have killed somebody with your inattention. I’m sorry you have to drive, but please don’t be rude.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
"We must place as many people as we can near the source of pollution" says planner who believes deeply in zoning - the purpose of which was supposedly to separate people from sources of pollution
“Transit Oriented Development” in the US is so dire
February 22, 2025 at 12:14 AM
"We must place as many people as we can near the source of pollution" says planner who believes deeply in zoning - the purpose of which was supposedly to separate people from sources of pollution
Med school isn’t the bottle neck, it’s residencies. We already graduate more doctors than there exist residencies for.
February 13, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Med school isn’t the bottle neck, it’s residencies. We already graduate more doctors than there exist residencies for.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
Continuing to explore the potential for Single Lot, Single Stair urbanism. This is a corner 50x122, 45% site coverage, 18 units of varying sizes.
February 6, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Continuing to explore the potential for Single Lot, Single Stair urbanism. This is a corner 50x122, 45% site coverage, 18 units of varying sizes.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
If we hadn't already had trains for the last 150 years we would think trains were some sci fi future
January 25, 2025 at 8:44 PM
If we hadn't already had trains for the last 150 years we would think trains were some sci fi future
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
As you've probably already seen, we launched a new think tank this morning, the Missing Middle Initiative, focused on the young, urban, middle class in Canada. And we have an ambitious vision for the country.
January 20, 2025 at 3:30 PM
As you've probably already seen, we launched a new think tank this morning, the Missing Middle Initiative, focused on the young, urban, middle class in Canada. And we have an ambitious vision for the country.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
This is what happens when the people designing bike infrastructure don't actually use bikes.
Functional design matters.
Functional design matters.
January 18, 2025 at 9:05 PM
This is what happens when the people designing bike infrastructure don't actually use bikes.
Functional design matters.
Functional design matters.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
Break the vicious cycle!
January 19, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Break the vicious cycle!
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
As a country we are somehow simultaneously obsessed with counting our steps/tracking fitness and appalled at the idea of walking somewhere 10 minutes away.
January 6, 2025 at 3:08 PM
As a country we are somehow simultaneously obsessed with counting our steps/tracking fitness and appalled at the idea of walking somewhere 10 minutes away.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
Because so many people, planners, and engineers seem to miss the mark on proper design, I'm zooming in here to highlight the loading zone parking for commercial service vehicles, located right between the bike parking.
We can remove street parking and still address the 'what abouts' effectively.
We can remove street parking and still address the 'what abouts' effectively.
December 30, 2024 at 1:09 PM
Because so many people, planners, and engineers seem to miss the mark on proper design, I'm zooming in here to highlight the loading zone parking for commercial service vehicles, located right between the bike parking.
We can remove street parking and still address the 'what abouts' effectively.
We can remove street parking and still address the 'what abouts' effectively.
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
“We are rightly up in arms when something happens on an airplane and someone could have gotten hurt, and yet we let a full airplane's worth of people die every day in car crashes on our roads.” — Pete Buttigieg (who really needs to join Bluesky) in @usatoday.com #UrbanistShoutOut #VisionZero
Secretary Buttigieg reflects on legacy, applies for Global Entry as he exits DOT
Outgoing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reflects on his tenure at the department. He said he's looking forward to non-work travel now.
www.usatoday.com
December 17, 2024 at 2:18 AM
“We are rightly up in arms when something happens on an airplane and someone could have gotten hurt, and yet we let a full airplane's worth of people die every day in car crashes on our roads.” — Pete Buttigieg (who really needs to join Bluesky) in @usatoday.com #UrbanistShoutOut #VisionZero
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
When high-demand cities don’t allow single-family homes to be redeveloped into apartments, they will often end up redeveloped into much larger and more expensive single-family homes.
December 14, 2024 at 9:30 PM
When high-demand cities don’t allow single-family homes to be redeveloped into apartments, they will often end up redeveloped into much larger and more expensive single-family homes.
@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social has been on such a roll lately! Don’t know how they manage to put out so many high quality videos so quickly, but I appreciate it
December 15, 2024 at 4:54 AM
@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social has been on such a roll lately! Don’t know how they manage to put out so many high quality videos so quickly, but I appreciate it
Reposted by Magic BroomCycle 🧹🚲
Me commuting on a bicycle instead of an F-150 isn't to hurt Ford; it's to improve my quality of life.
December 2, 2024 at 12:50 AM
Me commuting on a bicycle instead of an F-150 isn't to hurt Ford; it's to improve my quality of life.