City Engineer
@cityengineer.bsky.social
PE. Dengineer. Transportation and Engineering. Safe network builder for people walking, in wheelchairs, cycling & driving. Train lover. Selectboard member. Substack: https://danmurphy672689.substack.com
Pinned
Put the blame for traffic where it belongs - mostly on terrible land use planning via zoning. We’re fixing generations of bad planning that persists. Note : we drive 2-3 times what Europe does and traffic still grows.
One day a governor will say: Our zoning maps mandate car ownership. Our North Star is to rewrite them so a car is a choice, not just for the wealthy. People who want one car or none should have walkable, bikeable, transit-served affordable neighborhoods everywhere.
@kimdriscollma.bsky.social
@kimdriscollma.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 12:46 PM
One day a governor will say: Our zoning maps mandate car ownership. Our North Star is to rewrite them so a car is a choice, not just for the wealthy. People who want one car or none should have walkable, bikeable, transit-served affordable neighborhoods everywhere.
@kimdriscollma.bsky.social
@kimdriscollma.bsky.social
One day a governor will say: Our zoning maps mandate car ownership. Our North Star is to rewrite them so a car is a choice, not just for the wealthy. People who want one car or none should have walkable, bikeable, transit-served neighborhoods everywhere.
@kimdriscollma.bsky.social
@kimdriscollma.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 12:20 PM
One day a governor will say: Our zoning maps mandate car ownership. Our North Star is to rewrite them so a car is a choice, not just for the wealthy. People who want one car or none should have walkable, bikeable, transit-served neighborhoods everywhere.
@kimdriscollma.bsky.social
@kimdriscollma.bsky.social
We adopted a land-use pattern that requires busy arterials, and that is what makes walking, biking, and transit so hard.
December 4, 2025 at 12:16 PM
We adopted a land-use pattern that requires busy arterials, and that is what makes walking, biking, and transit so hard.
Is this what we’ve become?
December 4, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Is this what we’ve become?
I see this as the core problem in N America actually that only supply growth across metros can really bring. Housing lotteries are elitist. Planners need to plan it and engineers and contractors, mostly local ones, can bring it. Zoning reform only way forward.
#HousingDignity
#HousingDignity
December 2, 2025 at 2:31 AM
I see this as the core problem in N America actually that only supply growth across metros can really bring. Housing lotteries are elitist. Planners need to plan it and engineers and contractors, mostly local ones, can bring it. Zoning reform only way forward.
#HousingDignity
#HousingDignity
Reposted by City Engineer
The Boomer Line was ~3× income in 1970.
Today our “best planned” metros sit at 10–20×.
We ration housing, run lotteries for scraps, and call it equity,
Stability is good but a local public investment club is nothing to be proud of.
If young people must win a raffle for a home, that’s not success.
Today our “best planned” metros sit at 10–20×.
We ration housing, run lotteries for scraps, and call it equity,
Stability is good but a local public investment club is nothing to be proud of.
If young people must win a raffle for a home, that’s not success.
November 23, 2025 at 8:55 PM
The Boomer Line was ~3× income in 1970.
Today our “best planned” metros sit at 10–20×.
We ration housing, run lotteries for scraps, and call it equity,
Stability is good but a local public investment club is nothing to be proud of.
If young people must win a raffle for a home, that’s not success.
Today our “best planned” metros sit at 10–20×.
We ration housing, run lotteries for scraps, and call it equity,
Stability is good but a local public investment club is nothing to be proud of.
If young people must win a raffle for a home, that’s not success.
Zoning is the 20th century’s original sin.
November 30, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Zoning is the 20th century’s original sin.
Put the blame for traffic where it belongs - mostly on terrible land use planning via zoning. We’re fixing generations of bad planning that persists. Note : we drive 2-3 times what Europe does and traffic still grows.
November 30, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Put the blame for traffic where it belongs - mostly on terrible land use planning via zoning. We’re fixing generations of bad planning that persists. Note : we drive 2-3 times what Europe does and traffic still grows.
Put the blame for traffic where it belongs - mostly on terrible land use planning. We’re fixing generations of bad planning. Note : traffic still grows.
November 30, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Put the blame for traffic where it belongs - mostly on terrible land use planning. We’re fixing generations of bad planning. Note : traffic still grows.
Smart phones and SUVs the culprits since 2010 with majority of deaths from crashes at night, in darkness. Mostly on arterials roadways. There’s also big variance between states
November 30, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Smart phones and SUVs the culprits since 2010 with majority of deaths from crashes at night, in darkness. Mostly on arterials roadways. There’s also big variance between states
Oh man - I thought they were flying stuff in….
In the U.S., these create violations of the Americans with Disabilities when the sidewalk is not wide enough for someone using a mobility device to pass by them. You won’t find many officials who care about that as they prefer to chase the shiny object and kowtow to the industry lobbyists.
Just as you thought food delivery companies couldn't inflict any more misery on society:
Instead of using lowly-paid gig economy contractors to deliver groceries, they're replacing humans with robots, who, in turn, force humans off the pavement into road traffic.
Instead of using lowly-paid gig economy contractors to deliver groceries, they're replacing humans with robots, who, in turn, force humans off the pavement into road traffic.
November 29, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Oh man - I thought they were flying stuff in….
If you are talking about affordability and not mentioning the bottom 1/2s biggest expense which is housing by far - you sound like a Charlie Brown adult to me. youtu.be/q_BU5hR9gXE?...
Charlie Brown's teacher - Sound Effect
YouTube video by Partexedd
youtu.be
November 29, 2025 at 5:28 PM
If you are talking about affordability and not mentioning the bottom 1/2s biggest expense which is housing by far - you sound like a Charlie Brown adult to me. youtu.be/q_BU5hR9gXE?...
If Dems had done their job, and maintained the 3:1 housing multipliers we had, blue states would be bigger more diverse, welcoming communities providing market affordable places to live. GDPs there would easily be 10–20% higher, $2–4 trillion a year Beautiful more walkable metros.
November 29, 2025 at 1:31 PM
If Dems had done their job, and maintained the 3:1 housing multipliers we had, blue states would be bigger more diverse, welcoming communities providing market affordable places to live. GDPs there would easily be 10–20% higher, $2–4 trillion a year Beautiful more walkable metros.
The mindset of my home as an “investment” needs to slowly change back to my home as a “home”.
To the Greatest Generation, a home wasn’t a wealth-machine, it was shelter, stability, and a foundation for family life.
They measured success in kids playing on the street, not Zillow curves. #BackTo3
To the Greatest Generation, a home wasn’t a wealth-machine, it was shelter, stability, and a foundation for family life.
They measured success in kids playing on the street, not Zillow curves. #BackTo3
November 26, 2025 at 3:25 AM
The mindset of my home as an “investment” needs to slowly change back to my home as a “home”.
To the Greatest Generation, a home wasn’t a wealth-machine, it was shelter, stability, and a foundation for family life.
They measured success in kids playing on the street, not Zillow curves. #BackTo3
To the Greatest Generation, a home wasn’t a wealth-machine, it was shelter, stability, and a foundation for family life.
They measured success in kids playing on the street, not Zillow curves. #BackTo3
If you don’t have time for @yappelbaum.bsky.social ‘s great book “Stuck”
at least read this great article! www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...
at least read this great article! www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...
November 26, 2025 at 3:01 AM
If you don’t have time for @yappelbaum.bsky.social ‘s great book “Stuck”
at least read this great article! www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...
at least read this great article! www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...
Serious question. Why can’t we incrementally give the nation’s kids and grandkids the gift that the Greatest Generation gave the Boomers nationwide in 1970 - a nationwide 3:1 multiplier?
November 26, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Serious question. Why can’t we incrementally give the nation’s kids and grandkids the gift that the Greatest Generation gave the Boomers nationwide in 1970 - a nationwide 3:1 multiplier?
What a great day today joining a record number walking the the Sunderland leg of the Walk for Hunger for the @foodbankwma.bsky.social !! PS There’s plenty of room for a shared use path!!
November 26, 2025 at 1:43 AM
What a great day today joining a record number walking the the Sunderland leg of the Walk for Hunger for the @foodbankwma.bsky.social !! PS There’s plenty of room for a shared use path!!
Reposted by City Engineer
Sunrise with Monte, Jim, and a record number of good folks who are walking to raise funds for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts — in the leg between Northampton and Greenfield.
November 25, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Sunrise with Monte, Jim, and a record number of good folks who are walking to raise funds for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts — in the leg between Northampton and Greenfield.
Marching in the Walk For Hunger on the the future route of the Norwottuck North Shared Use Path - the Franklin County link!
Donate here!
foodbankwma.org
@repblais.bsky.social
@jocomerford.bsky.social
@markey.senate.gov
@warren.senate.gov
@jimmcgovernma.bsky.social
Donate here!
foodbankwma.org
@repblais.bsky.social
@jocomerford.bsky.social
@markey.senate.gov
@warren.senate.gov
@jimmcgovernma.bsky.social
The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts | Home
Join the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in ending hunger. We provide healthy food, advocate for change, and support our neighbors in need.
foodbankwma.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Marching in the Walk For Hunger on the the future route of the Norwottuck North Shared Use Path - the Franklin County link!
Donate here!
foodbankwma.org
@repblais.bsky.social
@jocomerford.bsky.social
@markey.senate.gov
@warren.senate.gov
@jimmcgovernma.bsky.social
Donate here!
foodbankwma.org
@repblais.bsky.social
@jocomerford.bsky.social
@markey.senate.gov
@warren.senate.gov
@jimmcgovernma.bsky.social
End the scarcity. End the lotteries.
Return dignity to the housing market.
Give the country’s kids the gift the Boomers were given
Return dignity to the housing market.
Give the country’s kids the gift the Boomers were given
November 25, 2025 at 1:10 PM
End the scarcity. End the lotteries.
Return dignity to the housing market.
Give the country’s kids the gift the Boomers were given
Return dignity to the housing market.
Give the country’s kids the gift the Boomers were given
The Supreme Court affirmed single family housing explicitly in Euclid v. Ambler (1926) when it endorsed excluding apartments as “parasites.”
November 25, 2025 at 12:19 PM
The Supreme Court affirmed single family housing explicitly in Euclid v. Ambler (1926) when it endorsed excluding apartments as “parasites.”
“Zoning is the segregation of uses and of those populations whose interests are not compatible.”
November 25, 2025 at 12:15 PM
“Zoning is the segregation of uses and of those populations whose interests are not compatible.”
“Cities must be protected against the mixing of buildings and populations which are not harmonious.”
November 25, 2025 at 12:15 PM
“Cities must be protected against the mixing of buildings and populations which are not harmonious.”
“Zoning separates not only incompatible uses but incompatible people, for the protection of property and the stability of neighborhoods.”
November 25, 2025 at 12:14 PM
“Zoning separates not only incompatible uses but incompatible people, for the protection of property and the stability of neighborhoods.”