Congratulations & Sad Stuff

The policy proposal my sister has been working on for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is going forward and made headlines today! It would basically mean cutting down on  free parking spots for city employees and enforcing parking regulations that have been ignored in the past. It is exciting and potentially controversial, and I am super proud of her! Parking is incredibly expensive to create and maintain, and using it for free is a much bigger privilege than it seems at surface level.

In other exciting transportation/ livable streets news, New York City's Mayor has announced that changes along Broadway to increase space for pedestrians will become permanent. It sounds like the new Broadway is safer for everyone and creates an important public space that is usable and reflects a broader range of transportation realities.

Here in Omaha, there isn't quite as much going on to get excited about, but knowing that other cities around the country are taking steps to function more effectively and inclusively definitely inspires some hope.

Wednesday morning, for the first time, I waited so long for the bus that I had to call my (other, local) sister and beg for a ride because it never came. Luckily it wasn't as cold and windy as it has been, but I was sad. I meant to ask the driver what had happened when I got on today, but I forgot. It's incredibly lucky that I have people I can call if I get stranded, and I know there are people who get stuck with no help on some of the scarier winter days. Life is hard for humans in an auto-centric world!

There is drama in my neighborhood about parking and shared driveways and my roommates and I are somehow sort of in the middle of it. It's all very silly and unimportant as far as I'm concerned and it makes me think about the ways in which cars add so much stress to our lives. Let's get over this business and find a better way to arrange and transport ourselves.

Another reason to sink deeper into my fear and distrust of automobiles: I just heard about this vehicular manslaughter case from a customer today. A couple tons of motorized steel is an incredibly dangerous weapon. I'm also still convinced that driving makes people approximately 5,000,000,000 times angrier and more anxious than usual, so I obviously think that most of us should hardly ever get behind the wheel.

Apparently a bus caught on fire tonight?

There are nice things going on here, too, believe it or not. Tonight I got to eat some tasty tasty food with some extra nice people and tomorrow I hope to do the same. Some other fun things should be coming up, but we'll talk about those when they happen. I need sleep.