Podcast appearances and mentions of Jarrett Walker

Hello Interactors,This week, I've been reflecting on the themes of my last few essays — along with a pile of research that's been oddly in sync. Transit planning. Neuroscience. Happiness studies. Complexity theory. Strange mix, but it keeps pointing to the same thing: cities aren't just struggling with transportation or housing. They're struggling with connection. With meaning. With the simple question: what kind of happiness should a city make possible? And why don't we ask that more often?STRANGERS SHUNNED, SYSTEMS SIMULATEDThe urban century was supposed to bring us together. Denser cities, faster mobility, more connected lives — these were the promises of global urbanization. Yet in the shadow of those promises, a different kind of city has emerged in America with growing undertones elsewhere: one that increasingly seeks to eliminate the stranger, bypass friction, and privatize interaction.Whether through algorithmically optimized ride-sharing, private tunnels built to evade street life, or digital maps simulating place without presence for autonomous vehicles, a growing set of design logics work to render other people — especially unknown others — invisible, irrelevant, or avoidable.I admit, I too can get seduced by this comfort, technology, and efficiency. But cities aren't just systems of movement — they're systems of meaning. Space is never neutral; it's shaped by power and shapes behavior in return. This isn't new. Ancient cities like Teotihuacan (tay-oh-tee-wah-KAHN) in central Mexico, once one of the largest cities in the world, aligned their streets and pyramids with the stars. Chang'an (chahng-AHN), the capital of Tang Dynasty China, used strict cardinal grids and walled compounds to reflect Confucian ideals of order and hierarchy. And Uruk (OO-rook), in ancient Mesopotamia, organized civic life around temple complexes that stood at the spiritual and administrative heart of the city.These weren't just settlements — they were spatial arguments about how people should live together, and who should lead. Even Middle Eastern souks and hammams were more than markets or baths; they were civic infrastructure. Whether through temples or bus stops, the question is the same: What kind of social behavior is this space asking of us?Neuroscience points to answers. As Shane O'Mara argues, walking is not just transport — it's neurocognitive infrastructure. The hippocampus, which governs memory, orientation, and mood, activates when we move through physical space. Walking among others, perceiving spontaneous interactions, and attending to environmental cues strengthens our cognitive maps and emotional regulation.This makes city oriented around ‘stranger danger' not just unjust — but indeed dangerous. Because to eliminate friction is to undermine emergence — not only in the social sense, but in the economic and cultural ones too. Cities thrive on weak ties, on happenstance, on proximity without intention. Mark Granovetter's landmark paper, The Strength of Weak Ties, showed that it's those looser, peripheral relationships — not our inner circles — that drive opportunity, creativity, and mobility. Karl Polanyi called it embeddedness: the idea that markets don't float in space, they're grounded in the social fabric around them.You see it too in scale theory — in the work of Geoffrey West and Luís Bettencourt — where the productive and innovative energy of cities scales with density, interaction, and diversity. When you flatten all that into private tunnels and algorithmic efficiency, you don't just lose the texture — you lose the conditions for invention.As David Roberts, a climate and policy journalist known for his systems thinking and sharp urban critiques, puts it: this is “the anti-social dream of elite urbanism” — a vision where you never have to share space with anyone not like you. In conversation with him, Jarrett Walker, a transit planner and theorist who's spent decades helping cities design equitable bus networks, also pushes back against this logic. He warns that when cities build transit around avoidance — individualized rides, privatized tunnels, algorithmic sorting — they aren't just solving inefficiencies. They're hollowing out the very thing that makes transit (and cities) valuable and also public: the shared experience of strangers moving together.The question isn't just whether cities are efficient — but what kind of social beings they help us become. If we build cities to avoid each other, we shouldn't be surprised when they crumble as we all forget how to live together.COVERAGE, CARE, AND CIVIC CALMIf you follow urban and transit planning debates long enough, you'll hear the same argument come up again and again: Should we focus on ridership or coverage? High-frequency routes where lots of people travel, or wide access for people who live farther out — even if fewer use the service? For transit nerds, it's a policy question. For everyone else, it's about dignity.As Walker puts it, coverage isn't about efficiency — it's about “a sense of fairness.” It's about living in a place where your city hasn't written you off because you're not profitable to serve. Walker's point is that coverage isn't charity. It's a public good, one that tells people: You belong here.That same logic shows up in more surprising places — like the World Happiness Report. Year after year, Finland lands at the top. But as writer Molly Young found during her visit to Helsinki, Finnish “happiness” isn't about joy or euphoria. It's about something steadier: trust, safety, and institutional calm. What the report measures is evaluative happiness — how satisfied people are with their lives over time — not affective happiness, which is more about momentary joy or emotional highs.There's a Finnish word that captures this. It the feeling you get after a sauna: saunanjälkeinen raukeus (SOW-nahn-yell-kay-nen ROW-keh-oos) — the softened, slowed state of the body and mind. That's what cities like Helsinki seem to deliver: not bliss, but a stable, low-friction kind of contentment. And while that may lack sparkle, it makes people feel held.And infrastructure plays a big role. In Helsinki, the signs in the library don't say “Be Quiet.” They say, “Please let others work in peace.” It's a small thing, but it speaks volumes — less about control, more about shared responsibility. There are saunas in government buildings. Parents leave their babies sleeping in strollers outside cafés. Transit is clean, quiet, and frequent. As Young puts it, these aren't luxuries — they're part of a “bone-deep sense of trust” the city builds and reinforces. Not enforced from above, but sustained by expectation, habit, and care.My family once joined an organized walking tour of Copenhagen. The guide, who was from Spain, pointed to a clock in a town square and said, almost in passing, “The government has always made sure this clock runs on time — even during war.” It wasn't just about punctuality. It was about trust. About the quiet promise that the public realm would still hold, even when everything else felt uncertain. This, our guide noted from his Spanish perspective, is what what make Scandinavians so-called ‘happy'. They feel held.Studies show that most of what boosts long-term happiness isn't about dopamine hits — it's about relational trust. Feeling safe. Feeling seen. Knowing you won't be stranded if you don't have a car or a credit card. Knowing the city works, even if you don't make it work for you.In this way, transit frequency and subtle signs in Helsinki are doing the same thing. They're shaping behavior and reinforcing social norms. They're saying: we share space here. Don't be loud. Don't cut in line. Don't treat public space like it's only for you.That kind of city can't be built on metrics alone. It needs moral imagination — the kind that sees coverage, access, and slowness as features, not bugs. That's not some socialist's idea of utopia. It's just thoughtful. Built into the culture, yes, but also the design.But sometimes we're just stuck with whatever design is already in place. Even if it's not so thoughtful. Economists and social theorists have long used the concept of path dependence to explain why some systems — cities, institutions, even technologies — get stuck. The idea dates back to work in economics and political science in the 1980s, where it was used to show how early decisions, even small ones, can lock in patterns that are hard to reverse.Once you've laid train tracks, built freeways, zoned for single-family homes — you've shaped what comes next. Changing course isn't impossible, but it's costly, slow, and politically messy. The QWERTY keyboard is a textbook example: not the most efficient layout, but one that stuck because switching systems later would be harder than just adapting to what we've got.Urban scholars Michael Storper and Allen Scott brought this thinking into city studies. They've shown how economic geography and institutional inertia shape urban outcomes — how past planning decisions, labor markets, and infrastructure investments limit the options cities have today. If your city bet on car-centric growth decades ago, you're probably still paying for that decision, even if pivoting is palatable to the public.CONNECTIONS, COMPLEXITY, CITIES THAT CAREThere's a quote often attributed to Stephen Hawking that's made the rounds in complexity science circles: “The 21st century will be the century of complexity.” No one's entirely sure where he said it — it shows up in systems theory blogs, talks, and books — but it sticks. Probably because it feels true.If the last century was about physics — closed systems, force, motion, precision — then this one is about what happens when the pieces won't stay still. When the rules change mid-game. When causes ripple back as consequences. In other words: cities.Planners have tried to tame that complexity in all kinds of ways. Grids. Zoning codes. Dashboards. There's long been a kind of “physics envy” in both planning and economics — a belief that if we just had the right model, the right inputs, we could predict and control the city like a closed system. As a result, for much of the 20th century, cities were designed like machines — optimized for flow, separation, and predictability.But even the pushback followed a logic of control — cul-de-sacs and suburban pastoralism — wasn't a turn toward organic life or spontaneity. It was just a softer kind of order: winding roads and whispered rules meant to keep things calm, clean, and contained…and mostly white and moderately wealthy.If you think of cities like machines, it makes sense to want control. More data, tighter optimization, fewer surprises. That's how you'd tune an engine or write software. But cities aren't machines. They're messy, layered, and full of people doing unpredictable things. They're more like ecosystems — or weather patterns — than they are a carburetor. And that's where complexity science becomes useful.People like Paul Cilliers and Brian Castellani have argued for a more critical kind of complexity science — one that sees cities not just as networks or algorithms, but as places shaped by values, power, and conflict. Cilliers emphasized that complex systems, like cities, are open and dynamic: they don't have fixed boundaries, they adapt constantly, and they respond to feedback in ways no planner can fully predict. Castellani extends this by insisting that complexity isn't just technical — it's ethical. It demands we ask: Who benefits from a system's design? Who has room to adapt, and who gets constrained? In this view, small interventions — a zoning tweak, a route change — can set off ripple effects that reshape how people move, connect, and belong. A new path dependence.This is why certainty is dangerous in urban design. It breeds overconfidence. Humility is a better place to start. As Jarrett Walker puts it, “there are all kinds of ways to fake your way through this.” Agencies often adopt feel-good mission statements like “compete with the automobile by providing access for all” — which, he notes, is like “telling your taxi driver to turn left and right at the same time.” You can't do both. Not on a fixed budget.Walker pushes agencies to be honest: if you want to prioritize ridership, say so. If you want to prioritize broad geographic coverage, that's also valid — but know it will mean lower ridership. The key is not pretending you can have both at full strength. He says, “What I want is for board members… to make this decision consciously and not be surprised by the consequences”.These decisions matter. A budget cut can push riders off buses, which then leads to reduced service, which leads to more riders leaving — a feedback loop. On the flip side, small improvements — like better lighting, a public bench, a frequent bus — can set off positive loops too. Change emerges, often sideways.That means thinking about transit not just as a system of movement, but as a relational space. Same with libraries, parks, and sidewalks. These aren't neutral containers. They're environments that either support or suppress human connection. If you design a city to eliminate friction, you eliminate chance encounters — the stuff social trust is made of.I'm an introvert. I like quiet. I recharge alone. But I also live in a city — and I've learned that even for people like me, being around others still matters. Not in the chatty, get-to-know-your-neighbors way. But in the background hum of life around you. Sitting on a bus. Browsing in a bookstore. Walking down a street full of strangers, knowing you don't have to engage — but you're not invisible either.There's a name for this. Psychologists call it public solitude or sometimes energized privacy — the comfort of being alone among others. Not isolated, not exposed. Just held, lightly, in the weave of the crowd. And the research backs it up: introverts often seek out public spaces like cafés, libraries, or parks not to interact, but to feel present — connected without pressure.In the longest-running happiness study ever done, 80 years, Harvard psychologist Robert Waldinger found that strong relationships — not income, not status — were the best predictor of long-term well-being. More recently, studies have shown that even brief interactions with strangers — on a bus, in a coffee shop — can lift mood and reduce loneliness. But here's the catch: cities have to make those interactions possible.Or they don't.And that's the real test of infrastructure. We've spent decades designing systems to move people through. Fast. Clean. Efficient. But we've neglected the quiet spaces that let people just be. Sidewalks you're not rushed off of. Streets where kids can safely bike or play…or simply cross the street.Even pools — maybe especially pools. My wife runs a nonprofit called SplashForward that's working to build more public pools. Not just for fitness, but because pools are public space. You float next to people you may never talk to. And still, you're sharing something. Space. Water. Time.You see this clearly in places like Finland and Iceland, where pools and saunas are built into the rhythms of public life. They're not luxuries — they're civic necessities. People show up quietly, day after day, not to socialize loudly, but to be alone together. As one Finnish local told journalist Molly Young, “During this time, we don't have... colors.” It was about the long gray winter, sure — but also something deeper: a culture that values calm over spectacle. Stability over spark. A kind of contentment that doesn't perform.But cities don't have to choose between quiet and joy. We don't have to model every system on Helsinki in February. There's something beautiful in the American kind of happiness too — the loud, weird, spontaneous moments that erupt in public. The band on the subway. The dance party in the park. The loud kid at the pool. That kind of energy can be a nuisance, but it can also be joyful.Even Jarrett Walker, who's clear-eyed about transit, doesn't pretend it solves everything. Transit isn't always the answer. Sometimes a car is the right tool. What matters is whether everyone has a real choice — not just those with money or proximity or privilege. And he's quick to admit every city with effective transit has its local grievances.So no, I'm not arguing for perfection, or even socialism. I'm arguing for a city that knows how to hold difference. Fast and slow. Dense and quiet. A city that lets you step into the crowd, or sit at its edge, and still feel like you belong. A place to comfortably sit with the uncertainty of this great transformation emerging around us. Alone and together.REFERENCESCastellani, B. (2014). Complexity theory and the social sciences: The state of the art. Routledge.Cilliers, P. (1998). Complexity and postmodernism: Understanding complex systems. Routledge.David, P. A. (1985). Clio and the economics of QWERTY. The American Economic Review.Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology.Hawking, S. (n.d.). The 21st century will be the century of complexity. [Attributed quote; primary source unavailable].O'Mara, S. (2019). In praise of walking: A new scientific exploration. W. W. Norton & Company.Roberts, D. (Host). (2025). Jarrett Walker on what makes good transit [Audio podcast episode]. In Volts.Storper, M., & Scott, A. J. (2016). Current debates in urban theory: A critical assessment. Urban Studies.Waldinger, R., & Schulz, M. (2023). The good life: Lessons from the world's longest scientific study of happiness. Simon & Schuster.Walker, J. (2011). Human transit: How clearer thinking about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives. Island Press.West, G., & Bettencourt, L. M. A. (2010). A unified theory of urban living. Nature.Young, M. (2025). My miserable week in the ‘happiest country on earth'. The New York Times Magazine. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io

In this episode, I'm joined by consultant Jarrett Walker to take the pulse of US transit in a world of empty downtown office towers, surging weekend ridership, and the tech elite's dream of transit without strangers. We unpack the myths that plague buses, reveal why Canada's transit abundance should be our model, and map the policy battles that will determine whether US transit systems shrink or soar. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe

In this episode, I connect with Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit, revised edition. This book, aimed at a nontechnical reader, explores the challenging questions that you must think about when planning or advocating for public transit in your community. We discuss what aspects of the public transit landscape have changed since the first edition in 2011, such as the rise of small shared personal mobility options like scooters and bikes, work from home trends, and increasingly imaginary techno-whiz-bang solutions like tunnels, aerial gondolas, and flying cars sucking up funds and attention, while also addressing the core fundamentals of effective public transportation that remains same. We also talk about the power of having walkable and bikeable environments to maximize the utilitarian potential of transit and access to opportunity.Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform. Also, don't forget to check out the Active Towns Channel for more video content.Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):- Jarrett Walker & Associates website- Human Transit blog- Jarrett on Bluesky- My episode with Dan Hendry - My episode with Lenore Skenazy- My episode with Peter Norton on Autonorama- My episode with Peter Norton on the history of protesting for safer streets- My Brompton and airports video- Bike and Train Magic episode with Roland KagerIf you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:1. Join our Patreon community. Contributions start at just $3 per month2. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also "leave a tip" through "Buy Me a Coffee"3. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with citiesCredits:- Video and audio production by John Simmerman- Music via Epidemic SoundResources used during the production of this video:- My recording platform is Ecamm Live- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite- Equipment: Contact me for a complete listFor more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:- Active Towns Website- Active Towns on Bluesky- Weekly Update e-NewsletterBackground:Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I'm a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.Since 2010,  I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2025 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Why are our roads unsafe, and who is to blame? Transportation expert Wes Marshall joins us to unravel the myths behind traffic engineering, revealing a surprising truth: the science we trust to keep us safe on the road might be more fiction than fact. With his provocative book "Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System," Wes aims to spark a critical reevaluation within the engineering community and beyond. Our discussion navigates the murky waters of road safety priorities, exposing the stark contrast between common fender benders and high-speed highway fatalities. The episode calls into question the societal and systemic factors that prioritize speed and power over human lives, emphasizing the urgent need to rethink the metrics and methodologies that guide our transportation systems.Show Notes:Further Reading: Walkable City by Jeff Speck, Inclusive Transportation by Veronica Davis, Right of Way by Angie Schmitt, Transit Metropolis by Robert Cervero, The Bicycle City by Dan Piatkowski, Human Transit by Jarrett Walker, When Driving is not an Option by Anna ZivartsTo help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Amazon Affiliates page at https://amzn.to/3YwX6aA or even better, get a copy through your local bookstore!To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/Follow us on social media for more content related to each episode:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/booked-on-planning/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BookedPlanningFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookedonplanningInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookedonplanning/

This week we're joined once again by Jarrett Walker to talk about the release of the revised edition of his influential book Human Transit.  We chat about Ursula Le Guin, expanding access to opportunity, how to think about transit riders, the free transit movement and thoughts on anger as a response to change. *** Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Follow us on Threads or Instagram @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Welcome to part two of Paul's interview with Jarrett Walker of Jarret Walker & Associates. In this part of the interview, Paul and Jarrett talk about two of the hottest topics in public transport: equity and the demise of rush hour. Jarrett discusses the tension and balance between focusing on ridership versus coverage when looking at transit equality. As he talked about in part one, too far to one side or another leads to very different transit systems. He gives an example from his homebase of Portland, OR where there is a proposal to cut routes from some areas of the city to give disadvantaged areas of the city better coverage. Listen to his perspective on the topic. Then Jarrett goes into how if agencies are freed from needing to offer peak rush hour service--which is both inefficient and expensive--they can use those funds to offer better all-day coverage for routes in the system. This is something we've heard a lot about before, but Jarrett brings in the perspective of riders who think it's great to have rapid rush hour service, not realizing it's a cost to the whole system. You can also read more about Jarrett's work and check out his book at HumanTransit.org. Also on this week's show:

We continue our special kick-off to Season 6 with a special two-part Transit Unplugged News and Views with Jarrett Walker of Jarrett Walker & Associates talking about what it takes to rebuild and replan a transit network. Jarrett and his team are the minds behind the Houston Model transit system. The Houston Model brought focus on providing fast, efficient, frequent service with minimal transfers and away from ridership as the main driver, or indicator, of success. In part one we set the stage for why Houston needed this major change and the results. In part 2, Paul and Jarrett talk about the "why" of transit in the post-pandemic era. Make sure you tune into both parts of this great interview! Also in this episode:

Welcome to a very special episode of Transit Unplugged In-Depth! This episode marks our fifth anniversary, the start of Season 6, and it also happens to be our 225th show! To celebrate these milestones we have an interview with Rich Davey, President New York City Transit, NY MTA as our guest. Paul interviewed Rich live from the APTATRANSform show in the Vontas booth in October after Paul's very successful book signing event. Rich and Paul dive into what it's like to run North America's largest public transit system. From post-pandemic changes to faring, to how Rich plans to make the entire MTA system better for everyone. Rich's plans for more accessible subway stations and restructuring bus routes across the city are just two ways Rich plans to keep the Big Apple moving all day, every day. Next week on Transit Unplugged News and Views we have part one of a special two-part series with transit consultant and planner Jarrett Walker. Paul and Jarrett start off talking about how public transit is changing and the Houston model Jarrett championed before the pandemic. In part two Paul and Jarrett talk about the new role and future of public transit in the post-pandemic era. We hope you join us and enjoy this special three-episode celebration of Season 6 of Transit Unplugged. If you have a question, comment, or want to be a guest on the show, email us at info@transitunplugged.com.

There are 32 days left until the summer solstice which will mark the longest time this year that the rays of our star will soak our area of the planet with light and other forms of radiation. However, this is the first day of the year when temperature gauges on the Fahrenheit scale will come very close to triple digits. What will Charlottesville Community Engagement say about the matter in this May 20, 2022 edition of the program? Very little, but the host, Sean Tubbs, is sincere in wishing everyone well in the heat to come. On today’s program:A historical marker is unveiled at the Central Library in downtown Charlottesville to honor the legal battle to admit a Black man to the University of Virginia Law School Charlottesville City Council is briefed on efforts to get a handle on what property the city leases out and whether all of the tenants are paying their fair shareFifth District Republicans will meet tomorrow to select a nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives And work on a Regional Transit Vision will culminate next week in a long presentation to regional officials about what could happen if the area found a new mechanism for more funding for expanded transit Shout-out for an ACHS program on the Fields of Honor This year, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has been working with a group called the Fields of Honor to identify soldiers who were killed in action in the Second World War. Since February, ACHS researchers have helped locate several photographs of the fallen, including that of Private Clarence Edward McCauley who was tracked down through high school records. There are 18 remaining photographs to be found, and on Thursday, May 26 at 7 p.m. the ACHS will host Debbie Holloman and Sebastian Vonk of the Fields of Honor Foundation to talk about how you can take part in their volunteer efforts honoring the service and sacrifice of US WWII service members buried or memorialized at US war cemeteries in Europe. That’s Thursday, May 26, at 7 p.m. via Zoom or Facebook Live.Historical Marker unveiled at Central Library for crucial desegregation caseA crowd assembled yesterday afternoon at the intersection of East Market Street and 3rd Street NW in downtown Charlottesville to watch the unveiling of a historic marker to commemorate an important moment in the desegregation of education in Virginia. In 1950, Gregory Swanson applied to attend the University of Virginia School of Law, but he was denied a space because he was Black. He sued in federal court citing 14th Amendment rights to equal protection, and a three-panel judge heard arguments on September 5 that year. David Plunkett is the director of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library, and he noted the historic nature of the building that is the library system’s headquarters.“This building is formerly a federal building and home to the courtroom where Gregory Swanson won his legal petition for entry into the University of Virginia law school,” Plunkett said.     Plunkett said Swanson’s case was part of the NAACP’s legal strategy to challenge the system of desegregation. “While the law school had admitted Mr. Swanson on his merit, with the support of staff including Mortimer Caplin, the Board of University Board of Visitors subsequently denied his admittance based on his skin color,” Plunkett said. “The case tried here overturned that ruling and helped lead to the desegregation of higher education in the South.”Risa Goluboff is the current Dean of the UVA Law School, and she said the marker celebrates Swanson’s bravery and persistence. “He did all this for a belief, for a legal and constitutional principle, for his own growth as a lawyer and a person, for his race, and for the nation as a whole,” Goluboff said. Swanson was represented by the law firm of Hill, Martin, & Robinson, with future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall serving as his legal counsel. Goluboff said the denial back in 1950 must be remembered, as well as the University’s condoning of slavery and the continuance of Jim Crow era laws. She said Swanson’s case should be celebrated.“And when he succeeded, he became the first Black student not only at the University of Virginia Law School, not only at the University of Virginia writ large, but at any state in the former Confederacy,” Goluboff said. “Telling his story both forces and enables us to remember those aspects of our history of exclusion and segregation that we must know in order to repudiate them.” Also on hand at the ceremony was M. Rick Turner, a former president of the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP. He said Black students at UVA have always challenged the status quo of an institution founded to perpetuate racial and class inequalities. “It is worth remembering that the [admittance] of Black students at UVA years ago was not a benevolent gesture on the part of the UVA administrators and state officials, but rather the presence of Gregory Swanson paved the way,” Turner said. To hear the event in full, visit the Charlottesville Podcasting Network where the full audio is posted and is available.Fifth District Republican convention tomorrowRepublicans across Virginia’s new Fifth Congressional District will gather tomorrow at Hampden-Sydney College in Prince Edward County to select a candidate for the November 8 election. Over 2,000 attendees are pre-filed for the event, according to the draft program. Incumbent Bob Good of Campbell County faces challenger Dan Moy in the race, and the program states that each will give a speech before the votes are taken. There will also be remarks from outgoing Chair William Pace and incoming Chair Rick Buchannan. The program contains multiple endorsements for Good from Republican leaders across the United States, as well as several Delegates and Senators of the General Assembly. Moy’s sole endorsement is from the group Chasing Freedom Virginia.There are a total of 24 Republican committees in the fifth District. The convention will be called to order at 10 a.m. and will use a weighted voting system. The winner will face Democrat Joshua Throneburg in the November election. Regional Transit Vision updateConsultants hired by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission to craft a vision for how public transportation might work better in the Charlottesville area will present more details next Thursday. The firm AECOM is the lead consultant with Jarrett Walker and Associates serving as a subcontractor. The study may recommend the eventualtransition to a unified regional transit authority. (meeting info)“There will be a 90 minute presentation from the consultants to go over what we’ve done so far, survey the results of the first round of public engagement, and then also what they found for the vision for the community,” said Lucinda Shannon, a transportation planner for the TJPDC. Shannon told a technical committee of the Metropolitan Planning Organization that a three-day workshop was held with the transit providers to imagine new bus routes under a new scenario where there is $30 million in annual funding from a new transportation authority. The consultants modeled that scenario after a new authority in the Richmond area that was created in 2020. “We looked at the Central Virginia [Transportation] Authority’s model of how they collect revenue to kind of calculate how much we could collect if we formed an authority to pay for the vision,” Shannon said.Shannon said that for now, the JWA’s work is more about what the vision will be.  A second round of public engagement will take place soon after next week’s partnership meeting. Shannon said the firm AECOM may also be hired to conduct a governance study to recommend how to actually come up with that hypothetical $30 million. That work is contingent on approval by the Commonwealth Transportation Board at their meeting in June. Shannon said this study will be more about the funding than changing the structure of area transit. “So it’s not going to be looking at how [Charlottesville Area Transit] or any of the service providers are governed or run or anything like that,” Shannon said. “It’s just bringing in money and putting it out for transit.” Funding for these studies come from Albemarle County, Charlottesville, and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation. The budget for the vision plan is $350,000 and the budget for the governance plan is $150,000. See also: Regional Transit Partnership briefed on Regional Transit Vision, looming Charlottesville Area Transit route changes, April 1, 2021Regional Transit Vision may suggest resumption of Regional Transit Authority foundation, December 14, 2021Shout-out to Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today’s subscriber-supported Public Service Announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes this spring and summer to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. Coming up on June 7 is a tree identification course taught on Zoom by tree steward Elizabeth Ferguson followed by a separate hike on June 11 at the Department of Forestry’s headquarters near the Fontaine Research Park. That’s followed by a tree identification walk at the University of Virginia on June 12 for the public. On June 14, Rachel Keen will give a lecture on Zoom on the Social Life of Trees. Do trees really communicate with one another? What is a 'mother tree'? Can a tree do anything to repel a pest? Learn more at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org.City seeking to know more about what property it rents The City of Charlottesville could be pulling in more revenue from tenants who may be leasing city property at rates well below the market rate. That’s one of the takeaways from a report given to Council at their meeting on May 16. As the City of Charlottesville government seeks to rebuild after a recent era of frequent leadership transitions, the current management is looking at aspects of the city administration that have gone unnoticed or unchecked. Until now, there has not been one central source in city government that controls all of the various leases the city has for its properties as well as service agreements. That makes it hard to track who is responsible or where the public can get information.“So what we’re trying to do at this moment is compile that but one of the first things we had to do was identify an individual who would have that as their job,” said Sam Sanders, the Deputy City Manager for operations. That person will be Brenda Kelley, who has been the redevelopment manager for the city for the past several years. Her position has been elevated to the Office of Community Solutions, and she’ll be presenting a full report to Council this summer. In the meantime, she prepared a briefing for Council for their May 16 meeting which began with a basic definition of what she’ll cover. “Leases or agreement-type leases where either the city is a party,” Kelley said. “This is where the city owns the property or the city is a tenant of a property owned by someone else.” The city has about 155,000 square feet of building spaces that bring in about $580,000 a year in revenue for the city. That doesn’t include about 50 acres under ground lease. The oldest lease dates back to 1922 and allows the city’s utilities office to use space at a pump station at the University of Virginia. One of the biggest amounts of space the city leases is at the Water Street Parking Garage. “The city doesn’t own the Water Street Parking Garage but we lease parking spaces,” Kelley said. The city does own the Market Street Parking Garage, as well as the buildings on East Market Street that are currently occupied by the Lucky 7 and a Guadalajara restaurant. The City Council of January 2017 paid $2.85 million for an eventual parking garage at the location, but the City Council of March 2021 opted to go in a different direction. For now, the city gets rent from those businesses. “The Lucky 7 and the Guadalajara and all of the Market Street Parking Garage retail spaces, those rent funds go into the Parking Enterprise Fund,” Kelley said. Revenues from the Charlottesville Pavilion and the building where S&P Global operates go into the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority fund. Kelley said further research needs to be done into intergovernmental leases with the courts, libraries, and other entities. She said that systems need to be in place to track the leases and make sure that any rent increases due to the city are at least known about for Council’s consideration. Councilor Sena Magill said she appreciated being able to see a more complete picture of the city’s property portfolio, and the potential to get more out of its investment. “When we look at a lot of these rents on a lot of these buildings, they are at about half of market rate,” Magill said. Magill said if the city is charging below market, it should be as a way of helping small businesses who are just getting started. She wanted to see a presentation from the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority on the leases they currently manage. Mayor Lloyd Snook said he wanted any lessees to know that the preliminary report is not intended to raise rates, but just to provide information. “Until this report and this information is gathered, we on Council had no idea who we were subsidizing and we have no idea why we’re subsidizing them in some cases and we may want to make some conscious decisions to continue to subsidize in the form of the rent or we may not but at least we will be doing so from the basis of actual knowledge,” Snook said. More to come as the summer heats up. Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

This week on the Strong Towns Podcast, host Chuck Marohn welcomes back a special return guest: Jarrett Walker, head of Jarrett Walker + Associates, a transit-planning firm based in Portland, Oregon. Walker has been a consultant in public transit network, design, and policy for many decades now, and has worked all across North America and other countries worldwide. He's also the author of the book Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives, as well as the blog Human Transit. Recently while doing his end-of-the-year desk cleaning, Chuck came across an article that Walker wrote in 2018 for the Journal of Public Transportation titled “To Predict with Confidence, Plan for Freedom.” Upon rereading it (for the fourth time), Chuck knew he wanted to talk to Walker about this piece. So, join in for this conversation about the limitations of prediction, starting with a story seven or eight years ago, when Walker was developing a proposed redesign for the bus network in Houston… Additional Show Notes "To Predict with Confidence, Plan for Freedom,” by Jarrett Walker, Journal of Public Transportation (2018). Jarrett Walker (Twitter) Charles Marohn (Twitter)

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and our streak of amazing weather may end this afternoon. There’s a decentish chance for rain starting after lunch and continuing on through the evening. Same kind of deal on Saturday, too. Temperatures look great, though, so I think as long as you can dodge the rain, you’ve still got a good chance for some solid out-of-doors time this weekend.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,928 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 21 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 225 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 67, Henrico: 88, and Richmond: 70). Since this pandemic began, 1,241 people have died in the Richmond region. Hmmm, a new reported case count number just a hair shy of 2,000—don’t love that. Here’s this week’s stacked chart of new reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. And, aside from the absolutely useless deaths graph, I think you can clearly see we’re in a “will they or won’t they” phase. I get that basically maintaining the current level of disease spread as we head into Memorial Day, the end of the semester, and nicer weather all round seems like decent progress, but, dang, these numbers are still numbers that would have terrified us back in the fall. I know that this section of the email has become a boring and skippable place where I repeat myself about the importance of staying disease vigilant, but, like, that’s still what we should be doing! I mean, check out the UVA Model update from a couple of days ago. All scenarios, even the best case ones, have us cresting a new peak of disease around the first week of May. With only 34% of Virginia with at least one dose of the vaccine, we’re nowhere near a place where herd immunity will protect Us—like the larger, communal us.I haven’t seen it reflected in any of my vaccine chartsandgraphs yet, but the New York Times reports that due to that Baltimore factory screw up, Johnson & Johnson will “allocate 86 percent fewer doses across the United States next week than are currently being allocated.” These are big, mega drops in the amount of vaccine states were expecting. For example, California got 527,700 doses of J&J last week, this week it will only get 67,600. According to this CDC table, which I hadn’t seen until this morning, Virginia received 124,700 J&J doses this week and will only get 14,800 next week. Yikes. If you were hoping to get a one-and-done Johnson & Johnson shot over the next little while, you should probably temper that expectation.The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Kenya Hunter reports that Micky Ogburn will step down as chairwoman of the Henrico County School Board. Ogburn shared a dumb conservative-outrage Facebook post about Dr. Seuss a couple weeks back, and, since then, a few folks had called for her to step down from her leadership position—including at least one fellow boardmember. Important clarification: Ogburn is not resigning resigning, just stepping down from her leadership position. She will still represent Henrico’s Three Chopt District on the School Board.Also in the RTD by Rex Springston, check out this interesting oral history of how the Northside’s Bryan Park has changed over the last couple of decades. I had no idea the park narrowly avoided a horrible, worst-case future as a golf course! Or that in the 90s the City used the middle of the park to dump trash and abandon vehicles. Fascinating. Two notes: First, Bryan Park is great, and I’m thankful for the hard work that went into saving it and helping it thrive as a public space; Second, there are definitely some dog whistles in this piece about why the park was “seedy” in the 90s. Beware.Sometimes I come across things that are incredibly boring but feel like I should know more about. Dominion Energy’s triennial review is just one of those things, and I appreciate the Virginia Mercury’s Sarah Vogelsong for explaining it in a bearable, nearly enjoyable way. Why does the triennial review matter? “At the most basic level, the triennial review matters because it determines whether the base rates Dominion’s customers have been paying over the past four years have been reasonable.” You don’t have a choice about who you buy your electricity from, so reviews like this (theoretically) prevent the monopoly from gouging you on rates (theoretically). More importantly, why is it called a triennial review when it covers four years? “Let’s get this one out of the way: Yes, Dominion’s 2021 triennial review covers the four years from 2017 to 2020. No, it does not make sense.” Love it.Remember: Today at 12:00 PM, the City will host its last virtual public meeting (for now) on the proposed resort casino. You can join in via Microsoft teams and hear a report-out of the community feedback up to this point. I think this is a repeat of yesterday’s meeting, video of which should be posted online at some point soon. Now, the “evaluation panel,” will take a look at the proposals and community feedback and make a recommendation on their preferred location/proposal to City Council. That should happen in the next couple of months. Who sits on the evaluation panel? A bunch of folks you may recognize: Councilmembers Addison and Robertson, CAO Lincoln Saunders, and then a bunch of high-ups from the City (including Maritza Pechin, the new head of the Office of Equitable Development). Stressful work for that crew over the next several weeks—good luck!It’s day nine of /r/rva’s obsession with Brookland Park Boulevard’s Little Pedestrian Sign that Could. Here’s a full list of the locations (kind of) where the City will install these signs.This morning’s longreadHow to make the bus betterThink of this piece like a Jarrett Walker primer and way to spend a bit of time this weekend revisiting some transit basics (or visiting them for the first time!).Every once in a while someone rediscovers that city buses are a good mode of transportation, either because they’ve gotten frustrated with a local government wasting money on mixed-traffic streetcars, or else — as in this recent Farhad Manjoo column — because they’ve gotten frustrated with endless Silicon Valley hype-cycles about new driving technology. And this is true. The bus is a very elegant solution to the basic geometrical issue with cars. Forty people who fit very comfortably on a bus would fill several lanes in solo cars. And if they’re standing, even more people can crowd onto a bus at peak hours, while the street literally cannot accommodate any extra cars.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayMy springtime backyard is crushing it.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and maybe a little rainy. You can expect the rain to taper off this morning and for temperatures to stay right where they are for most of the day. Cooler temperatures return tomorrow.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,736 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 170 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 150 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 58, Henrico: 57, and Richmond: 35). Since this pandemic began, 976 people have died in the Richmond region. That’s now seven days with a seven-day average of fewer than 2,000 new reported cases across the State. We’re now back at pre-Thanksgiving levels of new cases, and that certainly makes me feel some optimism. VDH continues to work through the backlog of winter death certificates, and locally the results are grim: Since February 19th, our region’s death toll has increased by 253 and now stands at 976. 26% of the deaths caused by COVID-19 in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield were reported in the last nine days.In exciting vaccine news, over the weekend the CDC authorized the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for emergency use. That means we now have a third vaccine to use to fight this disease, and it means a small bump to our local supply, too. VDH says that the Commonwealth expects to receive 69,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week, and that it will be “prioritized for mass vaccination clinics across the state.” Remember! The best vaccine for you is the first one you’re offered.Eric Kolenich at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that a freshman student at VCU “was found dead early Saturday after a fraternity rush event involving alcohol.” Just awful and terrible. Both VCU and the national Delta Chi fraternity have suspended the local chapter, and you can read the University’s full statement here.The RPS School Board will meet tonight and discuss three things I find interesting: Graduation rates (PDF), a reopening “Safety Dashboard” (PDF), and the results of the year-round school survey (PDF). About the first, the administration projects that the dropout rate across the division will drop by 13% this year. About the third, caregivers and teachers both are pretty split about a year-round school calendar.GRTC updated their Regional Public Transportation Plan page to include a handful of new and useful maps. They’ve now got both concepts—the ridership and coverage concepts—overlaid on poverty data and race/ethnicity data. Additionally, they’ve got a bunch of these cool neighborhood maps (PDF) comparing the new places, jobs, and residents that are accessible should we implement either the ridership or coverage concepts. The aforelinked map for Richmond Community Hospital shows how the ridership concept would unlock access to almost all of Northside—frequency is awesome! After you’ve finished tapping, zooming, and scrolling, make sure you fill out the survey to let them know which concept you prefer. Oh! Also! You can read a bit more about this regional plan over on Jarrett Walker’s blog.NBC12’s Hannah Eason reports that the City will install pedestrian hybrid beacons at 12 locations, beginning with one at Grove and Somerset in March (which I think I’ve written about before). These beacons aren’t just your typical flashing yellow light that drivers tend to ignore until you thrust your body in front of their vehicles hoping for the best. No! These have actual red lights and require drivers to stop. The list of planned locations is amazing and addresses some of the most dangerous street crossing for pedestrians, cyclists, and folks trying to catch the bus. Here are a few of my favorites: Belvedere Street at the War Memorial, Laburnum Avenue at Holton Elementary, and Main Street & 24th Street. I’ve nearly been hit by a driver at each of these locations, so to see the City doing something about it is pretty exciting.Tapping around City Council meeting agendas this morning, and I came across this presentation on “Deferred Facilities Maintenance and Fleet Replacement Planning” (PDF). It’s boring. But! Page seven says “The City does not have defined capital funding sources to address the aging [fire department] fleet…we recommend that the RFD work with Fleet Services to identify the aging fleet and to identify actions which need to occur in the Capital Improvement Program to replace apparatuses as they approach the retirement age.” Also boring! BUT! Fire truck access is a constant barrier to creating slower, safer streets for people. Big, huge fire trucks require big, huge streets, which results in other drivers flying around at fast and dangerous speeds. Smaller fire trucks do exist, and if we’re at a critical point for replacing the RFD’s fleet, we should replace them with smaller vehicles as part of the City’s ongoing equitable transportation work. P.S. Page four of this presentation also has a pretty comprehensive list of other important plans and documents if you wanted to add a few PDFs to your collection.The City has released one-pagers provided by each of the six operators who filled out the casino RFP. I couldn’t find the actual responses to the RFP, so maybe they’re Top Secret for now while negotiations are ongoing. I dunno, but I imagine some intrepid reporters are firing up their FOIAs as we speak. Also, the City has outlined the engagement process (PDF), which kicks off with a virtual citywide meeting on March 9th to talk about “1) the community engagement process and 2) the community benefits a resort casino may provide, how communities have used resort casino revenues, and how a resort casino may mitigate negative impacts.”The marijuana legalization bill working its way through the General Assembly almost died an interesting and sudden death over the weekend. Mel Leonor at the RTD reports that, as it stands, Virginia will create a new, regulated market by 2024, but “punted to next year key decisions on the regulatory framework for the market and the new criminal penalties that would go into effect when marijuana is legalized.” We’ll see if the Governor makes any tweaks this week.This morning’s longreadThe Lies Hollywood Tells About Little GirlsA good chaser to the Golden Globes by Mara Wilson.At 13, I already knew all about The Narrative. As an actor from the age of 5, who was carrying films by age 8, I’d been trained to seem, to be, as normal as possible — whatever it took to avoid my inevitable downfall. I shared a bedroom with my little sister. I went to public school. I was a Girl Scout. When someone called me a “star” I was to insist that I was an actor, that the only stars were in the sky. Nobody would touch the money I made until I turned 18. But I was now 13, and I was already ruined. Just like everyone expected.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the Day

When Paula Wants to visit Adam, what’s her best option? The subway? The bus? The Los Angeles Monorail which doesn’t exist but maybe SHOULD? Public transit savant Jarrett Walker jet-packs in to school us on the fine art of moving people while keeping our cities livable. Plus, we finally get Toni and Bonnie’s Iceland report: What’s it like, and are they listening to us? GUEST Jarrett Walker President of Jarrett Walker + Associates   Author, HumanTransit.org HOUSE BAND Christin Phelps Webb Bassoon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, and I am wearing a hoodie at this very moment. Today, you can expect highs in the mid 60s and sunshine. I will probably have to take this hoodie off later this morning, but it feels pretty cozy right now!Water coolerRichmond Police are reporting that last Wednesday night Marquis B. Bushnell, a man in his 30s, was fatally shot on the 1900 bock of Redd Street. The RPD are asking anyone with information about this shooting to call Crime Stoppers (804.780.1000).As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 856↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 25↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 106↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 34, Henrico: 45 and Richmond: 27). Since this pandemic began, 356 people have died in the Richmond region.In personal coronanews, I finally put some time into moving my coronacounts spreadsheet over to Google Sheets, and you can check it out here. The chartsandgraphs aren’t exactly how I want them, but it’s a start. With any luck, next time my numbers start to look strange, folks can go poke around the data themselves and let me know what I’ve screwed up.In local coronanews, St. Christopher’s and St. Catherine’s schools closed this past Friday after two students tested positive following a party involving more than 60 students “absent of social distancing or mask-wearing.” As of this weekend it was still up in the air whether or not students would return to in-person instruction this week.In regional coronanews, JMU has decided to try reopening to in-person instruction again. On October 5th, students will return to campus, but the University will tweak its plans to include a mandatory surveillance testing program, more isolation and quarantine spaces, and smaller class sizes. Also of note, this bit about how JMU reports positive cases: “Many schools are only reporting cases that are identified in their own university health center. We have been as transparent as possible in reporting both self-reported cases as well as cases identified at the UHC. We are in the minority in doing that, which is important to remember when comparing case counts across schools’ dashboards.” Since I know, like me, you’re immediately thinking that this might be one of the reason’s VCU’s case count is so low, lemme stop you right there by quoting from their dashboard: “Students and employees who test positive for COVID-19 or experience symptoms related to COVID-19 must report it to Student Health Services or Employee Health.”And, finally, in national coronanews, the WaPo points out a fairly serious change to the CDC’s guidance on how the coronavirus spreads: They’ve now added aerosols into the mix. Unlike droplets which shoot out of your face when you cough or sneeze and then fall to the ground, aerosols are produced when you sing, talk, or…breath(?!)…and can “remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others, and travel distances beyond 6 feet.” We’ll see if or how this updated guidance changes how we should behave, but keeping indoor environments well ventilated moving into the fall and winter seems like a challenge.Alright, the saga of the poorly-accessible Registrar’s office continues with this very sternly worded public letter from Mayor Stoney to the General Registrar. First, it’s good to see a transportation issue getting so much attention—and serious attention at that—from the Mayor’s office. But, honestly, I feel insane when I read this letter? To quote a bit, “From your last briefing to my administration and Richmond City Council, we were under the impression that all pains would be taken to ensure the accessibility of this new, spacious location by public transit.” There is almost nothing that the Registrar can do to make this poorly-chosen location easy and convenient to access by public transportation. It’s far from anything, not on the way to anywhere, and at the end of a cul-de-sac next to a highway. This, to paraphrase Jarrett Walker, is a self-inflicted geometry problem. All of the most painful of pains can be taken, but it’s just a hard spot to get to. Sounds like what we’re going to end up with is dedicated shuttle service from City Hall to the new location. This is…a solution…but still adds friction and time to most everyone’s trip to the Registrar and, while maybe quicker than trying to catch the #91, will still discourage folks from voting. Additionally, this bit is maddening: “I also strongly suggest you reach out to GRTC to explore increasing frequency of service near your main office.” OK, sure. The #91 is a Henrico-based route and would cost $2,300,000 (annually) to up its frequency from once an hour to twice an hour (PDF, p. 4–95). It might seem like Strong Leadership to make this casual suggestion, but the Registrar has exactly zero authority to force Henrico to drop an additional $2.3 million on public transit. To suggest that they might is bananas.The Rev. Ben Campbell has a piece in Style about the history of enslaved Africans in Richmond and the South and the potential of a National Slavery Museum centered in Shockoe. Campbell points out the deep impact slavery had on Richmond and the incomprehensible (but predictable?) lack of focus on it throughout much of our post-Civil War history: “The [Shockoe] slave market accounted for half the economy of the city of Richmond – perhaps as much as $200 million a year in current value – for the 20 years leading up to the Civil War. Yet it is hardly mentioned in Virginia or Richmond history even today.”The RTD dropped their 4th District candidate questionnaires over the weekend. You can read (unopposed) Councilmember Larson’s answers here, and 4th District School Board candidate answers here. I’ve also added links to all of the other questionnaires to each candidate’s card on the Big List of Richmond’s 2020 Candidates Trello board. If you know of other public questionnaires, send them my why and I’ll get them added in the right spot!It was only a matter of time before some local Coffee Queen or King, looking to extend their empire, snatched up the old Lamplighter on Morris. Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense says that Blanchard’s Coffee has picked up the spot and will announce an opening date soon. I’ll miss getting Wrong Lamplightered, but am excited to show up at the wrong Blanchard’s for a meeting (whenever meetings return to my life).Hey, look at this charming thing! Richmond’s wants to find an official poet laureate. I know there’s a lot going on at the moment, but, in my opinion, it’s all the more reason to get someone out there expressing our feelings for us. Applications are due November 5th, tell your poet friends!This morning’s longreadJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87NPR’s Nina Totenberg has the obituary of RBG that you probably have already read and need to if you have not.But Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nonetheless a historic figure. She changed the way the world is for American women. For more than a decade, until her first judicial appointment in 1980, she led the fight in the courts for gender equality. When she began her legal crusade, women were treated, by law, differently from men. Hundreds of state and federal laws restricted what women could do, barring them from jobs, rights and even from jury service. By the time she donned judicial robes, however, Ginsburg had worked a revolution.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

It's 16 weeks from Election Day and former Vice President Joe Biden is leading in the polls. But is President Trump really in trouble in traditionally red states like Arizona, Georgia and Texas? Chris Stirewalt, Fox News politics editor and co-host of the "I'll Tell You What" podcast discusses the state of the 2020 Presidential race, which states could swing the election and how Covid-19 has impacted the Trump campaign.   The battle against the coronavirus has changed so many things about life as we used to know it, including the daily commute. Rush hour has been brought to a screeching halt and with concerns over crowded train and buses, the decades-long effort to encourage more mass transit use has been disrupted.  Jarrett Walker, international public transit consultant and president of the Jarrett Walker and Associates, discusses the future of mass transit in America and why commutes relying too heavily on cars will create their own set of problem.   Plus, commentary by Jimmy Failla, host of "Fox Across America." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A bit of an odd episode this week: we're talking policy and personal preferences. What makes a transit system good, and what aspects matter the most to each of us? Hopefully these questions can help you rethink the way you understand your own city's transit network, and what changes you'd like to see made to improve it.Producer's Note: Dylan recorded all three of our audio tracks mashed into one; Robby and Evan did their best to cut out all the parts where our talking bled over into his track, but a few rough spots still remain. Oops.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/DepartureBoardFind us on twitter: https://twitter.com/departurepodHelpful sources: “Human Transit” by Jarrett Walker

2020 brought a global pandemic in the form of Covid-19 and, with it, a radical change in how we percieve and use public transit. In this episode, we talk about good practices and resources for public transit during a pandemic, and discuss some of the changes transit has made to adapt to a Covid-19 world.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/DepartureBoardHelpful sources: In A Pandemic, We're All 'Transit Dependent' – Jarrett Walker, Citylabhttps://www.citylab.com/perspective/2020/04/coronavirus-public-transit-subway-bus-ridership-revenue/609556/

Zoom-Tank Debate 2: The Future of Public Roadway Transit. This is the podcast version of the live May 18th debate. Jarrett Walker and Associates President Jarrett Walker on the Best of Times side of the argument against Cato Institute Senior Fellow Randal O’toole. Moderator Dick Mudge is joined by "sharks" including Jerome Lutin…an independent consultant who has worked in, written and lectured about transit and transportation for many years, Princeton University Professor Alain Kornhauser…faculty chair for autonomous vehicle engineering..and much more, Digital age pioneer, author and consultant Brad Templeton…. and Michael Sena…also a well known consultant and editor of The Dispatcher newsletter. Find more at www.zoom-tank.com! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/smart-driving-cars-podcast/support

Jarrett Walker is an international public transit network design and policy consultant and the author of popular public transit blog HumanTransit.org, and the book Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives. This book is a friendly, non-technical introduction to transit's underlying geometry and the real value judgments that... The post Elon Musk's Wrong, Driverless Cars Make Things Worse and Buses are the Future of Transportation | Jarrett Walker appeared first on The Syndicate.

Jarrett Walker is an international public transit network design and policy consultant and the author of popular public transit blog HumanTransit.org, and the book Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives. [spreaker type=player resource="episode_id=19969045" width="100%" height="200px" theme="light" playlist="false" playlist-continuous="false" autoplay="false" live-autoplay="false" chapters-image="true" episode-image-position="right" hide-logo="true" hide-likes="false" hide-comments="false" hide-sharing="false" hide-download="true"]

Jarrett Walker (@humantransit) is an international public transit network design and policy consultant and the author of popular public transit blog HumanTransit.org, and the book Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives. This book is a friendly, non-technical introduction to transit’s underlying geometry and the real value judgments that must be explored to make both transit and development policy.His background integrates an arts and humanities Ph.D. with long technical experience in all aspects of transit and its role in city-building. He is a frequent keynote speaker, teacher, and facilitator of decision-making processes.In today’s episode we discuss:- How to engineer cities so ALMOST everyone wins- What does the future of urban transit look like- Why autonomous vehicles actually lead to more traffic- The reason Uber and Lyft are part of the problem- The geometric test to any transportation claim- Why the Boring Company is bogus- The law of induced demand and its implications- How tech marketing twists issues and creates bigger problems- What Jarrett thinks about electric scooters and micro-mobility- Where we’re at in the IoT hype cycle- Thoughts on regulating and market distortions- Why cars are a dead-end future

Chuck Marohn is the Founder and President of Strong Towns, an international movement that’s dedicated to making communities across the United States and Canada financially strong and resilient. He Skyped in from Minnesota to talk about hot topics in Bloomington-Normal. We start with a brief orientation to Strong Towns (2:20), then we chat about approaches for connectivity and infill (8:45), downtown/uptown revitalization (20:15), Connect Transit (35:20), and next steps for the Arena and Eastland Mall (53:20). Find out more at StrongTowns.com and the Strong Towns Podcast. At the website you can preorder “Strong Towns: The Book” and see what events are scheduled, including the upcoming book tour. On the topic of transit, Chuck recommends “Human Transit” by Jarrett Walker.   Thank you to our sponsors Play Normal E-Sports Normal Gadgets Lil’ Beaver Brewery   Music: “Extremes” by The Lemming Shepherds, public domain

Public transit consultant Jarrett Walker says the value of his work with municipalities around the world is never predicated on delivering his own recommendation. Instead, he says he “fosters conversations, leading to confident decisions”.That might get his firm Jarrett Walker + Associates the job. But as he demonstrates during this enlightening and entertaining chat — Price Talks’ second live recording at Gord’s West End apartment —”convening people in the presence of reality” is Walker’s true skill.What does that look like? He discloses some of his interdisciplinary secret sauce, various processes and approaches to helping North American cities re-think how to move people. And some of it sounds very much like child’s play.Walker is well familiar with Metro Vancouver’s complex political, geographic, and fiscal environments for transportation-related capital projects — he worked and lived here a decade ago as consultant to TransLink — and has some compelling advice for the audience.(An auspicious collection of academics, advocates, and regional and municipal government leaders, with journalist and knitter non-pareil Frances Bula keeping everyone honest. Listen closely to the questions, and play a little game of “who’s who”.)One such nugget: get over your reluctance to fight for municipal self-determination in transit. Another one, eminently Google-able for extra colour and context: take on the ‘elite projections’ of technocrats like Elon Musk when discussing what the future of transportation should look like.Oh, and of course a few thoughts on ride-hailing. On Uber and Lyft: “People who can afford it become completely addicted to it. And it only works as long as not many people use it. It can strangle the city.”Enjoy. Read more »

Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit, joins Harry to talk about the impact Uber and Lyft are having on public transportation. 

What if you could get around quickly and reliably in a state-of-the-art vehicle that you didn't have to drive, park, fuel, or insure? No, it's not an Uber or a self-driving car... it's the bus! In this episode, we talk to Cam Hardy of the Better Bus Coalition in Cincinnati, Ohio, about why buses are chronically unloved and underfunded. Plus, we look at attempts to make buses cool through the power of advertising, and hear the latest battle news from the global War on Cars. Support The War on Cars on Patreon and get exclusive TWOC stickers and other rewards. Buy a War on Cars T-shirt at Cotton Bureau. Rate and review the podcast on iTunes. Show notes: Cincinnati's Better Bus Coalition Cam Hardy's epic Facebook Live bus rant “The Bus” from Greater Toronto's GO Transit Midttraffik bus ad from Denmark Human Transit, Jarrett Walker's blog Twitter: @TheWarOnCars, Sarah Goodyear @buttermilk1, Doug Gordon @brooklynspoke, Aaron Naparstek @Naparstek, and producer Curtis Fox @curtisfox. Questions? Suggestions? Email us: thewaroncars@gmail.com.

At the Rail~Volution conference this year, Jarrett Walker gave the Tuesday morning keynote. This is part one of a two part series. Part 2, Episode 11, is the round table that took place after Jarrett's keynote speech.

The challenge of public transit today is not just having good ideas but being able to explain them. It's crucial to integrate the task of planning with the tasks of explanation and of creating leading innovative processes that engage and empower the public. The goal is managing behaviour change in a positive way – changing the way people travel and the positive outcomes that can produce for Auckland. Jarrett Walker, a popular speaker and author of the popular book Human Transit, is one of the field’s great explainers. His worldwide transit consulting practice is all about helping communities see their options, and think about their goals, so that they make great decisions for themselves. We aim to start a conversation here about how transit works, what choices it presents, and how we can use it to create a better Auckland with some real-life examples of change that’s about to reshape the way we use the CBD and beyond. Eddie Tuiavii, Senior Hearings Advisor at Auckland Council will MC the night. Jarret will also be joined by a panel of industry experts including: Jessica Rose, Albert Eden Local Board member and representative for Women in Urbanism Auckland Daniel Newcombe, Manager Strategic Projects, Central, North & West, Auckland Transport Ludo Campbell-Reid, Design Champion and General Manager Auckland Design Office, Auckland Council This Auckland Conversation is brought to you in partnership with Auckland Transport and with support from MRCagney, celebrating 15 years in Aotearoa.

Transit ridership is declining nationwide despite billions of dollars in federal subsidies, observes Randal O’Toole, one of the nation’s leading critics of the transit industry. He argues that the federal government should stop subsidizing a dying industry. Jarrett Walker — one of the most innovative thinkers in the transit community — disagrees, arguing that public transit has a vital role to play in urban transportation and urban growth. Join us to hear these two experts debate the appropriate role of federal funding in urban transportation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Topic:Urban Resilience Series – public transit that reflects your values Guest & Organization:Jarrett Walker is an international consultant in public transit network design and policy, with 25 years of experience planning public transit in North America, Europe, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand. His firm http://jarrettwalker.com/ (Jarrett Walker and Associates), based in Portland, Oregon, provides transit planning and executive advice to clients worldwide. He has worked in about 100 cities, including successful network redesign projects in Houston, Anchorage, Canberra, and Auckland. His firm is currently undertaking network design studies in Philadelphia and Dublin, among many others. He is a frequent keynote speaker, both at conferences and at events building a city’s interest and understanding of the public transit challenge. He is a well-known innovator in describing transit issues to the public, in building values-based policies and standards, and in running interactive design processes for transit plans.  His training programs range from executive workshops to two-day intensive courses. His book, http://islandpress.org/human-transit (Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives), was published by Island Press in 2011. The book offers an introduction to transit issues for the average reader, designed to help anyone form clearer views that reflect their own values. In addition to his consulting, teaching, and speaking, he writes about public transit issues at HumanTransit.org. Practically interested in an impractical number of fields, he is probably the only person with peer-reviewed articles in both the Journal of Transport Geography and Shakespeare Quarterly. Resources: http://jarrettwalker.com/ (Jarrett Walker and Associates) http://humantransit.org/ (HumanTransit.org) http://islandpress.org/human-transit (Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives) https://islandpress.org/urban-resilience-project (Island Press Urban Resilience Project) Download the Island Press APP! Learn more about the APP https://islandpress.org/get-our-app (here), and find it on https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.islandpress.islandpressdiscoveryapp (Google Play) and https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/island-press/id1251388048?mt=8 (Apple App Store)!

In the ninth episode of the People Behind the Plans series, transit planner and author Jarrett Walker offers up his thoughts and musings on all things transit. Jarrett reflects on growing up in Portland in the 1970s, a revolutionary period in the city's history. He describes how his firm, Jarrett Walker + Associates, helps cities and regions think about public transit (hint: they aim not to make recommendations but to help each client clarify their own values and priorities). Courtney and Jarrett discuss his book, Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking About Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives, and they delve into the role of the private sector in transit operations. They close out their conversation with a discussion of elite projection, the idea that what a wealthy person might want for his or her city might not be the best thing for the majority of its people.

This week Jarrett Walker of Jarrett Walker and Associates joins the podcast to talk about communicating difficult issues in transportation and planning. We talk about Jarrett’s excitement about urban change in Portland Oregon where he grew up and the importance of humanities majors in the transportation profession. We also talk about why NIMBYs feel the way they do and how we can think differently about our language and approach to housing and transportation.

On this weeks program Chris chats regular Sydney guest, Sarah Imm, from Velo-a-porter and Bicycle Mayor of Sydney, about making everyday commuting more fun and enjoyable after applying different skills and tips she picked up from cargobikes, e-bikes, road, cyclocross and MTB.News includes dealing with this weeks hot weather, Dan O'Connell Hotel installing a "pit stop" @ Canning Street, Carlton North for thirsy riders, Elon Musks latest amusing edict about public transport and his petulant attempt criticising Jarrett Walker from Human Transit and the final Yarra Council Bicycle Advisory Committee Meeting for the year on Wednesday 20th December, 6.30pm, Wurundjeri Room, Collingwood Town Hall.This is our last live program for 2017, Faith & Val return on Monday 8 January 2018 and I'l have two summer special shows coming up over the silly season break.

Jennifer sits down with Jarrett Walker, the author of the book 'Human Transit'. They discuss shaping cities through the use of transit as a tool. Subscribe on your preferred platform: www.invisiblecitypodcast.com/subscribe

00:00 - Do we do a bad job of not recognizing 'the good old days' while they're in them? With the Paddlewheel Queen having been set ablaze Tuesday, that got us wondering about whether or not we appreciate things while we have them. For example, the Winnipeg Jets 1.0. ALSO, Tourism Manitoba launches its latest campaign. 18:19 - Humanizing Transit with Internationally Recognized Transit Expert -- Functional Transit Winnipeg's "Humanizing Transit" event series kicks off tonight with "Human Transit" author Jarrett Walker, tonight at the Manitoba Museum Planetarium Auditorium. We're joined on the phone by Jarrett Walker, and in studio by the chair of Functional Transit Winnipeg, Joseph Kornelson. 37:26 - The "Run For It" program culminates this weekend with the Shoppers LOVE. YOU. Run For Women, taking place this Sunday at Centre Scolaire Leo Remillard, at 1095 St. Anne's Rd. There are 30 schools participating in Winnipeg, last year there were only THREE across Canada. We are joined by Carla Allan, a teacher at Windsor Park Collegiate, along with Precious Uzoh and Renz Cruz, both students at Windsor Park. 54:48 - Carolyn Klassen, therapist with Conexus Counselling, talking first about nostalgia, then about Mother's Day and how it's not a happy time for everyone. What if your mother is no longer in the picture? Whether she has died, or perhaps you have a strained or estranged relationship? 72:57 - "Honest" greeting cards -- following our chat with Carolyn, Greg found some greeting cards online that are along the lines of being more 'honest', and thus, amusing. 80:29 - Steve Harvey lays down the law in a memo to his staff which basically says LEAVE ME ALONE 85:01 - Chris Jericho trivia / ticket giveaway, and we got another letter from the listener known as 'Not A Dude'! 92:11 - Richard & Julie tee up THE NEWS, then our latest Mother's Day story & ticket giveaway for Cirque du Soleil.

Jarrett Walker is a transit planning consultant and the author of a book, Human Transit: How clearer thinking about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives. He also writes a blog called Human Transit. In this conversation with Chuck Marohn, Walker considers, "What is the problem for which transit is the solution?" and "What does it mean for transit to work well?" Mentioned in this podcast: Human Transit: How clearer thinking about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives by Jarrett Walker The Human Transit Blog "The Transit Ridership Recipe" by Jarrett Walker

Jarrett Walker of Jarrett Walker + Associates and James Llamas of Traffic Engineers, Inc. talk about the reimagined Houston transit network, the hard choices that brought it about and how the city's bus network now provides more service to more people with the same budget.

Colin Marshall sits down in southeast Portland with Jarrett Walker, public transit consultant and author of the blogs Human Transit and Creature of the Shade as well as the book Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking About Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives. They discuss how Portland "turned the battleship" toward sustainable transport in that least likely of all decades, the seventies; the city's discovery of its own extraordinary capacity for self-promotion in the nineties; his adolescence there spent in fascination at the buses departing to all their myriad destinations; how thinking about transit makes thinking about cities more interesting; the unfortunate divide between urban design and transport planning; how the North American revolt against highway-building also hampered the construction of transit infrastructure; a city's transportation system as the ultimate test of its citizen's freedom; the close relationship between a city's density and its transit possibilities, and why fantastically inefficient systems are always pleasant to ride; how he has come to love Los Angeles, during its current transitional moment, as someone who has hated it; Los Angeles' place as a "city on the edge" that always captures the imagination, no matter the petty judgments it draws; Los Angeles' distinctive geography offering the best possible opportunity for transit-building; the questions he asks about whether a city wants him to understand the whole of its transit system, and whether it treats him as a free actor; the surprises that delight him now that he's gotten used to confusing, sad, and unpleasant transit experiences; airport stations and their tendency toward "symbolic transit"; and the importance of whether a city treats transit as a commuting device or as an all-purpose urban structure, and whether or not it's motivated simply by the coolness of the vehicles.

Guests Jarrett Walker, author of "Human Transit," and Darrin Nordahl, author of "My Kind of Transit" and "Making Transit Fun," speak with Diane Horn about what constitutes quality public transportation.

Gerry Gaffney interviews Jarrett Walker. For a transcript of this and other episodes, visit www.uxpod.com.