Matthew Lewis -- living in the era of cults and consequences

Quantifying the Cost of Sprawl In infrastructure, service delivery and tax receipts.

ICYMI: Suburban development costs 38% more in upfront public costs & 10% more in ongoing costs than compact development, PLUS has only 1/10th the tax revenue per acre, confirms report summarizing 17 studies. Via @smartgrowthusa.bsky.social

The blunt truth? Sprawl is heavily subsidized by ALL of us.

I still don't think people have grokked that 77% of Republican voters is enough to control 100% of vote outcomes in the United States Senate.

"More than three-quarters of Republican respondents, 77%, approved of the attack on Iran; 83% of Republicans said Trump has a clear plan for handling the attacks on Iran."

They not like us. They not like us. They not like us.

YouTube video by Not Just Bikes Suburbia is Subsidized: Here's the Math [ST07]

WATCH: If you STILL don’t understand how car-dependent suburbia is HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED by downtown and all the urban parts of your city, watch this EXCELLENT video by #NotJustBikes with #Urban3 & @strongtowns.bsky.social. And PLEASE SHARE it as much as possible.

I’ve sent it to a LOT of politicians.

A Bonanza of School Streets Resources for you to use! — Streetfilms As you know we are big on wanting school streets in every city, all over the world. We have also done the most ambitious documenting with many popular films that are used worldwide to advocate for the...

School streets need to be a major initiative in the @mayor.nyc.gov Mamdani Administration. @nyc-dot.bsky.social

So my latest blog post has for the very 1st time EVERY Streetfilm on school streets embedded in one place! PLUS: bonus photos. It's a great resource.

www.streetfilms.org/featured/sch...

Pretty wild that US automakers effectively derailed electric cars so they could keep churning out gas-guzzling trucks/SUVs just in time for the Administration they backed to the hilt to launch an illegal war that will radically drive up oil/gasoline prices.

We live in exceptionally stupid times.

Shocked, shocked! to find that when drivers are asked to pay the cost of driving, they stop driving.

Congestion charges have been enacted in quite small cities in the UK, notably Durham (population 50,000) and Oxford (population 165,000). The assumption that congestion charges are only for cities on a New York / San Francisco / Philadelphia scale is not necessarily correct.

Bill seeks to cut $25 million from Safe Routes and bike path program to balance ODOT budget Taking from safety near schools and off-street paths to pay for highway maintenance. Ouch.

The bill, SB 1601 (-3), has passed committee 9-0. It reallocates funding from popular ODOT programs to backfill ODOT operations and maintenance budget.

Here's more background
bikeportland.org/2026/03/02/b...

cults and consequences

ugh

This just in: firefighters still hate the idea of single stair apartment buildings.

dark

oh yea, by hundreds of thousands/millions per incident. But not to worry! You pay for it through medicare/social security deductions & health insurance premiums.

Lots of people blame the insurance industry for problems that are actually the fault of our insane drivers and transportation planners.

Just as insurers can no longer cover the cost of homes built in car-sprawl fire and flood hazard zones, insurers can't cover the cost of the extreme amount of death and destruction caused by American drivers.

So, they're now gonna start charging for it.

Zoom zoom.

In three of four largest states in the US -- California, Texas, and Florida -- drivers are the leading cause of violent death/injury, a leading cause of catastrophic property damage/loss, and by far the leading cause of lost productivity.

We all pay for it. But it's never been enough.

I think drivers are going to truly hate paying the cost of driving, but also, it was inevitable.

Socialism only works until the money runs out, and car culture -- it is deep, deep, deep in the red.

Car insurance rates are skyrocketing in California. Here’s why:

Road transport CO2 emissions in the European Union could peak in 2025 - International Council on Clean Transportation Recent regulations, including the CO2 standards for cars and vans, and its homologue legislation for trucks and buses, have put Europe on track for an early emissions peak. Berlin, 14 January – In the...

”In the European Union, transport remains the only major economic sector where carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have risen since 1990.”

#EU27 should not ease the regulations.

theicct.org/pr-road-tran...

That color scheme. This looks like a screenshot from that alternate history Wolfenstein game where Nazis win WW2 and take over the USA.

Got a cab near the Department of Education. Hadn’t seen the Charlie Kirk banner before.

YouTube video by Adam Savage’s Tested Adam Savage Rebuilds His Stolen Bicycle!

Highly recommend Adam Savage’s latest video!

He spent years using a bike as his primary transit in NYC and understands the freedom it brings. Nice to see a prominent voice validating that we don't need 4,000lb boxes just to navigate a city.

When homes are built in extreme hazard zones, and local jurisdictions gave them the building permits, and so electric utilities are required *by law* to build power lines to serve those newly-permitted high-risk homes (which is most new homes in the US) ...

Who's gonna pay?

All of us. That's who.

From California to Texas, electric utilities are struggling to manage mounting fire risk in a warming climate. They are spending more than ever before on lawsuits and settlements, as well as on preventative measures, such as undergrounding lines. 1/5

Cars are essential in most of the U.S. They're also increasingly unaffordable The average new car costs $50,000. The average used car is $25,000. Insurance, repairs and maintenance are soaring. But America's car-centric habits also cost us in more subtle ways.

I know there's little chance of getting normal people to think about how ubiquitous government regulations mandating car ownership and driving are one of two leading cause of financial struggles in the US.

But at least the data is there. We really don't want to see it. www.npr.org/2025/10/29/n...

In ~ 2015, US carmakers started telling investors/analysts about plans to stop making smaller, affordable cars in favor of larger, far more expensive trucks and SUVs.

The plan: Sell fewer new trucks/SUVs, drive up profitability AND ALSO increase the cost of used cars (by reducing supply).

Welp.

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed.

i love this