Blake Hall

Crossing guards face life-threatening dangers on the job An investigation by The Associated Press and Cox Media Group Television Stations found that school crossing guards face dangerous conditions, with many injured or killed on the job.

Data is sparse, but I'd bet school crossing guards are much more likely to die at work than police officers. They're at least as deserving of hazard pay.

I love that Cory Doctorow listens to @nogodsnomayors.com

Lexington councilman announces he won’t seek re-election in 2026 Chris Woodall, a former city planner, has announced he will run in the now vacant 10th Council District.

Chris Woodall, a former city planner, has announced he will run in the now vacant 10th Council District.

DHH Is Way Worse Than I Thought | jakelazaroff.com DHH's politics are not normal. Maybe they used to be, I don't know, but as of right now the dude is_way outside of what most people would consider moral or acceptable.

show this to anyone else you know who also assumed DHH was just a normal conservative dude rather than a raging white supremacist lunatic

A screenshot from a Herald Leader article: "Adding nearly 3,000 residents in three large, multi-story buildings on a secondary road like Maxwell Street, sandwiched between small single-family and small multi-family housing, is simply wrong," Marc Mathews, president of the Historic South Hill Neighborhood Association, which includes parts of Maxwell Street, wrote in a letter to the planning commission. "The aesthetics that one experiences in driving down Maxwell Street will be forever changed to the detriment." - with “aesthetics that one experiences in driving” highlighted

NIMBYs out here fighting against new housing right next to a major university with arguments about “the aesthetics of driving” 🙄

After listening to about a dozen first-hand accounts, I’ve published what I know about the RubyGems takeover.

One of the biggest things we want readers to take away from “Life After Cars” is that learning to *see* cars is step one on the path to realizing a better world.

Is this satire? Do parents really wait for two hours in their car just to pick up their kids?

I’d tell her to get a life but maybe I should just recommend that she gets a cargobike instead.

Ha! Years after losing whatsmydistrict.org, I was able to snag whatsmydistrict.com. Perfect timing as I'm doing a full re-write. Also aiming to host it somewhere that isn't github...

Having met with both sides on the current RubyCentral/RubyGems situation, here's my take:

- RubyCentral have managed this exceptionally poorly in many ways including removing literally the most active member of the RubyGems organisation by mistake who has declined to return

This is why we need things like ACUs. Note the apartment above the store that the previous owners lived in for decades. This beloved neighborhood gem has now become two, and they work really well with each other. @mnolangray.bsky.social

There’s no way something like this would work without our neighborhood’s density and walkability. Or without the small commercial space. It wouldn’t be feasible in a strip mall beside a 35mph+ road and behind a parking lot.

It’s the project of the current store owner’s wife. They already had the commercial space in a walkable area three blocks from an elementary school. And it seems to be a success so far. The opening day was like a neighborhood block party.

My neighborhood is very walkable and because of that walkability our little corner grocery/convenience store has been able to survive. And now there is also an adorable children’s bookstore inside it as well!

Blake Hall (@blakeshall@hachyderm.io) 2 Posts, 161 Following, 75 Followers · Urbanist and Rubyist that wants more homes and safer streets in Lexington, KY. Interested in self hosting, walkability, cargo bikes, and video games.

Just migrated my Mastodon account from a server with an absent admin to a more established server. Overall pretty simple and easy. Nice to take advantage of one of the big selling points of the Fediverse. I'm more active over there so give me a follow hachyderm.io/@blakeshall

I know Charlie Kirk valued debate and free speech because he blocked me for fact-checking his lies on Twitter and then put me on his organization's Professor Watchlist for writing a book he didn't like.

KET announces staff reductions following loss of federal funding https://www.wkyt.com/2025/09/04/ket-announces-staff-reductions-following-loss-federal-funding/

Call it Anti-Industrial Policy: we need is a suite of policies to nudge Americans to own and operate more little public-facing businesses. Speciality shops. Six-seater bars. Esoteric services. Restaurants serving two or three dishes. It would lower overall productivity and increase quality of life.

Dear America, we had a mass school shooting in 1996. It was awful, we feel your pain.

So we banned most of the guns. Then we toughened up vetting & licensing for the remaining guns.

Since then no school shooting (so far).

Anyone telling you it’s impossible has a vested financial interest.

One other point: Given what's happening with law enforcement, it seems like a good time to remove traffic violations as an excuse for cops to pull someone over.

AI companies give real zombo.com energy

Successfully upgraded the desktop to Debian 13. Only problem is that I've really taken to Omarchy and Hyprland + Arch on my laptop and I kinda want it on my desktop too...

I’d say the biggest variables are the rocks depending on the source. They could easily cost more than all the bollards and paint, labor included. But they are also the best part

I love to show up every day for my job, which is standing around holding the front of my tactical vest and getting told to choke to death by thousands of passers-by while 11 of my coworkers handcuff a roofer on his way to work. Every night I drive 80 minutes home, thinking about nothing at all.

Four story buildings in Brooklyn. Photo by me.

Building housing at a density (four floors) necessary to attract services (corner stores) that enable residents to serve their daily needs without a car (15-minute neighborhoods) is essential for affordability.

"There was a process that occurred and many people felt they were left out from the decision process," Van Doorn said."... I thought that was really unfair. It's not just the nine plaintiffs who are involved. There are hundreds and hundreds of people behind us who are supporting not having the city ordinance as it's drafted."

Van Doorn said that, after Circuit Court judge Claude Worrell granted the plaintiffs a summary judgement in the case, due to the city's outside counsel missing a filing deadline, the plaintiffs attempted to negotiate with the city. "We thought, at this time, it would be best to sit down with the city," Van Doorn told Schilling. "We never had any intention of blowing up the whole zoning (ordinance). We just had some certain issues with how it was processed."

Van Doorn, 71, said the plaintiffs asked for the city to conduct a Virginia Department of Transportation impact study, something it believed was required before the new ordinance was adopted in 2024. They also asked that residential zones revert to residential-agricultural zoning. Van Doorn opposes converting those zones to high density zones. He said the city, the next day, said no. Now, Worrell will hear the city's defense in regards to the failure to do the VDOT study on Monday. The plaintiffs will have a chance to respond Wednesday. Van Doorn said he expects a final ruling in the case on Friday.

The NIMBY three step: “I participated in the public process and did not get my way” becomes “I was left out of the decision making process” and then turns into “I deserve the power to overturn the result of the public process and impose my will on the majority by lawsuit.”

They're trying to convince everyone that building a Dyson Sphere around the solar system is more realistic than increasing the capital gains tax

The fact that a children’s YouTuber has greater moral clarity than most of our leadership is such an indictment of where we are.

It’s 2025 and I’ve been doing Rails development for over a decade. And I still occasionally add an s to model names when writing a query…
#rails #ruby

Could more street art slow down Lexington traffic? City to explore options Supporters say it could spruce up the city and enhance pedestrian safety.

Supporters say it could spruce up the city and enhance pedestrian safety.