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Nick Sementelli

@nsementelli.bsky.social

National progressive political strategist by day, local safe streets and housing advocate by night. @ggwash board member.

745 Followers  |  398 Following  |  233 Posts  |  Joined: 03.10.2023  |  2.6124

Latest posts by nsementelli.bsky.social on Bluesky

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How the Sports Stadium Went Luxe Is the race to create ever more lavish spectator offerings in America’s largest venues changing the fan experience?

A big omission from this piece is the role of public funding, which has been growing at an increasing rate. When taxpayers pick up a portion of the tab, it lowers the effective price of adding luxury amenities. James Quirk called this "gold-plating."

07.12.2025 17:54 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Very pleased to be one of the signatories on this. We called for really bold ambition, including 50% of trips under 5 miles to be made actively soon

07.12.2025 19:34 β€” πŸ‘ 67    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1

COME HOME bsky.app/profile/mich...

07.12.2025 00:05 β€” πŸ‘ 109    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 0

from a state party director

06.12.2025 06:52 β€” πŸ‘ 2552    πŸ” 735    πŸ’¬ 52    πŸ“Œ 62

Yeah. I can't really think of any reason *not* to expect this.

05.12.2025 16:43 β€” πŸ‘ 197    πŸ” 25    πŸ’¬ 12    πŸ“Œ 0

I cant imagine complaining that your grocery store will get housing on top of it and you keep the grocery store. Most places are just outright losing their grocery stores. SF has some of the greatest privileges in the world and high concentration of ppl complaining about them regularly.

05.12.2025 15:26 β€” πŸ‘ 274    πŸ” 41    πŸ’¬ 11    πŸ“Œ 3

The ideology that was sold to tech workers by tech owners was that the workers were not like other workers, that they were very special boys who were entitled to high salaries and cushy perks due to the STEMy brilliance required to do their job. Easy to see the lie now that it's falling apart.

05.12.2025 17:55 β€” πŸ‘ 341    πŸ” 50    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 3
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Bongino saying the quiet--and cynical--part out loud.

In other words: I was making money shoveling conspiracy bullshit without having any facts and conning my audience to make a buck. After I leave the FBI, I will get back to that.

What a confession.

05.12.2025 17:11 β€” πŸ‘ 4997    πŸ” 1657    πŸ’¬ 259    πŸ“Œ 102

The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service

05.12.2025 13:35 β€” πŸ‘ 22308    πŸ” 6646    πŸ’¬ 647    πŸ“Œ 411

"We need regulation of e-bikes!!!" people scream as SUVs and trucks get larger and deadlier and people speed and drive distracted with impunity.

I'm happy to talk about e-bike regulation as long as folks agree that the *most urgent* problem is cars.

03.12.2025 13:48 β€” πŸ‘ 220    πŸ” 44    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3

Statehood for D.C. is an ethical obligation at this point, required to protect the rights of our residents to govern ourselves against such out-of-state troops being sent to patrol our city.

02.12.2025 20:51 β€” πŸ‘ 3541    πŸ” 1052    πŸ’¬ 20    πŸ“Œ 24

People in the USA are really fixated on personal ownership of stuff. I’m not particularly anti-materialist but, folks, we can share stuff (cars, bikes, books, tools, buildings) and it makes the world better.

02.12.2025 15:19 β€” πŸ‘ 121    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 5

Should be noted that crash reduction and a systemic safety analysis weren’t even the motivations for the project.

It was the need to draw a bold bike line on a map between two parts of the District. When you build a bike network, safer travel is just one of the many benefits.

02.12.2025 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 47    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

"The only way to have nice things is if a billionaire picks you, but if you want the billionaire to pick you, you need to offer him generous tribute" should be an obvious tautology, but not if you believe the billionaire is the only one with the "turn-money-into-stuff-machine"

02.12.2025 14:04 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The modem day circuses are not simply the distracting spectacles within the walls, but the structure itself as a load-bearing promise that this time, surely, an external hero will break the status quo and usher in an era of renewal.

02.12.2025 13:57 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I have come to see stadium politics as a real commentary on state capacity and political imagination. In a world where avg citizens see govt as ineffectual, stadiums become the only conceivable public works project, onto which they then project decades worth of hopes and dreams.

02.12.2025 13:51 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

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"Over the year, bike and scooter share carried about 60% as many trips as the state’s $2.15 billion SR-99 highway tunnel under downtown Seattle. During summer months, that number may have been more like 80%."

02.12.2025 02:06 β€” πŸ‘ 151    πŸ” 38    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Every sentence here is even crazier than the last.

02.12.2025 01:48 β€” πŸ‘ 4001    πŸ” 631    πŸ’¬ 141    πŸ“Œ 107
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Bike parking right next to the supermarket entrance and cycle lane. Not hidden, not second-class, but prioritised. Want more people to shop by bike? Then make it an easy and accessible option. Convenience drives behavior.

01.12.2025 16:32 β€” πŸ‘ 167    πŸ” 33    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 4
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Detroit’s own clown documents show taxpayers losing $39m on $45m soccer stadium subsidy After I reported here Friday about Detroit's WXYZ-TV reporting without comment that the newΒ Detroit City F.C. soccer stadium getting $88 million in tax breaks "is expected to generate $25 million in a...

Detroit City FC owners will be able to use a large chunk of $45m worth of tax kickbacks on amenities for their stadium, in exchange for contributing just $6m in new taxes β€” and that's the *best*-case scenario, according to the team's own rosy projections.

01.12.2025 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

At some point you just run out of things to say, right? There’s no argument to make. There’s nothing to discuss. The executive branch is saying β€œWe make our own law and obey no one” and either you say β€œOkay, I guess you do” or you put down the whole administration and salt the earth where it stood

30.11.2025 18:46 β€” πŸ‘ 475    πŸ” 95    πŸ’¬ 13    πŸ“Œ 1
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​In the Netherlands πŸ‡³πŸ‡±, data shows that for a 30 minute trip on a regular bike, only 13% of people are willing to ride. But for a 25 minute trip on an e-bike, that probability jumps to 28%.

​E-bikes don't just make riding easier, they drastically expand the acceptable range for bike commuting.

30.11.2025 15:06 β€” πŸ‘ 187    πŸ” 33    πŸ’¬ 9    πŸ“Œ 6
A map showing most of ANC 7F

A map showing most of ANC 7F

This is the ANC (7F) with boundaries designed to let its chairman control the Reservation 13 development. Check out SMD 7F07.

It’s what the ward task force wanted, and it had the support of the ward councilmember or whoever was speaking for him.

30.11.2025 14:18 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Unfortunately, in US journalism it is considered neutral to spread a lie, but it is considered "biased" to call out a lie. So, there is a structural asymmetry that rewards colorful lies with virality.

30.11.2025 01:16 β€” πŸ‘ 4506    πŸ” 1358    πŸ’¬ 46    πŸ“Œ 66

Wise policymakers would seize this opportunity to increase the federal gas tax for the first time since 1993, encouraging EVs while fortifying the Highway Trust Fund.

Zero chance that will happen, but it should.

29.11.2025 23:31 β€” πŸ‘ 89    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 1
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'The Permanence Agenda': Paint and Plastic Won’t Deliver Real Street Safety - Streetsblog New York City Rather than continuing New York's quick-build approach to redesigning streets with temporary materials, Zohran Mamdani should aim for permanent.

Rather than continuing New York's quick-build approach to redesigning streets with temporary materials, Zohran Mamdani should aim for permanent.

29.11.2025 13:08 β€” πŸ‘ 29    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Have you ever seen a bike lane sweeper - pulled behind a bike?

Volunteers in Kirkland have a new tool that attaches to the back of an e-bike. It's good for protected bike lanes, sidewalks, and narrow trails.

My @kuow.org story: www.kuow.org/stories/clea...

28.11.2025 18:21 β€” πŸ‘ 267    πŸ” 72    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 26
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The $25 million econ impact is nonsense concocted by project supporters, yet it's repeated in the "news" story as if it's a reasonable expectation. This is a major reason why such boondoggle projects continue to be approved. Journalists *have* to do better than this. @wxyzdetroit.bsky.social

28.11.2025 14:44 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2

Little men like simple stories because the complexity of the world scares them

28.11.2025 14:46 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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