Grant Ennis

Adding Up What Urban Highways Really Cost A new report maps the economic toll that downtown freeways exact on 142 US cities — and tallies up what that land could be worth if it was developed for other uses.

Another link to the Bloomberg Story on the Atlas of Inner City Highway Impacts: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

New York considers bill that would ban chatbots from giving legal, medical advice | StateScoop A bill under consideration in New York would provide a private right of action, allowing people to file lawsuits against chatbot owners who violate the law.

“A bill under consideration by the New York state legislature would prohibit artificial intelligence-powered chatbots from providing legal or medical advice, and it would allow users to sue chatbot owners who violate the ban.”

Most of the knowledge we need has been around for a long time.
1976: about the time when I rejected a driver's license. Inspired by what? I still don't know. But somehow I understood already then, that car society was heading the wrong way.

old.nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/11/18/t...

Vehicle fuel economy and vehicle miles traveled: An empirical investigation of Jevon’s Paradox There has been, in recent decades, a concerted effort to promote energy efficiency as a means to reduce energy consumption. The general thesis is that…

STUDY: Despite conventional wisdom that increases in car fuel efficiency results in decreased gasoline consumption, Jevons’ Paradox holds. For every 1 mile/gallon of increased fuel efficiency there’s an associated 1.2 mile increase in vehicle miles travelled.

The better the car, the more we drive.

Separated Bike Lanes Means Safer Streets, Study Says — Streetsblog USA Cities that build protected lanes for cyclists end up with safer roads for people on bikes and people in cars and on foot, a new study of 12 large metropolises revealed Wednesday.

“After analyzing crash data over a 13-year period in areas with separated bike lanes on city streets, researchers estimated that having a protected bike facility in a city would result in 44% fewer deaths and 50% fewer serous injuries than an average city.”

Safer for ALL.

Via @usa.streetsblog.org

Image of an urban arterial jammed with cars and trucks congestion, with the text saying our dependency doesn’t equal to freedom. Mobility freedom comes from mobility choices. Message via the Urban Truth Collective.

1946: Freedom is being able to drive anywhere.

2026: Freedom is not having to drive everywhere.

(above text suggested to us by @harrisongibbons.bsky.social)

“One of the first myths we have to kill is that safety costs money.”
- Swedish National Road Administration, 2004 web.archive.org/web/20051029...

One hundred accounts are behind the majority of conspiracy theory content in Canada Researchers analyzed more than 14 million social media posts from accounts in Canada and found that 87 per cent of conspiratorial claims come from influencers, with just 100 users responsible for near...

“Conspiracy theories about globalist cabals, climate hoaxes and election fraud may seem ubiquitous on social media. But a report has found that they come from a tiny minority of users…
just 100 users were responsible for almost 70% of online conspiracy posts…”

Via @nationalobserver.com #UrbanTruth

Image of busy walking street with shops on the ground floor and other uses (offices, apartments) above. The text line says “Wait, we’re afraid of walkable distances now?” Tag line of the Urban Truth Collective at the bottom.

Conspiracy lovers and opportunistic politicians, with some wealthy folks working behind the scenes, have been trying REALLY hard to make us scared of the simple idea of having more things nearby, and more choices in how to get them.

Weird, right? #UrbanTruth

One hundred accounts are behind the majority of conspiracy theory content in Canada Researchers analyzed more than 14 million social media posts from accounts in Canada and found that 87 per cent of conspiratorial claims come from influencers, with just 100 users responsible for near...

100 accounts are behind majority of conspiracy theory content in Canada www.nationalobserver.com/2026/02/25/n...

"...analyzed over 14 million social media posts from accounts in Canada, and found that 87% of conspiratorial claims come from influencers."

Those on "X were the biggest culprits."

YouTube video by Forbrukerrådet - Norwegian Consumer Council A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator

m.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Up...

YouTube video by Origin Story 15-Minute Cities – How Urban Design Entered the Culture War | Origin Story

This is so good, we wish WE had made it! The history & lunacy of the disinformation campaign around 15-Minute Cities, by 2 “non experts” @iandunt.bsky.social & @dorianlynskey.bsky.social who show how experts SHOULD be communicating. Thanks to the @originstorypodcast.bsky.social podcast. #UrbanTruth

In a conversation between June Jordan and Angela Y. Davis, published in 1990, Jordan said she was concerned about how much despair there is cuz people often take it out on themselves.

She said she wanted a return to rage, where it’s taken out on the system.

100+ Black-Owned Bookstores in the U.S. There are hundreds of Black-owned bookstores in the U.S. to explore! Check them out here, sorted by state.

This list was created by journalist Char Adams, the author of Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore.

bookriot.com/black-owned-...

💙📚 #booksky

reporter here. this will never change.

Florida wants its own CIA. That could lead to unchecked domestic surveillance | Seth Stern, Lauren Harper and Bobby Block A bill to create a state intelligence operation would allow scrutiny based on ‘opinions’ – and could prompt other states to follow

“The bill’s language allows scrutiny based on ‘views’ and ‘opinions’, a standard that echoes some of the darkest chapters of American surveillance history.”

This post is for all of you in every time zone all around the world.

I keep hearing that Bluesky is still mostly North American. But I think there’s lots of you around the world that love cities, and want them to be better.

We want @urbantruth.bsky.social to be global.

I hope you’ll check us out.

I love this framing. It's about making *all* modes of transit safe and efficient. It's about equity. It's understanding that mobility is access to the world, and that access is restricted by car dependency.

Building supportive housing for those who would otherwise be homeless is the right moral thing to do. It’s also the right financial thing to do, since it actually saves public money. It’s a no brainer, so don’t let wrong-headed ideology get in the way.

Tell your leaders to build supportive housing.

Graphic with same text as in the post

“I LOVE TRAFFIC said no one ever.”

“More people walking, cycling, and using public transit benefits everyone.”

Important #UrbanTruth, this time by @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social!

Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points

“Flawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash, experts warn.”

“Recovery would be far harder than after the 2008 financial crash, they said, as ‘we can’t bail out the Earth like we did the banks’.”

#ClimateCrisis #UrbanTruth

Find Out Exactly How Much Downtown Highways Cost Your City — Streetsblog USA "How much does it actually cost to be car dependent?" This Dallas-based analyst set out to answer that question for cities across the U.S.

"What does [the downtown highway] cost to the local economy? How much tax base did it erase from local municipal coffers? How much does it actually cost to be car dependent?”

Spoiler: A lot.

Introducing the “Atlas of Inner City Highway Impacts,” by @thedotcity.bsky.social in @usa.streetsblog.org.

YouTube video by The Urbanist Agenda Podcast How to Actually Improve a City (w/Brent Toderian)

LISTEN: How to achieve better cities IN PRACTICE, and why it’s so important to communicate better, be less boring, and call out lies & disinformation about better city-building. @brenttoderian.bsky.social recorded this popular podcast with Jason from #NotJustBikes a few weeks before our launch.

Political cartoon with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death, seeing a fifth Horseman typing on a smart phone. Death asks him “And you are? The fifth Horseman replies “Misinformation.”

Timeless. #UrbanTruth

"Dark PR" by Grant Ennis I'm not going to beat about the bush. This book is about evil.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush. This book is about evil.”

“It’s about the mundane, humdrum, self-assured, self-justifying, pocket-lining, smug & arrogant lies & disinformation that communications ‘professionals’ spread daily.”

Read #DarkPR by @grantennis.bsky.social. #UrbanismBookClub

person biking in a protected bike lane in a city SOMETIMES THE BEST WAY TO REMOVE BARRIERS... IS TO ADD SOME

Barriers.

idk if you're familiar but there's a guy who made a hundred thousand dollar bet that he could win a debate on lab leak in front of expert judges and watching it made me realize how stupid all the lab leak stuff really is

i think it's one of the best demonstrations of the midwit curve i've ever seen

"Single family zoning is a subsidy to homeowners. It's a subsidy that's paid by renters by making housing in the area less affordable. And given that the average homeowner has 40 times the net worth of the average renter, it means that this is a subsidy to the rich from the poor."