Urban Dispatch

It's underreported how Compass Rail in New England and Virginia's passenger rail (and to a lesser extent Empire Corridor) have been leveraging latent NEC ridership to build meaningful secondary networks. PA has a similar spread of major secondary cities but has done literally zero in that time

This confusion doesn't leave roadways unplowed, the only real answer is to have consistent municipal sidewalk clearing

With reworking it seems they are adding/moving tracks, switches, and a layover yard. Are those just being reinstalled?

Platforms I get are just being rebuilt

Northgate Falls, Firetown Road, W. Simsbury, CT. 30 foot drop. 2/28/26. 41.9174910, -72.8522550

Northgate Falls, Firetown Road, W. Simsbury, CT. 30 foot drop. 2/28/26.
41.9174910, -72.8522550
#connecticut
#NewEngland
#waterfalls
#photography
#waterfallphotography
#longexposure
#chasingwaterfalls
#landscapephotography
#hiking
#explore
#nature
#travelphotography

Work to lay the ground work for a interior New England Rail Network continues at pace (albeit a slow pace)

A major component? A total reworking and restoration of Springfield Union Station from its current operationally decrepit state

The horror

Paramount should enjoy its growing news monopoly while they have it because when Democrats win back power we are going to break up these anti-democratic information conglomerates. All of them.

Hartford police wear body cameras. Where is the footage? #bluehillsave #policeshooting #hartford

We need half as many cops and many times more non-lethal helpers - people to mediate minor disputes and write tickets and help unhoused people find resources and help people in mental health crises get to a hospital.

I feel like I’m losing my mind seeing so many outlets using “officer-involved shooting” in their coverage of today’s Hartford shooting. Just an abdication of journalistic responsibility

Today’s tragedy did not have to happen. Government must do more to invest in our communities.

Hartford has double the number of police per capita of the average for cities our size, but a tiny mental health emergency response team that depends largely on referrals from the police. 95% of calls to police don't involve any weapon, but 100% of responders are armed...

Hartford Police hace shot two men in the last week who needed mental health help. Everard Walker, whom they killed last week, was in his own apartment. His family called 211 and we're clear he wasn't a danger. He still ended up with 11 cops in his apartment. The shooting this morning...

This is a very specific @gwestr.me and @peark.es targeted skeet

Just saw Shucked and I’m all ears! 🌽 This show is a-maize-ing—corny in the best way, with jokes that really pop. Totally butter than I expected! 🌽🎭

Theater review: ‘Shucked’ is a blur of stupid merriment, and that may be just what you need One of the big problems with the musical at The Bushnell is that everyone in the show is constantly trying to be funny. In “Shucked,” everything is a joke and nothing matters.

Seeing Shucked tonight at the Bushnell and so husking excited

🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽

www.courant.com/2026/02/27/t...

Opinion: Shovel the path to CT's civic front door Since this winter's snowstorms, key pedestrian routes –- including the stretch connecting Frog Hollow to downtown -– have remained unshoveled for weeks.

"In the 33-response email chain that I initiated –- with some officials still silent – I tried to determine who was responsible for clearing this stretch of sidewalk. The result was a bureaucratic loop of finger pointing."

The world runs secretly on advocates fighting for the most basic of asks

Take Action: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Four years in the making, we’re on the cusp of getting bus passes for high school students and veterans in Connecticut. SB237 also creates better rail service and bus rapid transit into Hartford and New Haven. #ctticketstoopportunity

Steggy in all her glory surrounded by the Wadsworth, City Hall, and UConn campus building while snow falls

Took this during the snow fall yesterday, Hartford is so photogenic

This Friday, the Finance Committee in the Connecticut General Assembly will hold a public hearing on several important bills — including the proposed Connecticut Child Tax Credit.

Here’s what you should know

This one fell for a whole different reason actually, the details are mildly complex but wholly infuriating. In short, any new regulation in CT has to be approved by the legislative reg review committee, we I believe are unique in that nationally. So CT actually has remarkably few regulations

I was naive, naive to think that the fire safety codes that protected us had rigorous research backing, that they were designed and tested and debated, that the organizations that produced them were open to new evidence. But no, just complete reactionary nonsense.

This is merely a set back

If I'm being honest I'm pretty angry about this falling apart at the last minute the way it did. I'm extremely grateful for all the amazing people who fought and contributed to nearly re-legalizing single stair buildings in Connecticut and have lost all respect for the fire organizations in CT

CTfastrak station where snow has not been cleared

Act to Support the Public Transportation Act (S.B. 237)

www.realhartford.org/2026/02/25/a...

Converting commercial space to housing can be done; but it's much, much harder and more expensive than people think.

It often costs *more* on a per square foot basis to convert an old office building to residential than it would to build a new apartment building from the ground up.

We need to stop reinventing the wheel we know how to build stacked, larger, family sized homes on a single lot. No need to get more creative, or overthink this. Just build what we always have. They’ll sell, they are beloved, they need to be allowed again

CT legislature OKs change in building code for single-exit stairways A housing measure tucked into the CT bonding package would change state building code, allowing certain homes to have a single exit stairway.

1. First, it's worth remembering how we got it: inserted into a bonding bill.

However right on the merits, this process didn't allow for the slow process of airing evidence and making arguments. I still think it was worth a shot! But it was vulnerable.

ctmirror.org/2024/05/09/c...

4/ But although it's not intuitive, there is an overwhelming MOUNTAIN OF EVIDENCE in its favor, and that gives me hope.

As I posted two months ago, we need to get this evidence before key lawmakers and fire officials.

bsky.app/profile/trum...

Small Single-Stairway Apartment Buildings Have Strong Safety Record Policymakers could increase the supply of multifamily housing in their states and localities by revising outdated building codes that require more than one stairway in small apartment buildings. If en...

5/ @pewresearch.org's work on this has been incredible (one of the researchers was featured on the podcast I linked to above).

Multifamily homes built since 2010 have 1/15 the fire death rate of SFH's or apartments built pre-2000. We need to get that out there!
www.pew.org/en/research-...

aerial image of branford train station property, showing shapes overlaid onto the map of outlines of potential buildings for residential, retail, park, and garage structures

thinking about shoreline east and its ridership/service woes. if attracting riders is an issue, why not just place customers directly at the station by redeveloping/consolidating excess surface parking? and if done correctly, creating a 5-minute "village center" could become a destination itself