Kea Wilson

One-third of Angelenos do not drive Walking back the "car-free" games promise is unconscionable in a city where the people who don't drive are also the most vulnerable users of our streets

Reflections on last week's #WeekWithoutDriving in a city that still refuses to acknowledge the existence of its nondrivers — which a comprehensive new report claims make up one-third of LA's population

Meant to type NY but you’re right it’s not the best shorthand

But even your city isn't: these projects getting cancelled is bad news for the climate we all our share, our national traffic violence stats, and our future as an equitable society. Not to mention any semblance of public trust that the federal government will actually follow the laws it passes. /🧵

[T4A] Grants cancelled/at risk of expiration - September 2025

@t4america.bsky.social has a list of the ~$500 million in projects that are under threat if this dirty resolution passes, if you want to look up if your community is one of them — and yes, this includes red districts.

Advocates: Congress Must Stop Trump From Illegally Holding Back Sustainable Transportation Funds — Streetsblog USA Congress has a chance to seize back their power of the purse, and stop Trump from his "pocket-rescissions."

Because the budget resolution that Duffy is pressuring Congress to pass — by dangling that $18 billion like a bargaining chip — is RIFE with transit clawbacks *all over the country.* And very likely in your community!

The 2nd Avenue Subway and Hudson Tunnel projects are huge deal on their own — as in, $18 billion, biggest-transit-projects-in-the-country huge.

But that's just the beginning.

Also: 3) the office of civil rights at DOT has listed the director position as "vacant" on its website since trump took office, so excuse me if I don't buy the "the democrats made us furlough the staff or else we would TOTALLY do this super-important review right now" line.

This is messed up on a bunch of levels, but basically:

1) New gov rules usually require a public comment period unless there's an emergency, which this ... isn't.
2) NY is basically now being punished for *following laws* re: hiring minority contractors, which the Trump admin can't just rewrite

BG: Sec. Duffy put out a release saying that "the Democrats' shutdown" will prevent him from conducting a civil rights review necessary to keep the 2nd Avenue Subway and Hudson Tunnel projects moving, because a government rule requires it.

But Duffy *wrote that rule* just hours before the release.

Is Sec. Duffy Holding NY Transit Hostage To Negotiate Away The Rest of America's Transportation Future? — Streetsblog USA The federal Transportation secretary is using two large transit projects as a bargaining chip to bully Congress into passing a budget that could be disastrous for communities across the country.

If you saw a headline about NYC potentially losing two big transit projects "because of the government shutdown," know this: 1) it's bullshit, and 2) ending the shutdown on the Trump administration's terms would be terrible for transit *all across the country*, and very likely in your community. 🧵

Also, one stat a source gave me that didn't make the final article: the UK and some European countries do annual surveys about the mobility needs of people with disabilities.

In the US, we only do it roughly *every ten years.*

And one in four Americans has a disability.

And it's not even a complete count! To highlight one that's very personal to me right now while my dad gets cancer treatment and has to take meds that prevent him from driving: 'temporary' disabilities are not always that temporary, and they impact so many who are still on the books as drivers.

It had never occurred to me that a full two percent of the US population was over 75 and self-reporting as periodically struggling with driving, e.g. after dark. The idea of that many people potentially losing their independence half the time is staggering.

This chart blew my mind a little.

Report: A Third of Americans Can't Rely On Cars — And 16 Million Have No Access At All — Streetsblog USA So why do we plan our cities like everyone can and does get behind the wheel every day?

It's one thing to talk about the 1 in 20 Americans who live in households without cars. But it's another to talk about all the people who live in households with fewer cars than people who need to drive to participate in an autocentric society, particularly kids, elders, and people w/disabilities.

no idea and I hope to never find out lolol.

It is shocking how much money it saves (+ obviously the CO2.) There are enough free/subsidized chargers that we really only spend about $15/month tops.

Yep, we drive almost exclusively with regen turned on. It also feels a lot safer because the car is literally slowing anytime you’re not actively hitting the accelerator. Obviously still not as safe as a bike or a bus or a walk but at least it’s some mild harm reduction.

We ended up with the Chevy Bolt EUV for a bunch of reasons, not least of which was we found a dealer that had one + would give us the credit at the point of sale, vs. trusting the Trump administration would honor the credit if we claimed it personally later.

But if you don't have to drive: don't buy a car. And either way: fight for a city where NO ONE has to drive, whether because they physically can't, they can't afford to, or they just don't want to.

I will say this for those in similar situations: it's a great car. It's comfortable, it's easy to keep it charged even without a garage at local businesses (shout out to the PlugShare app), and we've never come close to draining the battery. If you have to drive, you shouldn't hesitate to get one.

Podcast: Is the Electric Car a 'Wolf In Sheep's Clothing'? — Streetsblog USA On today's episode of The Brake, we sit down with the co-author of a new paper, "Exposing the Structural Violence of Private Electric Automobility," to talk about why the EV debate is so polarizing.

Anyway, here's one podcast I did on EVs a few years ago, which I'm thinking about a lot lately. Also happy to answers questions for the EV-curious (and the EV-hostile, lol; I feel you).

We will always be a household that bikes, walks, and buses first. We will always fight for a less car-dependent city. And IMO: there is no contradiction between that and driving an EV until that day comes, even if we sure wish we didn't have to.

Put another way: we compromised on our morals with our transportation choices, like we did every time we got into the decrepit Toyota for a short trip or an unnecessarily long one, and like we will continue to do with the EV. Because car dependency forces people to do that, or develop new morals.

So we bought an EV with the best pedestrian detection & emergency braking we could find, knowing WAY more than most about the limits of those technologies because of my job. We bought the lightest model that would meet our needs to minimize our tire particulate pollution, knowing it’s not enough.

I know we’ve normalized it, but the idea of us spewing tailpipe emissions over these neighborhoods makes me feel physically ill. So does the idea of possibly hitting someone with a car, which the EV won’t help. But still: *we have to drive.* And the Toyota is on its last legs.

Then a few months ago, my husband got a job as a realtor. He bikes and walks to showings when he can, but it still requires him to drive pretty much every single day — mostly through the neighborhoods where lots of people live, because he’s trying to help folks buy homes in walkable neighborhoods.

Also, over the last 15 years, we’ve watched the other cars on the road get bigger and bigger. We don’t even feel safe in the tiny hatchback because I know (from researching it daily at work) that a lot of trucks and SUV drivers can’t see us, never mind when we’re on bikes or on foot.

But we’ve never been able to go totally car-free in our city. The closest grocery store is on the other side of a highway and I don’t always feel like risking my life; because of bad development decisions and a slow transit network, so many destinations we rely on are a 1+ hour bus ride away.

First, some background; my husband and I have been a one-car household for most of the last 15 years, all with the same increasingly-decrepit, tiny Toyota hatchback. I work from home, and bike and walk for ~90% of my trips. My husband does the same as much as he possibly can.