Kirsten Bladh

@kerstanley

Policy @ Open New York. She/her. Cargo bike mom. Bassist for Leggy in my former life. NYC via LA via Cincinnati. Left urbanist 🏙️🚆🌹 Lamentably, a Bengals fan 🐅 NYCWHL 🏒

1,228 Following1,674 Followers1,987 Posts

Bluesky

Is this your profile?Claim it and kerstanley.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jul 14

@stephenjacobsmith.com perfectly fine curb ramps getting replaced at Bedford/Bergen while, just a few blocks north, the crosswalk median on Atlantic still has no curb ramps at all.

ADA crosswalks under construction at Bedford and Bergen in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

A crosswalk traversing Atlantic Avenue, one of the most dangerous and high-traffic streets in New York City. The crosswalk median lacks a curb ramp and someone is seen having to lift a suitcase up the curb.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jul 14

Open New York is hiring for multiple comms roles! Must be extremely online. I know the right sicko is on here. open-new-york.breezy.hr

Job posting for a position at Open New York that reads, “ Social Media & Rapid Response
Coordinator ($70-90K): This position is ideal for someone who is very active online. When a bill moves in Albany, you'll be the first to respond. If you've built an audience anywhere, this is an opportunity to direct that engagement toward a meaningful cause. Early career candidates are welcome.”

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jul 13

Yes, my understanding is that these were emergency funds that Newsom promised back in 2023. This letter from electeds seems to confirm that it's separate. sd38.senate.ca.gov/news/request...

Re: Urgent Call to Protect Statewide Transit Funding

Dear Governor Newsom, Pro Tempore Limón, and Speaker Rivas

We, the undersigned members of the California Legislature, write to urgently request that public transit funding be fully protected in the state budget. Specifically, we write to express our strong concerns that the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) proposed amendments to the Cap-and-Invest program will fully defund the $400 million annual Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) portion of the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) and the $200 million annual Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP) through 2030.

Additionally, we are concerned that – once again after agreeing to a $5.1 billion state investment approved for public transit in the Budget Act of 2023, the May Revision does not appropriate the final $690 million of installments of this critical investment. We call on you to:

Preserve the $400 million in annual TIRCP and $200 million in annual LCTOP funding included in the reauthorized cap-and-invest expenditure plan, which CARB’s proposed cap-and-invest amendments would fully defund through 2030 (total $600 million annually through 2030)
Appropriate the $230 million in committed Zero-Emission Transit Capital Program funds in fiscal year 2026-27, and recommit to appropriate the remaining $460 million in ZETCP funding in FY 2027-28 (total $690 million)

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jul 11

Annual growth in vehicles in the U.S.

Chart showing that in 2023 there were 284 million vehicles in the United States

Chart showing that there were 297 million vehicles in the United States in 2024.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jul 9

And here are the stats for the metro region. Almost all of the Russian-speaking Jews live in Brooklyn.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jul 6

Seattle NIMBYs exploiting data center hysteria to drum up opposition to the city’s housing growth plan. I expect to see a lot more of this in every city.

A screenshot from the quoted article that reads, “Tree Action Seattle, a group that has turned out supporters to growth plan hearings over the past few years with a goal of retaining Seattle's urban tree canopy, recently framed the changes as potentially opening the door to more data centers in the city, despite the city council recently adopting a full one-year moratorium on large data centers. Sandy Shettler, one of Tree Action Seattle's most prominent representatives, downplayed the number of appeals that get filed in comments to councilmembers Wednesday.”

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jun 22

Looks like Ford's comms department has appropriated the language of the anti traffic enforcement crowd.

A screenshot of the linked article from the New York Times, with a quote that reads, "While vehicle safety is critical, blaming larger vehicles for pedestrian deaths overlooks systemic issues" including the design of roads, said Mike Levine, a spokesman for Ford.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jun 6

The white population in NYC has actually decreased since 2010.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jun 5

Here’s the map with alt text, sorry!

A map of the United States showing which states have introduced or passed legislation that requires people with a significant number of traffic offenses to install a speed limiter on their vehicle. New York, Washington, Georgia, Virginia, and Maryland have passed such laws.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jun 5

BMW already installs ISA on its vehicles and actually advertises it as a luxury feature! Other brands market it as “dynamic cruise control,” but it’s the same thing.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jun 5

Have you considered that speed limiters are also neoliberal brained?

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jun 4

And this one from France came out just last year. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· Jun 4

Here’s a more recent one from NIH. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 31

And it’s not even an e-bike that resembles an e-moto. It’s this.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 28

The vast majority of agricultural land is used for livestock grazing, not plants.

Screenshot from the USDA website which explains that 2/3 of agricultural land in the U.S. is used for grazing livestock. Such land accounts for 805 million acres, or 35.6% of total land in the U.S.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 24

Oh, the Subway Takes guy owns a car that he likes to drive into Manhattan? That’s shocking. I’m shocked.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 22

“ZOG, which turned out to be real”

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 22

Listing only Jewish billionaires is actually pretty mild compared to her numerous recent posts just straight up saying “ZOG is real.” This person is an editor at The American Prospect!

A tweet from the editor at The American Prospect that reads, “ At least half of the people who have exposed the realness of ZOG over the past few years are Jewish. The prominence of antizionist Jews in this country has made it very difficult for a person who cares even a little about facts to conflate Judaism & Zionism”

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 21

My Left, it is indistinguishable from Grover Norquist tweets.

A tweet from Grover Norquist that reads: “ As gas prices rise because of global conflict, Democrats want to further increase energy costs and our reliance on foreign oil via a "windfall profit" tax on oil.
Pres. Carter tried this in 1980 and it was so disastrous that Dems themselves repealed it.”

Tweet from Grover Norquist that reads: “Tomorrow morning lawmakers will vote on the creation of a national car tax that turns your DMV into a branch of the IRS. This is a $30B tax hike on American vehicle owners that no one knows about. No Republican should vote to raise taxes on drivers.”

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 14

Someone who I know lives off a trust fund just shared a post from trust fund baby, Dean Preston, calling SF Mayor Lurie a trust fund baby.

Meme of three Spider-Mans pointing at each other

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 13

Incredible stuff. It’s like if Subway Takes guy was an academic.

A survey, of an unstated number of people, about whether or not they think white people cause housing prices to increase.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 13

"Digital ethnography of online gentrification discourses in Humboldt Park" might have that beat, I'm afraid.

Biography of a professor at DePaul University that reads, "Jesse Mumm is a cultural anthropologist interested in gentrification, race and racism, Latino community formations in Chicago, and the intersections of latinidad and whiteness. He is currently the Latinx Historian in a yearlong youth project involving DNA testing, genealogical work, interviewing, and archival research through the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. He has articles in CENTRO Journal and Focaal: The Journal of Global Anthropology, and is collaborating on a comparative GIS mapping project on race, housing and property value, and a digital ethnography of online gentrification discourses in Humboldt Park."

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 13

Opening paragraph. This must hit so if etc etc www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journal...

What is gentrification? In gentrification studies, there are few universal laws (Lees et al. 2010), but the popular sphere buzzes with theories many would “like to say” are true. Over the past generation in Chicago, once black- and Latino-majority neighborhoods surrounding the down-town Loop have gentrified and whitened, raising the question Jane Carey1 feels compelled to address without my asking. Can it be “more about economics” and still mean that they “have to be white”? This white woman from downstate Illinois and the organized actions of her all-white staff at the Northwestern Corridor Business Association demonstrate how clearly socially produced gentrification is, how obviously not natural or inevitable, given how many players had to be aligned to spark and sustain speculation. Race here is continuously recognized and then denied, seen and unseen, clear and obscure—the emperor’s new clothes and the elephant in the room.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 13

I took a look at one of the co-author's published papers, and this is the summary chart of his research.

A chart that compares the "folk" explanation of gentrification to the "evidence" in Chicago.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 13

Yep! The city used to have a system of inclines to get people up the hills, like in Pittsburgh. And there are still over 300 public hillside staircases.

Image of the Mt.Adams incline in Cincinnati, which existed from 1872 until 1948.

An image of one of the 300 public staircases in Cincinnati.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 13

The home pictured on the first page of their report is listed at $30 million.

The preface of a report about how new development will make Tribeca unaffordable, which includes a picture of an existing affordable Tribeca home that is currently listed for $30 million.

A real estate news article about the $30 million home listed in Tribeca.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 13

There are currently 27 homes for sale in Tribeca that are over $10 million.

A screenshot of current listings for single-family units priced over $10 million in the neighborhood of Tribeca. There are 27 such listings, including the highlighted one that is a 4-bedroom unit for $13.5 million.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 13

The City of Cincinnati just rolled out 0% interest loans for e-bikes. $100/month, no down payment. Cincinnati hills are no joke, so affordable e-bikes could be a game changer for getting more people to bike.

A public service announcement from the city of Cincinnati that reads “Don’t sweat your commute. Beat the hills, skip the gas pump with e-bikes! No big upfront cost. Just monthly payments, zero interest. Test ride one today!”

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 12

Wanna go from Shibuya Station to Disneyland (directly on train line)? That’ll be 24 minutes by car or 52 minutes by train with two transfers.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley· May 12

Another two random points. 17 minutes by car, 50 by transit.