wildman.bsky.social
Lots of opinions about building car-optional cities, car-light living, Nashville, sports, and economics. Husband, girl dad, numbers guy.
188 posts
343 followers
518 following
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It’s not just airline companies. Verizon with its FAA contract. Home building companies w/ impending lumber tariffs. Auto and electronics manufacturers.
Simultaneously lobbying congress for tax breaks and praying the exec branch doesn’t break they system too badly in a way that damages their firms.
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Uh oh
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MTA board has a vacancy. Mayor appoints right?
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User fees are good, especially for expensive projects with negative externalities.
My other optimistic perspective is that road tolling helps drivers start thinking about cost/trip, which then eventually helps make a case for regional transit like rail.
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And of course, guess who is on the hook if a P3 goes bankrupt? www.thomasjeffersoninst.org/toll-road-re...
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Yo I’ve never seen these plans they’re cool! When are we putting this together!??
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I wish TN would pass a gas tax increase - 5c a year for the next five years or something. The state’s got real sprawl-induced traffic problems in their biggest ~10 counties and the only answers are “we’ll get to you when we get to you” and “check out this privately-funded toll lane idea from Texas.”
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Yeah theyre at $4B in the last three years of general funds for roads! bsky.app/profile/wild...
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My cynical take is that it sucks that Rs need a first-hand exposure to the problems of for-profit prisons to demand accountability. But it’s good that they’re finally on that path, I guess…?
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Anyways I just walked four blocks home from grabbing drinks with friends I met because we talk about making cities better on the internet.
It was a useful walk and I got kudos from my watch for hitting exercise goals, which never happens when I drive my car.
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Now, my city doesn’t have the infrastructure to make those useful walks safe or easy most of the time, which is a barrier even in neighborhoods that allow businesses to be close to residences. It’s certainly a challenge when the sidewalk randomly ends (or puts pedestrians next to speeding cars).
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I think they’re my favorite because the positive college experience I had (walking everywhere to everything) was diametrically opposed to the no-sidewalks-no-walking-anywhere suburban home I lived in as a child.
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Wild gender gap in the young people too.
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I’m going to be insufferable with the bus lane videos on Gallatin.
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From downzonings, "historic" overlays, contextual overlays, and "neighborhood maintenance" - the system is prejudiced towards the status quo in Nashville's neighborhoods; inability to meet demand with new homes has priced out would-be neighbors, stifled local businesses, and reduced tax revenues.
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I don't know the best way to engage with my elected reps on this but @emilyfor7.bsky.social @quinevanssegall.bsky.social @freddieoconnell.bsky.social if we let MHZC landmark all those neighborhoods and lock them in amber, we're propping up wealthy landowners at the expense of future Nashvillians.
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Great question, I hesitate to even conjecture. The tracks down by Murfreesboro are a lot straighter so probably faster there, but part of the build process for double-tracking ought to focus on track speed.
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Needs PTC to allow enough trains to pull ridership (hourly both directions for ~20 hours a day, plus a couple half hour trains in rush hour).
When this is a success, the good people of Williamson and Maury Counties will clamor for their own line to Columbia, at which point you’ve got critical mass.
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State dollars for double-tracking the CSX line from downtown M’boro up to the Gulch (helps w/ Amtrak to Atlanta too) tied to massive upzoning for stations every ~5 miles (permitting mile radius of density like Wedgewood Houston and Green Hills).
A double-track is ~the cost of a new interstate lane.
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I get the sense that mhzc is worried they’ll lose power or authority in the future as Planning balances things like overlay protections vs the city’s broader goals. (I live in Inglewood Place and think overlays are overly burdensome and breed exclusivity (e.g. Belmont Hillsboro & Cherokee Park)
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Missed the debate. Is D6 captured by nimby “preservationists” or does the cm somehow view his No as fighting back against (state) capitol hill?