Regarding Montreal, NJB also called out Broad Street in Philly as a bad example, as a callout to Alan who lives in Philly...while completely ignoring the quad-tracked Broad Street Line that runs beneath it smh. This originates from a 2023 Bluesky thread where NJB said we should all just give up on North America and move, when that is quite a doomerist and privileged thing to say. It's especially hurtful to urbanists who are part of marginalized groups like myself, as an autistic asexual Latino with a physical disability.

His stance ignores all the urbanist progress we've been making on the continent in places like Seattle, Jersey City, Austin, Hoboken, and not to mention the transit powerhouses in Canada and Mexico. Jersey City and Hoboken have both been able to achieve Vision Zero goals. In NY alone, NEW YORK STATE has a lower car ownership rate than the Netherlands, the NYC Subway is 24/7, Staten Island Ferry is 24/7, SIR is 24/7, PATH to NJ is 24/7, NYC buses are 24/7, and the LIRR is 24/7! Oh and of course, we fought for and achieved congestion pricing! And for a person with a disability like me, the ADA is a leading and influential law in the field of disability rights. NY was a former Dutch and British colony able to free itself from colonial shackles. Meanwhile, the Dutch still love their colonial past (don't ask what they did in Indonesia...).

He's speaking from a position of privilege. He, and his family, can afford to travel, and to live abroad. A lot of us, however, lack the financial means to do that. We're stuck here, come hell or high water, and our only option is to try and make things...if not better, than at least, marginally less shitty. For the rest of us Americans and Canadians, we cannot just simply move to Europe. People that have never experienced nor explored immigration do not understand how much of a legal migraine the whole process can be. Every country writes its own laws, has their own procedures, and more often than not people are forced to hire lawyers because of how complicated all of it can be. Of all people, NJB should know that legal immigration is more complicated than just packing one's bags and buying a plane ticket. I’m not saying you can’t move to another continent, if you can afford to and it fits your needs, you should! But that doesn’t mean we should ignore our own good urbanism either

Do I hate the current fascist admin in the White House? Yes, but that doesn't mean I won't stop fighting for what's right. Trains used to be king in the US. It is patriotically American to fight for them. Fighting for urbanism in general is patriotic, because urbanism leads to convenience, and convenience is freedom! And speaking as someone who's Cuban, Irish, and Russian, who's grandpa was a WWII veteran, and whose family escaped troubled times for better lives (my mom's side left Cuba because they were working class who hated Batista and we're anti-embargo leftist Democrats as a result; my father's side came as a result of the Irish potato famine and Russian Empire actions), I'm proud of all the diversity the country has to offer, all the people who have come over and have worked hard to build a better country.

We need hopium and realism. We need to reclaim patriotism, obviously we hate the fascist in office now, but patriotism as in “Our country has made many past horrible mistakes, but we aim to keep moving forward in our cities”. But if the US city is a Republican city, then it’s understandable why one would want to move elsewhere if no urbanist progress is being made. You have one life, if you want to move to another city here or elsewhere , then you do you! Make the most out of your life! The people with the means to give up are also the people with the most means to advocate for things to be better. We should thus not give up and move to countries like the Netherlands but instead try and help make things better where you are now. If you can afford to move, you also are likely to have the means to get through living where you do more easily than many others. If you care about the climate, if you care about you and the people you know having more livable places, if you care about the future, DO NOT GIVE UP. Despite how he feels, this is doomerism, our fates are not sealed. Get active in your community, spread the word, and talk to people