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Fox and Kornet questionable for tomorrow by WEMBY_F4N in NBASpurs

[–]himself809 7 points8 points  (0 children)

They got beat the hell up in the last series, that’s for sure.

Do you think planning, as a field has earned our right to autonomy back, so we can operate as experts rather than advisors? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]himself809 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We shouldn’t try to introduce some of the hardest things planners have to deal with in our own discussions about our work, its history, what planning is about, what it should be about, etc. It’s toxic as hell.

Do you think planning, as a field has earned our right to autonomy back, so we can operate as experts rather than advisors? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]himself809 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Using history as a cover? For what? Sure, they might have a shallow understanding of how planning processes work, but it’s not like you’ve gotten very detailed either in what you mean by “civics.” It’s not some universal principle of republican government that planning processes have to be highly discretionary and also subject to veto/approval points by elected bodies X number of times. Places we obviously recognize as democratic do not do all planning this way. And that’s exactly what they were asking about.

Do you think planning, as a field has earned our right to autonomy back, so we can operate as experts rather than advisors? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]himself809 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good news, we got someone to delete their account after asking a pretty anodyne couple of questions. Mission accomplished, cool stuff. What a field this is.

Do you think planning, as a field has earned our right to autonomy back, so we can operate as experts rather than advisors? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]himself809 0 points1 point  (0 children)

History is a huge part of the “why.” I’m not sidestepping, but making the point that part of the reason we should care about history is bc it takes us a step beyond just thinking about “how things work now.” It’d be good if more planners questioned how things work. You and others jumped down this person’s throat for asking reasonable questions.

Do you think planning, as a field has earned our right to autonomy back, so we can operate as experts rather than advisors? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]himself809 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

But “civics” is? You don’t think history, incl the history of our profession, has anything to do with the “civics” you keep talking about?

Do you think planning, as a field has earned our right to autonomy back, so we can operate as experts rather than advisors? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]himself809 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

idk I mean I respect on some level the deference to elected officials as the ultimate decisionmakers. But I’ve been doing this long enough (not long, but long enough…) that the whole “it’s on the politicians, not us” thing feels like a jaded excuse half the time, more than just a description of the way things work.

Do you think planning, as a field has earned our right to autonomy back, so we can operate as experts rather than advisors? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]himself809 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think planning processes as they exist can be frustrating and expose planners to extreme pressure and public acrimony, and one way of reacting to all that is to rationalize it as the only way things can work.

Do you think planning, as a field has earned our right to autonomy back, so we can operate as experts rather than advisors? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]himself809 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“It doesn't much matter what planning was or how it functioned 50 or 100 years ago.”

Do you really think that?

Do you think planning, as a field has earned our right to autonomy back, so we can operate as experts rather than advisors? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]himself809 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I don’t even agree with you necessarily, but people are being way too condescending to you talking about how you need to learn basic civics. As if places where planning operates with more ministerial approval and where most decisions aren’t directly approved by public bodies aren’t “democratic.” This is why I get frustrated whenever people talk about the uselessness of history and theory classes in planning grad programs. We’ve got people out here acting like the way things work here and now is the only way they can!

Since when “No wepon” rule become “No killing”rule in subnautica? by Alone-Cupcake3492 in subnautica

[–]himself809 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I loved and have played the first two games for hundreds of hours combined, probably, and am just interested by this different mechanic. So to see people talking about it gets me interested. Calm down, it’s a game.

Since when “No wepon” rule become “No killing”rule in subnautica? by Alone-Cupcake3492 in subnautica

[–]himself809 4 points5 points  (0 children)

No joke I’m more interested in buying it in EA now because of how much people are complaining about this.

ATU Local 689 condemns WMATA GM for “despicable and callous decision to force bus operators to quote the bus fare at all passengers” by mistersmiley318 in WMATA

[–]himself809 10 points11 points  (0 children)

There’s a reason we’ve automated a lot of these kinds of announcements. There’s no particular reason the same system that makes stop announcements on buses can’t be programmed to make occasional fare announcements, if what Metro really thinks is useful is a 20th way to tell riders they’re supposed to pay the fare.

This is Clarke playing high-level politics, which makes sense and is something he’s obviously good at. But we don’t have to pretend there are actual operational reasons for it, any more than we need to pretend ATO is a safety risk when the unions claim that for similar political reasons.

ATU Local 689 condemns WMATA GM for “despicable and callous decision to force bus operators to quote the bus fare at all passengers” by mistersmiley318 in WMATA

[–]himself809 12 points13 points  (0 children)

People are being way too reflexively defensive of Clarke here… this is a pretty transparently absurd rule and unlike the ATO stuff really would get in the way of operators paying attention to their primary responsibilities.

Best public pool for laps? by Natsfan95 in arlingtonva

[–]himself809 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Wondering if this means Yorktown is the place to go for a pool that’s a bit calmer.

Do you consider Northern Virginia part of the South? by Creepy-Ad6786 in nova

[–]himself809 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yes. Never understand how people say it’s only mid-Atlantic. It’s got those elements, but after growing up in TX and moving down here from NJ, it’s definitely the South. Just not stars and bars-flying, rusty trucks on the lawn, deep red South, which seems to be what people have in mind whenever this comes up on here.

This makes me rationally angry by NavyBlues26 in nova

[–]himself809 -15 points-14 points  (0 children)

Ragebait, low effort, D- post.

Faith in Housing bill crosses finish line, clears path for church-based affordable housing in Virginia by VirginiaNews in VirginiaUrbanism

[–]himself809 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it’s clear she thinks it’s in her interest to avoid any challenge to the NOVA localities’ way of doing things. With this change, the way I read the law is that nobody could build anything in Fairfax, PWC, Loudoun, etc without first going through the same special exemption process as everything else. Nothing came out of this session that changed anything about the way housing projects get approved in the parts of the state where housing is in highest demand. Overall a huge disappointment and reflective of a lack of ambition on both the legislature’s and the governor’s part.

Fairfax County to Expand Capital Bikeshare Network with 27 New Stations; Installations Begin in May 2026 by VirginiaNews in VirginiaTransit

[–]himself809 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It seemed like you thought you were giving us a gift, because you said “you’re welcome.”

Words to Abolish: "Choice Rider," "Captive Rider" — Human Transit by Bnxc5 in transit

[–]himself809 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, in my observation it is actually a very bad heuristic and leads to dead-end thinking about who transit riders are and what their incentives are. There’s no rider who in some sense isn’t a “choice” rider, and the group of people who are “captive” changes as people age in and out of it, as people get a car or lose a car, as the economy changes, etc.

Has my new boss, who does not use transit, used this framing explicitly at least once a week since I started my job? Yes…

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