Sign in

alex baca

@alexbaca.bsky.social
2.3K followers 720 following 781 posts

midnight at the laundromat and i’m staring at you pulling clothes from the dryer. doer of the politics of the urbanist pro-growth left. having fun in ward 1, washington, d.c., the best city in america.

PostsRepliesMedia
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A nice morning after our fall mixer ☀️ ggwash.org/view/105042/...
ggwash.org
Find yourself in our Fall Mixer photos!
The Fall Mixer on Wednesday was something special. Here’s photographic evidence.
020
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
And Elissa Silverman, who we just re-endorsed for the general, biked to the Petworth Metro station to get on the D44 with us. ggwash.org/view/105043/...
141
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
@kaihall10.bsky.social has tried to get Bowser on a bus ridealong for Week Without Driving for years. No bites there :)
160
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My favorite part of this morning was how stoked our bus driver was. (I was also stoked.)
1230
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Getting to RFK is probably going to be annoying at best, and on game days it is going to be totally miserable.
130
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
yah just put it in the group chat, specifically one that I am in
130
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I’m constitutionally incapable of doing math, actually, but I know that we aren’t getting anywhere without building Big Number of homes, and I asked Nick and Payton to figure it out, which they did.
051
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
be quiet my show is on
190
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I, too, enjoyed it.
040
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Yes, yes, more outreach, better comms, better narratives—but caring about something, being willing to indulge others in questions about it, and just genuinely liking something is enticing and attractive, and is only going to become more so in world of slop. Infra. is really susceptible here.
050
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I refuse to do the “haha nerrrrrrds” thing about zoning or trains or w/e (and I am *really* not a train person). The bizarre kneejerk reaction of people who are Into Built Environment Shit to marginalize it and make fun of themselves is ?????? Use the jargon. Be hype about literally creating it.
271
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
GGWash's questionnaire for Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner candidates running in the 2026 general election is live, and due back to us no later than Thurs., Aug. 20, at 11:59 p.m. If you filed yesterday, you'll get an email from me about it shortly. ggwash.org/view/104405/...
ggwash.org
GGWash’s 2026 questionnaire for Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner candidates
Candidates running for Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner seats in the District of Columbia should fill out GGWash’s questionnaire by August 20, 2026.
030
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
This is the correct way to read us. bsky.app/profile/aru....
070
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I’m conceptually down lol but ANCs are nonpartisan seats and this is very partisan biz
020
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
bring back google reader 😭
3323
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
working in the college park wework listening to chapterhouse
020
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
lol i did really do a lot of phone calls on my bike didn’t i
120
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
none of us want to admit it, least of all me, but i miss my boys and they miss me. (i don’t want to know what that sick maha abuser is up to.)
120
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
i’m working over here
220
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Hard to stop highlighting.
000
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
free response image for this website
1101
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I’ve been reading Gans’ The Urban Villagers on and off since May, when I was in Boston (and went to the West End Museum), and there are consistently nuggets.
170
Reposted by alex baca
e.w. niedermeyer @niedermeyer.online · 29/07/2026
preying on the mobility anxieties of the elderly and disabled to prop up a decade-old scam is about as evil as it's possible to be
717417
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
this will not and is not intended to be a solution but idk where else to put a sort of relevant thing that we ran that is absolutely fascinating and has zero bearing on my life (i have gas car that i drive for long distances): ggwash.org/view/amp/102...
ggwash.org
The long, winding journey to safely — and legally — charging my DC street-parked EV
Without a garage or parking lot near your home, it’s tricky to get your electric car an AC charge in DC — and even harder if you want to do it the right way. Here’s how I navigated the Goldilocks chal...
000
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
this was one of the most emotionally painful periods of my career
100
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
It was a revenue-neutral redesign!! Riders' experience was: Their route probably physically changed, and the route names *definitely* changed. Also, people be driving, and people need 2 b driving less: 51st.news/metro-tried-...
51st.news
Metro tried to make bus service better. Somehow, ridership and speeds are both down
A year after Better Bus, reviews are mixed.
030
Reposted by alex baca
Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Yeah I love DSA, drinking some ales.
1294985
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
delet DoorDash but also…you were using DoorDash??
0100
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
new album is as special and important to me as the s/t
120
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
don’t know the last time i saw Kurt Vile, only remember the time i loaded some equipment out for him in year of lordt 2009 on good god what was that backstagery thing off Charles Street at that time in the whole world
130
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
🙃
040
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Me + @westnorth.com on why transit-oriented development is an outdated framework for building more housing in D.C. (The answer is, yes, sixplexes.): ggwash.org/view/104207/...
ggwash.org
Think outside the circle, DC OP
If it were the 1970s, this proposal from the DC Office of Planning would be cutting edge. Instead, it stands to seriously hold back housing in the District.
1151
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
fwiw, suggesting that regulators be allowed to regulate AVs leads to being screeched at that you are letting perfect be the enemy of the good
180
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I also watched Dunkirk last week so I was primed for Things Happening on Big Beaches to emotionally impact me.
051
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I saw Da Movie in 70mm and it ruled. I loved it. The Hades scenes were cray. Everyone acted the shit out of it. I cried at the end. Tremendous.
390
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
fair-share lite industrial 🫂
020
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
however, according to my twitter mentions, this is Not Real, so who can say really
120
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I’m very focused on the congestion piece so that, when AVs get there, the experience of taking one doesn’t suck.
000
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I would be more firmly on board with safety claims rn if it were more certain that AVs would replace trips by human drivers. TNC trips have mostly replaced transit trips. Little reason to suspect AVs would be different. Would love to be wrong! These are qs that bills, rightfully, prompt.
100
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I’m not handwaving. There was considerable disagreement yesterday between the government and operators about just how safe AVs should be required to be. Doesn’t feel like safety is the purported slam dunk without regulation. I think I am fair in describing that as “not resonant.”
100
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
from the events store
140
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Perhaps we are more invested in AVs working well here than their stans, even, bc we want ppl to have a good experience in them 🤔
030
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Things might go better for AV operators if they are regulated by the agency that *also* regulates taxis and TNCs. DDOT should be freed up to do ~DDOT things~, like CURBSIDE and CONGESTION MANAGEMENT, which it has not done. Yes, they should work together. MOUs exist.
130
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
It's true: We don't support the bill as written—but not because we are against legalizing AVs. It puts the regulation of autonomous carriers-for-hire under the District Department of Transportation, rather than the Department of For-Hire Vehicles. The latter *already regulates carriers-for-hire.*
121
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Here's testimony I gave on behalf of my employer saying, basically, cars ruin cities, which someone on the other website whose reading comprehension is not up to snuff is interpreting as us coming "out against legalizing autonomous vehicles in D.C.": docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
20260713_GGWash T&E AV testimony
July 13, 2026 To the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, My name is Alex Baca and I am submitting this testimony on behalf of Greater Greater Washington, where I serve as D.C. policy di...
160
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
(Safety does not really resonate with me in this conversation, fwiw. I have been hit by drivers and my near-misses have been just as frightening as anyone else's. I suppose AVs could do it better, but cars en masse are a bigger problem.)
250
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Still going. I heard the hearing downstairs on rats is much spicier, and it is true that this has been a relatively sedate hearing. We are at the part where a number of public witnesses are requesting the council move faster than the legislative process will probably allow to legalize AVs bc safety.
220
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Worst thing so far came from Tesla’s person, who said that AVs should be allowed to go over the speed limit in the event of some sort of exceptional event and also to keep up the flow of traffic. Much to his credit, CM Allen was not having it, and neither are my new faves, the trial lawyers’ assoc.
1121
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
So the innovation is going to be stuck in traffic. Like a car. Because it is a car.
191
alex baca @alexbaca.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Bowser straight-up doesn’t care about AVs (they aren’t a stadium), so T&E has—as in the Uber War—been getting the most intensive “yOuRe aNti-iNnOvAtIoN” hammering. But neither the committee nor the mayor have done much to reduce trips by car, despite much telling them to: ggwash.org/view/amp/103...
ggwash.org
The other DC congestion pricing study
Autonomous vehicles mean more vehicle miles traveled on DC streets. Road pricing can help with that.
271