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Allison Lirish Dean

@ear2thepavement.bsky.social
647 followers 316 following 842 posts

Urban planner + journalist writing about the intersection between planning, bureaucracy, and democracy. www.allisonlirishdean.com

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Reposted by Allison Lirish Dean
Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
I know this is an obvious thing to say but we should talk more about what a racist this guy is. He’s as racist as George Wallace or Strom Thurmond but unlike them he often escapes having racism mentioned as a leading cause for all his decisions.
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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
It’s a nice spring day, but hardly peak cherry blossom crowds down by the National Mall and Tidal Basin. But the 15th Street protected lane that the Trump administration will start tearing out next week was still busy with people on bikes and scooters; locals and tourists alike.
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Kate Lowe (she/hers) @kateontransport.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
I worry a shared affinity for transit (see below) or shared desire to reduce highway investment (strong towns) leads planners to uncritically accept narratives from conservative orientations. Once again, sharing this great piece by @ear2thepavement.bsky.social www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/09...
currentaffairs.org
The Strong Towns Movement is Simply Right-Libertarianism Dressed in Progressive Garb
Strong Towns’ critique of America’s car-centric sprawl sounds appealing. But its proposed solutions rely on a conservative politics that prioritizes ‘wealth creation’ over just and equitable urban pla...
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Micheál Podgers @michealpodgers.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
If you haven’t read this piece by @ear2thepavement.bsky.social @currentaffairs.bsky.social do so now. It is a great break down of the conservative underpinnings of Strong Towns, the infiltration of urbanist politics by the right, and how to contend with their sometimes workable ideas.
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alec karakatsanis @equalityalec.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
bsky.app/profile/equa...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/01/2026
The total number of measles cases has surged to over 600 in South Carolina. Last April, our reporting found that national rates for four major vaccines fell significantly in recent years. In fact, measles vaccination rates were below herd immunity in most states in 2023: propub.li/4a61hjh
A U.S. tile map that depicts the measles vaccination rate for kindergarteners (according to CDC data) in each state from 2013 to 2023. A key explains that for each state, a gray dotted line represents the benchmark for herd immunity: a 95% vaccination rate. Vaccination rates above 95% are shown in blue, while vaccination rates below 95% are shown in orange. Looking at the full map, the trend lines lean much more orange than blue. Measles vaccination rates in most states were below herd immunity in school year 2023-2024.
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Rocky Flats Chimney Sweep 🇺🇸 @midlifesuezcrisis.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Right you don't dismantle the Stasi because you have disagreements about policing and security, you dismantle the Stasi because it's the fucking Stasi.
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Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
there's no reforming ICE, there's no democracy while ICE exists
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 20/01/2026
interesting that a single face-to-face contact turned this nonvoter into a voter
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Good piece, contains some real fire, unlike a lot of what gets written these days.
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Reposted by Allison Lirish Dean
Noel Casler Comedy @noelcaslercomedy.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
If you’re a grown ass man in full tactical gear asking a child to show you ID or proof of citizenship you failed at life. Utterly & completely failed. Loser.
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Congresswoman Chellie Pingree @pingree.house.gov · 21/01/2026
DHS says they have a “list” of around 1,400 people to round up in what they’re calling “Operation Catch of the Day” — a completely disgusting and inhumane name for their terror campaign in our state.
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
The author of a controversial memo from centrist think tank Searchlight telling Democrats to abandon the slogan “Abolish ICE” is a senior advisor for WestExec, a D.C. shadow lobbyist for corporations in the defense, surveillance, and immigration enforcement industries. prospect.org/2026/01/19/a...
prospect.org
Author of ‘Don’t Say Abolish ICE’ Memo Is a Corporate Consultant - The American Prospect
Blas Nuñez-Neto is a senior adviser to WestExec, a shadow lobbyist for defense and tech firms.
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Kate Lowe (she/hers) @kateontransport.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Another odd take from Strong Towns www.strongtowns.org/journal/2025.... Yes! problems with some fed programs, but let's address problemed incentives/capital emphasis not all go it alone. @ear2thepavement.bsky.social explains their conservative orientation www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/09...
strongtowns.org
Are Federal Transit Grants Hurting, Not Helping, Public Transportation? | Strong Towns
Three case studies reveal how top-down funding creates rigidity, waste, and systems that cities cannot afford to fix or abandon.
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
I’m not a pollster or a statistician, but as a reasonably educated consumer of statistical information it feels like there is a lot of misleading spin in the anti-Trump polling world. Trump’s net approval is not “plummeting” but has been very stable for awhile now.
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Reposted by Allison Lirish Dean
David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
US highway spending is a mess. Yale prof @zliscow.bsky.social & colleagues found that South Carolina’s DOT spends $375,500 repaving a mile of highway – more than twice as much as North Carolina. In @bloomberg.com, I spoke with Liscow about the wild inefficiencies of state DOTs.
bloomberg.com
American Roads Are Paved With Inefficiency
Why do US highway projects cost so much? A researcher finds some surprising sources of infrastructure inflation, and points to ways to make road work more affordable.
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Reposted by Allison Lirish Dean
Bolts @boltsmag.org · 22/10/2025
Republicans in North Carolina today adopted a new congressional map, favored by President Trump, that is expected to shift one seat toward the GOP. www.newsobserver.com...
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
As the saying goes, “just one more lane will fix it.”
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 22/10/2025
A report by an environmental group says millions of tons of discarded U.S. electronics are being shipped overseas each month — much of it to Southeast Asian countries not prepared to safely handle hazardous waste.
bit.ly
Watchdog report says American e-waste is causing a 'hidden tsunami' in Southeast Asia
A report by an environmental group says millions of tons of discarded U.S. electronics are being shipped overseas each month — much of it to Southeast Asian countries not prepared to safely handle hazardous waste.
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Chris Greene @christophergreene.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Nor is it a good reflection on local dem leadership, who cannot manage to express unhappiness, much less contempt, over Cuomo's contemptuous candidacy.
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Ranibow Sprimkle @laterbacon.space · 22/10/2025
My day on RIPTA thanks to @govdanmckee.bsky.social -finding the 71's frequency has been cut almost in half -waiting 19 min for the R-line at 9:30am -packing onto an extremely overcrowded 22 because its frequency is slashed -barely missing the 75, so I took the 72 which is 3x farther from home.
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Doug Henwood @doughenwood.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Luxembourg touts free transit in an FT ad. And they’re not even socialist!
Free public transport*
+ Fast-tracked career growth
You do the math.
+First country in the world to provide free public transport.
The wisest investment is in yourself.
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Current Affairs @currentaffairs.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Throughout my entire experience in Israeli detention, I saw countless cracks beneath the surface. For every ostensible manifestation of strength and vitality, there was a corollary sign of weakness, stupidity, decline, or all three. www.currentaffairs.org/news/my-time...
currentaffairs.org
My Time as a Prisoner of Israel
Like hundreds of other activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, I was abducted by the IDF and held in Ketziot prison. There, I saw firsthand that Israel’s “strength” is more fragile than it seems.
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Reposted by Allison Lirish Dean
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
a reminder that ICE received an astonishing influx of money with the megabill this summer: boltsmag.org/how-the-gop-...
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
A fascinating election to watch in two weeks — the CW is that policing has receded as an issue, but here’s a data point otherwise:
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Susan McPherson @susanmcp.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
THIS is who the White House nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel: “MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell.” “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.” GIFT: www.wsj.com/opinion/paul...
wsj.com
Opinion | Paul Ingrassia’s ‘Nazi Streak’
The Trump nominee’s repellent texts are a lesson for young MAGA.
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Dave Lee @davelee.me · 21/10/2025
WELL HOW ABOUT THAT "A millionaire levy in Massachusetts has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing significant high-profile departures from the state." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts
A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...
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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
A higher percentage of New York City Jews are voting for Zohran Mamdani than Jews nationwide who voted for Donald Trump, and yet the latter are treated as a substantial voice in American Jewish culture, while the former are almost totally ignored by mainstream American Jewish organizations.
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Gianmarco Soresi @gianmarcosoresi.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Mamdani is already getting the criminals out of NYC!
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
The ghost of William Whyte hates this trend. You should, too.
bloomberg.com
Looking for a Place to Sit Down in the City
As downtowns struggle to recover from the pandemic, author William Whyte’s insights about what attracts people to small urban places are more important than ever.
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Gwynne Hogan @gwynnefitz.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Federal agents many in masks at Broadway and Canal moments ago questioning a man, a bunch more agents just walked away. "Can i call my mom," the man asks, he's now being loaded into a car and being driven away. More TK @thecity.nyc
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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 21/10/2025
National Guard deployment in DC is costing $1 million/day www.cnn.com/2025/08/28/p... They’re there each time I step out of the Metro, idling in groups with nothing to do Meanwhile, around the corner, people are sleeping on the street, nowhere else to go, as Trump cuts funding for homeless people
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Thread: There are so many problems with this NYTimes piece, starting with the assumption that being a "centrist"—whatever that is right now—is somehow "non-partisan" and a virtue unto itself. Being a "centrist" is just as ideological or "partisan" as anything else. Also, voters “prefer capitalism to
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
I found this @currentaffairs.bsky.social piece by @lilysanca.bsky.social really helpful in understanding debates about the police and about the “defund” movement in particular: www.currentaffairs.org/news/now-is-...
currentaffairs.org
Now is Not the Time to “Moderate” on the Police
Prominent mayoral candidates are distancing themselves from “defund” and instead offering “cops and more” public safety plans. But that approach neglects the victims of police brutality and risks furt...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 20/10/2025
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. By @nicolefoy.bsky.social
propublica.org
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
What Trump has to say to American farmers is that they have to understand it is more important to save his friend Milei who has a big election coming up. Peasants. bsky.app/profile/atru...
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Ho boy. Happy Monday. Would love to hear someone like @lukewsavage.bsky.social tear into this one: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | America Still Has a Political Center, and It’s the Key to Winning
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
Why are these three politicians at the top of this article? I know what Mamdani’s message is, and to some extent AOC’s, but what is Hakeem Jeffries’ “message”? Is there a single regular person who can articulate it?
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
#nokings
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
I understand what this sign is trying to convey, but am not crazy about it because 1938 in America was actually the New Deal era, the strongest social-democratic aspects of which we would do well to return to in robust form if we ever get past Trumpism and neoliberal austerity.
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
At some point the Democratic Party will have to learn that its failing communication strategies are a reflection of the fact that it is an institution with almost no real infrastructure. jacobin.com/2025/08/demo...
jacobin.com
How the Democratic Party Was Hollowed Out
Democrats appear incapable of mounting a real opposition to Donald Trump. Their weakness is the result of a decades-long hollowing out of the party, in which organized labor has been displaced by a pa...
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Hey @demgovs.org — you promised you weren’t asking for money but then asked for money, so basically lied to bait me into this survey. This is a bad thing to do because it sends the message that you don’t care what people actually think. No wonder the Democratic Party is historically unpopular.
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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Hey @nytimes.com, did you change your headline, and change "Islamophobic attacks" on Mamdani to just "attacks," because Elise Stefanik and the GOP bullied you into it? Really? Why are they no longer Islamophobic attacks, as your headline originally and correctly stated?
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
BTW, Life After Cars is one of three(!) new books arguing that society and the planet would be better off if we had fewer automobiles. I wrote this essay about them a week ago.
bloomberg.com
‘Car Brain’ Is Making the US Unhealthy and Dangerous. EVs Won’t Fix It.
A trio of new books argue that we need to confront the full range of costs that car-based living has imposed on our cities, our health and our society.
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Allison Lirish Dean @ear2thepavement.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
“In awarding the prize to Machado, the Nobel Committee has provided an open invitation for Trump to continue, and even escalate, military intervention and gunboat diplomacy in Latin America.” www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...
aljazeera.com
How Trump got his Nobel Peace Prize after all
The Nobel given to Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado was really a prize for Donald Trump.
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Liza Featherstone @lizafeatherstone.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
The people go wild for blue state governors showing the slightest bit of spine. So on climate, why aren't they doing it? thanks for insight and good info from @nyrenews.bsky.social: newrepublic.com/article/2017...
newrepublic.com
The Blue-State Governors Who’ve Gone Weak on Climate Policy
They make a big show of standing up to Trump. But what about standing up for the planet?
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Where we stand, in long arc of history: -Story on left, adding race as a factor when that favors white people. -Story on right, banning race as a factor when that favors non-whites. I often complain about NYT headlines and story-play. But these are strong. Including "If Court Guts 1965 Law."
Two headlines on front page of NYT.

First is "Trump Weighs Transforming Refugee Policy. White People Would be Given Preference."

Second is "Justices May Ban Race as a Factor in District Maps. Nation's Political Balance Could Shift If Court Guts 1964 Law."
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