iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jay Blazek Crossley

Farm&City @farmandcity.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

We are hiring for two Fall paid internships at 15 hours a week helping with research & education on the problem of traffic crashes in Texas and possible solutions. One position will focus on data & GIS & the other will focus on policy analysis & communications. farmandcity.org/2026/09/17/f...

farmandcity.org

Farm&City is hiring two Fall 2026 interns – Farm&City

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Guy at table next to me at an Austin coffee shop told another guy about all the trouble on recent projects w/ zoning administrators putting up barriers & useless buerocracy. He explains he’s getting out of architecture, shifting to training others. It’s just not joyful anymore because of zoning.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

This has to be done by the time they finish the hearing today, September 2, 2026, to get it on the record, but you can submit your own comments to the Texas House Subcommittee on Transportation Funding here: comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c479

comments.house.texas.gov

House Public Comment

The purpose of this form is to aid Texas residents in electronically submitting public comments to House committees on measures or matters included on public hearing notices.

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Reposted by Jay Blazek Crossley

Farm&City @farmandcity.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Crashes cost Texans $54B a year while congestion costs us about $15B. Our funding system is built for the smaller problem. The Legislature can fix that. Farm&City submitted these comments today to the Texas House Subcommittee on Transportation Funding: farmandcity.org/2026/09/02/c... #txlege

Photo from the side of 290 of a bad crash in the middle of Elgin. There are police cars and emergency vehicles from multiple agencies and a helicopter in the middle of the road waiting to take someone to the emergency room.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I’m clearly gonna have to read the story, but my impression is that he’s used the strong mayor powers effectively to do dumb things & ruin Houston policy & dismantle the abilities of city staff that had been so successfully built up by his predecessors. But he has used power - just for dumb sh*t.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

And that chart is about inclusionary zoning which is a very different policy mechanism than bonus programs combined with exclusionary zoning.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

But bonus programs don’t set base entitlements. Exclusionary zoning does. And bonus programs are an additional thing attached to exclusionary zoning. But it’s confusing that you’re claiming bonus programs are the underlying zoning when they’re not. I believe that’s why that position is hard spread.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

But I’m not aware that you have studies that density bonus programs constrain housing production. There is thorough understanding on how inclusionary zoning and zoning in general reduce future housing, but bonus programs are very different than either of those.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

The Texas legislature did not in fact seriously consider this bill to require all large cities to install five Texas themed crosswalks, but this seems a funny time to point out that it was at least filed last year: capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/...

capitol.texas.gov

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Happy Juneteenth everybody! May we all live in freedom together forever more. May we all remember the horrors done by people who enslaved other people right here in Texas, and honor those who suffered and those who fought for freedom for all.

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Reposted by Jay Blazek Crossley

Friends of Austin Neighborhoods (FAN) @atxfriends.org · 16/06/2026

"We have to stop limiting the amount of people allowed to live . . . low-carbon lifestyles in walkable neighborhoods. And the whole idea that there are some places in our city where we shouldn't have tall buildings was wrong. And that idea was always wrong." - @jaycrossley.bsky.social

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

So cool to be at opening celebration of @capmetroatx.bsky.social’s 800 Pleasant Valley & 837 Expo Center Bus Rapid Transit lines. These were cut from Project Connect in 2017 based on foolish decision-making data, but were -arguably- saved by this blog post I wrote. farmandcity.org/2017/06/23/p...

Picture of a rapid bus at a station with the electric charging arm connected overhead to the bus and some people standing around.

Austin Transit Partnership Board Chair Veronica Castro de Barrera speaking on a podium at the Expo Transit Center with a BRT bus on the right being charged by the overhead charger and a bunch of people listening inside a tent.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Montserrat Garibay seems to be winning perhaps the most important state house race on the Texas Democratic primary side of things – for those that care about urbanism, equity, the environment, fair markets, etc.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Luckily, the Texas Department of Transportation and Texas research institutions have studied how to implement credit-based congestion pricing (the correct answer) for the Austin region fairly extensively. Let’s do this!

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

I believe the draft bill cuts SS4A from $5 billion to $3.7 billion. While overall there clearly are a lot of good safety things that are in the draft bill, that massive proposed cut to lifesaving investments when the program is already way oversubscribed is terrible.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I think DMVs, as they say states would have to collect it as part of annual vehicle registration fees and then send it to the Feds. So for users it would just be like the regular annual registration but more expensive.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Part of the backstory as I heard it for the 2004 UNO (University Neighborhood Overlay) upzoning of Austin’s West Campus is that Council Member Brewster McCracken ended up at a CNU (as in an actual Congress, basically an annual conference) and was like “yeah this all makes sense, let’s do urbanism.”

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Thank you Chris Riley and Brewster McCracken (among others) for putting Austin in the stratosphere of climate responsible city policies (at least in West Campus).

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Reposted by Jay Blazek Crossley

Parker Welch @parkerwelch.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Rain garden was hard at work today near one of Austin’s roundabouts

Photo of a ponding rain garden in the foreground, with sidewalk at right and roundabout in the background

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Such good infrastructure just doing its damn job, year after year.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

That feeling when your state (Texas) and local governments spend more money on roads than almost anywhere else in the world, and the roads just keep getting worse.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

I think one of the world clocks at the @nytimes.com offices is off in this @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social podcast, which just seems kind of a a perfect little picture of where we're at in the world. The third clock from the right is apparently gonna be at whatever minutes it wants.

Screenshot of the video of the Ezra Klein podcast, which is three men sitting at a table in a glass walled conference room with six clocks high on the wall in the room behind them. All the clocks have the same minute hand position (like they should), except for the third from the right.

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Reposted by Jay Blazek Crossley

Sam @samd.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

there is literally one proven policy to reduce traffic congestion long-term. it’s congestion pricing. and Trump just spent a whole year trying to illegally scrap it in New York City

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

And here’s the resolution to let the voters decide: drive.google.com/file/d/1I_r1...

drive.google.com

89R 9149.pdf

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

I’ve been working on this in Texas for several years & believe it is the right answer for #txlege to use weight-based user fees to cover the costs of driving. We got the Safe Texas Streets & Sidewalks Fund drafted as a resolution to let Texas voters decide this, but couldn’t get it filed last year.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Here’s that interim charge. It’s a huge opportunity. And it’s interesting why this is being allowed politically to be discussed now because of the powerful interests who want it - the road building lobby. www.house.texas.gov/pdfs/speaker...

Screenshot of text from the interim charge document linked in the post. The text says:

“6. Speed Enforcement in Work and School Zones: Evaluate measures to enhance roadside worker and public safety, including limited authorization of speed enforcement mechanisms in high-speed work zones and school zones. Consider measures that would safeguard Texans’ privacy, prohibit automated retention of data, and prevent citations from being issued by third-party entities.”

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

I can talk about the long hard grind of shifting Texas policies on speed. But we have had some big successes that aren’t noted often and real work is ongoing and progress has been made. Also, the Speaker of the Texas House just set an interim charge on speed enforcement in work and school zones.

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Reposted by Jay Blazek Crossley

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 16/03/2026

We're implementing the largest expansion of Sammy’s Law in city history: lowering speed limits to 15 MPH at all eligible school locations by the end of our first term. And we’re not waiting to start. In 2026, we’re reducing 800 locations to 15 MPH, for a total of nearly 1,300 School Slow Zones.

An NYC DOT worker puts up a street sign that reads: SCHOOL SPEED LIMIT 15 FINES HIGHER PHOTO ENFORCED

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

I’ve tried to ride every bus or rail option I can find in Texas and the one time I rode FlixBus was the one that I never considered doing again, and it was just many annoying things that were unpleasant happening to everyone involved that compounded to a very unpleasant experience for all.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

But many engineers and cities treat the minimum allowed speed limit as a limit on the minimum allowed design speed - at least here in Texas. So we have to pass the state law to allow safe speed limits to get narrower streets.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

My bike rack was a street sign pole by the bus stop.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Here are all my new plant friends. (So far. I haven’t hit the tomato tent yet. But that’ll be mostly for my mom and friends)

A tray of 20 4” herb plants and one little hibiscus plant

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

I secured my entire pepper plan! (And even didn’t buy any extra last minute weird ideas) Now I’m in the herb tent line (for the wife).

People in a long line winding to the left along a dirt walkway in the middle of the community garden.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

The line reached the end of that block face and turned back around the next side of the block just before the doors opened at 9.

More people in line on the sidewalk looking back from wheee I was waiting.

People in line at the corner and heading down the next street

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Behold the sacred map of the Sunshine Community Garden Plant Sale peppers tent!

Diagram showing the layout of peppers inside the tent. It has dotted lines with arrows and stick figures showing the way you walk through and little rectangles along the edges and on an island in the middle of the tent with names of a pepper plant in each rectangle.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

This is what I’m hoping isn’t sold out by the time I get to the pepper tent.

Hand written list:

10 Trinidad Perfume
2 Trinidad Scorpion
4 Brasilian Starfish
2 Aji Mango
2 Balik
2 Hong-gochu
2 Elephant Ear
2 Pimiento
2 Corno di Toro

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

I feel like this is actually a pretty good spot in line for the Sunshine Community Garden Plant Sale ten minutes before it opens. The entrance is all the way down the block and around the corner and halfway down the next side of the block. I’m heading straight for the peppers tent.

Selfie with a long line of people waiting on a sidewalk next to a fence side of the community garden.

The end of the long line on the sidewalk as I was walking up. You can see a bus stop and someone dropping someone off in a car to get in the line.

Closeup shot of the backs of some people waiting in the line on the sidewalk. Some people looking at their phones.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

The opposite of those truck bloat danger pictures.

Three 11 year olds standing right in front of a small kei truck in a parking lot.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

If we are considering high speed rail in the Texas Triangle, all of these same questions apply, but on an even grander scale, and with the added crucial element of stations needing to be tied directly into the heart of effective local transit grid networks in each metro region.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

TIL that "squeek" is actually spelled "squeak," and it just seemed really fun – just like a nice little tune up for my little brain engine. You gotta take the wins you can get, I suppose.

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Jay Blazek Crossley @jaycrossley.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

I live in a state (Texas) w/ horribly mismanaged transportation spending that’s left us with a worthless pedestrian transportation system. The rare snow and sleet accumulation on the ground in Austin yields a sneckdown kind of effect showing the desire lines where people walk on missing sidewalks.

Cold ground in the yard in front of a house with grass on the yard but a white channel of snow where the sidewalk should be.

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