mmautner
@maxmautner.com
🌇 🚶🏽♀️🚲🛴🚌🚅 Market urbanist, enjoyer of nature & bicycles.
👉 Long-form takes at maxmautner.com
👉 Long-form takes at maxmautner.com
Reposted by mmautner
To add to this, knees are a use-’em-or-lose-’em kind of body part. If you want good knees in old age, you should walk/jog/run regularly starting by your mid-30s, prompting your body to strengthen your knees in response to the wear. Walking 35 minutes twice a day would be perfect for this.
The mind cannot conceive of walking a cumulative one hour a weekday, you will get injured?
September 14, 2026 at 3:19 PM
To add to this, knees are a use-’em-or-lose-’em kind of body part. If you want good knees in old age, you should walk/jog/run regularly starting by your mid-30s, prompting your body to strengthen your knees in response to the wear. Walking 35 minutes twice a day would be perfect for this.
The mind cannot conceive of walking a cumulative one hour a weekday, you will get injured?
September 14, 2026 at 12:34 AM
The mind cannot conceive of walking a cumulative one hour a weekday, you will get injured?
Mandatory insurance minimums were quickly invented in the 1920s—papering over a massive hole in driving costs: unpaid debts to victims of crashes maxmautner.com/2026/09/11/l...
Killing someone with a car costs $1.6 million. California requires drivers to carry $30,000
NHTSA puts the average economic cost of a traffic fatality at $1.6 million. California requires a driver to carry $30,000 in bodily injury coverage, and everyone who was not in the crash pays the rest...
maxmautner.com
September 12, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Mandatory insurance minimums were quickly invented in the 1920s—papering over a massive hole in driving costs: unpaid debts to victims of crashes maxmautner.com/2026/09/11/l...
The average American in 2025 paid $0.77/mile to drive a car--which is right about the same amount in damages that the public bears for that same mile driven accounting for crashes, pollution and wasted land-use: maxmautner.com/2026/09/10/p...
Paying for driving
Drivers in the US pay about half of what their driving costs. The rest comes to $2.15 trillion a year.
maxmautner.com
September 11, 2026 at 8:40 PM
The average American in 2025 paid $0.77/mile to drive a car--which is right about the same amount in damages that the public bears for that same mile driven accounting for crashes, pollution and wasted land-use: maxmautner.com/2026/09/10/p...
Taiwan flag, San Francisco flag, Crocs, "WALK YOUR BIKE"
September 10, 2026 at 3:05 AM
Taiwan flag, San Francisco flag, Crocs, "WALK YOUR BIKE"
You have to respect the game LLM companies play with customers in "rate-limiting" compute budget on research tasks.
September 10, 2026 at 2:59 AM
You have to respect the game LLM companies play with customers in "rate-limiting" compute budget on research tasks.
Hot take: bicycle frames should come with rear racks welded on
September 8, 2026 at 8:03 PM
Hot take: bicycle frames should come with rear racks welded on
Peter, I’m blocked from replying to you—I’m happy to chat with you about this in a different forum!
I tried to ignore you, but your persistent misrepresentation of my position demands a reply.
I /support/ the BART redesign but not the old 12-story monstrosity, as did the community, and the current proposal doesn't have it: a good example of successful community input leading to a better outcome.
I /support/ the BART redesign but not the old 12-story monstrosity, as did the community, and the current proposal doesn't have it: a good example of successful community input leading to a better outcome.
September 7, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Peter, I’m blocked from replying to you—I’m happy to chat with you about this in a different forum!
Reposted by mmautner
it’s because people like you oppose transit oriented development
peak Berkeley is a “climate scientist” who prefers parking to bike lanes and fights against building more housing near transit, all while crying crocodile tears that not enough people take transit
peak Berkeley is a “climate scientist” who prefers parking to bike lanes and fights against building more housing near transit, all while crying crocodile tears that not enough people take transit
September 6, 2026 at 10:00 PM
it’s because people like you oppose transit oriented development
peak Berkeley is a “climate scientist” who prefers parking to bike lanes and fights against building more housing near transit, all while crying crocodile tears that not enough people take transit
peak Berkeley is a “climate scientist” who prefers parking to bike lanes and fights against building more housing near transit, all while crying crocodile tears that not enough people take transit
Reposted by mmautner
Another reason is local advocacy against the density near transit necessary to sustain transit.
Btw, density also enables higher levels of affordability.
Btw, density also enables higher levels of affordability.
September 6, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Another reason is local advocacy against the density near transit necessary to sustain transit.
Btw, density also enables higher levels of affordability.
Btw, density also enables higher levels of affordability.
Angel Island is basically Capri
September 6, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Angel Island is basically Capri
So many cargo bikes at this morning's Burlingame downtown farmers market. Aventon, Specialized, Rad, Urban Arrow
September 6, 2026 at 6:06 PM
So many cargo bikes at this morning's Burlingame downtown farmers market. Aventon, Specialized, Rad, Urban Arrow
Reposted by mmautner
There's often little daylight between Trump's transportation chief, who works to block transit, bike, & pedestrian projects, and SF's own Connie Chan.
"Chan was a leading critic of the city’s 2022 decision to permanently ban cars on a key stretch of Golden Gate Park’s John F. Kennedy Drive." 🎁link:
"Chan was a leading critic of the city’s 2022 decision to permanently ban cars on a key stretch of Golden Gate Park’s John F. Kennedy Drive." 🎁link:
Connie Chan’s critics call her a roadblock. She calls herself a voice for her S.F. community
Supervisor Connie Chan has often positioned herself as a tireless community advocate who tries to protect vulnerable residents from harm. Her critics say she’s an obstructionist.
www.sfchronicle.com
August 26, 2026 at 5:20 PM
There's often little daylight between Trump's transportation chief, who works to block transit, bike, & pedestrian projects, and SF's own Connie Chan.
"Chan was a leading critic of the city’s 2022 decision to permanently ban cars on a key stretch of Golden Gate Park’s John F. Kennedy Drive." 🎁link:
"Chan was a leading critic of the city’s 2022 decision to permanently ban cars on a key stretch of Golden Gate Park’s John F. Kennedy Drive." 🎁link:
Reposted by mmautner
boomer ecology really is 'a single family house with PVs and heat pumps and two eSUVs in every driveway'
September 5, 2026 at 6:39 PM
boomer ecology really is 'a single family house with PVs and heat pumps and two eSUVs in every driveway'
Car-brained Americans make parenthood a prison for parents and children: reason.com/2026/09/02/v...
Virginia mom gets 6-month suspended jail sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond
The government also placed Karyann Parkinson on its child abuse and neglect registry, where she will remain for seven years.
reason.com
September 6, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Car-brained Americans make parenthood a prison for parents and children: reason.com/2026/09/02/v...
Importantly, mail-in ballots largely eliminate the car owner turn-out bias that existed with mandatory polling location voting: maxwellpalmer.com/docs/article...
September 6, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Importantly, mail-in ballots largely eliminate the car owner turn-out bias that existed with mandatory polling location voting: maxwellpalmer.com/docs/article...
You are simply not asked to bail out car infrastructure, or told what your bill is.
$276M for the Caldecott Tunnel but zero from the state to rescue Bay Area public transit, even though Caldecott Tunnel traffic is projected to become 3X worse if the Connect Bay Area transit ballot measure doesn’t pass in November.
www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/03/c...
www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/03/c...
A $276 million project will be Caldecott Tunnel’s biggest upgrade since 2013. Here’s what it will do.
The project will be the most extensive investment in the tunnel since the addition of the fourth bore, completed in 2013.
www.mercurynews.com
September 6, 2026 at 2:03 PM
You are simply not asked to bail out car infrastructure, or told what your bill is.
Reposted by mmautner
The California Environmental Quality Act is bad for the environment because it gives litigious busybodies the power to delay and block environmentally friendly projects like bike lanes on the grounds that the government has not sufficiently analyzed the bike lanes’ “environmental impacts.”
A Berkeley bike lane would eliminate 145 parking spaces. Residents are suing to stop it.
Plaintiffs argue that Berkeley City Council approved the Hopkins Street bike lane project without conducing necessary environmental reviews.
www.sfchronicle.com
September 4, 2026 at 8:37 PM
The California Environmental Quality Act is bad for the environment because it gives litigious busybodies the power to delay and block environmentally friendly projects like bike lanes on the grounds that the government has not sufficiently analyzed the bike lanes’ “environmental impacts.”
Reposted by mmautner
Just not this time, where I live. Somewhere else. Not by me.
September 5, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Just not this time, where I live. Somewhere else. Not by me.
Reposted by mmautner
Moments like this reveal public policy is in fact its own specific kind of subject matter expertise.
Being a climate scientist does not mean you know very much about the public policy initiatives that can curb emissions.
Being a climate scientist does not mean you know very much about the public policy initiatives that can curb emissions.
A. It's a small parking lot & usually full.
B. The bike lane doesn't go to the school unless it was another block south.
C. Most shoppers buy far more than an ebike carries, are elderly, or come a far distance.
D. Literally the only beneficiaries are a small # of bikers. No one else in the community
B. The bike lane doesn't go to the school unless it was another block south.
C. Most shoppers buy far more than an ebike carries, are elderly, or come a far distance.
D. Literally the only beneficiaries are a small # of bikers. No one else in the community
September 5, 2026 at 11:27 PM
Moments like this reveal public policy is in fact its own specific kind of subject matter expertise.
Being a climate scientist does not mean you know very much about the public policy initiatives that can curb emissions.
Being a climate scientist does not mean you know very much about the public policy initiatives that can curb emissions.