Mike Perham
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mike.perham.net
Mike Perham
@mike.perham.net
Software nerd, biking + housing advocate in Portland, OR

Admin of https://urbanists.social/invite/h7sS4a8X

🚵🏻⚽️🌎
Reposted by Mike Perham
Idk let’s just perma close I-5.
September 16, 2026 at 3:50 PM
This is a political tell I've noticed. If a pol says "listen to the community", the community is always rich, old and white. It means they'll protect and preserve the status quo.
Bernadette talks about "listening to the community" but that often seems to be code for "listen to the loud voices who 'got theirs' in life and want to pull up the ladder behind them".

It's worth a listen in any event. Mayor Kebler knows her stuff
Mayor Kebler visited the Source Weekly offices for an endorsement interview today alongside her opponent. Watch Melanie lay out her vision and priorities in response to some great questions from the Source's editorial board:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4zb...
September 16, 2026 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
No New Yorker should lose their life just trying to get around our city. We refuse to accept preventable tragedy as an inevitable part of living in New York. 

That's why we’ve announced more than 100 policies to make our streets safer over the next 10 years.
September 15, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
We get the traffic congestion that we plan for.

So why is Oregon spending tens of billions of dollars to add multiple miles of new lanes of freeway through the Rose Quarter and across the Columbia River?

Every mile we build just ends up in more motorists polluting, stuck in gridlock.
Yet again, traffic engineers are gobsmacked that a road closure didn't create crippling gridlock:

"You’d never know that a massive highway project, ominously dubbed 'carmageddon,' was underway seven miles away...cars [were] speeding across the Interstate Bridge at their usual clip."
Vancouver traffic largely unaffected by start of I-5 Rose Quarter project
Washington transportation officials warn commute time could increase in the coming days.
www.opb.org
September 15, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
For your Tuesday, here's a shot of deep, deep, deep space from JWST.

Every bright, six-pointed feature is a star in the Milky Way.

Everything else—even the smallest, faintest dots—are whole galaxies millions to *billions* of lightyears away.
September 15, 2026 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
Join the @bikeloudpdx.bsky.social bike bus to the Timbers game on Sat Sep 19th for bike night!

www.shift2bikes.org/calendar/eve...

The ride is free; purchase a ticket for entry to the match. Get a Biketown discount w/ promo BIKEPTFC26 if you need wheels for the ride!

#pdxBikes #bikeFun #RCTID
September 15, 2026 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by Mike Perham
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗕𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧
Join BikeLoud for 1st Timbers BIKE Night!

𝗦𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝟭𝟵 𝟳:𝟯𝟬𝗣𝗠 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲
BikeLoud group ride leaves @6:30 from OMSI station
Stadium has xtra bike parking, BikeTown ride credits

@shift2bikes.bsky.social
@timbers.com

𝗕𝘂𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝘅 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽:
pa.exchange/marketplace/...
September 14, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
Great reminder that the ongoing and intensifying American affordability crisis cannot be solved without major land-use changes (ending sprawl, accelerating infill development at scale) that enable people to ditch their cars and access cheaper/more sustainable mobility modes
September 14, 2026 at 9:28 PM
This article about the switch to solar in non-Western countries implies some fascinating questions. Can solar/battery become so good, lifestyles so efficient that buildings could opt not to grid-tie? Could small apts run off a shared solar setup on balconies+roof?
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
"Offensively cheap": Solar power is looking up
Chinese-made panels on rooftops across the world are changing the facts of life for big utilities.
arstechnica.com
September 14, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
I do not think anyone has to leave twitter for bluesky

but I do think everyone has to leave twitter
There are a lot of people who think their parents got their brains destroyed by Fox News, but somehow they’re not getting their brains destroyed by staying on Twitter.
September 14, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
September 14, 2026 at 6:26 PM
If Portland zoning only allows mid-sized apartment complexes along arterials, shouldn’t the zoning also allow small, 3-4 floor apartment buildings along greenways, which are designed for denser forms of transport (i.e. bikes/scooters)?
September 14, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
Neighborhood greenways are streets designed to prioritize people walking, biking, and rolling, including kids and families traveling to and from school.

www.portland.gov/transportati...
What are Neighborhood Greenways?
Neighborhood greenways are: • Quiet, slow streets • Streets that prioritize people walking, bicycling, and rolling • The backbone of the Safe Routes to School network • Connectors between neighborhood...
www.portland.gov
September 14, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Exactly right. This is a company trying to reduce its burn rate (the LLM arms race) by mutual disarmament. Training new models every N months is hugely expensive and the energy crisis is making it worse.
If a generative AI CEO is telling you something, take it with a grain of salt the size of an iceberg. So if they want regulation now, it is more likely something to do with finances than an immediate existential threat. These dipshits do not care about existential threats other than going bankrupt.
September 14, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
New: Macklemore says Robert Kraft — who owns Gillette Stadium, where Macklemore & Ed Sheeran were to perform later this month — called Sheeran.

Kraft rallied other owners together behind an ultimatum for Sheeran: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you won't be allowed in our venues.
September 14, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Let us give you money! 🚲
Did you know BikeLoud awards a quarterly Mini-Grant?🎉🚲❤️

BikeLoud members can apply for one-time seed funding up to $500 for projects that aim to increase biking in PDX.

Share your ideas: tactical urbanism? a survey? fun ride? Applications due Friday 9/18

more info: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
BikeLoud Mini Grant Program
To facilitate action among our general membership, BikeLoud aims to catalyze bike-related programs and ideas from the BikeLoud community through one-time seed grants. Topics of interest include, but a...
docs.google.com
September 13, 2026 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
Portland concentrates 90% of Oregon’s fuel supply in one vulnerable location called the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub. The average tank was built in 1954 and they are sitting on soil that will liquify during an earthquake (like the one we're overdue for) 😳
September 13, 2026 at 12:11 AM
Reposted by Mike Perham
Dense housing and middle housing are more affordable and more energy efficient than single family homes. 🏢🏭🌍
September 12, 2026 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
Walk, bike, roll, shop, and explore along the event route showcasing The Cart Blocks, Darcelle XV Plaza, Director Park, Main Street Plaza, Cultural District Plaza, PSU Park Blocks, Lovejoy Fountain Park, Pettygrove Park, and Pioneer Courthouse Square.
September 10, 2026 at 7:14 PM
If you haven’t seen it before, The Goes Wrong Show is a must watch. m.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Perfectly Wrong! Every Hilarious Stage Fails from The Goes Wrong Show (Full Episodes) - YouTube
The Goes Wrong Show is a hit BBC comedy from Mischief, the British slapstick geniuses behind Broadway smash 'The Play That Goes Wrong'. 'I don't think family...
m.youtube.com
September 12, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
carbrain traffic "engineers" are why this pedestrian crosswalk (really car infrastructure, to help drivers avoid murdering people who have a right to cross) is flat with the road, to optimize vehicle flow and comfort, while pedestrians have to step down into a huge puddle that gets their feet wet
September 12, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
Yemen is absolutely on my list of places I'd love to see if it were at all safe to do so, pictures of it make it look absolutely unique
September 12, 2026 at 5:16 AM
Reposted by Mike Perham
Shift your trip during ODOT's I-5 southbound closure and try commuting with the City Bike Bus! We're introducing a Special Edition: I-5 Closure N & NE City Bike Bus for a beginner friendly community ride to downtown. Join every Wednesday during the I-5 closure.
September 11, 2026 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Mike Perham
You’re invited! 🎉 Get your ticket here: https://bit.ly/khanhkaraoke 🎤✨

🎂 My birthday wish is to gather in community, sing our hearts out, and reenergize ourselves for the work ahead. We are in this together, and we need each other now more than ever. 🙏🏼
September 11, 2026 at 9:58 PM
“[Abigail Thorn] has a project called “Billionaire Killers” that we’re excited about. It’s a post-apocalyptic story where all these billionaires are in these bunkers and they’ve got to dig ‘em out of these bunkers.” Sounds like a fun romp, can’t wait to watch.
‘The Matrix’ creator Lilly Wachowski on J.K. Rowling and the new ‘Harry Potter’ series:

“She is funding trans genocide. J.K. Rowling funds trans genocide, full stop. So, if you support ‘Harry Potter,’ you’re supporting trans genocide.”

variety.com/2026/tv/feat...
Lilly Wachowski on Her New Studio Anarchists United, the Black Power Origins of ‘The Matrix’ and How ‘Harry Potter’ Fans Are ‘Supporting Trans Genocide’
‘The Matrix’ filmmaker Lilly Wachowski opens up about her new studio for marginalized voices Anarchists United, J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk.
variety.com
September 11, 2026 at 7:33 PM