Category: Life in the Big City

I woke up to this yesterday

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

I can’t tell you what a fucking nightmare this will be to the entire region. I-95 is the major Northeast highway, and of course this is right near my house. I can certainly take neighborhood routes (most of the time, I already do) but they will now be clogged with all the people who can no longer take 95.

And of course, I was just thinking how we needed even more clouds of toxic smoke:

I hate pollen

~ susie

I have really had it with all this stinking pollen. We’re not getting enough rain, but we’re getting plenty of breezes spreading this green crap all over the place. Meanwhile, fire weather watch and air quality alerts issued for southeastern PA for Tuesday. Wildfires have been popping up in unexpected places.

On Sunday, my eyes were burning. Yesterday, I added a splitting sinus headache to the symptoms. I tried Excedrin and ice packs. Finally, I resorted to the nuclear bomb of sinus treatments: Pepsi. That finally did the trick, but of course I had trouble sleeping from the caffeine. Oh well.

Did you know that caffeine crosses the blood-brain barrier much more quickly and efficiently when it’s carried via carbonation? So there you go.

Ah, Yaas

~ susie

That would be Jeffrey Yaas, the right-wing billionaire who’s trying to anoint Rebecca Rhynhart as the next Philadelphia mayor. She’s not terrible, she’s just not strong enough to take on the problems with the schools:

https://twitter.com/magghart/status/1655636339948244993

This is so funny

~ susie

Back when I worked on the mayoral primary race in 2007, everyone showed up at town halls to complain about the streets not being cleaned anymore. Be careful what you wish for!

Theft bait

~ susie

Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul is leading a coalition of 23 attorneys general across the country to urge the leaders of Kia and Hyundai to do more to stop thefts of some models. And it all started with TikTok videos that showed how easy they were to steal! Via MSN.com:

<blockquote>Kaul’s office notes that the makers of Kia and Hyundai decided to not include anti-theft immobilizers as standard equipment on several models sold in the U.S. Officials say the companies made this decision at a time when other major manufacturers were including anti-theft immobilizers on all models and as Kia and Hyundai themselves were using the immobilizers on different models of vehicles.

The AGs called a recent effort from Kia and Hyundai a “customer service campaign” and said it is long overdue and not enough. The AGs instead urge the companies to do everything in their power to improve the situation for owners of these vulnerable vehicles, including accelerating the implementation of a software update (to improve security) and providing free alternative protective measures.</blockquote>

 

A small improvement in the world

~ susie

Last year, I wrote about an old friend from high school who was dying from colon cancer and needed a place to live. Many of her old friends tried to help, but the biggest problem was that she and her grown daughter didn’t have the basics to rent an apartment: No bank account, no credit rating. Etc. Several of the places they applied for were scams — just took their money.

She was in the hospital for a while, but they kept kicking her out. Lately, she’s been in a nursing home that is as bad as anything you’ve ever heard: Out of meds, not enough food, not enough nurses, leaving people to sit in their own filth for a day at a time. Roommates who scream in pain all night. Just a horror show. Her daughter would come in and change her bed because no one who worked there would do it.

Well, as of today, she and her daughter have a lease on an apartment in West Philly. It’s a basement apartment (which she keeps bitching about — I never said she was pleasant) and she can finally leave that hellhole. Her daughter plans to apply to a home healthcare agency where she will get paid to take care of her mom and maybe get her hospice care. (They don’t have many freestanding hospices anymore, and they’re only affordable if you’re rich.)

I felt really depressed and helpless for a long time because I couldn’t do anything about it, but thanks to her daughter’s persistence, life will get better. Nice to see something work out for a change! Now she needs furniture, which should be a lot easier to get.

If anyone wants to help, you can send donations to me and earmark it for Kathy.

 

 

 

It’s easier to be progressive

~ susie

When it doesn’t inconvenience you or change your life in any way.

Despite a growing push for denser housing, these decisions can be tough to pass. In fact, after backlash in Gainesville, Fla., city commissioners recently moved to reverse last year’s decision to end single-family zoning.

On a Saturday in January, Arlington’s County Board strapped in for five hours of public comment from more than 150 people. Community sentiment on the missing middle plan was sharply divided.

“Our street can’t handle that,” said opponent Michael Lynch. “The neighborhood can’t handle that. The school system can’t handle that. And the city infrastructure can’t handle that.”

Many current homeowners fear added density will lead to parking nightmares, fewer trees, overtaxed county services, and more impervious surfaces that could cause flooding. They also worry it will change the character of their neighborhoods, and they prefer that apartment buildings stay in dense commercial corridors.

“We don’t have the space to incorporate a city, or urbanized living, within this small village of a community that we have,” says Julie Lee, president of a neighborhood civic association and founding member of Arlingtonians for Upzoning Transparency, a group fighting the plan.