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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
I'm a writer. Cohost,
@TheWarOnCars
podcast. sgoodyear@urbanists.social on Mastodon,
@sgoodyear
on Post.
Brooklyn, NYthewaroncars.orgJoined January 2008
2,121 Following
13K Followers

Sarah Goodyear’s posts

Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
This phrasing “get by without a car” makes it sound like a hardship. One of the greatest things about NYC is that you can happily live here without a car and not miss it a bit. It’s not just “getting by.” By and large, it’s easier and more relaxing not to have a car.
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Square profile picture
NYC DOT
@NYC_DOT
Most New Yorkers get by without a car, but those who do drive can cut costs & emissions by choosing an #ElectricVehicle. NYC is piloting curbside charging stations to help EV owners find a convenient place to plug in. Tell us where you want EV stations: bit.ly/onstreetEVinNYC
Website map showing New York City with green and red dots where Comments have been made on the Curbside Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charging feedback map.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Whatever your feelings are about the new CDC guidance, you can’t go wrong by being kind and compassionate toward the people around you. I know that sounds incredibly corny, but I think we are entering a new phase of “all this” in which it is going to be vital.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
I was here when they wrote off NYC in the 1970s and 80s. The glory of New York City is tougher than this. Hip-hop was born then. Basquiat painted his masterworks. Patti Smith was singing her songs. Not sure why the NYT is so eager to count the city out, but I won’t.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
The economy is supposed to serve us as humans. For crying out loud, “the economy” is not some distant imaginary god we are placating with human sacrifice
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Look at the relative size of this Chevy Suburban. Why aren’t people who kvetch about parking spaces invested in trying to limit these vehicles? It takes up the same amount of curb space as two sedans.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Fuck helicopters. I mean, really. If they are not being used for a legit emergency, they should be illegal in dense urban areas. They cause enormous noise pollution and use huge amounts of fuel and just fuck them
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
It’s so sad and so telling that everyone I know in NYC is just assuming that the response to the shooting this morning will be punitive, ineffective, and inequitable. It’s what we’ve come to expect.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Interested to hear
@NYC_DOT
’s response to this critique of the design on the Wburg Bridge offramp. Remember, this is only going to become more critical during L train shutdown.
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Casey Neistat
@Casey
i got a $98 ticket for a bike violation. I made a video in response illustrating how the problem that lead to the ticket should be rectified by the city - ticketing bikers won't address the public safety concern my proposal will -- youtube.com/watch?v=JI6icz
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
This is a systemic failure of a fundamentally flawed transportation system
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Tim Kaine
@timkaine
I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday. 19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol. My office is in touch with @VaDOT to see how we can help other Virginians in this situation. Please stay safe everyone.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Standing on the corner of 14th and University. It’s delightfully peaceful, to the point where people walking are able to converse quietly. Sounds like speech, laughter, footsteps, the jingle of a dog’s collar, have taken over from combustion engines and honking horns. Relief.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
My 17-year-old son biked home this afternoon from his guitar lesson and he just told me he was almost hit by a driver who turned suddenly without signaling into a midblock driveway. He barely was able to avoid a crash. Fuck you senseless drivers
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
I’m just so fucking sad to live in a city and a country that holds human life so cheap. Children are more important than cars. How is this a radical position to hold?
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Replying to
@1followernodad
Speaking as an older Gen Xer, I see a lot of my peers unable to understand how different their children’s lives are going to be, and continuing to push them toward goals and institutions that are disappearing before our eyes. It’s hard to navigate.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
I walk through this intersection probably a dozen times a week on avg. Speeders and red-light runners are constant. As far as I can tell there is no real attempt to address the issue despite lots of promises from the city. NYC DOT should be ashamed.
brooklyneagle.com
Drunk driver mows down woman on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights
ATLANTIC AVENUE — A 31-year-old woman is dead and a neighborhood is in shock, after an alleged drunken driver sped through a solid red light on Atlantic Avenue on Sunday night at the dangerous...
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Taking suggestions on how to explain to all the nice, rich, climate-conscious people in North America that YOUR SUV IS PART OF THE PROBLEM. Yes, yours!
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Taras Grescoe 🚇 @straphanger@urbanists.social
@grescoe
There's your problem. The increase in carbon emissions is being driven by transport—a 196% increase since 1970. Drilling down, 82% of that increase comes from road transport. Long story-short: cars (and trucks, and esp. SUVs) are now the lead driver of the climate crisis. #COP26
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
If you don’t spend much time around teenagers, I don’t know if you are aware how much anxiety they are carrying about climate change, and how much anger they feel toward the establishment that is still in denial. Be aware, it’s a lot.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
One thing that has really struck me I’ve the past 2+ weeks in Japan is how active and fit older people are here. I’ve seen countless people age 70+ using cycles for transportation, running to catch trains, catch a light, etc. you just don’t see that as much in the US.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
I’m in San Sebastián, in northern Spain, visiting family. Excellent public transport and bike/ped infrastructure. Easy access to nature. Generally pleasant and well-maintained public realm. The US could be like this. But we prefer car-clogged, trash-strewn sprawl. Why?
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
This is it. This right here. And after I saw someone lying in the street dead this morning, it was almost impossible to walk around my neighborhood and pretend that all these death machines are normal. But if I say that, I’m the weird one.
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carla saulter ❤️🚍📗🏀
@seattlebuschick
No matter where we live or how we get around, we are all in near constant danger of being killed or maimed by a car.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Yep, here I am on an SBS70 bus to LaGuardia that is crawling along through single occupancy vehicle traffic. Buses are a great transit solution IF YOU GET THE CARS OUT OF THE WAY
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Over the last two weeks I have walked and biked well over 100 miles through multiple neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan. What I have seen is not a city in chaos, it’s a city that is taking very good care of itself under extraordinary circumstances.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
When we lose elders, we lose wisdom, guidance, and support. Don’t ever let anyone get away with saying that our elders are somehow dispensable because they aren’t “productive.”
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
“A car was launched..." That’s a hell of a time to use the passive voice.
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Square profile picture
ABC News
@ABC
A car was launched into the air off a concrete barrier on one side of a tunnel entrance, hitting the top of the tunnel before crashing down. Police said that the driver did not have serious injuries and passed a breathalyzer test. abcn.ws/2CtATAc
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Replying to
@buttermilk1
All those roads and parking spaces we love to build are contributing to flash floods: “Every time a city expands roads, sidewalks or parking lots by one percentage point, the annual flood magnitude in nearby waterways increases by 3.3 percent."
scientificamerican.com
Expanding Paved Areas Has an Outsize Effect on Urban Flooding
Researchers have finally been able to pinpoint just how much impervious surfaces exacerbate flood levels
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Quite literally, the criminalization of walking. One of the things that defines us as human.
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Veronica
@VeronicaODavis
"The area doesn't have sidewalks." and "The city has an ordinance for pedestrians to wear reflective garments after dark while walking." twitter.com/sahrasulaiman/
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
On my morning run, just after 7am, there were already huge traffic jams on Hamilton Avenue and the BQE, and the smog is coming back.
@NYCMayor
, you own this. All the lost time, all the asthma, all the heart disease, all of it. You could have made a plan. You dropped the ball.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
End the curfew. NYers were extremely compliant with months of quarantine because they knew it made sense for the common good. They are defying curfew because they know it doesn’t make sense for the common good. The police tactics...
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Thread. The idea that pedestrians should be “vigilant” against the threat of an airborne SUV while walking on a city sidewalk is a typical cop reaction to drivers killing people.
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Oliver Moore
@moore_oliver
How fast does an SUV have to be going to be “launched in the air” and “turned on its side like a missile”? toronto.ctvnews.ca/eight-injured-
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
A lot of people like to talk about why they are leaving NYC. I would like to hear from those who are staying. Why are you staying? Is it a matter of choice, or necessity? Could anything change your mind?
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Opening New York State beaches like Jones Beach while city beaches stay closed pretty much means people with cars get to go to the beach while the rest of NYC residents don’t.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Absolutely mystified by the idea that we could allow a surge of cases that would collapse our healthcare system to “save the economy.” Folks, the economy would tank even harder then.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Why are cars even allowed on Washington Street in Dumbo at this point? This whole area should be pedestrianized. The pedestrians are taking it over anyway. Let’s make it safer.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Agreed. We would love to have
@AOC
on the
@TheWarOnCars
podcast to talk about how dramatically reducing car dependence, especially in cities, should be an indispensable piece of the #GreenNewDeal
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
@AOC
This is what sea level rise looks like. Those who argue that a #GreenNewDeal is too ambitious don’t see that glacial melt isn’t waiting - in fact, it’s happening at a much faster rate than predicted. We don’t have time to argue. We need to act - on a massive scale. 🌎 twitter.com/Laurie_Garrett…
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Signs don’t work. We need street design solutions that give human beings safe space to be human. And better ways of moving goods around our communities.
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Darin Givens
@atlurbanist
25mph & "Caution Watch for Children" signs where two boys were hit by a truck today in SW Atlanta. Both were hospitalized w/ serious injuries. No charges are expected for the driver. There's gotta be a better way to ensure safe spaces for kids. ajc.com/news/teen-9-ye
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Replying to
@buttermilk1
This one is especially devastating because so many people have died along this stretch over the past few years and so many people have worked so hard to get DOT to make it better and they just don't care enough about human life, in the end.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Spent much of yesterday in the suburban Tokyo area of Kichijoji. People of all ages on bikes everywhere. Pretty much the only place I’ve ever been where I saw more women than men riding.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
And if you are in a place where a car-free life is possible, give it a shot. You will have to change some habits and learn some new strategies. We are all going to have to change our ways to survive. The future doesn’t exist otherwise.
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Angie Schmitt🚶‍♀️
@schmangee
If you can swing it, get rid of one car and go down to a one car household.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
The entire discourse surrounding who lives in NYC correctly according to self-appointed experts, and who “likes” or “hates” “urban living” is so fucking tiresome. Just get over it and live here if you want and leave if you want and stop judging other people ffs
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
As many of you know, I have been compiling a list of organizations offering concrete legal and humanitarian help to immigrants and refugees in the USA. It’s now in spreadsheet form at bit.ly/ImmigrationAct Please share!
docs.google.com
Immigration Action List
Latest Collection Immigration Action List From Sarah Goodyear (https://twitter.com/buttermilk1): I have been compiling a list of organizations offering concrete legal and humanitarian help to...
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
If you have ever experienced intimate-partner violence, or if you’re going through that now, what is happening in the news today might be really painful and scary. I see you. I feel it. You are not alone.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
So chilling. I’m one of two moms to a son, now 20. When he was born, his other mom and I cdn’t be married. Had to go through 2 yrs of investigation for her to adopt. Fingerprinted at the police station, social worker visit, legal fees, etc. I thought those days were gone. But.
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Benjy Sarlin
@BenjySarlin
It's the exact language used to pass anti-gay legislation in the 1970s. The lead anti-gay group Anita Bryant founded was called "Save Our Children" and was obsessed with idea gay teachers would "recruit" students. twitter.com/daveweigel/sta…
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
I keep typing and deleting, typing and deleting. This makes me so sad. Impatience and anger kill when people are driving cars on city streets. We simply can’t be safe when we are surrounded by so many drivers, with their reckless, self-involved need for speed.
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John Dias
@JohnBDias
UPDATE: Cops released name of man who died in crash yesterday as 37yo Xing Lin Cops say a woman got angry while driving behind a slow car in Astoria. She lost control of car when going around it & crashed into Lin who was on a scooter. She then hit into outdoor dining structure
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
I don’t think we stop to think often enough about the ripple effect of these deaths. 7,000 people gone from the world, suddenly and forever. Each one leaving behind a constellation of pain and loss that will last for decades.
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Ryan J. Reilly
@ryanjreilly
Motorists killed more than 7,000 human beings last year, the highest number of deaths since 1990. nytimes.com/2019/10/22/us/
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
"What stands out most is the silence. Gone was the typical noise of cars. *The air also tastes better* than in the small towns where traffic is denser than in the city. "
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Travis R. Eby
@travis_robert
These quotes from Ghent are something else. People who live in cities that have banned cars talk about their cities like they're falling in love. theguardian.com/environment/20
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
So tired of all the US innovations that make murderous death-seeking behavior so easy and fun
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David Zipper
@DavidZipper
Tesla drivers can now play video games on their infotainment system **while the car is in motion.** At this risk of stating the obvious, this is incredibly dangerous to everyone on the street (not just those in a Tesla). nytimes.com/2021/12/07/bus
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
My dad died five months ago so I can't tell him that
@TheWarOnCars
made
@TheEconomist
. He would have gotten such a kick out of that. Anyway, Dad, this one's for you.
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The War on Cars
@TheWarOnCars
"Even a few years ago 'there was a sense that we were the weirdos," says Doug Gordon, a founder of 'The War on Cars,' a podcast based in New York. Now, he says, 'more and more elected officials are adopting positions that were [until recently] on the fringe.'" twitter.com/TheEconomist/s…
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
My only consolation, when it comes to everyone buying cars in NYC, is that if everyone has a car in NYC it is going to be so incredibly horrible to drive here so very quickly that maybe people will finally get why this city can’t function if everyone has a car
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Cars in cities are the very lowest-hanging fruit here. Time to ban them.
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Alexander Chee
@alexanderchee
“The study found that if all fossil fuel infrastructure – power plants, factories, vehicles, ships and planes – from now on are replaced by zero-carbon alternatives at the end of their useful lives, there is a 64% chance of staying under 1.5C.” twitter.com/350/status/108…
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
After years and years of covering this problem, after losing several friends and acquaintances to traffic violence, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that human lives are dispensable in the US. We value cars and the lifestyle they enable more than people. That’s it. t.co/5qBJgvLjKB
This post is unavailable.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Replying to
@buttermilk1
I am staying because this is the only place where I feel truly comfortable and safe being myself. And because this city continually entertains, surprises, sustains, delights, and supports me.
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Everybody in America constantly complains about how awful flying is, and they love traveling by train in Europe or Japan, and they see pleasant American train travel in classic Hollywood films, but they seem unable to connect the dots.
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David Shepardson
@davidshepardson
.@SenatorWicker to @PeteButtigieg: "You enjoy actually traveling on Amtrak?" "-- Answer: "I do"
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
Replying to
@buttermilk1
It makes me really sad. People bought cars as PPE. People bought cars because they thought they would be safe in metal bubbles. Now they are stewing in their anger wondering where their freedom is. Terrified of venturing onto public transport. Angry at the other metal bubbles
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Sarah Goodyear
@buttermilk1
A guy without a mask, coughing, coming down the sidewalk. I go into the street, next to the parked cars, to avoid him (sidewalk is too narrow to keep distant). Driver speeding past, has plenty of room, slows down to yell at me for being in the street, then speeds off again. FFS
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