Re: Innovation: Recent Episodes
AJK
Hosts Andrew "Ace" Grant Houston, Jazmine Smith, and Kimberly Kinchen take a critical look at "smart" cities and innovation. Prequel episodes discuss cities and the COVID pandemic.
Recorded May 20, 2020
Released May 27, 2020
Read a transcript, with show notes, here.
Welcome to a podcast about urbanism with zero white men in the room! In this premiere episode of RE: Innovation we introduce ourselves and the show, and ask, are Stay Healthy Streets effective, or just sexy?
Mentioned in this episode:
Early Positive Returns on Stay Healthy Streets (The Urbanist)
Some Cities Getting Open Streets Right (Streetsblog USA)
Praise and concerns in District 2 in Seattle (Seattle City Council briefing, May 18, cued to Tammy Morales, D2 city council rep)
Oakland Starts with 74 miles of Open Streets (The Mercury News)
Open Streets in NYC (Gothamist)
Comparing Seattle’s Neighborhood Greenways, the basis for Stay Healthy Streets, with Portland’s 35-year record establishing Neighborhood Greenways. (Seattle DOT, Portland Bureau of Transportation)
Bike Boom in the US (The Guardian)
Find It Fix It, Seattle’s app for reporting infrastructure issues. AKA “FiFi”(City of Seattle)
- Is your city doing good work vetting new tools and tech?
- What’s on your wishlist for a new tool or tech that would meet the “effective, not just sexy” criteria?
- What new tech ideas or implementations have you seen recently that are definitely more sexy than effective?
- Share it all with us at @Jazzyspraxis, @TheUrbanAce, and @SheRidesABike on Twitter.
In this Re: innovation prequel, we rundown Seattle’s eviction moratorium and the city’s egregious handling of our unhoused neighbors.
Mentioned in this episode:
IHME COVID-19 Projections
Seattle Times What to Know Today About COVID-19 in the Seattle Area.
The city’s early FAQ for tenants and landlords on the initial moratorium.
Seattle Times. “Seattle to provide eviction protection for 6 months after coronavirus moratorium expires.” Ace is quoted!
Video of Seattle City Council meeting; moratorium testimony and consideration begins at 1:23:06
Since we recorded this episode, the city passed two additional protections for renters, which Nathalie Graham at the Stranger outlines. And Jazmine is quoted in this KIRO-TV segment.
Evictions aka sweeps are not stopping for the unhoused, though.
Erica Barnett tweeted about the...suboptimal...response of Seattle’s Human Services Division when the division faced pushback on it’s framing of the latest sweeps.
We discussed the possibility of using hotels for the unhoused without realizing that Erica had already written about this at Huffington Post: Put Homeless People in Hotels.
Recorded May 6, 2020
In this Re: innovation prequel, we talk about the implications of Seattle's design review rule changes allowing online commenting in lieu of in person meetings and how Seattle’s rollout of Stay Healthy Streets has been going.
Mentioned in this episode:
IHME COVID-19 Projections
Ace’s thread on design review.
The Urbanist covers Seattle’s emergency ordinance suspending design review.
City Lab on how a lack of private outdoor spaces in many cities is partly by design.
Seattle Department of Transportation’s Stay Healthy Streets.
Examples of chicanes and diverters.
Check back for a transcript.
Recorded April 29, 2020
Released May 6, 2020
Recorded April 15, 2020 ; Released May 1, 2020
In this Re: innovation prequel, one of us gets tested for COVID-19, Ace breaks down how he spent his stimulus check, Jazmine outlines her mutual aid network, and we discuss the $30 million estimate for repairing the damaged West Seattle Bridge. NB! Ace forgot to include $200 from his stimulus that went to repay existing debt.
A show transcript will be posted shortly. Please check back.
Mentioned in this episode:
IHME COVID-19 Projections
POC Sex Workers Outreach Project and Green Light Project
Seattle Fish Guys
In this episode, Ace talks about what it's like to emerge from isolation for the first time in weeks (spoiler: it's stressful AF), Jazmine walks us through the challenges of being an educator as schools have shifted to online learning for the foreseeable future, and we all talk Open Streets.
Mentioned in this episode:
Ace's Bus and Bike map for Seattle - showing every street 40 feet or wider, which could accomodate a bus only lane and/or protected bike lanes.
Ace’s Patreon, which supports his urban activism and housing advocacy.
Caitlin Rogger at Greater Greater Washington: “People need to get outside and move while stuck at home. Opening streets can help.”
Recorded April 6, 2020
Hosts Ace Houston, Kimberly Kinchen, and Jazmine Smith will soon be casting skeptical looks in the direction of technology and innovation in urbanism. But right now, in this quick and dirty prequel, we talk COVID-19 from the initial epicenter of the U.S. outbreak in Seattle. Topics include anticipating a shelter in place order from Washington's governor Jay Inslee, just-in-time inventory control's role in COVID-19, hoarding versus creating expertise, and mutual aid. Recorded March 23, 2020.
Ace's Instagram
Abrar Karan's Twitter thread on creating everyday expertise
Healthcare Finance article on just-in-time inventory control
Ace on Twitter
Jazmine on Twitter
Kimberly on Twitter