Tom Broderick's avatar

Tom Broderick

@trumbullbrod.bsky.social

47 followers 62 following 76 posts

Safe streets and pro-homes. Love craft beer, hiking, and board games. CT educator and too-frequent op-ed writer.

Reposted by Tom Broderick

Katie Mack's avatar Katie Mack @astrokatie.com
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We got tricked by science fiction into thinking a futuristic city is all about flying cars and crystal towers and hologram billboards but what it really looks like is nice apartment blocks, good mass transit, pedestrian zones with shade trees and safe bike lanes.

147 replies 1363 reposts 5279 likes

Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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How does a study like this cost $200k…I legit never understand that. Is it just consultant grift…

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Reposted by Tom Broderick

b-boy bouiebaisse's avatar b-boy bouiebaisse @jbouie.bsky.social
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i'm sorry, this is an area where i am just completely unwilling to compromise. i think speeding and reckless driving are profoundly antisocial acts that are DEMONSTRABLY PROVEN to result in TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DEATHS every year in car and pedestrian crashes. this seems bad to me.

135 replies 492 reposts 3485 likes

Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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I’d add to this potentially what we do to *all* animals. How many other species have thoughts, emotions, and language that is like elephants but we can’t (yet) understand it.

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Reposted by Tom Broderick

Ned Resnikoff's avatar Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social
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Hochul standing up for the struggling public middle school teacher who drives her BMW SUV from Darien to the Financial District every day and can't afford to pay a $15 congestion charge.

5 replies 53 reposts 389 likes

Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Love Richmond, too, but haven’t spent enough time there! Any recs on neighborhoods to stay for a weekend to get the best food/coffee/drink combo?

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Hartford appreciation thread. If you want world class museums, essential American history, parks/monuments, and a walkable downtown with great urbanism—don’t sleep on the city!

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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I’m so, so sorry for your loss. Sending support and thoughts your way ❤️

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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New curb bump-outs on Fairfield Ave (state route 130) in Black Rock. This is long (as in Bridgeport received funding *a decade ago*) overdue, as a mother and her two children were hit at this exact spot in September.

www.ctpost.com/news/article...

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Though it seems like the city’s aware of the terrible transportation situation…I was reading the 2040 mobility plan while I was there, and hopefully there will be some changes

www.citystaug.com/547/Mobility...

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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That sounds about right. While my wife and her sister were wandering downtown, I took a walk outside of the historic core and yeah, it wasn’t great. But on the plus side, huge room for infill and change.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Right like you want to lose your mind. There’s no secret tech we lost or resource we ran out of—just street dimensions, a grid+3 story buildings w/mixed uses. We could, just…do more of it everywhere. The goal should be that historic Saint Augustine is unremarkable because this urbanism is all over.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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It was quite nice, BUT a) it’s a small area, and b) because it’s the only charming, human-scaled place for 100+ miles, it was traffic-choked w/folks looking for parking. More insane—they only pedestrianize George Street. Cars are *inexplicably* allowed on the other historic streets.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Saint Augustine urbanism appreciation post. There’s absolutely no reason we can’t build more human-scaled, walkable places where people want to linger. Great cities are engines for opportunity and platforms for spending time with loved ones. Legalize more of this!

0 replies 1 reposts 10 likes

Reposted by Tom Broderick

Michael Tae Sweeney's avatar Michael Tae Sweeney @mtsw.bsky.social
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A perverse consequence of the USA's anemic and zoning-constrained housing production is that a strong economy and labor market *increases* homelessness in areas with tight zoning by spurring middle class household formation without increasing supply of houses.

8 replies 167 reposts 563 likes

Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Munjoy Hill a great choice…any CT ones come to mind? We have so few neighborhoods with a rep, that most of the ones that come to mind for this—say, East Rock—are pretty nice!

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Trumbull is beginning its 2024 Plan of Conservation and Development. If you live/work in Trumbull (or know someone who does), please fill it out and push for more housing, more types of housing and continued trail/sidewalk building

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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Reposted by Tom Broderick

Doug Gordon's avatar Doug Gordon @brooklynspoke.bsky.social
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Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Ravi Bhalla, "Hoboken hasn’t reported a single traffic death since January 2017, and injuries have dropped 41%."

16 replies 315 reposts 1132 likes

Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Don’t get up to Hartford as often as I wish. Despite highways, stroads, and surface parking, the public realm is still so beautiful.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Honored to attend a ceremony for World Day of Remembrance in Hartford today. The day honors those lost to traffic violence and pushes for safer streets and infrastructure designed to slow cars and protect walkers and bikers.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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For the 2nd straight year, our 8th graders told the story of 2 people enslaved in Ridgefield in the 1700s: Dinah and (likely) her son Peter. The students poured over documents from Ridgerfield town hall, writing biographies to restore Dinah and Peter’s history and honor their humanity.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Transit-oriented brewing! Berlinetta in downtown Bridgeport is a five minute walk from the Bridgeport train station. There’s still *way* too much parking, but it’s slowly filling in with new housing nearby, and Bridgeport—despite being gutted by highways—retains so much of its street grid.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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And that’s in Norwalk, a relatively dense city. Imagine those numbers in Trumbull. “On-demand bus rides in a low-density suburb”—this is one of those situations where you think about it for a second and it doesn’t add up.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Though in exchange for all this funding, Trumbull should be expected to build more homes so more people can enjoy—and support—this fabulous infrastructure.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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In the last year the Tesoro admin in Trumbull has: 1. Added wide separated paths and speed humps to Twin Brooks Park 2. Filled in a critical sidewalk gap on Main St (w/more to come) 3. Upgraded+expanded sidewalk access to the Pequonnock Trail 4. Applied for SS4A and CT Connectivity grants LFG! 👏👏👏

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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CT folks: if you’re interested in stopping traffic violence and building a better future, come to Bushnell Park tomorrow at 1pm. We will be honoring those we’ve lost and advocating for a more just built environment.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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We’re so old now that when I see these timelines for infrastructure projects I start thinking in terms of whether I’ll still be able to walk by the time they’re done

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Hmm! Obviously I only have the perspective of the school I teach in (and our sister middle school in district), but I often think it’s better in some ways than when I was a student (now many moons ago!).

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Reposted by Tom Broderick

Doug Gordon's avatar Doug Gordon @brooklynspoke.bsky.social
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If you want to make streets safer and protect pedestrians you have to make drivers constantly afraid of scratching their cars.

6 replies 23 reposts 119 likes

Reposted by Tom Broderick

b-boy bouiebaisse's avatar b-boy bouiebaisse @jbouie.bsky.social
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enough people have emailed me about their experiences being hit by cars and suffering lifelong ailments and disabilities that I think I'm going to write yet another newsletter about this, focusing on injuries.

56 replies 52 reposts 804 likes

Reposted by Tom Broderick

Doug Gordon's avatar Doug Gordon @brooklynspoke.bsky.social
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Last year at this time the "Are drug dealers giving out fentanyl-laced Sour Patch Kids to hook *and possibly kill* your kids this Halloween?" news stories were at a fever pitch. Meanwhile, the real danger to our kids is right in front of our faces... almost literally.

9 replies 85 reposts 250 likes

Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Car-free Broadway is such a no-brainer. Paint, plastic, and planters can transform public spaces.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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And I want to contrast that with my current town, Trumbull, where it’s essentially impossible to choose a favorite street because they’re either stroads or virtually all the same.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Cheating a bit, but this is for the city my wife and I lived in for 6 years, which is still my fav city in CT (but couldn’t afford to buy in): Washington Street in Norwalk. It needs to be pedestrianized/car free, but the architecture, mixed-use walkability, rail bridge/river are wonderful.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Beautiful fall run on the Pequonnock Rail Trail. If you build separated paths, people will follow.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Saw this on my run. My neighborhood is one of the few walkable, human-scaled ones in Trumbull and we get ~500 trick-or-treaters a year. I’d like to welcome those families visiting trunks to come to Trumbull Center, instead!Every kid deserves a decorated, walkable neighborhood for Halloween.

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Reposted by Tom Broderick

Michael Tae Sweeney's avatar Michael Tae Sweeney @mtsw.bsky.social
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the thing about "we could solve car crashes with AI" is that we could also largely solve car crashes without AI (as many other peer countries have) we just choose not to because we're okay with a mid-five-figures death count to avoid providing public transit or walkable communities.

20 replies 177 reposts 707 likes

Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Got to check out Tree House Brewing in Deerfield. Wild to see how they took a dead suburban corporate park and infused it with life, but wish they’d been able to build this near the Norwuttuck Rail Trail or Main Street Deerfield instead of making it completely car dependent.

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Couldn’t agree more—CTs future is mixed-use, walkable, bikeable, and transit-oriented. Fare/service decision is a terrible idea!

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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I love Bethel. I lived there when I first graduated from UConn. I wanted walkability and a train to NYC and it fit the bill!

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Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Grabbing a beer at Broken Symmetry in Bethel, which is housed in the old train station in downtown—and is a 10 minute walk from the current Metro North station. More transit-oriented breweries, Connecticut!

1 replies 0 reposts 8 likes

Tom Broderick's avatar Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social
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Trumbull spent millions adding a wide, separated portion to the Pequonnock trail—which is great, and it’s easily the most-used spot in town! But then adds absurdly wide curb cut, making people have to try and cross while cars take a right at 45mph from behind. Subtle shit but so dumb

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