Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman

It’s pronounced cyclist.

I don't always drink midday on a Sunday but when I do, I do it with my girls and the NYTimes crossword 🤘

Thank you!! 🙏🏻

*update* I've had to cancel this week's training due to circumstances outside of my control and a lack of capacity (read: I have to find a new apartment and it's stressing me TF out). Thanks for the support! I'll let you know if/when I have another one <3 <3 <3

One year into the Parker administration, cycling advocates are celebrating some victories for street safety — and pushing for more - Grid Magazine Philadelphia is often ranked among the best cities in the country for cycling. And yet, leading up to the 2023 mayoral election, cyclists had reason to fear for their safety on city streets. That year...

It doesn't have to be this way - read Grid's article with @bcgp.bsky.social and @bikeaction.org on the lack of progress in City Hall (and what we need to become a true world class city). gridphilly.com/blog-home/20... #visionzero

This is what public spaces were made for ✨🦅🎉
www.instagram.com/p/DFT6-ggOWS...

The same can be said for humanity as a whole in fact - a city is a microcosm of humanity and this key point (so brilliantly stated) is what we are up against as a species as a whole.

The takeaway? We make the city in more ways than one every day. It's in the small moments and collective action.

100% agree. We need creative human-scale and place-based management for this area of the city's intentional revival now that the megaproject is defunct.

A ceasefire is great, now we need it permanently.

Hostages coming home is great. Now we need everyone home - and everyone unjustly kept to go home.

It's a start I wanna hope will lead to more. To true and full liberation, an end to occupation, to justice, and finally, peace ❤️‍🩹

Newly Chartered Friends of Pine & Spruce Citizens Group Advocate For Safe Streets Through Concrete Solutions, Not Concrete Barriers PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Philadelphia’s newest citizens organization, “Friends of Pine & Spruce,” was incorporated January 3rd to provide a voice to residents seeking to modify ...

Some very rich folks in Center City believe their convenience is more important than your safety.

A photo of Philadelphia's Market East with a market in the middle of the street and 19th century buildings along the sides.

Maybe what east Market really needs is to bring back the eponymous mid-street market:

We need plans for the east Market St corridor to now build upon what already makes Center City and Chinatown such special places to live, work, and visit: a transit-accessible, human-centered neighborhood with mixed-use buildings, street-fronted retail and dense housing.

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The 76ers have struck a deal with Comcast Spectacor to stay in South Philly and abandon plans for a Center City arena The Sixers struck a deal to keep the team in South Philly weeks after a grueling legislative battle in which it convinced City Council to give it the green light to move to Center City.

And the entire city of Philadelphia lets out a collective sigh of relief*. www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

*Except for the profiteers betting against the public good on a megaproject silver bullet despite the activism and research that was against it from the start #smh

New year, new training 🤘🏻 Sign up for my Feminist Cities Starter Pack online training this February and get equipped for the year ahead. bit.ly/FeministCities #feministcities

Can't wait to see your urbanist faces at our party tonight! 🎉

Occupy laid the groundwork for the understanding of the 1% and the 99%, don't get me wrong. But for all the thousands of people camping and protesting and writing and yelling so little moved the conversation as compared to this single incident (in my opinion).

My question is - what's next? /endrant

While Occupy rallied against the "big banks" there was sadly little it could do to make an impact. In one moment this young man showed that anyone can technically make an impact, even if only a violent one.

The little guys suffer at the hands of the big guys. And we are all the "little guys" here.

(2) This time around I'm astounded by the number of friends sharing memes about the "adjuster" and "our Italian King" - heralding someone who is essentially an assassin for a cause. The reason is that this cause is widely known and it easily translates beyond health care to all areas of inequality.

2. When I proposed researching the Occupy camps I was barely paid any mind by professors or even other students in my urban studies program. Conducting research on this was more of a "protest movements" niche. If folks were involved they marched and chanted and tweeted. Overall the cause was murky.

This is different for two reasons in my mind:
1. The perpetrator of the direct action (technically violence) is not a niche anarchist with a bandana around his face. Though privileged, he is not an extremist outlier. He's pretty normal as far as we can tell so far.

I.e. He's more like "us" than not

What's different this time? Even amongst the outrage of the live feeds ripping people out of tents, throwing laptops and belongings into dumpsters in the middle of the night, chanting at the top of your lungs for someone to listen to the need for change - it was still a "peaceful" occupation tactic.

In the end there was no struggle with the police (unlike other camps famously raided in the middle of the night) and it was peaceful, even voluntarily tearing down the giant campsites with a "celebration". Some policy changed and I came away with a first-hand account of bottom-up urbanism practices.

Even within the site there was a division between typically younger (mostly male) anarchists who wanted more direct action and the strategists who were looking for community building and resource sharing, as well as directly negotiating with the city government around local policy changes.

I, myself, was also at risk spending time at the camp volunteering at the main information tent where supplies were exchanged throughout the camp, donations were received, and strategic planning was centralized. The initial rally was huge and well received but the campers were still niche activists.

I was a grad student at the time doing my Master's in Urban Studies at Portland State University. I got rapid approval because of the tenuous circumstances and because it was an at-risk population, i.e. activists in danger of violence and police action due to technically illegal activity (camping).

Americans are furious over health care. Is this an Occupy Wall Street moment? The public outrage unleashed by the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO echoes the anti-banking fury after the financial crisis and comes as populist economic fatigue helped re-elect Donald Trump.

As far as I know I'm the only person to do a human-subjects approved ethnography of an #Occupy camp in the US. I spent a month researching the two camps in Portland, Oregon, the largest and longest running outside of NYC.

I can tell you right now this is different.

www.npr.org/2024/12/12/n...

I'll be co-emceeing this event and you don't wanna miss it!!

Can we please start a #septatalks in Philly? I'm still obsessing over this photo from the @welcomingneighbors.us conference 🤩(@septaphilly.bsky.social I am available for promos just lmk) #subwaytalks #phillystyle cc @justupthepike.bsky.social

Last call for tickets! ICYMI join me Tuesday and Wednesday this week for a lunchtime training on gender equity in our urban environments. Protip - DM me for a code and get 40% off! (Just for you, procrastinators ;) tinyurl.com/feministcities

The real reason I was the main co-host for the @welcomingneighbors.us conference here in Philly was because the original @5thsq.org representative was hit by a car while riding his bike. It's an ironic and unfortunate reality that while we advocate for livable cities we put our lives at risk.