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Conversations about Creating a Culture of Activity: Profiling the people, places, programs, and policies that help to promote a culture of activity within our communities.
Note: This transcript was exported from the video version of this episode, and it has not been copyedited
00:00:00:01 - 00:00:21:03
Jeff Wood
There's stuff going on all over the world. It's not just China. And you know, Paris is building their Grand Prix Express and obviously London just finished, the Crossrail and so there's, there's so many cool projects going on. And you mentioned Paris and going there a number of times. We went in 2019. I was actually there on the day that Notre Dame, burned down.
00:00:21:06 - 00:00:38:22
Jeff Wood
We left earlier that morning. We'd seen it and, there was just so many, like, there's so many light rail trains and all these small towns that you wouldn't think would, you know, weren't on maybe 100, thousand, 200,000 people. There's a tramway. And so that level investment, I think is really impressive. And I think we can do that here too.
00:00:38:27 - 00:00:41:17
Jeff Wood
We just need a little inspiration and a little political will.
00:00:41:20 - 00:01:04:13
John Simmerman
Hey everyone. Welcome to the Active Towns Channel. My name is John Simmerman and that is Jeff Wood from the Overhead Wire in the Talking Headways podcast. We are bringing Jeff back on the podcast to celebrate his 500th episode of the Talking Headways podcast. So let's get right to it with Jeff.
00:01:04:15 - 00:01:07:07
John Simmerman
Jeff would welcome back to the Active Towns podcast.
00:01:07:09 - 00:01:10:09
Jeff Wood
Oh, thanks for having me back.
00:01:10:11 - 00:01:28:16
John Simmerman
I'm giggling and laughing because we're scrambling to get this started. I, I totally messed up our dates and everything. So thank you so much for being flexible and making this happen. Jeff, do me a favor and, just take an opportunity to introduce everyone to who Jeff Wood is.
00:01:28:18 - 00:01:48:27
Jeff Wood
Sure. I'm Jeff Wood, and, principal at the Overhead Wire. We do a daily newsletter about cities, and put out something related to, to all the news that comes out. We go through about 1500 news items every day. We pull out the 30 to 40 or most interesting. And then, we also have a podcast called Talking Headways.
00:01:48:27 - 00:02:10:21
Jeff Wood
And on the Talking Headways Podcast Network. We do interviews on Thursdays, and then every other Monday or every other other Monday, we'll do a Monday show, kind of rehashing some of those articles that come out and our popular in the newsletter from the previous week. So we kind of go through and, and put stuff together to collect as much information as possible and share it with, everybody else around the world.
00:02:10:24 - 00:02:14:11
John Simmerman
Fantastic. That's great. And where do you, call home?
00:02:14:13 - 00:02:20:18
Jeff Wood
Oh, I'm in San Francisco. Yeah. You could maybe you tell them a hat or or my, my soccer jersey. Here. I got.
00:02:20:18 - 00:02:22:27
Jeff Wood
My mandolin.
00:02:22:29 - 00:02:28:05
Jeff Wood
San Cisco City FC wrapping, but yeah, San Francisco is where I am. Well, you know.
00:02:28:05 - 00:02:36:06
John Simmerman
That's that's that's pretty good. I mean, you know, you've got the that that orange. You know, it's kind of, reminiscent of the burnt orange that you used to wear.
00:02:36:09 - 00:02:52:05
Jeff Wood
That's right, that's right. I was at I was at the university Texas at Austin for seven years. Yeah. So I was undergrad for five years and then did my master's in city planning there for two years, and I ran track there. So I, you know, hook them horns an orange and I do Texas and all that stuff.
00:02:52:07 - 00:02:56:25
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, do you make it back here to Austin much.
00:02:56:28 - 00:03:09:02
Jeff Wood
Before the pandemic? I was actually I was there, like, I was there for a year, 20, 20. And, so it was there and then haven't been back since. But I always love going back. I saw tons transition there.
00:03:09:06 - 00:03:09:29
John Simmerman
Yeah.
00:03:10:01 - 00:03:23:06
Jeff Wood
All that stuff. So it's it's great. But yeah, I, I try to go back as often as possible. I'm actually trying to find a photo for you, because I know I didn't send you the photos that I was supposed to, but this one, this one might be entertaining for you. Yeah.
00:03:23:06 - 00:03:25:00
John Simmerman
There you go. Nice.
00:03:25:03 - 00:03:40:05
Jeff Wood
That's, That's me running with the burnt orange. Back in the day, this was at the armory, actually, in New York City. They have a track there, but, yeah, Austin's a great, great spot. I'm. I'm jealous of. You know, you'd be able to hang out there so much.
00:03:40:07 - 00:04:18:21
John Simmerman
Well, and and we need to get you back because, as you well know, because you the whole point of of what you do and with the overhead wire is you have your finger on the pulse of what's kind of going on globally because you're literally every single day just plowing through articles that are being released. And so, you know that things are happening here in, in Austin and, you know, and obviously from an urbanism perspective and from an active mobility perspective and from a transit perspective, there's a lot of challenges that we have here in Central Texas and in Austin.
00:04:18:24 - 00:04:49:09
John Simmerman
But yeah, I'd be delighted to have you back here. I'd love to take you out on a nice, bike ride of the Dutch inspired cycle network that's being built out, as fast as they possibly can. I mean, it's it's pretty freaking exciting to see that. Now you're a runner. Obviously, we just talked about that. And one of the things that I appreciate as also a runner, and retired former triathlete, is that you get to know your city in a different way because you're always out there.
00:04:49:16 - 00:05:10:05
John Simmerman
And you said something on one of your recent episodes where you talked about how you pretty much know Austin, like back of your hand, because you pretty much ran on almost every neighborhood, in every neighborhood, on probably most every trail and every probably, quote unquote people friendly street there is in the city.
00:05:10:07 - 00:05:30:17
Jeff Wood
Yeah. I mean, that's one of the things that I really loved about being able to run and know I still love my neighborhood in Houston. There's like trails that go throughout Kingwood, everywhere, 75 to 80 miles, probably even more now that I've left. But, you know, you could go everywhere in the in the neighborhood without crossing a major street because they have underpasses, at the major intersections for those trail system.
00:05:30:19 - 00:05:47:09
Jeff Wood
And then when I got to Austin, you know, basically we were running, you know, upwards of 20 miles at a time. And so I got to know every neighborhood within a ten mile radius of of the University of Texas. I can still smell the beer on sixth Street on a Sunday morning. And, you know, those types of things.
00:05:47:09 - 00:06:03:04
Jeff Wood
So I, you know, I'm very connected with the place just because I was I was there and I was on every street. And I also, I think I mentioned maybe on a recent show to how I, how I used to bang, car hoods when they almost hit me too. So, that, that that might have gotten me in trouble and my teammates in trouble a couple times.
00:06:03:04 - 00:06:05:24
Jeff Wood
But looking back on it, it was the right thing to do.
00:06:05:26 - 00:06:24:09
John Simmerman
Sure, sure. Yeah. Well, I'm happy to say I haven't had to bang on any, any any car, front hoods in this city in. I can't remember the last time, but I can definitely remember doing that, when I was running in Chicago, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's your favorite part?
00:06:24:09 - 00:06:38:27
Jeff Wood
Like, you know, what's your favorite part of the city of Austin? Like, what's your favorite part to run? What's your favorite part to like, just be I mean, yeah, obviously there's like the parts that everybody knows, but I mean, you know, scenic drive for me was just like the bomb.
00:06:39:00 - 00:07:13:05
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. One of the things that that I have, done is I spent so much time thinking about streets and so much time thinking about, you know, pathways and all that kind of stuff. And when I do head out for a run, the last thing I want to be is on pavement. And so I actually get on my bike, ride my bike from the Zilker West neighborhood, which is where I live, down to the trail, down to, well, actually down to the new protected bikeway on Barton Springs Road.
00:07:13:07 - 00:07:33:23
John Simmerman
Okay. Which is cool to have, into the park and then down to the pool. And then I park my bike there at the pool and then access the, greenbelt. And so that's my that's my zone places. I again, I do trail running now, so I pretty much run exclusively on dirt, from this point in time.
00:07:33:23 - 00:07:53:27
John Simmerman
And, and the, the, even the natural surface trail around the lake is boring to me. I just need to be on the highly technical single track, you know, sort of. I can turn my ankle at any moment kind of trail. And so that's, that's where I head as I into into the greenbelt. There's seven and a half miles of trails there.
00:07:53:27 - 00:08:13:26
John Simmerman
If you, if you kind of Adam all, all the little, segments in there so I can, I can go out and back and get 15 miles in and if I'm training for something like, I started doing ultras. And so if I, if I'm training for an ultra or whatever, I can do a double or triple out and back, you know, in there and, and get in a whole day's worth of running.
00:08:13:28 - 00:08:16:01
John Simmerman
I haven't done that in a long time, though.
00:08:16:04 - 00:08:38:27
Jeff Wood
I was going to ask how your ankles were, because I ran the greenbelt a number of times. We did. If our coach wanted us to run a slow Sunday run, he didn't, you know, because Town Lake, you can go fast. And you, you know, you end up half stepping people and you know, basically where you're halfway, you know, teammates and kind of like to to, you know, get on each other's business and try to, you know, every, every day you have those teammates, that are like that.
00:08:39:00 - 00:08:55:23
Jeff Wood
And so, you know, if you wanted us to make sure that we went slow, we'd go on the greenbelt because you had to, like, watch your ankles, you had to watch where you're going because of all the rocks and stuff and crossings of the, you know, you had to cross back and forth a number of times. But some of my favorite running is definitely at the end, where you get close to the waterfalls.
00:08:55:25 - 00:09:17:17
Jeff Wood
You know, some of those that go through the, through the forest where there's just kind of a dirt path and in the trees and in the fall it's almost fall. And that's my favorite time to run the greenbelt. Like this. The best. Like, I'm totally jealous. Yet still around the greenbelt, but, it's just awesome. And the same thing when I went to, I went and trained in Boulder for a summer, with some of the crew, guys back in 2002.
00:09:17:20 - 00:09:24:27
Jeff Wood
And there was a bunch of trails up in the hills that were just amazing. The Walker Ranch Loop is still my favorite. I don't know if you've checked that out before, but like, no.
00:09:24:29 - 00:09:28:18
John Simmerman
I was I was still living in Boulder in 2002 when you were there.
00:09:28:18 - 00:09:43:11
Jeff Wood
Oh, there you go. Yeah. So we probably crossed paths, but yeah, I go up to, you know, Magnolia Road and all that stuff go up to, Gold Hill, just all over those places. And those are great, too. But there's something about the greenbelt that just seems like a little different, you know?
00:09:43:14 - 00:10:11:24
John Simmerman
Well, and I think part of the what I love about it and what I try to emphasize here on the Active Towns channel, is talking about how cities can be thinking about how can you provide access to the residents so that they can get their nature fix. And the fact that I can get on a bike and within eight minutes be parked up at a, you know, a relatively visible, secure or a bike parking rack in front of, you know, the pool and then be out on the trail, you know, in less than ten minutes.
00:10:11:26 - 00:10:34:13
John Simmerman
That's pretty extraordinary for a city of a million people. And, you know, if I go the other direction, like if I have something that I need to do in downtown, I'm literally in downtown within eight minutes to. So it's that is incredibly, I think, one of the unknown secrets about the new status that is Boulder is or excuse me, that is Austin.
00:10:34:13 - 00:10:56:19
John Simmerman
Now I got Boulder in my brain. Is Austin the same with with Boulder is that you can get to those meaningful destinations that you're looking to get to, whether it's downtown or whether it's a really cool, restaurant or coffee shop or access to nature, which is, you know, huge. And of course, the the world renowned Barton Springs Pool.
00:10:56:19 - 00:10:59:02
John Simmerman
I mean, who doesn't, you know, love being close to that.
00:10:59:09 - 00:11:04:26
Jeff Wood
And if you're fishing around, right, when you're when you're finishing, you finish around, you jump in there. It's like an ice bath.
00:11:05:03 - 00:11:10:28
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Well, the real reason I brought you on here today.
00:11:11:01 - 00:11:12:05
Jeff Wood
I mean, I is running.
00:11:12:05 - 00:11:12:27
Jeff Wood
In, and this is.
00:11:12:27 - 00:11:28:01
John Simmerman
To celebrate. This is to celebrate your podcast. So you mentioned talking headways and you just hit the 500 mark, just surpassed the 500 mark, 500 episodes. Congratulations. That is freaking awesome.
00:11:28:04 - 00:11:49:15
Jeff Wood
Thanks. Oh, man. It's crazy. I can't believe that we've been doing this since 2013. And, it's just, it's a, you know, I guess, you know, we make up these milestones for numbers. And I guess for some reason, half a half a half a millennium is, is pretty good. But it's still like when I was, I was talking to, Kyle Wilson about this.
00:11:49:15 - 00:12:08:08
Jeff Wood
Like, I looked up some stats and, like, maybe, like, 1% of podcasts make it past, like 23 episodes or something. Like some silly, ridiculous number, right? Like most. But most people end up stopping at seven, which is why yours is still is still impressive as well, right? Active towns keep on going. That's awesome. But like, you know, people start them and then they stop them.
00:12:08:08 - 00:12:23:07
Jeff Wood
And so getting to that many 500 is just I'm just, you know, grateful for all the folks that keep listening and all the folks that keep coming on the show. And we need to get you on the show, too. And you get you on a Mondays and you get you on the podcast. I feel like I've neglected my duty to get you to come on the show, and that's my fault.
00:12:23:13 - 00:12:44:10
Jeff Wood
But, but yeah. So it's it's just like one of those things where you just keep grinding and I, I relate this to running as well. Like, it's just grinding. Right? You just kind of put it out every day. You got to do those miles trials and miles miles of trials and get those going because, it just, you know, stacks up on top and you build an archive and, in the end, there's something that you can find something for everybody basically.
00:12:44:10 - 00:12:53:24
Jeff Wood
Now I hopefully anyways, in the podcast archives. So it's pretty cool. And thanks for having me on to talk about it, because it is weird being on this side of the microphone. I must say. Yeah.
00:12:53:27 - 00:12:58:27
John Simmerman
Exactly. Yeah. I noticed you already, flung one question at me.
00:12:58:29 - 00:13:01:02
Jeff Wood
That's great. No, I kick it back to you.
00:13:01:02 - 00:13:20:10
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, that's right. I can kick this back to you. Yeah. And in fact, so it is worth mentioning that. Yeah, there's two feeds. You do have the, the 500th episode of the actual podcast, but you also have your, your Monday, version as well. And you just release the Mondays at the overhead wire.
00:13:20:12 - 00:13:25:02
John Simmerman
Episode number 159, I believe, was what we just had. Right with West Marshall.
00:13:25:02 - 00:13:53:05
Jeff Wood
Yep yep yep. 159 so that was, Yeah, that one that's that's been interesting because in the in the start of the podcast of the Talking Anyways podcast, it was me and Tanya, just, you know, Tanya Snyder just, you know, shooting the breeze and talking about news and articles and stuff. And then eventually when she went to go work at Politico, where she was for a really long time and doing the transportation beat there at the Capitol, I took over the podcast and then it became kind of an interview.
00:13:53:05 - 00:14:08:22
Jeff Wood
Podcast was just me and somebody else coming on the show. And so it wasn't really that banter that I was like, looking for whether, you know, I was kind of inspired by, The Dan Patrick Show. I was Wes West and I were talking this after the show yesterday. And also, the dig designation kind of stuff, like back in the day.
00:14:08:22 - 00:14:17:08
Jeff Wood
Right. Those old school podcasts, actually, I think dig just a dig just came back and they're starting over again. I don't know if you're a fan of that show, but I really enjoyed that. Even you.
00:14:17:08 - 00:14:28:17
John Simmerman
And you talked about that with Tanya. In the intro to the 500th episode, you gave a little bit of that history and story of. Yeah, the origin story of it. Yeah. And so did she. And so. Yeah.
00:14:28:22 - 00:14:46:22
Jeff Wood
Yeah. And so the, the, the Monday show was kind of trying to bring that back. And so, you know, we've have Christy Mancini. Nichols. Come on, we have Tracy McMillan. Come on. And, and and sometimes we have, you know, different guests on and sometimes it just me like talking about the news. Right? So we just it's just a way for me to kind of cover the news as it comes out.
00:14:46:24 - 00:15:02:20
Jeff Wood
I feel like the talking head ways, podcast is more evergreen to a certain extent, where you can listen to an episode and it probably makes sense whenever you're listening to it. But the The Monday show is more kind of topical and timely, where we kind of just shoot the breeze and talk about random stuff and then also can get into like the stuff that we're talking about, right?
00:15:02:20 - 00:15:19:01
Jeff Wood
Just talk about Barton Springs or running or whatever it may be. That just kind of pops in our head. And at the end I have a section called Puppies and Butterflies where we talk about something fun and something that maybe didn't fit in the in the discussion about cities, but it always ends up being me talking about Star Wars or or the TV shows I'm watching or something like that.
00:15:19:01 - 00:15:34:26
Jeff Wood
But I just kind of want a place to to hang out and chat about that stuff. So, that's where that's where we do it until we're done. 159 of those 500 of talking anyways, that's 659 episodes, which is, oh my gosh, I can't even believe that we've done that many. It's crazy.
00:15:34:28 - 00:16:07:26
John Simmerman
And again, that's an add on to the real meat of what the overhead wire is, which is this service where you are again, searching through the news and then producing that, that newsletter that goes out every single day. Friday is always sort of a, an overview, I should say, Monday through Thursday is, you know, the, the encapsulation of the news that's kind of hitting the wire and passing through and hence the overhead wire.
00:16:07:29 - 00:16:39:18
John Simmerman
You're, you know, you're getting that out. And then Fridays, I can't remember if it was a couple of years ago you started summarizing and that became, you know, the best of, you know, the previous week. Talk a little bit about that service. And because that's this is your job, this is how you make a living, is, you know, going through, wading through all of this urbanism stuff, active transportation stuff, transit stuff, housing stuff, and then producing, this newsletter that shows up in my inbox every single morning.
00:16:39:20 - 00:16:54:21
John Simmerman
And oftentimes that's that's how I get ideas for, you know, articles to promote out on threads or LinkedIn, as well as sometimes it gives me ideas for potential guests for, for my podcast.
00:16:54:24 - 00:17:22:16
Jeff Wood
Yeah. And that's awesome because that's what it's supposed to be for. It's supposed to be for everybody else taking it and making it their own. And and, you know, taking the basic information and, you know, figuring out something that works for them. And and I really appreciate that. I think that, one of the things that's really interesting about the newsletter is that we started it just because I was throwing, you know, news items at my boss and back in 2005, and it's been going since about 2006, and that's the form that it is now.
00:17:22:16 - 00:17:37:20
Jeff Wood
It used to be called the other side of the tracks when it was at Reconnecting America. And then it got changed to the overhead wire daily as I took stuff over back in 2014, I think it was, but, but yeah, it's just, it's just me collecting news and information and then trying to share it with everybody.
00:17:37:20 - 00:18:01:06
Jeff Wood
I feel like that's a really important thing to because there's so much that comes. It's like a firehose. I mean, I get complaints from folks telling me that my newsletter is a firehose, which I totally understand. It is a firehose, but also, I'm cutting the stream down of that firehose by a lot because we go through so many news items every day, 1500 or so, and then we cut them down to the 40, and then we tag them and, you know, categorize them and put them out there.
00:18:01:06 - 00:18:19:25
Jeff Wood
And so it's just one of those things where I'm like a lifelong learner. I love learning new stuff. And so that's it was a perfect match for me. As somebody who cares about cities and loves cities and wants everybody to learn about cities, and this is the thing that I can do. I was actually asked many years ago after I finished planning school or like, do you want to be a planner?
00:18:19:25 - 00:18:38:14
Jeff Wood
And I was like, kind of because but I don't like interacting with people at meetings very much. Like I don't like getting yelled at. I don't like that type of stuff. And so if I can sit in my corner and make my maps and do my work, or collect these articles and share them with folks who are sitting in front of those folks and getting yelled at sometimes, then that's probably the place for me.
00:18:38:14 - 00:18:48:21
Jeff Wood
So I think that that's probably my niche is, is is kind of sitting here in my office and kind of throwing stuff at people and having them use it to their benefit as much as possible.
00:18:48:24 - 00:19:12:11
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't remember who you were talking with where you mentioned that that. Yeah, I'm kind of an introvert and I'm kind of like, you know, it's like, I don't really want to be out there that much. I want to basically be able to can have some control over that. You don't necessarily want to be the face of of the community out there in those open houses.
00:19:12:14 - 00:19:23:13
Jeff Wood
I think that was Paul Comfort. I think he was talking about leadership. And Paul's like, you know, Paul means like a very gregarious and like, big guy, like he's a big personality. Right? Like you. I saw him in the elevator at impact, and he was like.
00:19:23:13 - 00:19:24:09
John Simmerman
Oh, Jeff, how's it.
00:19:24:09 - 00:19:24:27
Jeff Wood
Going? And I was.
00:19:24:27 - 00:19:25:18
John Simmerman
Like, oh.
00:19:25:21 - 00:19:28:07
Jeff Wood
Hey, Paul, nice to see you. But like.
00:19:28:09 - 00:19:41:01
Jeff Wood
I'm not like the it's it's funny. And we were you know, he was talking about leadership and that was what he wrote is, is his item on in his book. And it's funny because thinking about back when I was in high school and running on the, on cross-country and I was a, I was the fastest person on my team.
00:19:41:03 - 00:19:55:12
Jeff Wood
But I don't know if people would say like, I was the leader, maybe I was the leader because I was running fast, but I wasn't the person that was like, hey, you do this or you do this. I was more like, you know, follow my lead. I'm just going to go run a bunch of miles. And you guys, if you if you want to do that and let's go, let's do it together.
00:19:55:15 - 00:20:12:23
Jeff Wood
But, different leadership styles. And so I think mine is probably, you know, do the work and sit in the background and run the miles and those types of things. That's kind of the way I approach it. And I think that's why I've amassed the archive of 100,000 items in the newsletter that we've amassed. Right? Like we've tagged each one by topic and city.
00:20:12:23 - 00:20:31:29
Jeff Wood
And along the way, I've had interns help out, over those years. But we've put together the, you know, the 600 plus podcast and the the 100,000 collection of links where they're tagged in by topic and city. And so we're just creating an archive of cities and, you know, that's kind of where I fit, I think, in this global scheme of advocacy.
00:20:32:02 - 00:20:56:08
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. And I want to pull up your, your subscription page here. If we get on over here so we can see so folks can give it a try, they can do, a free two week trial, no credit card needed. Give it get an idea, get a taste as to what it's like to have, a curated news feed again, sort of in those different categories.
00:20:56:11 - 00:21:04:08
John Simmerman
Refresh my memory in terms of the different, 4 or 5 different categories that, that you show up in my email inbox each day.
00:21:04:10 - 00:21:22:07
Jeff Wood
Yeah, sure. So we talk about transportation, urban design, urban issues, like housing and things like that. And then, environment as it pertains to cities. So and environment and, and oh now, now I can't remember the night I'm on the spots. I can't remember the title of it, but it's ecology, environment and ecology I think is what it is.
00:21:22:09 - 00:21:35:10
Jeff Wood
And then, research, as you know, we go through the research items and pull out like scholarly articles and mostly they're, the, the little intro pieces that the folks have written. And now I can't remember the name of that either, but, the.
00:21:35:12 - 00:21:56:21
John Simmerman
Research is good enough. I mean, because. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and that's and that's one of the cool things too, is, as somebody who's previously a researcher in the sciences, it's it's cool to actually be able to get to some of the source articles and some of the research that's there. So and I know that, you know, like you just like you said, you just had West Marshall on yesterday.
00:21:56:21 - 00:22:21:18
John Simmerman
And so, you know him multiple times in his is discussion. You know, he was like, you know, bringing up, you know, research and articles and diving down into some of the source articles and some of the source research that takes place on that. And so when we look at your, premium, daily subscription, the, the premium subscription is $150 for the year if you pay upfront annual or $15, per month.
00:22:21:18 - 00:22:46:02
John Simmerman
And then, there's also an enterprise option too. So if you happen to be working for a large company or doesn't have to be large, but a company where there's multiple subscriptions or like for a city, etc., you do provide that, enterprise option. I think it's just invaluable to be able to have a bit of a curated list of, you know, things to at least look at.
00:22:46:05 - 00:23:08:23
John Simmerman
I would say probably 75% of the time, 85% of the time, you're you're like, spot on of of what's hitting my radar, too. And then like the other 20 to 25% of the time, you, you you're, you're picking it up. You I can't remember a single time where you've, like, completely missed something that hit my radar, unless it was something obscure from Europe or something like that.
00:23:08:25 - 00:23:39:15
John Simmerman
But yeah. So you're it's it's amazing how much stuff you're sorting through and it's it's worth noting, too, that some of the stuff you're, you're as part of the newsletter, you've got a little bit of, of color there. It's not just, you know, links and title. Almost every single link and title has a little summary. But then in the first part of the newsletter, you take a topic and you dive a little deeper, so you're almost doing like a little mini blog on the top.
00:23:39:15 - 00:24:01:27
John Simmerman
On the top of all these access to links and and sometimes even channeling some of the articles that are linked below. Talk a little bit about that. And is that has that evolved or is that have has that been something since the very beginning? I know my subscription. I think I started it, probably four years ago, right around the pandemic.
00:24:02:00 - 00:24:20:19
Jeff Wood
But due tell it's evolved a little bit because, I it takes, it takes quite a while to put together the links and then to, you know, catalog them and everything and put in the tags and all that stuff. But over time, I've been trying even the last year or so, I've actually been trying to write more and pull stuff together.
00:24:20:19 - 00:24:38:27
Jeff Wood
And, as I was talking with the West yesterday, I hate red ink, and I hate I'm not a big writer. Like, it's not my thing, but, I do think it's important to kind of synthesize some of the stuff and make sure that everybody understands that they're not just the categories and they're not just siloed. Right? There's not just transportation and urban design and housing and things like that.
00:24:38:29 - 00:24:58:07
Jeff Wood
They're actually all connected the environment. And so I try really hard to take items that are, I find have a connection and make that connection for folks so that they don't have to, you know, dig in themselves as much or maybe, you know, put something together that maybe people weren't thinking about. So a couple of times a week, not every day, because I don't think I could write like that every day.
00:24:58:07 - 00:25:13:07
Jeff Wood
And some days the articles just aren't as good as other days. That's just how it is. You know, there's some days that are better than others. I know you probably know this and you're like, well, this day is not the best article day. Or maybe there's one day where, like, every article is good, which annoys me because I'm like, why didn't you spread this out over the rest of the week?
00:25:13:13 - 00:25:35:01
Jeff Wood
Universe? But, but yeah. So I feel like I want to put it together so that people can understand that there's a connection between everything. And, you know, I try to make those connections and I put that together and that and that actually, you know, you were talking about also doing the best of at the end of the week, too, that came out of I've actually was doing that before on Wednesdays.
00:25:35:01 - 00:25:51:10
Jeff Wood
So people get to me in emails on Wednesdays. But then when my daughter was born, I was like, well, I need to take a day where I can actually record the podcast and do all this other stuff. I can't work six days a week anymore. It's just not realistic or possible or smart for that matter. I need to take time off.
00:25:51:12 - 00:26:08:05
Jeff Wood
So I decided to do. That's a little easier to put together the best I have. And so at the end of the week, we do the best of. And then it's kind of like, here's the podcast from this week, here's the best of and, we'll be back on Monday and we'll jam it out again. But but yeah, this is kind of a self-preservation thing for the, for the most part.
00:26:08:07 - 00:26:15:06
Jeff Wood
But we did switch it out when I think people were like, actually kind of getting annoyed that I was giving them two emails on a Wednesday, which was probably too much.
00:26:15:09 - 00:26:33:11
John Simmerman
Yeah. You know, we talked about there, you mentioned this, briefly in just a matter of a moment ago about, you know, the podcasts and, you're part of the Streetsblog network. How does that work? How are you? Part of the Streetsblog, family?
00:26:33:13 - 00:26:54:04
Jeff Wood
Yeah, it's a really good question because people are like, do you work for Streetsblog? I like no, I don't really work for Streetsblog. So what happened was when Tanya invited me to write a column and I said no. And I was like, let's talk, let's do a podcast. So we just started producing the podcasts and, and and eventually, you know, Tonya left, and so she was the she was the, the editor at swag USA.
00:26:54:04 - 00:27:10:20
Jeff Wood
She wrote the articles like Kia Wilson does now. And basically what would happen is, they're they were like, well, you know, Tanya's gone. We're going to shut this down. I was like, well, if you let me keep doing this and kind of do my own thing with it, I'll just keep, you know, producing it and they'll be on Streetsblog USA.
00:27:10:20 - 00:27:26:24
Jeff Wood
But I'll take care of everything related to it. I'll put, you know, put it out on the RSS feed, I'll do the advertising and all that stuff. And so they kind of just let me keep going. And they were like, okay, content, you know, it's like free content for us. We don't pay you. And so that's that, was that how that happened?
00:27:26:24 - 00:27:41:24
Jeff Wood
It's like, you know, when Tonya left, I just was like, hey, I'll keep doing it if you keep wanting it. And they're like, yeah, sure. And then when Gersh came on, we, I actually remember going to New York City for, the, a podcast festival. And I got to meet up with Gersh there when he first got hired.
00:27:41:24 - 00:27:59:16
Jeff Wood
And and he was like, yeah, let's just keep doing that. Keep doing it. And so, you know, they were been really nice to me and posting my stuff. And I really appreciate that it goes out on the street blog network. And then each of the individual streets, blogs around the country, SF, Chicago, LA, etc. they can syndicate it from USA if they want to.
00:27:59:16 - 00:28:18:09
Jeff Wood
So it's out there too. So it's been really beneficial to be connected with Streetsblog and something, you know, a place that I've already loved as it was. And as I mentioned with Tanya, we were always talking anyways, you know, for about, you know, the news articles or sources that we had or, you know, topics that we were discussing that were similar.
00:28:18:09 - 00:28:20:22
Jeff Wood
So it was kind of a natural fit.
00:28:20:24 - 00:28:43:00
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. And it it was funny too, because in today's episode or yesterday's episode, the Monday, episode with West, you like, came up with the number of one of the episodes. It was like episode number 306 and West was called You Out. I was like, wait a minute, did you do you have, like, a photographic memory?
00:28:43:00 - 00:29:02:03
John Simmerman
Do you have that and all that? So, I, I had to look this up. Yours was episode number 19. Yeah, yeah. You were one of my first 20 episodes. Way back in May of 2020. We were in the heart of the lockdown of the pandemic when you. And it was the last time that was.
00:29:02:06 - 00:29:24:15
Jeff Wood
Yeah. So how how how have those. So so since we since we started talking back then, I mean we've had so many episodes. I'm curious like what you've learned from your experience, like podcasting and like how how you feel about podcasting now versus podcasting then, like you've made this leap to YouTube, which is amazing. Like I try to promote your stuff, if possible, you know, on the in the news links and also in the intros and stuff.
00:29:24:15 - 00:29:41:10
Jeff Wood
There's like this card right now of of folks on YouTube and West and I did in the West is actually was like, you should go on YouTube too. And I was like, I don't know, these guys all have this like professional, like production stuff. I do the podcast, I like putting out the audio, but editing, I know I we edit the Talking Anyways podcast pretty heavily.
00:29:41:10 - 00:30:00:00
Jeff Wood
We take out a lot of, the ends up being like five, ten minutes of, of just pause words and stuff like that. We take out. And so video is just scary to me because if you edit a video with someone's face, it's like kind of choppy or whatever. So I'm just curious what your experiences are or what do you feel about then versus now and like going to the video format and all that stuff?
00:30:00:00 - 00:30:00:16
Jeff Wood
I'm curious.
00:30:00:21 - 00:30:23:04
John Simmerman
Yeah. I mean, you're absolutely right. I mean, the big change that that took place since May 2020 when when you and I, last spoke and we had you on for episode 19, is the me coming on over into the video environment and this is being produced both as a video and also as a traditional podcast.
00:30:23:06 - 00:30:54:05
John Simmerman
And I do the same thing. I, I produce the video first and get an edit that I like and feel like it's nice and smooth, and I don't try to over edit the the ums and Oz in that format. I'll do a little bit, especially if there's any transition or it gets kind of bad, but if I can do it tactfully and it it doesn't seem to jittery that I do that, but then I do the same thing I go through and heavily edit the audio to really clean it up, tighten it up, get rid of the ums and oz.
00:30:54:11 - 00:31:19:05
John Simmerman
Sometimes I stutter, so I'll say that other times. So I do that. But I had to chuckle walking around listening to your episode. Yesterday, Or from yesterday. I listened to it this morning with Wes, and you were talking about video and I'm like, yes, he's he's going to get into more videos. So I have to pull up your YouTube page now.
00:31:19:07 - 00:31:39:05
John Simmerman
So here you are. So I was super, super stoked to to hear you and Wes, you know, sort of announce on the Monday episode, episode number 159 that you're really leaning into maybe not every single time, but you're leaning into, doing the, the video as well, so that's cool.
00:31:39:10 - 00:31:57:14
Jeff Wood
Yeah. So hopefully we can do a few more. I mean, I record them on video as it is on my zoom. So, I don't have any fancy, equipment or anything like that, but, I can just kind of recorded the ones we're doing. Actually, I record all of the videos that we've done, but I ended up throwing them all in the trash because, just because they take up a lot of memory.
00:31:57:17 - 00:32:03:12
Jeff Wood
So the first thing I do when I finish, and actually some of the guests have been like, can you delete your video.
00:32:03:14 - 00:32:03:29
Jeff Wood
Because they don't.
00:32:03:29 - 00:32:17:09
Jeff Wood
Want us to look at their houses or whatever it is, or I'll get the question beforehand. They're like, is this going to be on video? Because if so, I need to go like do my hair or, you know, go and do something. And I'm like, no, it's okay. It's just going to be audio. So don't worry about that.
00:32:17:09 - 00:32:32:03
Jeff Wood
So there's some like there's a little bit of of of fear I think from folks when the video thought pops up. And I think the same for me too. I actually ended up putting this hat on because my hair is a total mess. So, usually it's headphones and I don't have to worry about it too much.
00:32:32:03 - 00:32:43:29
Jeff Wood
The headphones kind of cover it, but then when my headphones, would just take them off. So, this I could probably works better, but. Yeah. So I wear this giant head all the time, but, usually not with the podcast, but it's so funny.
00:32:44:02 - 00:33:06:00
John Simmerman
Well, I love it. I'm glad to to to welcome you, you know, officially into, you know, the, the YouTube environment. You obviously have 301 videos out there because you've been pushing the audio only. But now that, you might throw a few out with, with, and have the visuals on there, let's, let's, you know, kind of bump that up.
00:33:06:00 - 00:33:15:25
John Simmerman
Let's, let's get past 150 subscribers and, and and get folks on there. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to getting some folks here heading your way.
00:33:15:27 - 00:33:34:00
Jeff Wood
Yeah. You know, one of the the first videos we did on the the overhead wire, actually probably the first video we did was was we did an election show in 2020. And so we had seven hours of discussion and talking and all that that we did. We just did a live show. I didn't want to watch television that night.
00:33:34:00 - 00:33:40:01
Jeff Wood
I just didn't want to subject myself to that. So we had a bunch of folks, come by and I can.
00:33:40:01 - 00:33:53:05
John Simmerman
Fact check to you here, here, here's your oldest. Your oldest is, Hitler finds out the, transportation bill, isn't it? It's 13 years ago. Yeah, I.
00:33:53:05 - 00:34:08:20
Jeff Wood
Guess they did nine years ago. I did it for my Patreon. I did a video to kind of like, you know that, but. But the first, like, actual real, you know, video we did was, was back in 2020 on election night, and, crazy Martini Nichols was on Jerome Vaughn. And then we had a cadre of guests that were amazing.
00:34:08:20 - 00:34:12:17
Jeff Wood
We had, folks that were ended up being in the administration, in the Biden administration.
00:34:12:19 - 00:34:14:12
John Simmerman
I remember that episode. Yeah.
00:34:14:14 - 00:34:29:00
Jeff Wood
Yeah, yeah. So, it was really cool. And so we might do that again. I'm not sure yet. I still haven't quite figured out how to how to get that to go, but that was fun. Just kind of doing those live videos and, and just hanging out for a night when I knew that I didn't want to watch the television.
00:34:29:00 - 00:34:48:06
Jeff Wood
Right. And just didn't want to see what was going to happen. And, you know, we got good news on my you know, I don't know if I said to like, you're probably in the same boat, but we got good news. But in the end, you know, I just didn't want to do that. So it was fun to hang out with people, and it's fun to just have people in the comment section, you know, being goofy and, you know, whatever else.
00:34:48:06 - 00:34:56:18
Jeff Wood
I mean, I love YouTube generally, like, I watch my Star Wars podcasts and stuff like that. And, used to watch a few more things. So it's fun to jump juice, you know.
00:34:56:19 - 00:35:01:07
John Simmerman
Did you live stream that or did you record, oh, you live streamed it. Wow.
00:35:01:07 - 00:35:27:08
Jeff Wood
Yeah, we live stream that we were on from 330, I think, to like 9 or 10:00 or something like that. And, so, we had three people hosting so that we could, some of us could leave at some points and like, you know, go do whatever and go eat dinner or something or take it because, you know, I was sitting there as a long time and also I had newfound appreciation for all those anchors that, like, sit there on election night or whatever for like five hours or whatever it is.
00:35:27:10 - 00:35:40:10
Jeff Wood
But yeah, but it was fun because we got to talk to, like, Kristoff Spiller was on and James Llamas and, just a cool Beth Osborne. Kevin. Good. Just a cool group of people. And, hopefully we can do it again this year.
00:35:40:13 - 00:35:46:27
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just mentioned James. I just saw that he made the move from Houston to New York.
00:35:47:00 - 00:35:58:03
Jeff Wood
I know Houston, the big loss through Houston. They've been doing some crazy stuff. So, Yeah, I don't know, maybe that's why because his his energy left. And so, you know, the new mayor.
00:35:58:06 - 00:35:58:23
Jeff Wood
Got some.
00:35:58:23 - 00:36:00:02
Jeff Wood
Problems. Mayor Whitmire.
00:36:00:02 - 00:36:21:10
John Simmerman
Yeah, I, I had Veronica on, I think the episode released, we were profiling her book and, Veronica Davis, and we had her on, but she was still with the city. But literally, I think the episode went out, and it was like the next week she had resigned and left. I was like, yeah, yeah, crazy.
00:36:21:12 - 00:36:50:02
Jeff Wood
Houston, I love you and I hate you. I. I grew up and I was born in Texas, and they grew up in Kingwood, and I love Euston, but there's some stuff that I just, there's they've done a lot of good stuff, too. And Austin's done a lot of good stuff, too. But there's just some times where I'm just like, I mean, even everywhere you live, I think it's going to be like that San Francisco and you know, myself all the time about stuff that we do or don't do or, you know, the Valencia Bikeway and things like that.
00:36:50:02 - 00:36:54:18
Jeff Wood
So we've we've got a long way to go in our, in our, but we're, we're trying.
00:36:54:20 - 00:37:16:29
John Simmerman
Well and I'm, I can relate. I'm the same way with Los Angeles. I'm a fourth generation Angelino and so I, I have that same love hate relationship with LA. I did my undergrad there at USC and, and, you know, it's I miss it. And then I get there and I'm like, okay, I got to get out of here.
00:37:17:02 - 00:37:38:19
John Simmerman
And it's and it's and it's tough. I'm going to have, Alyssa Walker on in a few weeks. To talk a little bit more about, you know, her new newsletter, torch and the, the run up to the, the 2028 Olympics. You talked about the Olympics and a couple of recent episodes and talked about just how special it was for you when you were there in London.
00:37:38:19 - 00:38:04:15
John Simmerman
I think you said you went to, I can remember 1984. That was my first year in college. And so, 1984, you know, the fall, I was heading into USC, and by the time I got to campus, you know, the Olympic rings were everywhere, all over campus. You know, the dormitories that I was in as a freshman were part of the housing for the athletes, there on the USC, campus.
00:38:04:15 - 00:38:30:18
John Simmerman
And of course, the diving center and the swimming were all part of the, the venue and the diving events, you know, from 1984, there's a fair amount of excitement, that goes along with it. I was in Paris this year, one month before the Olympics, to do some filming and to try to gauge how Paris has transformed since, two years ago.
00:38:30:18 - 00:39:03:16
John Simmerman
I was there filming, documenting, the streets and the bike, network in 2022. So I wanted to see and gauge the improvement. Over those two years. My previous visit was 2015. Any thoughts on the run up to the LA Olympics? And and, you know, because that's, interestingly enough, even on national television, even on national Olympic coverage, the the question or the goal, the aspirations of a car free Olympics filtered through.
00:39:03:18 - 00:39:11:03
John Simmerman
I don't know if you caught that, but I certainly did, about Los Angeles and how it's going to host the Olympics.
00:39:11:05 - 00:39:33:00
Jeff Wood
I mean, they've been building up for a while. You know, they had the the tax measure in 2008. They had the reauthorization or the increase, actually, you know, to get $120 billion for expanding all their transit infrastructure and service and things like that. And again, sorry for the soaring, but yeah, so I just think they're going to they're going to have a lot to do still before 2028.
00:39:33:02 - 00:39:48:22
Jeff Wood
They're they're just, you know, they're still under construction, the subways under construction. They've got a lot of work to do in that respect. And I, I'm interested to see because I was in, in London for that Olympics, I did see what was kind of going on in Paris and, and Tokyo was kind of weird because it was during the pandemic and nobody could be there anyway.
00:39:48:22 - 00:40:06:22
Jeff Wood
So I, I don't I don't know if that really counts for anything necessarily. But I think it is interesting to think about how those cities, London and Paris, are so walkable and so accessible by, I mean, I was riding more spikes all over the place when I was there. It was kind of the introduction of bike share and stuff.
00:40:06:25 - 00:40:22:26
Jeff Wood
And, you know, in Paris, they've they've done some major infrastructure changes. But LA is so different. And, I love LA for what it is, but I don't know if it's like one of these things where you can go to every venue in a day. It's like you're going to have to pick what you want to do, right?
00:40:22:26 - 00:40:40:26
Jeff Wood
Like I, I went to like beach volleyball one day and then I was able to make it over for fencing or I was I went to the soccer final and then came back in time to watch, track race in the, in the, in the pub with some friends. So like, I don't know if that's something that'll be possible for folks who are going to have an Olympic experience in LA.
00:40:40:28 - 00:40:55:02
Jeff Wood
I think people are going to be able to get to the venues they want to go to, and then they'll might be there the whole time. And so I'm just curious, like what that experience is going to be like. I also found that like, you know, when we were finished, we watched the fencing and the Colombian guy won and everybody went nuts.
00:40:55:02 - 00:41:08:15
Jeff Wood
And, you know, the people that are holding the Colombian flags, more so. And then when we're on the train on the way back, the guy was on our on our on our train on the green Line. And I was just like, oh my gosh, I just saw Ruben Lombardo. I just saw you. You fence and, you know, congratulations.
00:41:08:15 - 00:41:22:24
Jeff Wood
And, I just think that's a really cool experience that I don't know if you're going to get if you're, you know, if it is a car free Olympics and you're taking stuff to the venue, to your car, you might not have that experience like you may have had in Paris or in London. So that's kind of the things that I'm looking out for.
00:41:22:24 - 00:41:37:27
Jeff Wood
But I don't know, I'm going to go I'm going to go and check some stuff out because my sister lives in Bakersfield and we probably, you know, crash there for a little bit. And I want my daughter to see it. I was actually at the soccer final in 1984 as a baby, baby, baby. I was four at the time.
00:41:38:00 - 00:42:03:03
Jeff Wood
But yeah, I just I want to go back and, and, you know, experience that again just because it's so magical. Just having everybody there and, you know, all there for one reason and, you know, this is maybe a little bit overly political, but I feel like now around the world, we have all these conflicts and things where people are, you know, saying, I mean, this territory is mine, this territory is mine.
00:42:03:05 - 00:42:21:12
Jeff Wood
But in sports, you know, you compete, you have a good time, and if you win, you lose. You go home the next day and feel good about yourself for trying. And so I think there's a difference there in kind of the geopolitical aspect of it that I love, which is sport is the ultimate competition, nothing else.
00:42:21:14 - 00:42:45:07
John Simmerman
You know. Well, one of the things that I like to emphasize to here on the channel is that it's it's not cars, bad bikes good, you know, all day long, you know, really I turn to the overlapping of mobility networks that the Dutch do so. Well. They're I mean, if you want to drive great. It's a good experience.
00:42:45:07 - 00:43:25:29
John Simmerman
You can drive, you want to take transit, it's totally there for you. And everything is interconnected with a cycling network and most locations that you know, if it's within reasonable proximity, you can walk it too, because it's not going to be a situation where you're going to find that it's not safe to walk. They have done that. They've made sure that everything is safe for walking and biking, active mobility, which is really what drives transit and makes transit be so successful, is it's driven off of the power of the cycle network and the fact that they can then, you know, accommodate literally tens of thousands of bikes at their, you know, main central stations, which
00:43:25:29 - 00:44:00:09
John Simmerman
is, you know, so incredibly cool to do it that way. The Utrecht station and the New Amsterdam station. Absolutely amazing how you can, you know, put in and store thousands, tens of thousands of bikes. And then that is really your feeder to be able to make transit work. I'm really interested to see for Los Angeles, given the amount of investment that they've had in the train system, in the transit system, trying to rebuild what once was one of the most extensive, rail based transit systems that existed at the turn of the century.
00:44:00:15 - 00:44:23:21
John Simmerman
And I'm talking about the other turn of the century. Yeah, 19 1900s of folks who have listened or watched, you know, this, channel for a while know that my great great grandfather, my great great great grandfather, both worked on the red card lines and systems there, back in the, 1800s and into the early 1900s.
00:44:23:23 - 00:44:55:03
John Simmerman
And, it's just amazing to me that you are now able to actually get places. I love traveling there with my Brompton, being able to get, you know, from LAX, be able to get on to the little connector, be able to get under the train system, be able to go into downtown USC. You know, ride around a little bit, make it out to Pasadena, get off, visit some friends, continue on outwards towards where my family is out in the Glendora area, get off at a zoo.
00:44:55:03 - 00:45:15:23
John Simmerman
So eventually we'll be able to go even further east, out that direction. But it's getting there. It's it's incredible the amount of investment that has been put in place, for that. But what really needs to catch up is it needs to be safer for everybody. I feel comfortable getting around the city on a bike in Los Angeles.
00:45:15:26 - 00:45:19:24
John Simmerman
But it needs to be safe for all ages and abilities.
00:45:19:26 - 00:45:39:29
Jeff Wood
Yeah. For sure. I think that's one of the major things that needs help in and in in all cities in the United States. I think one of the problems we find is that just if it feels unsafe, people aren't going to take it. It's the same thing with transit, too. I mean, like, and the comfort level that people have taking a bus or train, I always tell people is if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you.
00:45:39:29 - 00:45:57:01
Jeff Wood
It shouldn't be something that you force. So as much of a transit advocate, as much as a bike advocate, as much as an active transportation advocate as I am, I want people to be realistic about what they can and can't do. And we need to design systems that allow people to access places where they want to go safely and where they feel comfortable.
00:45:57:01 - 00:46:16:06
Jeff Wood
And ultimately, that is on all of us to try to make sure that those are designed well and put into place. You mentioned Pasadena. I think that's really funny. I, you know, back in the I got into all this because I went to Kgnu in Pasadena in 2005, and, that's where I met a bunch of the folks that I love now, my client and, Jim, come on.
00:46:16:06 - 00:46:37:10
Jeff Wood
And other folks who are still, you know, working hard to to make all this stuff happen. And I just remember at the time thinking, oh, the gold line goes to here and it ends. And this is awesome. Like, Austin doesn't have this nowhere I know it has this. And, I was just inspired by LA. And so I think maybe for the Olympics LA can be that inspiration again.
00:46:37:10 - 00:46:41:24
Jeff Wood
Right? Where like, hey, LA's done this. Maybe we can do it too.
00:46:41:27 - 00:47:02:18
John Simmerman
Yeah. Well, and it's funny, you mentioned Pasadena and seeing you in the same breath and of course recalls now a city council member there, and he was the president, you know, CEO or the executive director of seeing you there for for a little while there, too, a couple years. I think, emerging as out of the pandemic, if I remember correctly.
00:47:02:21 - 00:47:25:03
John Simmerman
And, so it's great to see Rick there having an urbanist on the city council there in Pasadena. That's that's really good stuff. Jeff, what are you super excited about right now in terms of, you know, sort of this world of urbanism and housing and active mobility and, you've got your finger on the pulse of the news every single day.
00:47:25:06 - 00:47:36:21
John Simmerman
I don't know how often you get an opportunity to talk about what what is catch you encouraged and excited of in terms of, recent developments, things that might be on the horizon for us?
00:47:36:24 - 00:47:45:24
Jeff Wood
Yeah. I think, it's interesting you ask about, like, what I'm enthusiastic about because I feel like I'm, I'm, I feel like down a lot because the negative news.
00:47:45:24 - 00:47:49:12
John Simmerman
I mean, you're living in the news and it's easy to get that way, but. Yeah.
00:47:49:12 - 00:48:09:18
Jeff Wood
Yeah. So I have to take myself out of it sometimes because, it is so negative. But on the positive note, I just think that there's so much cool stuff and maybe I maybe not in the United States, because just like there's so much it's hard because of, you know, the, the, the time it takes to build stuff and kind of the things obviously, electrification of Caltrain, that's really awesome.
00:48:09:18 - 00:48:29:13
Jeff Wood
I haven't written it yet, but I'm super excited about that. I think that, us trying to transition to a clean energy economy, it's going to require some overhead wires, you know, no, no pun intended. And, you know, I don't think we should go down this road of trying to carry our propulsion systems with us.
00:48:29:13 - 00:48:45:18
Jeff Wood
We don't need hydrogen on board. We don't need batteries. I think we can do a lot of stuff with overhead wires. Electrify the railways. Around the United States. I know the that the, companies are not going to like that. The BNSF and the and the Norfolk Southern's of the world. But I think that that is probably the way to go.
00:48:45:26 - 00:49:04:17
Jeff Wood
But around the world, there's so much cool stuff happening. I was just in China in March with my wife and and the kiddo, and it was just so cool to see what Shenzhen has done, what Hong Kong has done, what even like some of the smaller cities have done, and the amount of bus service that's in too high, which is where, you know, my, my parents in law are living.
00:49:04:17 - 00:49:23:24
Jeff Wood
And so there's just like, a lot of cool stuff. There's a lot of cool infrastructure being built. There's a lot of really interesting pedestrian stuff going on, too. I mean, thinking about all the multi-use paths. I think I posted Instagram about it when I was there that there's like all these really cool, like paths that you can drive these three wheelers on and your bikes or your scooters or whatever else.
00:49:23:24 - 00:49:45:05
Jeff Wood
And, and cars have a place, but they're separated from everything else. And so you feel safer. And so I found that really interesting too. We got to go on a ferry. We got to go on the subways. We got to go, on a on a gondola. We got all kinds of transportation experiences when we were over there, and it was just good to go and get out of the US for a little bit and see stuff going on in another place.
00:49:45:05 - 00:50:07:05
Jeff Wood
And so there's stuff going on all over the world. It's not just China. And, you know, Paris is building their Grand Prix Express and obviously London just finished, the Crossrail. And so there's, there's so many cool projects going on. And you mentioned Paris and going there a number of times. We went in 2019. I was actually there on the day that Notre Dame, burned down.
00:50:07:07 - 00:50:24:25
Jeff Wood
We'd left early that morning. We'd seen it. And, there was just so many like, there's so many light rail trains and all these small towns that you wouldn't think would, you know, weren't on maybe 100, thousand, 200,000 people. There's a tramway. And so that level investment, I think is really impressive. And I think we can do that here too.
00:50:24:28 - 00:50:27:24
Jeff Wood
We just need a little inspiration and a little political will.
00:50:27:27 - 00:51:06:08
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it is interesting too. And reflecting on, both Paris and London, I was able to sort of turn my lens towards both of those cities as of being, Olympic cities. And so I did, take a bus, a ride out to the Olympic Village and, tried to document, you know, sort of the transformation that took place there because they had this, this sort of purpose built sort of mega campus of all of the, the, stadiums and all this other stuff that was going on there because, like you said, it was he was kind of compact.
00:51:06:08 - 00:51:41:00
John Simmerman
You could get to a lot of the stuff there, and they were really working on that. But it was interesting to see, because the vision of it was to create this, Queen Elizabeth, you know, Olympic Park place. And it's really a residential place now. So it was interesting to see that kind of overlay of a New Urbanism sort of village that is now, you know, kind of where, you know, the the event was, was kind of hosted at, in the case of Paris, one of the things that I really wanted to, to look in on is because people were saying, oh my gosh, you got to get back to Paris.
00:51:41:00 - 00:51:57:23
John Simmerman
I mean, the transformation has been amazing. You know, it's you're not even going to recognize it. And I was like, I was just there two years ago. Is this oh no no no no, you totally have to do it. So I went and it could have been the where I was at, but it was still car choked. It was still, you know, you know.
00:51:57:23 - 00:52:27:07
John Simmerman
Yes. There was protected bike lanes and it was there, but there was still just tons and tons of taxis and delivery vehicles and all of that. So a month prior to the event, it was certainly not a car free Olympics. It was incredibly, you know, choked with motor vehicles. But I will say this about Paris, what they did really lean into in that two year period between 2022 and 2024, where the school streets oh my gosh, amazing.
00:52:27:07 - 00:52:48:17
John Simmerman
So talk about international, you know, positive trend is seeing that in London as well and across the UK. And throughout Paris and the rest of France is they're really leaning into this concept of why are we allowing free access to motor vehicles around schools, especially for the youngest children?
00:52:48:19 - 00:53:10:20
Jeff Wood
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we just talked about that, with Sam car, you know, the on the Monday show, we talked about, all the, the pick up and drop off problems that schools have been having because they've been cutting bus service. And so, you know, that's a big issue that we were thinking about and I think about now too, is, you know, my daughter just started, preschool and and in daycare and we walk her there, you know, it's only like a quarter mile.
00:53:10:20 - 00:53:29:20
Jeff Wood
And now that I am kind of her custodian, I am like, even though the sidewalks are wide, even though there's cars parked on the side, even though it's a fairly slow commercial street, it still feels like I'm always kind of having to have my eye on her because, you know, I don't want her to run out in the street, but also, like, I don't want a car to jump up off of the curb.
00:53:29:20 - 00:53:45:24
Jeff Wood
And I know that, you know, going slow. And that's probably less likely to happen. But after what happened, the west portal, you know, I don't know if you've heard about this, but there is a family of four that was killed by a driver who lost control of their vehicle. And, you know, basically at a bus stop, they're waiting to go to the San Francisco Zoo.
00:53:45:24 - 00:54:04:18
Jeff Wood
And so that could have been me. That could have been my family. And so I'm kind of a little more cautious now watching for that stuff. And so I think closing off school streets for, you know, the kiddos is really good and you don't need to be breathing all that exhaust. You don't need to be, you know, shouldn't have to be worried about whether your kid's going to get to school or not or whether you're going to get run over on the sidewalk.
00:54:04:20 - 00:54:08:15
Jeff Wood
It should be safe. And so that's something that I'm thinking about pretty frequently now.
00:54:08:18 - 00:54:25:05
John Simmerman
You know, of all cities in the United States, New York and San Francisco are the two cities that I kind of look to and think about as being. Why the heck are their cars on these streets at all?
00:54:25:07 - 00:54:43:25
Jeff Wood
Because people have some affinity for them. They are useful in some respects. But, it is pretty easy to get around without it. I mean, we don't have a car, and, you know, I use it from time to time to to, you know, get to places where we need to go or to go and run an errand, Home Depot or whatever it may be.
00:54:43:27 - 00:55:00:00
Jeff Wood
But for the most part, we can get to the doctors on Muni. We can get to the park by walking. We can get to the mission, by, by, by by bike and so I just got a, a car seat, a bike seat on the back of my bike. And so she's been pretty excited about that.
00:55:00:07 - 00:55:07:26
Jeff Wood
Although every time we hit a bump or she loses her or bar, which, has been really frustrating for her.
00:55:07:28 - 00:55:09:14
Jeff Wood
So, daddy, I lost my bar.
00:55:09:14 - 00:55:25:07
Jeff Wood
My bars in the street. Daddy, it's back there. Go get my bar. I'm like, I'm not picking your bar off the street to eat you. You dropped it. I told you to hold it this time. Like I told you to hold it last time. I keep looking down cause I found some photos of China that I felt like you need to see.
00:55:25:09 - 00:55:43:12
Jeff Wood
Let's see if I can get it for you. This is Shenzhen. This is one of the stations there. And then, this is, the transfer point for, for the folks there as well to get from one train to the other. And so, this is underneath that big kind of like, that whole or that, that display thing up top.
00:55:43:12 - 00:55:53:23
Jeff Wood
But I just think that's really cool that they can actually, this is it show. I'm showing it. I'm really bad at putting this in front of the camera. I'm sorry I didn't send these to you earlier, but.
00:55:53:25 - 00:55:54:02
Jeff Wood
I just.
00:55:54:02 - 00:56:13:16
Jeff Wood
Think that's really cool. Like, there's just, like, the infrastructure there is just so amazing. This this station's probably only like, you know, 5 to 3, 4 or 5 years old or so. There's lots of stuff going on. That's awesome. But yeah, I talk about, I talk about the safety stuff and what's going on in San Francisco and my daughter.
00:56:13:16 - 00:56:19:16
Jeff Wood
And then I was like, okay, I've got to got to get back to the positive because we we are there. There's a lot of cool stuff going on around the world and things like that.
00:56:19:16 - 00:56:40:24
John Simmerman
So yeah, well, and there there is cool stuff going on in San Francisco. You know, I had, some of your local characters on I had Luke and, Roger on, you know, to, to talk about, you know, sort of the conditions that are going on there in San Francisco. So I'm hopeful that we'll be able to, to move forward and get there.
00:56:40:26 - 00:57:01:27
John Simmerman
I'm, I'm saying, you know, kind of tongue in cheek, you know, that New York and San Francisco, the two cities that, you know, wires that are even cars here, you know, really what I mean by that is not prioritizing them, not prioritizing, moving at speed. I mean, even even every city that I love, you know, in the Netherlands, there's there's cars there.
00:57:01:29 - 00:57:12:14
John Simmerman
They're just not speeding. They're moving at reasonable times. And again, you have mobility choice, which is my whole point is we get to that level of breaking car dependency.
00:57:12:17 - 00:57:24:19
Jeff Wood
And you could do that in Austin, in the downtown area. And I'd, you know, I lived on 38th Street for a really long time, and it was just easy to get around on the bus and the number one and biking and.
00:57:24:21 - 00:57:25:10
Jeff Wood
00:57:25:12 - 00:57:30:11
Jeff Wood
Just there's, there's access. It just, you know, need to prioritize the, the modes that will.
00:57:30:11 - 00:57:48:13
John Simmerman
Get you to. I can't even remember the last time I needed to drive a car to get anywhere here in the city so I you can get around, especially with, like, a electric assist now. So we have an electric assist cargo bike, for doing grocery runs and stuff like that. And, you know, because you know, that hill, it's a little bit of a steep hill to get up here.
00:57:48:15 - 00:57:48:27
John Simmerman
Yeah.
00:57:48:27 - 00:57:51:03
Jeff Wood
So I need one of those for here.
00:57:51:05 - 00:58:00:22
John Simmerman
Oh, yeah. Definitely. It's it's totally a game changer. It's a game changer for heat. It's a game changer for for steep hills. Totally, totally, totally recommend it.
00:58:00:29 - 00:58:01:10
Jeff Wood
Yeah.
00:58:01:10 - 00:58:05:28
Jeff Wood
I'm I'm worried about those bills.
00:58:06:01 - 00:58:32:13
John Simmerman
Thank you so much, for coming on the podcast once again. And congratulations once again for episode number 500 of the Talking Head Ways, podcast. And folks, please get on over to the website, the overhead wire.com and check out the new service. It's really, really money well spent. And I absolutely enjoy having it and seeing it every single morning.
00:58:32:15 - 00:58:40:20
John Simmerman
I do like most of your fans, you know, we're we're like, if if it doesn't hit the inbox, I don't know what's happened first.
00:58:40:23 - 00:58:41:20
Jeff Wood
But I get.
00:58:41:20 - 00:58:49:17
Jeff Wood
A lot of angry. Like I get a lot of angry emails when it doesn't come. And, I do try to post when it's not going to come. So, Friday or Thursday, I'm like, it won't be here.
00:58:49:17 - 00:58:56:29
John Simmerman
Sometimes you need to take a break to like you. You had to take some time off when you were in China. So. That's right. Yeah. As you shoot off there.
00:58:57:06 - 00:59:14:03
Jeff Wood
But I did work for three weeks there, which is really interesting. It's really interesting trying to work online. From China. Same. That's all I'm gonna say about that. But, but yeah, it's it's it's, it's interesting to try to get it every week, but I do get angry emails if it's not there. And I didn't warn people that it wasn't going to be there, like, where's my stuff?
00:59:14:03 - 00:59:19:18
Jeff Wood
Where's my emails? I miss it, I miss my emails, which is great. I mean, that makes me feel good as obviously it's valuable.
00:59:19:18 - 00:59:27:16
John Simmerman
Don't be mean, folks. Worry about it, man. I'm like, Jeff, I hope you're okay.
00:59:27:19 - 00:59:29:25
Jeff Wood
Yeah. No, I'm I'm good, I'm good.
00:59:29:25 - 00:59:34:02
Jeff Wood
Probably just took a took an extra day off for some, reason or another. Yeah.
00:59:34:05 - 00:59:38:15
John Simmerman
Fantastic. Well, once again, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast.
00:59:38:17 - 00:59:40:15
Jeff Wood
Awesome. Thanks, John.
00:59:40:17 - 00:59:54:17
John Simmerman
Hey, thank you all so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode, which I put in. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. Leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, be honored to have you subscribed to the channel. Just click on that subscription button down below and bring the notifications bell.
00:59:54:21 - 01:00:14:10
John Simmerman
And if you're enjoying this content here on the Active Towns channel, please consider supporting my efforts. It's easy to do just head on over to Active towns.org, click on that support tab and there's several different options including Patreon. Patreon supporters do get early and ad free access to all the video content, and it really does help out a great deal.
01:00:14:14 - 01:00:40:24
John Simmerman
So thank you all so much for tuning in. And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers and again sending a huge thank you out to all my Active Towns Ambassadors supporting the channel on Patreon. Buy me a coffee YouTube. Super! Thanks. As well as making contributions to the nonprofit and purchasing things from the Active Towns store, every little bit adds up and it's much appreciated.
01:00:40:26 - 01:00:42:02
John Simmerman
Thank you all so much!