Midweek Roundup: Mad Max Mode

See yesterday's post for ongoing election updates & discussion.

Transit & Streets:

• Business owners in Federal Way are excited for the upcoming Link extension (King 5)
• Seattle Budget Tweaks Would Add Transit Security Czar, Rescue Waterfront Streetcars (The Urbanist)
• SDOT realized it might have to return nearly $4M in FTA grant funds after a USDOT audit revealed one of SDOT's consultants may have had an unfair competitive advantage (The Seattle Times, $).
• Driverless cars may never be 100% safe, but the CEO of Waymo thinks they can make their cars much safer than the average driver (Wired). How about being safer than a bus? Meanwhile, Tesla rolled out mad max" mode for its autopilot feature, and it's as a bad as it sounds (Ars Technica)
• An interview with Ian Choudri, the new CEO of the CA HSR project (SmartCitiesDive)

Land Use, Commentary, and More:

• Despite the government shutdown, the US Senate passed a bill which would prioritize FTA funding for projects accompanied by pro-housing policy to bolster transit-oriented development (Streetsblog USA)
• What we lost when cars won (Grist)
• The View From Nathan's Bus: The Harder Thing (The Urbanist)
• Jon Talton thinks the PNW should brace for climate refugees in coming years (The Seattle Times, $). He calls for electrifying Amtrak Cascades and building the 1st Avenue Streetcar, but stops short of calling for denser, climate-adapted housing.

This is an Open Thread.