Is there any more depressing story in urbanism than the fact that people kept cutting down speed cameras in Toronto, and then the premier just… agreed with them and banned speed cameras across the province? It honestly makes me so mad.

If you go to a suburban mall, you will probably have to park outside and walk in. You don’t expect to drive in to your store. But for some reason in urban areas it’s considered an injustice if you can’t park directly in front of the store you want to go to.

A thought I had about a mix of housing types, is that it's quite nice to be able to rent and find a neighbourhood you like before committing to buying, we have, and we know two other couples that bought a place ~100-250m from where they rented previously.

Pre-war neighbourhoods just look so much more beautiful in the snow than new neighbourhoods.

Had a 97 Jeep Cherokee Sport. Magnificent vehicle—I want another one. Felt "big" when I got it, not dangerously so, just... "We're not in my dad's Lada anymore, Toto." Now? Source (and more pics): www.reddit.com/r/CherokeeXJ...

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Annual General Meeting last night at Collective Arts🎉! It was so nice to be back together to recap another incredible year of cycling in #HamOnt. Cycle Hamilton is officially 10 years old, and we would not be here without your support!

“The vacated homes were substantially cheaper than the new units and spanned diverse locations and housing types.” When people move into new housing developments, they free up space in older housing. This is good for housing affordability and availability.

The power of mid-rise construction and no parking minimums is 68 units of housing from foundation to this in 2 months. The Point rentals in Hamilton by Yoke Group. The right photo is render of completed project.

Fun little evening side quest: the subway and streetcar network in April 1954, but in contemporary style.

I want to finally do a video on sidewalk plows and the problem of leaving snowy sidewalks to homeowners. If anyone has examples of poorly cleared sidewalks that I can use, attach them here! Important: mention the city. Also, preferred attribution (if any). Otherwise, default is screen name.

Happy to see a paramedic cycling on my way to work this morning. I'm seeing more and more people commuting by bicycle, even in our 8 months of frigid winter.

The Best Cycling City No One Talks About with (among many others) @burgundavia.bsky.social and @ryanjabs.bsky.social

Blasting past rush hour traffic on the completed portion of Dufferin RapidTO (up to Dundas)

Thanks to @taras-grescoe.com for calling it a “light metro” instead of light rail 👍 “Riding that train made me feel like Canada was finally building transit fit for the 21st century, a worthy counterpart to the systems that are now common in Asian and European cities.”

When the US was swept with the new-streetcars-mixed-with-traffic fad in the 00s, Canada didn’t build a single one. They only built rail in exclusive lanes. I wonder if that’s because most educated Canadians have visited Toronto and experienced its old streetcar lines.

Honestly, one of experiences talking to and working with staff is that rarely do they actually *use* the end result of their work. Like I don't think most staff will ride a bicycle on York Blvd after it's complete, so I'm not completely against staff experiencing this event venue.

If Montreal hadn’t started building the metro in the 60s, would we be trying to build it today as a tram? Crazy to think. Trams have their place! (Let’s convert some well-used medium-distance bus routes to trams.) But not as the high-capacity long-distance spine of a transit network in a big city.

3rd pedestrian killed this week.

When the “Neighborhood Bikeway” has ZERO traffic calming. Paint and signs will never be enough.

If someone eventually dies at every intersection we’ll finally have road safety through reactive intervention. God forbid we should do anything proactive for once

The review will include consideration of implementing a right-turn on red restriction at Upper Wentworth and Mohawk Simiilar to what happen at York/Wilson and James, where change was made after a fatality Right turn on red remains permitted at four high-risk downtown intersections #yhmcc (1/2)

Hamilton, where they don’t want concertgoers at the newly renovated arena to have to look at the poors.

Canadians will wonder why there's a housing crisis and their kids can't afford to move out, but then an article about an unpermitted 4plex home which is honestly fine if it had permits is called "towering" and "out of place" and the prior home called "modest" because it fit in.

The Harbord streetscape is a dreamscape. Well done #topoli - this is a model for how to make better, safer neighborhoods. #biketo #walkto #toronto #cycling #urbanism

Honestly, Ontario banning speed cameras and most bike lanes is a pretty big blow to urbanist optimism in Canada. The province is 40% of Canada’s population!

Our streets continue to be unsafe for the people who need to use them, every day, to walk, cycle, and roll in our city. The death of a crossing guard, a City employee who is here to protect all of us on our roads, is devastating. #HamOnt

"Everyone - whether driving, walking or cycling has a role to play in keeping our community safe." -Mayor Andrea Horwath My question is simple: What about those who design, approve, build and maintain hostile road design? Do they have a role?

"everyone--whether driving, walking, or cycling--has a role to play" <searches local news archives for stories about a cyclist making a careless right turn and casually killing a dump truck operator, finds none>

Councillor Shelley Carroll says she gets a lot of calls wanting her to fight applications for cannabis store licenses, but, "I can't, in my database, find a single complaint about one once they are open." Perhaps there's a lesson there.

Ah yes, paying $45,000/year to rent in a strip mall along an arterial is identical to paying $0/year additional to run a business out of your home.

God forbid a small business owner start a business from their home and make it successful. Gotta be a millionaire or use all your savings on an overpriced brick&mortar to be an entrepreneur just like in Europe, Asia, South America... Wait...

This is why regulating in such a targeted manner is bad. It costs a ton of time/money, takes up air from real issues & creates complex red tape that ppl have to navigate City shouldn't have "left house retail/residential, right house residential" law when there's no material difference between them

I'm hardly a hardcore free-market libertarian, but it does seem like the reality of market forces should be a bigger part of this debate. The basic reason you don't need to worry about a 24/7 bar/potshop/noise-making emporium setting up on a small street is basically "there's no demand for it."

This Toronto city councillor is almost as nuts as Whitehead was. For some reason he doesn't want neighbourhood stores to sell "weird items" that don't have value... For some reason...

Up now: corner stores. The original recommendation to allow small retail uses within neighbourhoods was watered down at committee, but the recommendation to allow retail uses along designated major streets remains. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...

Bill 60 Protest Ride Bill 60 is another ominbus bill from the Ontario government that includes many anti progressive elements, including removing renter protections. For the cycling community, it revises the HTA to make it more difficult to install new bikes lanes. In other words, Bill 212 all…

It appears that the removal of rent control has had the intended effect; namely increasing the supply of rental units. However, one thing I've not seen suggested in many places is rent control but studied to determine a balance between cost of living and supply.

Hamilton Police confirm they responded to an incident involving HSR bus 1432 around 9:00 p.m. That's all they will confirm. HSR operators are posting a bus was stolen. HSR data provided to third-party applications confirms unusual activity. Here's what is confirmed, story on TPR. #HamOnt #yhmcc

3 years into being Mayor and Horwath continues to feel like an out of touch "politician". I don't know if it's her time at Queens park or what, but her politic-speak comes off as not genuine and says nothing, but she also lacks the confidence or capability to get things done that the city needs.

This is a small snow plow for sidewalks If your city plows the roads but leaves sidewalks up to property owners, your city hates pedestrians.

Cars might work fine in California or Florida, but they’re not practical here in Canada. We have winter.

New road markings have appeared in Toronto using the zig-zag pattern to indicate the passenger loading area in the curb lane adjacent to the streetcar stop. #BikeTO

All I want to know is how to become a consultant on this project since they seem so willing to blast through cash, I might as well make some money off this. Probably not an option since I'm not Ford's buddy. But I'd love to funnel the money into a good cause & hand them a stick drawing or something

It's always nuts to me when ppl say things like "we live in one of the most dangerous places", are constantly fearful of violence. The stress people must feel at all times is crazy. I walk through downtown Hamilton with very little worry knowing it's one of the safest places on Earth (from violence)

For decades, a prime but isolated corner parking lot at 4th & Broadway in Denver's Baker neighborhood was too small for traditional development. Thanks to Denver's forthcoming single-stair code updates, KGA Architects is proposing a 5-story single-stair apt on this "forgotten lot"

How much shit will Ontario continue to eat?

Love when workers block the bike lanes... Even when improving bike lanes shouldn't block them

Montreal’s REV Saint-Denis is the third busiest bike lane (with a counter) in North America, behind two NYC bridges. Summer volumes are even quite competitive with bike counters in Europe. www.lapresse.ca/dialogue/chr...

Obviously Purolator driver couldn't park on this newly vacant lot or in this parking spot, had to stop right on the sidewalk...

Now on TPR The federal budget includes a funding commitment for a new 55,000 sq ft Downtown Hamilton YMCA. The YMCA is part of a massive proposal to redevelop an entire Downtown block with two 32-storey rental towers, ~700 units, and the development is personally led by Jennifer Keesmaat #HamOnt