#yyj Council gets a well deserved (and very well articulated) shout-out! #yyjpoli @kristaloughton.bsky.social @mattdellvictoria.bsky.social @davethompsonvic.bsky.social @jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social @susankimyyj.bsky.social @victoria.ca open.substack.com/pub/bern99/p...

Awesome! @kristaloughton.bsky.social is calm, fact based, compassionate, and realistic. I'm delighted she's running! #yyj

Bike-lanes don’t cause traffic congestion. Car dependency, dumb land-use sprawl, too many (& bigger) cars being driven too much taking up too much space, highly subsidized driving costs, and not enough choices in how to get around, ALL cause traffic congestion. Think about it. THAT’S common sense.

1/ I live close to downtown, bike there four or five times a week, and spend a LOT of $$$ on all sorts of things there. I live in Vic West, so I ride THROUGH downtown on my way to the rest of the city. I don't want people sleeping in doorways, by far my biggest safety concern… #yyj

@jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social and I wrote this op-ed to explain the range of affordable housing options offered by the Capital Region Housing Corporation. Each affordability level meets an important community need. The combination of affordability levels supports the sustainability of the CRHC.

On Friday, we proved that even buses running ahead of schedule are still too slow. BC Transit, the City of Victoria, and the District of Colwood are the institutions that need to step up. Together, we will keep push for a better, safer, more reliable city. #yyj #racethebus

The Weekly Wrap #36: Climate, Committees, and Meetings with Constituents #yyj youtu.be/p2wNojAM_wo?...

I liked this @timescolonist.bsky.social commentary by Josh Hylden. We should never let the best be the enemy of the good. The barriers to intercity transit on Vancouver Island are political and organizational, not technical. #yyj #VancouverIsland #transit www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comm...

We beat the bus! Yay Grannies! So if a bunch of granny-age cyclists can get to Langford Station from the Leg faster than the bus, maybe you could too. #BetterByBike #BikeYYJ

1/ We really need dedicated bus lanes downtown. This is in the works, and the overall direction was approved back in 2024. I'm not sure where the work stands today. Often staff coordinates redesigns with other work like underground utilities or resurfacing. The 2024… #yyj

Good news! The work had to be done, but all the people detouring certainly made a mess! #yyj

My hot take today is that anyone who thinks there's a war on cars in #yyj gets a mandatory trip in a powerchair. "but not prioritizing vehicle traffic is ableism" boom now you're in a powerchair on a street with no sidewalks. Your destination is on Hillside and Shelbourne. You can't use transit. 1/2

Yet even more proof that protected bicycle lanes are far superior at increasing the number of people bicycling than painted lines and sharrows are. #bikesky #yyjbike

Misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories - and their potential impact on BC municipal elections Oct.17. My op-ed in the Vancouver Sun, linked at this post: davethompsonvictoria.ca/op-edwe-are-... #yyj #bcpoli @vancouversun.bsky.social

1/ Dave had been a consistent smart, fact based, empathetic voice on the #yyj Council. He's an excellent communicator, and had gone the extra mile through his blog to present the data and explain the reasoning behind his policy choices. Perhaps…

I'm running for re-election to Victoria City Council and the CRD. We've made progress on housing, transportation, climate, and community. We need to lock it in, and do more. I'd love your help. Please feel free to DM or sign up www.davethompsonvictoria.ca. Many thanks!🙏❤️ #yyj #vicpoli #victoriabc

Kudos to the City of Victoria for building out its AAA bike network ahead of the closure of the Galloping Goose. I had been dreading my afternoon ride to Burnside from to collect a dishwasher part, but the protected route covered all of Government, Gorge, and Rutland.

WATCH: Seriously, if you’re following ANY bike-lane debate, you really should watch & share this news story. It’s pretty much perfect. Ford claims wrongly that bike-lanes are bad for small business, and THE ACTUAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION obliterates him with data. toronto.citynews.ca/video/2024/1...

Living without owning a car in Victoria. Not me, though I ride my bike a *lot* more now... This is written by my ex-husband. Car share services like Modo make it very doable in Victoria and Saanich. I'd love to see them expand to urban parts of the Westshore. open.substack.com/pub/bern99/p...

A fantastic opinion piece on how bicycling is essential for many and because of this good infrastructure is necessary to create a safe, well connected and convenient network. #yyjbike #yyj #bikesky

Can you outrun the 95 “Rapid” bus? On June 12 at 4:45pm, we are racing the bus from the Legislature to City Hall to highlight how Douglas St congestion slows transit to a crawl. Sign up to run, or be a cheerleader: actionnetwork.org/forms/volunt... #yyj #racethebus

"Bicycles let people move with greater speed without taking up significant amounts of scarce space, energy, or time...Cyclists become masters of their own movements without blocking those of their fellows." —Ivan Illich, 1974 🎥 Giro d'Italia (disciplined riders, but still illustrates the point)

1/ Excellent op-ed in the @Timescolonist on by bike lanes, cars, and the geometry of cities. It's in response to a really bad one they published a few days ago. #yyj #yyjbike #urbanism #traffic www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comm...

One of these has an overwhelming body of research behind it. The other is in the Times Colonist. Read this one and ignore the toxic misinformation in the TC op-ed. thecityfix.com/blog/traffic... #yyj

1/ If we can't do better at keeping people off the streets in the first place, our efforts—whether medical care, supportive housing, complex care, or even enforcement—will never keep up. That includes efforts like these. It also includes… #yyj #homelessness #housing

NEW: The One-Hour City Conspiracy! “Here's the REAL conspiracy: Too many people are forced into car-dependent lives, with more health harms, crashes, noise, air pollution, social isolation —& less space for everything our streets should be giving us.” Thanks @usa.streetsblog.org #1HourCityConspiracy

“Almost all of the associations have an affiliated research institute or foundation that provides an appearance of independence while supporting industry priorities…Yet their funding sources and staff almost always come from the same place, with the same motives.” — @ucs.org #UrbanTruth

Perhaps the arc of history bends towards justice after all! Somehow, though, I suspect there's a simpler explanation involving supply and demand. #housing

Prime Minister Carney's remarks on housing yesterday, including the federal government's policy measures to address the housing crisis.

This is a great example of sensitive adaptive reuse of a historic property. What a great project! #yyj

Cute video of people going places on Victoria's bike & roll network! #yyj #yyjbike youtu.be/pn8mOGr9bFk

1/ It's great to see Esquimalt move forward on making it safe to bike and roll to their major commercial destinations! The point of any transportation network is to enable people to go useful places! #yyj #yyjbike vicnews.com/2026/05/06/e...

The US’s response to child traffic fatalities: telling kids to look both ways. Meanwhile Norway:

Victoria's protected bike and roll network is 9 years old! Beautiful day for a celebration. Kudos to previous Councils for getting Victoria started on safer spaces for people using bicycles, electric wheelchairs, and mobility scooters. #yyj #safety

I got so much feedback on my video a few weeks ago about better options for e-bike laws that I made another video using that feedback to try to write a better law. Spoiler alert: It's impossible to write a law everybody will like. youtu.be/6Z35F2R7FeE

We should absolutely have this in BC. The data is in. Making this change saves lives. It's time. #yyj #yyjbike

I agree 100%. I've seen this garage in person (they're neighbours here in Victoria, BC). It's bike storage built for transportation, not recreation. #yyj

This is a beautiful location in NB, and a fine use of provincial $$. At the same time, NB is short on cash, and I suspect the same people who are outraged about this loss of funding, would also be outraged about their taxes going up. I guess it's human nature. www.ctvnews.ca/canada/artic...

1/ Pretty amazing data from the CMHC on how land use regulation affects housing prices. Important caveat: this is from BEFORE many of the recent City of Victoria reforms, and is for the CMA, not just the city. assets.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/sites/cmhc/p...

Who should pay for the costs of densifying? Should growth pay for growth? Taxes on new infill homes are counterproductive in a housing crisis, writes @jacksandor.bsky.social #yyj #bcpoli #vanpoli #bc

Is housing demand fake? Absolutely not, writes Will Dawson #bcpoli #housing #yyj #vanpoli

Clover Point Picnic Club is celebrating the 9th birthday of the amazing #VictoriaBC Pandora #bikelane that started the snowball effect of an incredible #activetransportation network in #YYJ 🚲 May 9th 2026 1-3pm 📍 Centennial Square Special thx to Bishop Family […] [Original post on socialbc.ca]

Victoria BC has been making significant strides on making streets safe for people, AND we have a long way yet to go. I suspect the issues this @strongtowns.org article raises are relevant here, too. #yyj www.strongtowns.org/journal/2026...

Forwarded from the Alterable app: City of Victoria: Shelter in place near Crystal Pool Due to an ongoing hazardous material incident, those near the Crystal Pool are required to shelter in place for your safety. alertable.ca#/incidents/1... #yyj

1/ So, this isn't going to pass, and I understand why even the pro-housing councillors have concerns about this application. I'm listening to @kristaloughton.bsky.social's remarks, and they're spot on. My bigger concern is that our design guidelines contain a nasty Catch-22. #yyj #housing

Excellent reality check from @lacaroibarra.bsky.social on a recent TC article on supportive housing. This quote is spot on: "It is understanding the why that gets us to solutions. Otherwise we continue to chase our tails." #bcpoli #housing #yyj

Its not to late to reverse course. In fact restoring or growing SRSP program is an easy government win. It actually saves money by diverting from the emergency health care & #homelessness management systems in an efficient way. #bcpoli futureofgood.co/bc-governmen...

1/ There is a lot of discussion about trees and infill development here in Victoria, BC. Sometimes replacing one or two single detached houses with a small apartment building requires replacing a few trees. That's unfortunate, and, yet, the alternative is far worse. #yyj