✨New Post✨Rome wasn't built in a day, and apparently neither are complete streets in Orléans. 🏛️🚦 I’ve updated the timeline of the Jeanne d'Arc / Orléans Blvd saga through to the end of 2025. The data tells the story of the gap between vision and reality. 👇 theneworleans.ca/2025/09/12/j...

✨New Post ✨ "Affordable Housing" vs. housing that is affordable. Are we solving the problem or subsidizing a broken system? It’s time to challenge the comfortable narratives in Ottawa. Read why the current approach is a myth. 📉 #OttPoli #HousingCrisis

✨New Post✨ We’ve looked at the history, the hurdles, and the blueprint. Now, we look at the destination. 🏁 Part 5 of The Complete Community series is live. Join us as we wrap up our deep dive into the future of our suburbs and outline the vision for The New Orleans. #Urbanism #Orleans

I delegated to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee today with a simple message: Stand up for Ottawa. 🏛️ Bill 60 is a threat to our autonomy & budget. #ottawa #ottbike #bill60

✨New Post✨ A better city doesn't happen by accident. It happens by design. 🏗️ The Blueprint is about making the intentional choices today that create a solvent, resilient, and livable Orleans tomorrow. Read the next chapter of our series on The Complete Community. #NewUrbanism #WalkableCity #Orleans

✨New Post✨ Do our neighborhoods generate enough wealth to pave their own streets? 📉 In Part 3 of our Complete Communities series, we crunch the numbers on "Productive Communities" and why fiscal sustainability starts with urban design. #StrongTowns #Orleans

✨New Post✨ Do our neighborhoods generate enough wealth to pave their own streets? 📉 In Part 3 of our Complete Communities series, we crunch the numbers on "Productive Communities" and why fiscal sustainability starts with urban design. #StrongTowns #Orleans

✨New Post✨ Housing is the foundation, but amenities are the lifeblood of a neighborhood. 🏪🏡 We’re exploring how mixed-use planning and tweaking the density dial can turn our streets into complete, resilient communities. #StrongTowns #Urbanism

If you ask drivers how they’d like to get around their city better, they’ll ask for more and wider lanes. To get the right answers, it’s time to ask the right questions. Reducing traffic happens when people drive less. We need options. We need places to go nearby.

Households in #canada “should” be able to live with just one car. Cuz if you can live with one car, you would be able to live with no car.

Excellent piece here from Bruce Deachman. I participated in the same workshop a couple years ago. Eye-opening, empathy-building, and at times maddening. Should be mandatory training for every elected official.

✨New Post✨ (first in a series!) We need to stop designing just for movement and start designing for living. Here is how we move beyond "Complete Streets" toward a Complete Community. #Orleans #ottawa #strongtowns

✨New Post✨ We love to vacation in dense, walkable, vibrant places. Why not build those same joys of urban life right here in our own communities? #Urbanism #Ottawa

✨New Post✨ Ontario's Bill 60 is a direct hit on local control. It's vetoing municipal efforts to build safer streets for everyone. Why is the province overriding local decisions? This is a major setback for walkable, people-first communities. #Bill60 #onpoli #Ottawa #SafeStreets

✨New Post✨ What's it *really* like to bike through Orléans? It's... an experience. I break down the anatomy of a typical suburban ride—the good, the bad, and the infrastructure that just... ends. A two-wheeled urbanism ride-along. #KidicalMass #Ottawa #ottbike

What does it take to make our suburban streets safe for kids? I did a 3.5 km narrated ridealong of our Kidical Mass Orléans route to show exactly what needs to change. 🚲 #Orleans #KidicalMass #Urbanism #SafeStreets

Is Ottawa school zone safety negotiable? 🚷Delays to sidewalk builds 🚦School Street policy red lighted 📸 Automated Speed Enforcement to be cut down by Doug Ford 📣 No! Tell the Mayor to stand up to the province and anyone who makes communities less safe. schoolstreetsottawa.ca/2025/10/11/o...

✨New Post✨ Our city budget often chases short-term 'municipal candy' while ignoring the long-term fiscal bellyache it causes. It's time for the adults in the room to prioritize financial solvency over flashy projects. 🍬💸 #Ottawa #Orleans #StrongTowns

✨New Post✨ From our weekly "Pedal and Play" rides to a season-ending Kidical Mass event, we're showing what a more connected, family-friendly Orléans can look like—one bike ride at a time. 🚲 #Orléans #KidicalMass #Community

170 Slater, the collapsed parking garage being redeveloped into 538 residential units. Community Benefits Charge (CBC): ~$600,000 Development Charges (DC): ~$13,000,000 Of those DCs, about $3-million goes exclusively towards suburban arterial roads. Those should be eliminated long before the CBCs.

✨New Post✨ The average bike probably isn't practical for daily life, but realistically that just mean you have the wrong bike. Most North American cyclists are riding a sports car or Jeep when they need a sedan or a minivan. theneworleans.ca/2025/10/02/y... 👩👧👦 #CargoBike #Suburbs #urbanism

✨New Post✨ The suburban dream sold us the 'freedom to drive,' but it came with a hidden contract: the obligation to own a car for everything. True freedom is about having choices—the choice to walk, bike, or live a full life without a car. #LessCar #Urbanism

✨New Post✨ The city’s top-down approach to 15-minute neighbourhoods is too expensive. We can achieve the goal city-wide with a more fiscally prudent path: fixing our zoning to allow our communities to evolve organically. #LandUse #Zoning #OttPoli #Urbanism #StrongTowns

It’s even more striking if you look at survival rate carsp.ca/en/news-and-...

I was the sweeper for this morning's #KidicalMassOttawa bike ride. These two little ones did a super job. So does this ASE Safety Camera. There are 3 elementary schools located on this stretch of 4 lane road. The camera helps keep kids safe NOW & collects funds for more permanent changes. 1/2

Great turnout at today’s Kidical Mass ride in Orleans, Ottawa. Shows there’s an appetite for cycling outside the core. #KidicalMassRide #Ottawa #Orleans @cgow.bsky.social

This fun family bike ride is also an advocacy event? 🚲 Our article highlights the fun of Kidical Mass on Sept 27th & shows how simple road changes can make our streets safer for everyone. 🚦 Join us to advocate for a more accessible Orleans! #KidicalMass #SafeStreets #BikeOttawa

This fun family bike ride is also an advocacy event? 🚲 Our article highlights the fun of Kidical Mass on Sept 27th & shows how simple road changes can make our streets safer for everyone. 🚦 Join us to advocate for a more accessible Orleans! #KidicalMass #SafeStreets #BikeOttawa

That watermain is from 1972. Ottawa has 843km of watermains older than that. Council just deferred $2 billion in identified water and sewer renewal work for the next decade. You're going to see a lot more of this happening in the future.

I mapped Ottawa’s 2023–2033 road renewal list against property tax data. Then I estimated the amortized cost of road renewals as a share of the property tax levy: Inner greenbelt: 6% Outer greenbelt: 10% Rural: 40% Villages: 50%

Do you like to… Ride your bike 🚲 And have fun 🥳 With your kids 🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 On safe neighbourhood streets 🪖 Come to our next kidical mass ride in Orleans. Info 👇 1/2 kidicalmassorleans2025.eventbrite.ca

🚆 Big weekend for O-Train Line 1! A full-line test from Tunney’s Pasture to Trim is happening Sept 13–14. 📅 No train service, R1 buses in place. 23 trains will run at full speed, up to 80 km/h. A major step toward the East Extension launch!

This change has happened so incrementally you might not have noticed, but cities, streets, and vehicles have made our children's world completely different from the one we grew up in.

✨New Post✨ Ever wonder why good plans for our community seem to disappear into a black hole at City Hall? I took a deep dive into the bureaucratic roadblocks that stall progress and how we can build a more financially resilient and people-focused Orléans. #ottpoli #urbanism

✨New Post✨A small park in Orléans is proving the "Field of Dreams" rule of community building: if you build good places for people, they will come. This is a small taste of the more vibrant future we can create. 🌳 #Orleans #Urbanism

Want to enjoy the beautiful weather but still have errands to run? Ride your bike to the grocery store!

✨New Post✨ How do we pay for the Orléans we love? We face a choice: drastically higher taxes, declining services, or welcoming more neighbours. In my new article, I break down the uncomfortable math of our suburban lifestyle and our three possible futures. #Orléans #StrongTowns

With back to school is behind us, have you thought about new ways of getting to school? How about biking? Whether solo or starting a bike bus, we’ve got you covered! Plan your route with our new app. Download it now. 1/2 cyclingguide.org/download-the...

Good representation from the Vision Zero coalition in the replies here. We should be doing more than thoughts and prayers for the kids on our streets.

“The bike bus has emerged as a beacon of change, connecting communities and schools while promoting active and eco-friendly lifestyles. Originating in European cities like Barcelona, this trend has now become a global movement, reshaping the way kids commute to school.” Via @momentummag.bsky.social

✨New Post✨ Community events are more than just a nice way to spend an afternoon. They are the invisible social infrastructure that combats suburban isolation and builds the trust we need to create a better, more resilient Orléans. #Orleans #Community #Urbanism

“Efficiencies” don’t balance the books: they erode services and trust in our governments, institutions and organizations. My first (!!!) op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen: Why respect for taxpayers must mean real investment in transit, housing, and climate resilience. ottawacitizen.com/opinion/taxp...

We're organizing a Kidical Mass family bike ride in Orléans on Sept 27! It's more than just a fun ride; it's a joyful, positive demonstration for safer streets for our kids and a more connected community. Hope you can join us! 🚲

✨New Post✨ Our kids should be able to safely walk or bike around their own neighbourhoods. Car-centric design has taken away their independent mobility, but we can get it back by retrofitting our streets. Our suburban kids deserve better. #SafeStreets #Urbanism

ICYMI - Our final #KidicalMass bike ride of the season will take place September 27 in Orleans! More details and optional registration: kidicalmassorleans2025.eventbrite.ca 📢 Please help us share the word. #OttBike #OttEvents #OttCity #Ottawa #OrleansOntario #SafeStreets #SafeStreetsForKids

✨New Post✨ Transit-Oriented Development is a good first step, but it's not a silver bullet. To truly transform our suburbs, we need to move beyond just building near transit and focus on creating financially resilient, walkable, and complete neighbourhoods.

✨New Post✨ What if our streets were designed for people first, where cars were only guests? This is the idea behind the "Woonerf" or living street. Let's explore how this concept could transform suburbs like Orléans. 🚶‍♀️🚲🌳 #Urbanism #Walkability #LessCar

✨New Post✨ The bicycle is more than a toy; it's a freedom machine. It's a powerful tool to build community, support local business, and heal our suburbs. Time to start the ride. 🚲 #LessCar #Orleans #YOW

✨New Post✨ Ever wonder why we so often fight against the very traffic solutions that would improve our neighbourhoods and our lives? I dive into the psychology that keeps us stuck in congestion and how a shift in perspective can lead to more connected, resilient communities. #Urbanism #Ottawa

✨New Post✨ Ever wonder why our suburbs look the way they do? It wasn't by accident. Unpacking the hidden policies that shaped our communities, from street design to housing types. #UrbanPlanning #Orleans