We're honored to be recognized by an organization doing such important work such as @ecologyottawa.bsky.social ! This couldn't have been done without all of the members who helped out along the way. None of this is a one person job! Thank you to all of our wonderful members!

I spoke with CBC about parking in Centretown, why we need to build more housing downtown, and why we need to price parking based on supply and demand. www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-p...

CBC had a great episode about parking in downtown! We need to give people good alternatives to driving so that we can get people to where they need to go. Parking is some of the worst land usage we can have in the downtown core of the city. www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-p...

Such an amazing turnout last night at our monthly meeting! Great conversations about next steps for bus lanes on Bank Street, the upcoming election, and our future advocacy! If you're looking to join in on the fun, check out our next events at luma.com/STO We look forward to seeing you there!

Disappointment at council today. Council just passed a motion from Councillor Menard for the Bank Street bus lane study which will restrict bus lanes even further from staff's proposed 3 hours to 2 hours. This means we will get no data about how parking affects bus flow in the area.

After 30+ people showed up to the Public Works commission last week in support of expanding bus lanes on Bank Street, City Council has now passed a motion to reduce the scope of the bus lanes even further This motion was passed with absolutely no debate Passed without a single question

Here’s my issue: this is obvious that it makes sense: there’s zero reasons to not implement this. Why does it take grassroots orgs, deputations, endless discussions, debates and reviews to implement good policy, make decisive leadership decisions. We are buried in bureaucracy for the sake of 1/

We have sent a letter out with our 4 key asks for the upcoming Bus Lanes on Bank Street report coming to PWIC on March 30th. You can read the asks here : strongtownsottawa.ca/2026/03/24/o... The letter is also attached in the post. Want to delegate? strongtownsottawa.ca/2026/03/23/f...

Thank you to the @natashabaldin.bsky.social at the Citizen for covering such an important issue! We need reliable transit not only to get people to and from work, but at all times of day! Students at Carleton, mothers picking up groceries, kids getting to the movies ottawacitizen.com/news/bus-lan...

The current plan calls for changes not to take effect for more than a year from now (Summer 2027) This is unacceptable when we are facing a severe bus shortage and bus reliability crisis. Any bus wasted sitting in traffic means a bus cancelled elsewhere in the network.

City staff has released the agenda for the PWIC March 30th meeting, where Bank Street Bus Lanes will be discussed (item 5.2). Please consider signing up to delegate in favour of expanding bus lanes further. On-street parking is extremely underused here and is standing in the way of real progress.

Spoke with CTV Ottawa about the need for bus lanes on Bank Street. “We really think that considering the transit crisis right now in Ottawa, that bus lanes are a really great way to speed up transit and to reduce costs,” www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

The Centretown Community Association has sent a letter suggesting changes and improvements to the Bank Street Transit Study. As the busiest bus corridor in Ottawa, Bank street needs to prioritize moving people over cars.

An amazing member of ours put together this graphic that really encapsulates perfectly the situation on Bank Street. There is only so much space available, and we must use it as efficiently as possible. Parking isn't that. Please sign up to delegate on March 30th in favour of bus lanes!

Apologies, just wanted to correct a small thing. The second figure, 25, is not how the owners got there, but actually what the owners THINK that customers primarily use to get to their stores. So again just showing that owners heavily overestimate how many customers drive.

The Glebe BIA had a report done about the area. We think this image perfectly encapsulates the reason for hesitancy by the business owners to get rid of parking. While 86% of the respondents who come to shop said they get there by means other than driving, 94% of the owners said they drove.

One thing I feel ought to be discussed more is the fact that basically all rural and suburban places in the US are subsidized by cities. They resent cities. They insult cities. They elect politicians who abuse cities. But none of them could survive without cities.

Thanks to Mary Huang from the Centretown Community Association for coming to Finance Committee today, to voice support for the city’s acquisition of the hotel at O’Connor and Gladstone for family transitional housing.

This is amazing news. As someone who lives in Centretown, I’m happy to say “yes in my backyard!”

This is a very clever bit of writing from @robattrell.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy on the evolution of suburbs really in North America through the post-war period, and how they can be made better.

The agenda for February's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee is up and still no Bank Street bus lanes. It was supposed to be on the agenda for this meeting, but has been delayed yet again. This "pilot project" has been in the works for over 4 years, and is now over a year behind schedule.

This is bad, but then you realize that most cancellations likely happened at peak times and it starts to look really really bad. Peak time cancellations on the busiest routes means more unhappy riders, more traffic, and less fare revenue for an already broke system. www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

Has “Board of Trade” met “Ottawa public transit”?

At Planning Committee yesterday, we voted unanimously to replace a road that was originally going to connect Preston to Lebreton Flats with a pedestrian and cycling bridge. This is a win for active transportation and for traffic management in Little Italy. www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

Shoutout to @stephanieplante.bsky.social for speaking out on unfair transit reliability issues downtown. Thank you for stating your commitment to bus-only lanes and transit priority signals. Let’s speed up the 6, 7 and more urban routes! cc: @arieltroster.com @shawnmenard.bsky.social

It was wonderful seeing everyone who came out to the social last night! Look out for our next monthly meeting on the 12th which will focus on the zoning bylaw and infill! Info available on our website events section! strongtownsottawa.ca#Events

We don’t talk enough about how slowly the City of Ottawa moves to help residents. The Bank Street Transit Study was first proposed in 2021, and its implementation has been delayed again. The worst part? The study’s proposal includes just 2 hours of combined bus lanes a day!

We are building the first-ever standalone public bathroom facility in downtown Ottawa. It’s about damn time. Public toilets are a basic human need. Because when you gotta go, you gotta go … www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

Thank you, Ottawa Citizen, for publishing my op-ed today on the financial crisis that municipalities across the country are facing due to aging infrastructure. To read the story, please visit the Ottawa Citizen web site and look for the Opinion section. @OttawaCitizen.com

Next Ottawa Urbanism Book Club on January 26 will discuss Ottawology by @tonyadavidson.bsky.social We meet at 6:15pm at Sunnyside Public Library. All are welcome and reading is optional!

@giopetti.bsky.social knocks it out of the park with his second documentary “The Train to Nowhere”. Was proud to talk to him and play a small part in the making of this great video. youtu.be/wLD0L63QgxU?...

I didn’t write this and only came across it recently, but it sums up well why I stopped posting on social media so much. It’s nice being able to walk around Ottawa and other cities and just enjoy them for what they are.

Shoutout to @derricksimpson.bsky.social for hosting the monthly Ottawa Urbanism Bookclub! I definitely think that attending the book club inspired me to take my reading ambitions to the next level this year 😎

What’s on our team’s reading list? Our Comms Coordinator, @etiennelefebvre.bsky.social, shares the five books that most influenced his thinking on cities in 2025. parkingreform.org/2025/12/18/f...

Great news: The Dalhousie Community Association has set a letter supporting improving bus mobility on Bank Street, including requesting to extend the study into Centretown. Love to see it! cc @bearswim.bsky.social @arieltroster.com @shawnmenard.bsky.social

And here’s the kicker: Tierney’s vote, the mayor’s vote, and all the like-minded councillors always have the numbers. They win. Every time. So if their approach is always the one implemented… how are things not improving, Tim? 17/

No longer waiting for a bus, now waiting for a train. Proud to announce the sequel to DUDE, WHERE'S MY BUS?... A TRAIN TO NOWHERE! Releasing January 2026! m.youtube.com/watch?v=RGKe...

The City bending over backwards to present Lansdowne 2.0 info with white gloves, make special financial exceptions, and then do absolutely nothing to meaningfully improve the transit and traffic situation on Bank Street is incredibly disappointing.

Lansdowne 2.0 passes 15-10. As a group dedicated to financial transparency and smart investments in community infrastructure, we had concerns around the reporting process and special financial treatment given to Lansdowne 2.0, as well as the lack of tangible transit improvements. @alex-is.online

What a wonderful turnout for our first ever monthly meeting, where we discussed preparing for the 2026 Budget, and how to give delegations! Look forward to our upcoming monthly meetings to get involved if you couldn't attend this one! Thank you to St. Peter's Lutheran Church for the space! #Ottawa

You would think the mayor was being ironic here when he says that we can't acquiesce to demands of wealthy sports owners, right before he says we need to be careful we don't lose the other wealthy sports owners in the same stadium 🤣🤣 #Ottawa #Lansdowne2.0

The contempt the city has shown for this expensive and genuinely impressive piece of art it bought and proudly installed is just perfectly symbolic of how it treats both the public realm and its own investments. ottawacitizen.com/news/artist-...

I have been relatively quiet on here this week, because my office has been dealing with a barrage of email from people who attend a particular church, upset about the addition of paid parking on Saturdays nearby. BTW: there 525 free parking spots within the 400m zone (and 202 spots within 200m).

It was a joy to join @strongtownsottawa.ca for this month’s Urbanism Book Club and to honour @derricksimpson.bsky.social for his 2025 Eco Award for Active & Accessible Champion. Congratulations, Derrick, and keep up the excellent work! #Ottawa #EcoAward #Community #Environment

Turns out the real political spectrum is just how people feel about free parking 😂 Tag yourself!

Spoke with the Centretown Buzz about the (not so great) proposal for bus lanes on Bank Street, and the need to put people before parking. centretownbuzz.ca/2025/10/be-b...

The musical acrobatics event in the Byward market last night was a great example of the potential of our neighbourhoods when we pedestrianize streets and prioritize people. More space for people, more business, more fun.

We heard from many groups today about the Tewin development. This is unfortunately going to be a development that further entrenches us into unsustainable sprawl. Property taxes have not and will not be able to provide long-term support for these types of developments. We have decades of evidence.

"Bettors lose billions of dollars a year on parlays ... and operators bring in far more revenue for every dollar wagered on these bets than they do straight bets. In most of the states that publish the relevant data, parlays account for between half and two-thirds of the operators’ revenue."

The LRT being closed for maintenance on Panda Game weekend is such a confusing and poor decision. Ottawa consistently forgets to think of the needs of students and transit riders when making decisions.