#hfxws 1/2. I rode from Flinn Park to Northwood Terrace and back. Here's what I found. The Stuart Graham Monolith is clear to the asphalt and well salted. Almon St bike lane is passable w/ some icy bits. Local streets in Westmount and North end bikeway are all clear. Mind the potholes on Creighton.

I want to see a pie chart of budget operating costs showing the infinitessimal slice that is library/ transit/ bike network completion. Then I want the time spent debating converted to cost in salaries on the nearly invisible slice. Maybe include the salary costs of redundant staff reports.

Attention #BikeHfx

New Brunswick commited to monitoring & improving gov. building ventilation, including schools. Why hasn't Nova Scotia done the same? Use this template to send a letter to the Premier ([email protected]), your MLA (nslegislature.ca/members/prof...), and the Minister of Ed ([email protected])

Attempting to make snow removal more joyful, and also running out of space within a few steps to put all the snow & slush.

For HRM, we need to reduce emissions and adapt via HaliFACT which relies on implementing the IMP. This means a significant modal shift away from driving for every trip to riding for more trips 🚍⛴️🚲🛴.

apparently i'm inspired to write mundane poetry in the depths of midwinter. my second (annual?) tanka: ❄️ 🚲 if i lived car free my driveway would be full of my shovelled snow atop my unshovelled snow and a small path for my bike

Just wondering if Austerity Andy knows that he’s acting like the evil mayor from a book that’s popular with #KidicalMassHfx kiddos.

A lot of people don't know how the city works. In Halifax, we put them on council.

In the Netherlands, cycling and public transport aren’t competitors—they’re teammates. Invest in one, and the other gets stronger. Nowhere is this clearer than at railway stations, where every design decision sharpens the bike infrastructure network and makes the door-to-door journey even smoother.

Sometimes I want reliable transit and safe bike lanes but I know that someday my kid is going to have to buy a car just to participate in society and they're going to be glad that I saved $72 in municipal taxes in 2026.

Our elected representatives are spending a non-trivial amount if today figuring out how to reduce services and increase the relative tax burden of Districts 7, 8, and 9.

Me in Monday's episode: I hope I'm not being dramatic when I say that council does not want you to live here if you are a young person. Tuesday's council meeting: Don't worry, we're gonna fuck up transit and bike lanes to subsidize driving. Fuck them kids.

Enjoying a skate on the Halifax Oval before #AusterityAndy kills that too. In this time of rising costs, we should be pooling our funds for the public good, investing in: low cost transportation options; libraries; parks & recreation. These are the muni services that make Halifax feel like home.

I’m absolutely flabbergasted by the extent to which Austerity Andy hates Haligonians, especially our smallest ones. bsky.app/profile/terr...

Anguish says what’s dragging down the program, delaying the network & driving up cost is constant redirection from council!!

“When I got elected, the primary reason was road safety. I’m tired of killing people on our streets. I want to kill less people, not more. Paint is not infrastructure”

Cleary “ we are going to spend more to repave roads this year than we will spend on bike lanes in the next five years”

Things you don't expect to hear from your 7 year old: "Can I watch curling tomorrow, instead of Land & Sea?" He's clearly a big fan of CBC Gem's streaming content.

This appears to be the PSA for the Windpool connector closure. Doesn’t mention bikes, of course.

I really shouldn't be surprised by some folks' inability to think of anyone but themselves; but here I am, replying to Facebook neighbourhood group posts again.

What do Paris, Montreal, Barcelona and Brussels have in common? “If you look at the cities doing the most to reclaim public streets from the automobile and give it to people, they often have one thing in common, and that's strong female leadership.” @thewaroncars.bsky.social LISTEN: bit.ly/3MdP82L

Someone on CBC just mentioned that there might be up to a ten percent increase in municipal taxes and questioned if it was worth it. I'm a suburban homeowner. For me, we're talking about an increase of $12 a month. Just let me PAY. Hell, let me pay twice that. Give me my municipal services!

We chose to buy a house on the peninsula- happily paying higher taxes- so that we wouldn't have to be car dependent. It's so frustrating that suburban/rural councillors & the NS govt are doing everything they can to make that harder & my neighborhood less safe. Stay in your lane & out of my backyard

Has anyone come across nice one-page flyer or handout with info about biking with kids? #BikeSky

Who is ready for some good news about school IAQ in #NBPoli? 💕 Thanks to @meganmitton.bsky.social !! 🔥 Scroll to 6:41:00 on the webcast: www.legnb.ca/en/webcasts/... (And the most sincere and never-ending thanks to Ryan Murphy; this would not happen without him and others who have worked so hard.)

Seeing a lot of sickies on my TL. Reminder to #halisky you can get tested for free for flu & Covid. Majority of people have one qualifier. Neurodevelopmental disorders not listed but INCLUDED: ADHD, autism, motor disorders, etc etc. Oh, and please, mask in public if you are sick!

We've got a pretty great community here in #BikeHfx.

"I'm also named Doug" 😂

#hfxws: I biked from the west end to the IWK at 8:00am. Many streets are covered with snow, and slippery, including: Allan, Quingate, and University. The Uni bike lane is better than the road. Oak St and parts of Vernon St were wet and slushy rather than snow-packed.

Congratulations to Councillor Laura White for adding more parking enforcement staff and more municipal revenue with a unanimous vote!

It’s a Monolithic Miracle #hfxws and #BikeHfx. The traffic filter on Stuart Graham (“the Monolith”) has been plowed. The mountain of snow (that stood here yesterday at 4:30pm) appears to have been trucked away. FYI, there is some chunky broken up ice under all this salt.

We don't have well-established minority communities (like those in Toronto) to counterbalance Nova Scotian nativism. It's hard to put down roots and start a family if you've been priced out of home ownership. If you don't own a car, you are scapegoated for congestion by a populist mayor. Why come?

I desperately want to live in a city that is actively bettering itself – it's what drew me back to Halifax. However, we are quickly regressing under amateurish provincial leaders and their "vacuous and controllable" mayor. I don't think continued population growth is assured.

Halifax Transit has been pretty good to me lately. Hope it stays that way 🤞 www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/...

“what sometimes seems like millions being spent on bikes is actually millions being spent to avoid impacts to vehicle traffic.” This, this, very this!!

Do your local leaders: Lead with empathy? Have vision for the future? Value care work? Build alliances? And prioritize impact over power? These are the people making change in our cities, and this episode of @thewaroncars.bsky.social is well worth the Patreon subscription.

The #BikeHfx community is just the best

Lots of curb cuts are likely blocked due to over night snow clearing (I just cleared one by us), and unless crews clear them, they’ll be that way for the trip to school. #HfxWs

#hfxws: no Bayers MUP for me today. But I can tell you that the Saunders Park and Armcrescent pathways are still snow covered. We used Stuart Graham sidewalk to get into Westmount, where roads were all clear enough to get to Almon, then Connolly northbound. Most sidewalks were not yet clear.

Take care of yourselves, living under fascism is corrosive to well-being, even when your day to day is insulated from its most brutal actions.

Council commissions a staff report to find out why. The report is delayed because staff are busy compiling a report on choosing Halifax’s favourite colour. The mayor, a failed federal politician, blames bike lanes.

The year is 2035. Council has voted to delay the bike network yet again. Finishing it will now cost $500 million. Road costs and taxes are higher than they’ve ever been. Traffic is gridlocked everywhere. Young people leave the city to find opportunity elsewhere. Council can’t figure out why.

#hfxws: there's at least a few centimetres of snow on the ground already #Halisky, and it's blowing around out there too! Snow plows are out clearing the roads in my neighbourhood, but I doubt we'll see a sidewalk plow until after the snow stops falling.

Thanks to everyone in #BikeHfx who made this happen: there's no better way to spend a Sunday morning than sharing cookies and hot cocoa with bike friends!

"I think in in Halifax we have a culture of sort of aggressive driving."

The CAO admitting there’s a risk of doing so much can kicking in the name of austerity during a time of growth that the city becomes uninhabitable, and that past council has been misleading the public by saying projects are “2 years away” every 2 years 👀

#hfxws: Almon details: the sections of protected lane W of Windsor are full of snow. E-bound, enter the bike lane using the vehicle lane; and W-bound, exit to the vehicle lane (dodging 2 lanes of cars). IMO, lane is clearest btwn Robie & Agricola and worse btwn Windsor & Robie, both directions.

Protected bike lanes = One Weird Trick to Massively Increase Cycling

#hfxws: Bayers Rd MUPdate. Conditions were very similar this evening, with a few more spots that are bare asphalt due to melting snow. I expect some icy spots tomorrow morning. The Liverpool St, Saunders Park, and Armcrescent pathways are similar: patchy snow cover, and narrowed.