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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 9h

"This type of housing is sorely needed, Myers added, as the population is dropping, and some schools are under capacity, while seniors are faced with homes they can't keep up with." Huh. I wonder if anything could have helped that. Maybe sixplexes? Nah, that could never work in the suburbs.

Multiplexes were supposed to boost housing in Toronto’s suburban neighbourhoods. The Star’s interactive map reveals they’re clustered in these areas instead

Opposition to multiplexes has been fierce in the city’s outer wards, but that’s not the only reason for slow uptake.

www.thestar.com

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 17h

Banning AirBnB is a case where the “abundance” framing is useful.

I get the desire to prioritize residents over visitors in a housing emergency.

But shouldn’t the bigger long-term goal be more housing *and* more hotels? Rather than just managing scarcity?

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Leo Spalteholz @leospalteholz.bsky.social · 17h

The outcry over AirBnB is largely a story of a long term housing shortage crashing straight into a short term housing shortage

Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 17h

I’m not wedded to AirBnB specifically. There are valid concerns about things like partying in residential buildings.

But it clearly reflects a lack of hotel supply in many cities, especially apartment-style rooms.

It’s also nice to have hotels that aren’t either downtown or out by a highway!

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 1d

Interesting, but Canadians shouldn’t be too proud; much of the “urban” in Canada is still car-oriented SFH.

Canadian suburbs are denser than American ones. Density does not always translate into transit use or walkability.

Marcus P. @reluctantaxe.bsky.social · 1d

A Redditor made a graph of the percent of population of US and Canada metro areas over 1 million that live in a given density. When they ordered them by average density the lowest ranked Canadian metro area, Edmonton, was ranked 14th between Miami and Washington. 6 of the top 15 were Canadian metros

Graph of Canada and US metro areas with a breakdown of percentage of people that live in density density bands

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

Not everything can or should be protected. In fact, when some heritage advocates argue that all old buildings must remain as is, I think it diminishes their arguments that some buildings are indeed special in some way. When you argue everything is special, nothing seems special anymore.

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

There absolutely can be community value that comes with protected buildings, but that may also come with increased housing costs in other areas of the community, as fewer spaces are now available for building new developments. Those trade-offs need to be a part of these discussions.

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

I actually think there is value in considering which properties/areas should be 'protected' in some way, however, this article fails to mention some of the trade-offs that might come with the mass heritage protections that are proposed. www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/329-hespeler-properties-in-line-for-special-heritage-status/article_bbaa20f7-0337-53d8-b3e6-f7fd1a1d48ab.html

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Julie Witmer @witmaps.ca · 2d

Things that are cash grabs: Ford selling 99 year lease of public park (Ontario Place) to private company; successive governments taking taxpayer money earmarked for health and education and giving it to private companies. Things that are not cash grabs: fines for breaking the law.

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

“Those who are using terms like ‘nanny state’, and this is a ‘cash grab’, I hope they look at these numbers and realize this is absolutely not. This is about the safety of our most vulnerable, including little kids to older adults and everybody in between." -Waterloo mayor McCabe

Regional committee discusses speed cameras

Regional committee members discussed how the speed camera enforcement program has progressed in its first six months of operation at a meeting on Tuesday.

kitchener.citynews.ca

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Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈 @mikedoherty.ca · 1d

To each their own, but I would never outsource writing a regex, a thing my brain actually likes doing and finds rewarding.

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 3d

I’m cool with using LLMs for stuff like “writing regexes” but why would I use them to do things my brain actually likes doing and finds rewarding?

why would I outsource eating a really good hamburger to someone else? that’s my fucking hamburger

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Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈 @mikedoherty.ca · 2d

I'm open to this, but that kind of research is not generally how the legal field thinks about punishment. I would also scale fines by income, but "we don't do that here" 🤷‍♂️

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Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈 @mikedoherty.ca · 2d

True of so many problems in this country 😕

Johnny “We have the meats” Renton @johnnyrenton.bsky.social · 2d

This letter addresses what I, and many people are feeling about VIA Rail. It isn’t just that agency is failing, it’s that they (VIA or the Feds) can’t even have honest conversations about it, or treat the public’s concerns in a way that isn’t arrogant and dismissive.

Northern Tracks Blog @northerntracksblog.bsky.social · 2d

#viarailcanada #passengerail #northernontario
doppleronline.ca/huntsville/r...

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Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈 @mikedoherty.ca · 2d

There already is a minimum overage of at least 10km/h.
I'm not sure that cost of enforcement is a valid factor in setting the amount of a fine. Since they're placed in areas where we think speeding is particularly dangerous, the fine should be set according to that risk (and how much over the limit)

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

Vrbanovic "said that machines do not operate with the same discretion as a police officer, who may decide to let the driver off with a warning for minor speeding infractions." And that's what makes everyone so mad - that they don't have an opportunity to evade a ticket when caught.

Waterloo Region forges ahead with speed cameras despite looming ban

The Region of Waterloo will go ahead with turning on six speed cameras despite Doug Ford’s scathing condemnation

buff.ly

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 2d

When people say “developers just want to blanket our neighbourhood with apartment towers”, I respond: “that would only happen if your current zoning rules massively limit the supply of housing below demand. Is that the case?”.

(In California, the answer is “yes”.)

alex davis @alexdavistransit.bsky.social · 2d

Now if only we had a photorealistic rendering to illustrate the magnitude of this glorious future:

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 2d

Case in point! bsky.app/profile/alex...

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 2d

Toronto’s civic square should be a place for people to come together. It can be - with some leadership and some followthrough. My column:

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Toronto deserves a civic space with heart. Why can’t it fix Nathan Phillips Square?

The ongoing attempts to fix the space in front of City Hall continue – 60 years after it was built

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 2d

This applies 10x to the design and construction of public space. Endless missed opportunities.

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Damien Moule @damienmoule.bsky.social · 2d

Good thread about evolution of traffic planning in the heart of Bologna. I want to emphasize this particular post for Toronto. The city has lost the ability to plan higher order transit so municipal politicians need to stop spending all their effort on federal funding and start doing what they can.

Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 2d

Pragmatism.

In a context where funding for mass transit projects was sorely lacking, the city didn't waste time on pipe dreams; instead, it acted on what it had control of and fiscal capacity for: bus service levels and patterns, allocation of street space, and traffic flow organization.

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Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈 @mikedoherty.ca · 3d

Looks great! I've got butter tarts on my to-do list for this weekend too.

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 3d

“A total ban on (automated speed enforcement) would reverse years of progress on safety ... It would place more pressure on police, increase enforcement costs, and most critically, endanger lives,” said a letter from 20+ Ontario mayors to Ford and Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria.

20-plus mayors urge Doug Ford to compromise on speed camera ban

“A total ban on (automated speed enforcement) would reverse years of progress on safety,” said a letter signed by 22 mayors and sent to Ford and his Transportation minister on Thursday.

www.thestar.com

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 3d

We're focused on trying to solve the parking problem but we should be focused on how to build convenient, affordable, and plentiful alternatives to people needing to drive everywhere. Fund more transit, cycling, and pedestrian infrastructure.

Text: “Two parking spaces should have been the standard. Most residents cannot rely on public transit to get to work, school, or the grocery store.

“Moving forward, we need to take a more realistic look at how people live today. Future planning goals shouldn’t come at the expense of current taxpayers.”

Cipriani said the solution is the city giving more consideration for parking based on density.

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

American Fietser @americanfietser.bsky.social · 3d

How to design safer intersections:

1. Near-sided signals. Placed before the bike/ped crossing, they prevent drivers from creeping into the path.

2. Pavement differentiation. High-contrast, colored crossings (like this red asphalt) clearly establish priority and command driver attention.

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 3d

Story: www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...

This is actually *the* most logical place in the entire city for high-rises, tbh. I would hazard a guess that the immediate 200m surrounding Allen Station has the highest density of any ION LRT station.

It’s ‘anybody’s guess’ when twin condo towers might be built, Waterloo developer says

City council has been asked to approve condo towers at 37 and 33 storeys just blocks from three towers that were approved but not built

www.therecord.com

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 3d

Here's a good example of how the consensus around urban density in KW differs from many other medium-sized cities. At a development proposal meeting, a Waterloo councillor responded to the "high-rises aren't for families" trope with a comment that they are in no way a lesser-than form of living.

This drew a rebuke from Coun. Royce Bodaly. “There are many, many residents who live in the city of Waterloo who are raising families in high-density apartment buildings, and I don’t think that we should be suggesting that is some sort of lesser-than way of living,” he said.

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Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈 @mikedoherty.ca · 3d

DRAG. HIS. ASS.

Waterloo Region Record @therecord.com · 3d

Conestoga president John Tibbits to appear before standing committee on citizenship and immigration
www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...

Conestoga president John Tibbits to appear before standing committee on citizenship and immigration

Conestoga College president John Tibbits will appear before the standing committee on citizenship and immigration. The committee is reviewing Canada’s immigration and citizenship laws, programs and…

www.therecord.com

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Reposted by Mike Doherty 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

Bryan Based International Order 🇨🇦 @bryanpeeler.bsky.social · 3d

Never forget.

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