Mihai Cirstea
@mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
800 followers 680 following 200 posts
Aggressive pedestrian. Non-avid cyclist. PhD in Microbiology. Big fan of trees. #vancouver
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mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
This budget is reckless. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our amenities are quite literally falling apart. A 0% increase combined with a raise for the VPD means big cuts to already struggling services and infrastructure, no matter how ABC wants to spin it.
The Vancouver Aquatic Centre with a chunk of its wall broken off.
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
I'm realizing that I don't know the name of a single judge on Canada's Supreme Court and how that's probably a good thing
pwnallthethings.bsky.social
Tragic news from Canada where the Canadian Supreme Court has gone from the official dress on the left to the one on the right
Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in bright red wooly gowns, with a beige trim. It looks sort of like a Santa robe The Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in black gowns with a bright white kravat, and two thin red vertical lines on the side of the robe
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Stumbled on the grand opening of the new public plaza in uptown New West, complete with wider bollard protected sidewalks along 6th. Looks awesome!
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Stop handing money back to drivers for no reason, there's another ~half a billion
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Our "progressive" government will bend over backwards to make driving slightly cheaper (gas prices didn't even go down btw good job lining the pockets of the oil & gas industry) but won't do anything to prevent about one death per day on our roads.
visionzerovancouver.ca
Eby repealed a carbon tax that had been working in BC for almost 2 decades in order to make gas a bit cheaper, and handed out $410 million to drivers for basically no reason. And now there's no money for active transport grants. 300 people a year are killed in BC in motor vehicle crashes.
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
What if, hear me out, our transportation system didn't result in this every single day of the year
A list of several posts from BC Highway Alert Threader, all within the last hour, of major traffic collisions on Metro Vancouver roads.
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Montague doesn't even live in Vancouver, has brought forward zero good ideas in 3 years on council, and only made it into the chamber because the VPD endorsed Sim and wanted their personal spokesperson at the table. He's a bully and actively makes our city worse.
pwaldkirch.bsky.social
Last week ABC's Brian Montague engaged in some seriously unprofessional conduct at city council. This is just a clip of a larger series of interruptions.

This sorts of bullying shouldn't be tolerated in civic business.
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
I love google maps for cycling directions. "I see you're already on Point Grey Road, one of the best bike routes in the city, and it takes you directly to your destination. But have you considered rerouting to the alley between 2nd and 3rd ave instead?"
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
On a walking tour of $tens-of-millions mega mansions in Point Grey (no sidewalks), which areq the only properties legally allowed to be built under the local zoning, @pwaldkirch.bsky.social asks "is this really the best thing we could be doing with this land?"
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
If you want cultural events, new facilities, road safety projects, repairs to our pools, longer library hours, more events, timely sewer upgrades (which means the ability to build more much-needed housing!), etc, fill out the budget survey and tell the city: www.shapeyourcity.ca/2026-budget
City of Vancouver 2026 Budget
繁體中文 | 简体中文 | ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Each year, City staff create an annual budget for City Council to consider. The budget outlines City spending across key service areas such as public safety, transportation, infra...
www.shapeyourcity.ca
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Vancouver's property taxes are among the lowest in Canada. Ken Sim wants a 0% increase this year, which is negative when you consider inflation and the additional $ they'll throw at the police. Sim & co didn't create this problem, but they'll make it much worse. (2/3)

www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...
vancouver property taxes low - Google Search
google.com
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
If you're wondering why our facilities our crumbling, our infrastructure projects are half-built, our arts & culture sector is struggling, it's simple. Our current government is committed to keeping property taxes artificially low, while handing a blank cheque to the police. (1/3)
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Ah finally, Stanley Park getting what everyone has been clamoring for... a multi year study 😑

(jk this is a good result... But seriously can't wait for this saga to conclude)
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Why are "nation building projects" always things that accelerate the destruction of the planet largely to the benefit of multinational corporations, and never things that would benefit millions of Canadians like, say, high speed passenger rail?

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
As usual Ford is wrong on the basics.

“Eighty-five per cent of people who have been issued one ticket have only been issued [that] one ticket”

People are caught speeding once, get the message, and change their behaviour. It's incredibly effective & saves lives.

www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/ar...
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
one of these vehicles is perfectly street legal and the other will get you arrested smh
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
There's a reason why the US leads the world in chronic illnesses, and why kids are having a harder time making social connections these days, and it's not vaccines. It's that their built environment looks like this. Of course neither Oz nor RFK have any interest in fixing it.
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
The answer I got was very confusing
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Main St is so annoying to cross around 6th-7th Ave that on more than one occasion I saw Cartems and found myself craving a donut, but couldn't be bothered to cross to the other side of the street. My dumb hot take is that it's one of the reasons they closed.

Anyway please go vote in this
Cartems Donuts, as seen from the west side of Main St
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
A lot of Canadian businesses are going to lose a huge chunk of their customer base and are going to struggle to survive. A reminder to buy local, including online, and especially if you can make the switch from an American vendor to a Canadian one.

www.cbc.ca/news/busines...
Small businesses that relied on duty-free U.S. shipping wonder if they can survive without it | CBC News
As of Friday, Canada's small businesses can no longer ship small packages to the U.S. duty-free — and some online sellers are worried that their companies won't survive the hit.
www.cbc.ca
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Eventually once the Broadway subway opens, you'll be able to go Granville Connector --> Arbutus Greenway --> 10th. But for now it's not connected. Hope they finish the project one day and connect the Fir St offramp to 10th, it would be so great.
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Looks like the new path connecting the Granville Connector to the Arbutus Greenway is about to be finished any day. Nice!
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
His refusal to cooperate with the investigation probably tells you exactly what he was like as a cop. Always thinking he's above any rules and too arrogant to ever self reflect. No wonder the VPD wanted this guy on council.
michellecyca.com
since we're talking about Brian Montague — who refused to participate in an investigation from the integrity commissioner — a reminder that he does not even live in Vancouver :)
jmcelroy.bsky.social
Two further passages from the report.

The first shows every ABC councillor denying the email from the Mayors' Office that said "Team Voting Rules" was ever listened to, or was a rule in the first place.

The second shows the one councillor who did not cooperate with the investigation.
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
The judge found that the driver, who drove through a 20-second-stale red light and killed an infant, was "not guilty of dangerous driving causing death" 🤯 because it was just a "momentary lapse of attention."

Just a single lapse, in addition to these other momentary lapses:
A list of about 20 driving violations from the driver who killed this infant
mihai-cirstea.bsky.social
Without reading, who wants to guess the one councillor who didn't cooperate with the investigation?

As a hint, it was the same councillor that tried to suspend the integrity commissioner
jmcelroy.bsky.social
Two further passages from the report.

The first shows every ABC councillor denying the email from the Mayors' Office that said "Team Voting Rules" was ever listened to, or was a rule in the first place.

The second shows the one councillor who did not cooperate with the investigation.