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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 1d

And "ordinary" ministers going 70 in a 40 zone.

Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 1d

These fines don't go on anyone's driver's record or affect insurance for that reason. The reasoning is, I believe, that the owner is responsible for the use of the car no matter who is driving it.

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 1d

The speed cameras Doug Ford is hellbent on removing because of their impact on "ordinary citizens" (who are going well over the limit) have also racked up thousands of dollars in fines for cars registered to "ordinary" cabinet ministers.
#streetsforall
youtu.be/v7XgD7zuVdc?...

Speed cameras caught vehicles registered to Ford cabinet ministers over 20 times

YouTube video by Global News

youtu.be

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 2d

Amazing! For another comparison, the Centennial Square Parkade has a max capacity of 190 spots!

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Reposted by Jim Mayer 🇨🇦

Tim Ford (Tomb Fart 🎃) @timfordwrites.bsky.social · 2d

I couldn't resist poking my head in on my lunch break to see how packed in the Bike Valet was today. Over 200 bikes, scooters, cargo bikes and other devices. If this were car parking it would require a surface lot the size of the Royal Athletic Park lot.

#yyj

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 2d

Irene and I biked through Beacon Hill Park, checked out Clover Point, and then explored the excellent new bike lanes on Dallas Road. Clover Point was beautiful!
#yyj

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 3d

I hope not. The SOS types are very loud and motivated, but perhaps not as numerous as they like to think.

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 3d

2/2 The gory height & setback details start on page 37 (page 45 in the file) of the transparently named "Zoning Bylaw 2018, Amendment Bylaw (No. 17), No. 25-038":
engage.victoria.ca/38461/widget...

Documents | 10-Year Official Community Plan Update | Have Your Say

The Official Community Plan (OCP) for Victoria has been updated to meet the needs of our growing population and address the housing and climate crises. What’s Happening On October 2, 2025 Council adop...

engage.victoria.ca

Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 3d

1/2 There currently are minimum parking requirements, and, IIRC, there's a parking modernization process in motion that would, at a minimum, make it possible to opt out of car parking (other than accessible and visitor spots) with extra TDM measures and fees. I believe that it's a work in progress.

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Reposted by Jim Mayer 🇨🇦

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 4d

This is good —the Mayor of Yellowknife NWT in Canada’s far north weighs in on “Car Bloat” (truck bloat actually) and its many big costs & consequences (thanks @davidzipper.bsky.social for heads-up). And like most who dare tell the truth about that, he’s taking flack.
www.linkedin.com/mwlite/feed/...

Screenshot of LinkedIn post from Yellowknife Mayor describing the costs and consequences of trucks having gotten so much bigger. In the link, he explains the backlash he received for his post.

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

Ugh, I meant to type "…made building a safe bike & roll network here A PRIORITY."

Reposted by Jim Mayer 🇨🇦

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 4d

Folks they're calling it The Mario.

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 4d

World’s first mushroom-powered toilet debuts at UBC

www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

World’s first mushroom-powered toilet debuts at UBC

Tucked away in a forest in the University of B.C.’s Botanical Garden, a first-of-its-kind toilet is ready to turn human waste into nutrient-rich compost using the power of mushrooms.

www.ctvnews.ca

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

"Fulsome," whose primary meaning is "complimentary or flattering to an excessive degree."

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

I also appreciate the provincial and federal politicians that provided the grants that helped make the network possible. We've been subsidising car infrastructure for a long time, so this was both timely and welcome.

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

I am thankful every day for the Victoria Council members who, for more than a decade, have resisted the "bikelash" and made building a safe bike & roll network here. It's how this senior citizen gets around, and I love it.
#yyj #yyjbike

Calgary Climate Hub @calgaryclimatehub.ca · 21d

The data on #Bikelanes are clear & consistent: GREAT for cities in just about every metric you can think of. So why are politicians across Canada attacking them? We dig in with @bikecalgary.bsky.social's Doug Clark & Alyssa Quinney

PODCAST: www.podcastics.com/episode/3835...
#yyc #yyccc #yycbike

Divide & Conquer: The B.S. Against Bike Lanes

Build barriers between cyclists and cars, not between people and their neighbors.

www.podcastics.com

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

Some success stories about the "radical" idea that health begins with a home. There has been a lot of backlash on Housing First in Victoria lately. It's worth looking at good news, too, so we can build on what works best!
#yyj

Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 4d

#IdeasAtWork

“It still feels unreal sometimes. What started as a “radical” idea — that health begins with home — became a place where people who were living inside and out of hospitals, shelters, or on the street could finally exhale.” - Andrew Boozary

h/t @uhn.ca @unitedwaygt.bsky.social

1/

Andrew Boozary MD MPP in • 1st
Executive Director - Social Medicine and Population Health 1h • O
It's been one year since we opened Dunn House - Canada's first social medicine housing initiative. And this has been family over the past year.
It still feels unreal sometimes. What started as a "radical" idea - that health begins with home - became a place where people who were living inside and out of hospitals, shelters, or on the street could finally exhale.
A year later, the preliminary data is staggering. Emergency Department visits for the tenants have plunged by over 50%. And days spent in hospital have similarly plummeted by nearly 80%.
But the real drive for change, I hope, is how human dignity and health economics are completely aligned.
The first story is from Victoria Gibson at the Toronto Star - about Jason Miles, a man whose addiction and homelessness cost more than $260,000 through ER visits, shelters, and jail stays. Not because he wanted that path, but because there wasn't another one.
The second is from Liam Casey in the CBC, about our University Health Network teams and community partners deciding to try something different and center those patients that been sidelined in the health system. The cost calculus is clear when it can be over $50k per month in hospital, $15k in provincial jail and $4k for supportive housing.
I believe both these stories show the cost of crisis - and the return on compassion.
It's still early, and there's a lot more to do across the province. But one year in, I'm certain of this more than ever:
housing is healthcare. compassion saves lives.
and dignity has to be designed into the system - not left to Chance.

Reposted by Jim Mayer 🇨🇦

John Bowker @johnbowker.bsky.social · 4d

Doug Ford said he heard drivers were getting tickets for going just a few km/hr over the speed limit. Turns out, Toronto only tickets drivers going at least 11 km/hr above the limit. Same goes for other cities in the GTA www.thestar.com/news/gta/wha... #TOpoli #onpoli

What’s the threshold to get a ticket from Toronto’s speed camera program? Here’s what the Star has found

For the first time, the Star can report the threshold for a ticket when driving over the posted speed limit — at least in Toronto and other large municipalities nearby.

www.thestar.com

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

Just asking questions…

Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

4/ Does it seen strange that the Alberta premier's goals are suddenly the "national interest" and should override the policies of the BC government, while other national priorities don't apply to Alberta. Just sayin…
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Danielle Smith would never accept Ottawa's oil emissions rules, no matter how flexible | CBC News

Again and again, Alberta's premier is convinced that climate regulations from Trudeau government are not only economically devastating but illegal.

www.cbc.ca

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

3/ It's odd how, on one hand, the Federal government has no say on methane emissions that affect CANADA'S AIR, while on the other the Feds have a duty to drive an unwanted pipeline through BC and open us up to potential environmental catastrophe on BC's coast.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Can we contain oil spills? The proof is in the sheen | CBC News

If the Trudeau government approves the expansion of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline project, the company responsible for oil spill cleanups in B.C. will get the biggest infusion of cash in its...

www.cbc.ca

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

2/ Or Scott Moe saying that BC doesn't have rights over it's own coastline, even though it's the people of BC and the nation's we share space with that would bear the brunt of an oil spill on the coastline where we live?
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

"There is no B.C. coast. It's Canada's coast. There are no B.C. ports. There are Canada's ports," he said in reference to comments by B.C. Premier David Eby and several B.C. Indigenous groups that raised concerns about the proposed project. "I feel an equal owner in those ports as a Canadian."

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

1/ Does anyone else find it odd how Alberta's Premier, who pushed through the "Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act," keeps pushing the Federal government to override British Columbia's government?

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

Sounds like a lost opportunity, sadly. With housing prices so high, it just seems wrong to force young people into our market, where many end up sharing crappy basement apartments or worse. I was in a dorm for four years and loved it.

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

This is great! Every student that lives on campus takes pressure off of Victoria's rental market, and reduces commuting. The University has the land—they just need the money to build. Funding this UVic residence was a win-win decision, and one the province should keep repeating.
#yyj

Times Colonist @timescolonist.bsky.social · 4d

Province commits $121M to 510-bed UVic residence to be built on parking lot

Work on the 17-storey building is expected to begin next spring and wrap up in 2029.

dlvr.it

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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 5d

FWIW, this meaning of "catch and release" has its roots in American right wing politics, and referred to people (of colour) entering the US (from Mexico) seeking asylum who were allowed to live with relatives while waiting for their court hearing. It's an ugly history.