Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2h

"I keep wondering where the curiosity went that we used to have about each other’s views and opinions.

Well, the algorithms ate it." -Nadia Bolz-Weber thecorners.substack.com/p/we-admitte...

We admitted we were powerless over our algorithms

and our lives had become unmanagable

thecorners.substack.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 6h

For those who advocate for flashing signs that show you your speed instead of speed cameras, I'm curious, what do you do about the drivers who drive wildly over the limit, with no care about posted signage? Speed cameras make those folks pay - flashing lights don't. So, how would you fix that?

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 6h

"Backgrounded by climate change, traffic fatalities, the growing popularity of micromobility, and a realization that the form of the modern street is actively harmful, cities find themselves at an inflection point, with the opportunity to reshape their mobility landscape."

The cars are going to be alright: Examining micromobility infrastructure space allocation and potential improvement scenarios in Montréal

Many cities today are redesigning their streetscapes to redress the historical privilege afforded to the automobile in planning and policy. Much stree…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Melissa Bowman

City of Cambridge @cambridge.ca · 9h

Why hand out candy when you can hand out fun?! 🍬 This Halloween, surprise your trick-or-treaters with a free swim or skate pass! 🎃

🎟️10 passes for $5
📍 Pick up at W.G. Johnson Centre, John Dolson Centre, or Cambridge Centre for the Arts

Available until Oct. 31

City of Cambridge for Halloween offers a free swim or skate session. Features an illustration of three carved pumpkins and spider web decorations, with details on purchasing a pass bundle for discounted access to city facilities until October 31, 2025.

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 17h

"Designing cities almost exclusively for cars quickly becomes trouble.
The only solution to traffic problems is fewer people in cars. Anything that increases their number will make the places we want to go harder to get to." -Shawn Micallef

Shawn Micallef: Ridgeway Plaza is a problem other cities can only dream of having. Here’s how to stop it from becoming a nightmare

What’s happening at the popular Mississauga plaza is quite special and should be fixed, not scrapped.

buff.ly

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

a man with a mustache is sitting at a desk and saying it 's so ... it 's so beautiful .

ALT: a man with a mustache is sitting at a desk and saying it 's so ... it 's so beautiful .

media.tenor.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

“Public spaces reflect our values,” Troy Glover, a professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo, said. “If we truly want public spaces to work for all people, we have to start by asking who they’re currently designed to exclude.”

NOWHERE TO GO: THE PUBLIC WASHROOM SHORTAGE IN KITCHENER WATERLOO – The Community Edition

www.communityedition.ca

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

"There seems to be a sense of freewheeling where the speed signs are only really considered a suggestion, so I believe anything we can do to change people’s driving habits, especially on rural roads, will save lives.” -Mayor Joe Nowak #WRcouncil #ASE www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...

Region to activate 6 more speed cameras outside local schools before braking

Program would then pause with provincial direction still unclear

www.therecord.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

"There’s one glaring bump in the road ahead for bike share: the provincial government’s battle with bike lanes.

Ford has, for more than a year, targeted bike lanes running throughout the city, blaming them for congestion."

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

“You have to put the bikes in places to create the demand,” McDonald said. “If it’s not there, no one’s ever going to use it.”
It’s about inducing people to take up biking, he explained, adding, “what we’ve found is when we put (docks) in those locations, we do start to see increased demand.”

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

"From its initial 80 bike share stations in 2011, Bike Share has grown twelvefold, with 992 stations across the city’s 25 wards as of September." 🚲

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

"As contentious as cycling has been in the downtown core, with Premier Doug Ford cracking down on cycleways along major arterial streets, Toronto’s bike share program has been quietly shattering ridership records." www.thestar.com/news/gta/how...

How Bike Share went from death’s door to one of Toronto’s fastest-growing ways to travel

How self-cleaning toilets, the pandemic and bike lanes made Toronto Bike Share a staple of the city, and how Doug Ford’s battle against bike lanes will shape its future.

www.thestar.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 1d

“Banning one of the most effective tools we have to slow drivers down and keep people safe, I think, this is a wrong decision,” Chow said. “It signals to people that the provincial government is OK with speeding.” buff.ly/cfu8v8H

Olivia Chow asks for changes to Toronto’s speed cameras ahead of Doug Ford’s bill to ban them

The mayor is expected to ask a council committee on Friday to change the city’s speed camera program.

www.thestar.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

a woman speaking into a microphone with the words everyone should be voting for you on the bottom

ALT: a woman speaking into a microphone with the words everyone should be voting for you on the bottom

media.tenor.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

While education alone may not change everyone's minds, I think helping residents better understand how their own neighbourhood is impacted by those who drive over the speed limit, is a good approach. I also think there's value in prioritizing road safety improvements on streets with speed cameras.

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

As noted in @graphicmatt.com's City Hall Watcher, Chow "asks staff to send every MPP stats about road deaths in their area & to send notifications to every household near a camera location letting them know about the potential safety impacts they could face if/when the cameras are switched off."

a woman wearing a shirt that says run capita

ALT: a woman wearing a shirt that says run capita

media.tenor.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

Yet another example. www.thestar.com/real-estate/...

Text: Neighbour Michael Miranda was concerned about the impact of the owner having to “squeeze” the garden suite onto the lot, and congestion from added cars.

“Yeah, you can use transit, but let’s get freaking real, right?” he told the Star. “There’s just not enough parking.”

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

Police unions became big proponents of the cameras, though. "The cameras would create more jobs for aspiring officers while giving police services a valuable PR tool: the ability to combat the videos of police interactions recorded by citizens & circulated on social media with their own recordings."

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

In Montreal, a body cam pilot study saw "the use of force by police was basically unchanged, while the introduction of cameras would require an enormous expansion of police spending and personnel: at least 200 people would need to be hired by the police to manage and analyze video recordings."

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

"Body cameras do not reduce police violence or help to hold police accountable. Police killings have only increased and criminal convictions of police officers remain extremely rare. Camera footage is almost never used against police officers.”

Body cameras are not a solution

The history of police body cameras tells a different story than the marketing campaign

tedrutland.substack.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2d

Transit costs are "visible, while the costs of car dependence are mostly concealed. Car dependence costs us in the time lost in congestion, in the harm from pollution and accidents, and in countless other ways that we don’t consider." buff.ly/iMCY5Fe

Should We Let Public Transit Die?

Urban-rural hostility is fueling a public transportation crisis in US cities. But demands to abandon bus and train riders ignore the economic and social costs of cutting service.

www.bloomberg.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 3d

Streets are at their best when opened for the people!

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 3d

"Screwing around with elections is risky, especially if your chances of achieving any desirable reforms is low and the odds of you generating a backlash — including legal and regulatory changes — is much higher." -David Moscrop www.davidmoscrop.com/p/its-time-t...

It's Time To Wrap Up The Longest Ballot Protest

The ballots really are long. And annoying. And counter-productive.

www.davidmoscrop.com

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 3d

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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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 3d

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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