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Reposted by Phil

vladchoc @vladchoc.bsky.social · Nov 20

Are you tired of greasy pots and pans? Stubborn kitchen stains? Messy sponges and sprays? Me too. I wish the sun would devour the earth.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 8h

I do love the cycletracks by mostly default though - it's a very clear example that for the PCs, Ontario doesn't exist outside the GTA or else they'd be interfering in what I suspect they don't know is our second largest city.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 9h

The Region has been building a lot of MUPs on arterial roads. I think they're adequate for where we're at, bc we probably won't have enough bike traffic on them to make it a problem for several decades. It'd be nice if the default is to allocate enough space for putting them in the future though!

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 9h

Waterloo Park (the city's flagship park - we're really creative at naming stuff) has a trail that offers a fully separated two-way bike traffic side, a boulevard with pretty lighting in between, and then a pedestrian/roller skating etc side. It's short but wonderful.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 9h

Someday when we have a sensible provincial government, we should do this and pair it with an unconditional, universal grant program.

That, and widening recreational trails with separated lanes for e-bikes and bans on e-motorcycles (I've seen those things use trails like highways).

Jef Poskanzer @jef.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10h

Governments should pay people to bike to work. https://momentummag.com/is-it-time-governments-start-paying-people-to-bike-to-work/

Here's Why Governments Should Start Paying People to Bike to Work

In North America, where cars reign supreme, a new idea could gain ground like it is in some areas of Europe — paying people to bike to work

momentummag.com

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 1d

"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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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 1d

You've converted me to the summer view

(I'll be back for the exact same walk in December too)

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 2d

📍 Kanoo Coffee, DT Guelph

One of the best in the city, and a perfect jumping off point for a stroll near the river.

A three storey limestone building in Guelph that has a coffee shop on the bottom floor.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 2d

Downtown Guelph in autumn is just 🤌

Views through a tree of a pedestrian bridge crossing the Speed River in Downtown Guelph.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 2d

Guelph doing urban infill the right way, turning what was a drab surface parking lot into the site of its new central library. This project is decades in the making and the real life scale feels larger than it did in renderings. An exciting time for their downtown.

Library seen from the north side, it forms a bit of an L shape here at the moment

One side of the library building construction site. Most concrete work is done on the first few floors.

The south side of the new Guelph central library. The length is sizeable - it takes up most of this small block it sits behind.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 2d

And the density we are building in suburban areas, when it isn't something like rowhouses/stacked towns, is often apartment buildings stacked on top of arterial roads or highways, that our urban planning profession is somehow convinced isn't public health malpractice. Much work yet to do.

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 3d

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 · 3d

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

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 3d

Yes. Every city is different but the Edmonton municipal elections will be a bit of a barometer on just how far housing reform can go, and if it's in the wrong direction, hopefully not a canary in the coal mine.

grairdan.bsky.social @grairdan.bsky.social · 3d

It will be interesting to see how the municipal elections go - there's been a lot of grumbling from established neighbourhoods and even a few restrictive covenant campaigns. It feels like this progress could be rolled back pretty quickly if the wrong people are elected to council.

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Reposted by Phil

Owen @oweninvan.bsky.social · 3d

Important to remember in Vancouver in the current budget debate: dense housing is cheaper to service, the capital investment pays off over time.

Specifically, more activity and more building stock value per linear feet of roads, pipes and sidewalks is net fiscally positive over time. This is one key reason why the city has pushed to drive density way up, both in new developing neighbourhoods, as well as aggressive infill targets for the mature parts of the city. It’s not only financial upside, however, as density also yields more vibrant communities with greater demographic diversity and better conditions for local business; improved population health outcomes through greater walkability; and lower greenhouse gas emissions per household. Bottom line: you cannot build a more cost efficient city without the density.

Concurrently, you cannot keep market housing relatively affordable without abundant supply, which is being delivered by the city’s benchmark-topping changes to zoning, streamlining of permits, and commitment to keeping hammers swinging throughout the city.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 3d

One of the other key points about Edmonton is that yes, they are one of our sprawliest top 10 largest cities, but their civic leadership had the degree of humility necessary to admit that their status quo is bad for affordability and finances; many mid-sized Cdn cities are still grappling with this.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 3d

It's a golden age for affirmative action, you just have to be white and completely unqualified.

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 3d

Trump said he deserved a cut for brokering the TikTok deal, and at once there was agreement that his son Baron would have a top executive slot... though he hasn't asked for it, and has no apparent qualifications to hold it. This is how Trump 2.0 works. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025...

Barron Trump tipped for top TikTok job

US president’s 19-year-old son could be appointed to the app’s board

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 3d

You can scale up funding for social housing all you want but if it's still illegal to build any, your accomplishments will be less impactful. Cities in Canada in general have been making huge strides, but few have passed the changes necessary to enable the full potential of what BCH promises.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 3d

"Whatever was meant, the othering of future neighbours was not persuasive to Council then, and it shouldn’t be now." Beyond the policy aspects, Don Iveson really hits at the most key ingredient for housing change: city councils with the moral imagination to brave opposition for a better city.

The big picture on housing, density and affordability

How Edmonton's approach fights for affordability and fiscal efficiency

open.substack.com

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 3d

Oh *this* would be a dream assignment.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 4d

The Edmund Fitzgerald, immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot, sank 50 years ago on Lake Superior. Our reporter spent a week on a Great Lakes freighter that survived the storm.

In the Wake of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The mighty ship, immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot, sank 50 years ago on Lake Superior. Our reporter spent a week on a Great Lakes freighter that survived the storm.

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Phil

Jennifer Maiko Bradshaw @amoralorealis.bsky.social · 3d

Never forget friends, the people who blame condos and condo developers and density for all our housing woes is completely out of touch. Only rich people can afford low density.

Metro Van housing prices, low density is more expensive than high density

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 4d

It was meant with well-intentioned sincerity, and I am all aboard the train of using genAI for functions it's actually great with - I can troubleshoot my own software program issues 10x faster than combing through web forums! - but I'd hate to be forced to use it in cases it's legitimately silly to.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 4d

This week I heard a person voluntarily say the words "one of the most important conversations you need to be having with your family right now is that they're learning and growing in their skills with AI" and, dear reader, I wanted to throw up.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 4d

I know it was started under previous governments - it's the packaging of this with the other components. This is less of a policy thing and more of a strategy piece. They're all great, it's just interesting optics ahead of a very tough budget that is very likely to disappoint a lot of people.

Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 4d

Automatic tax filing is just smart policy, it's more the school program piece, which is also smart policy, but makes you wonder how they're possibly intending the square the impossible Rubik's Cube of spending cuts/deficit reduction/massive hikes in military spending/not reducing things like OAS.

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 4d

A question I'd love to ask is if this originated from Carney himself, or if the left wing of the Liberal caucus was making him feel some pressure to show he's not going all in on Red Toryism.

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Carney announces long-awaited automatic tax filing, makes school food program permanent | CBC News

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday that his government will begin rolling out an automatic tax filing system for low-income Canadians and will make the school food program permanent, in advan...

www.cbc.ca

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Phil @philmarfisi.bsky.social · 4d

Recently, my friend group had another friend from the UK come to visit, so we spent a whole weekend in Toronto. It's not understating it to say they were enthralled with the city. Sometimes those outside perspectives are great reality checks on recognizing the *good* things about where we live.

David Rider @dmrider.bsky.social · 4d

Found this visitor take interesting, from Reddit yesterday. Lively dysfunction

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