Matt Stickland
@landofsticks.bsky.social
Founding editor of GrandParade.news a Halifax newspaper, host of Grand Parade and co-host of Wanderer Grounds. Previously: Writer for The Coast, Founding editor of Committee Trawler, an NDP Candidate, Submariner, and Theater tech. DMs open, he/him.
Me at the end of the advance tenders debate which was mostly spent on debating a skate park
a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a sign that says " my spouse is sleeping around "
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a sign that says " my spouse is sleeping around "
media.tenor.com
December 9, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Me at the end of the advance tenders debate which was mostly spent on debating a skate park
Nancy Hartling shreds?
December 9, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Nancy Hartling shreds?
Hell yeah, White slapping down the low tax at all cost argument as bad fiscal stewardship
December 9, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Hell yeah, White slapping down the low tax at all cost argument as bad fiscal stewardship
Councillors are chiming in to support the skate park, but no one's chiming in to put down Purdy's dumb arguments.
December 9, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Councillors are chiming in to support the skate park, but no one's chiming in to put down Purdy's dumb arguments.
Reposted by Matt Stickland
Item 1
A highway that will cost billions, take 20 years and contribute to the destruc.....Approved!
Item 2
A bike lane that will cost almost nothing, reduce traffic and align with our climate emerg...Do you have approval from every living and deceased resident in the city?
A highway that will cost billions, take 20 years and contribute to the destruc.....Approved!
Item 2
A bike lane that will cost almost nothing, reduce traffic and align with our climate emerg...Do you have approval from every living and deceased resident in the city?
December 9, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Item 1
A highway that will cost billions, take 20 years and contribute to the destruc.....Approved!
Item 2
A bike lane that will cost almost nothing, reduce traffic and align with our climate emerg...Do you have approval from every living and deceased resident in the city?
A highway that will cost billions, take 20 years and contribute to the destruc.....Approved!
Item 2
A bike lane that will cost almost nothing, reduce traffic and align with our climate emerg...Do you have approval from every living and deceased resident in the city?
Oh my god. Trish "low taxes" Purdy wants to focus on fixing the city's crumbling buildings while ignoring why the city's buildings are crumbling in the first place.
Trish "low taxes" Purdy says she doesn't want to fund the Commons Skatepark renewal because Cole Harbour Place needs upgrades too.
December 9, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Oh my god. Trish "low taxes" Purdy wants to focus on fixing the city's crumbling buildings while ignoring why the city's buildings are crumbling in the first place.
Reposted by Matt Stickland
These don't need to be group projects.
Any of Districts 7, 8, *or* 9 can use their collective...
*math intensifies*
...~$50m in excess residential revenues (or ~$150m with commercial) to build a skate park in their shared space.
District 4 can...
...figure out it's $6-10m annual operating loss.
Any of Districts 7, 8, *or* 9 can use their collective...
*math intensifies*
...~$50m in excess residential revenues (or ~$150m with commercial) to build a skate park in their shared space.
District 4 can...
...figure out it's $6-10m annual operating loss.
Trish "low taxes" Purdy says she doesn't want to fund the Commons Skatepark renewal because Cole Harbour Place needs upgrades too.
December 9, 2025 at 3:05 PM
These don't need to be group projects.
Any of Districts 7, 8, *or* 9 can use their collective...
*math intensifies*
...~$50m in excess residential revenues (or ~$150m with commercial) to build a skate park in their shared space.
District 4 can...
...figure out it's $6-10m annual operating loss.
Any of Districts 7, 8, *or* 9 can use their collective...
*math intensifies*
...~$50m in excess residential revenues (or ~$150m with commercial) to build a skate park in their shared space.
District 4 can...
...figure out it's $6-10m annual operating loss.
Hell yeah let the bad decisions begin! Fuck transit!
December 9, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Hell yeah let the bad decisions begin! Fuck transit!
Reposted by Matt Stickland
Mostly what local politicians mean when they say fiscal responsibility is austerity for other people and short-term gain for their constituents, regardless of how unsustainable that is.
So irresponsibility, basically.
So irresponsibility, basically.
December 9, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Mostly what local politicians mean when they say fiscal responsibility is austerity for other people and short-term gain for their constituents, regardless of how unsustainable that is.
So irresponsibility, basically.
So irresponsibility, basically.
Trish "low taxes" Purdy says she doesn't want to fund the Commons Skatepark renewal because Cole Harbour Place needs upgrades too.
December 9, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Trish "low taxes" Purdy says she doesn't want to fund the Commons Skatepark renewal because Cole Harbour Place needs upgrades too.
Reposted by Matt Stickland
"The authors marshal a compelling blend of history, statistics, and anecdote in support of a quietly radical argument: that mass car ownership, far from natural and inevitable, is a historical blip that can and should be reversed." 😍
The Surprisingly Convincing Case Against Cars
Life After Cars dares to imagine how different, and enriching, a car-free world could be.
newrepublic.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:18 PM
"The authors marshal a compelling blend of history, statistics, and anecdote in support of a quietly radical argument: that mass car ownership, far from natural and inevitable, is a historical blip that can and should be reversed." 😍
Reposted by Matt Stickland
now i'm going to leave the room, and if the marshmallow's still on the table when i get back in five minutes, you can have TWO marshmall- oh, you've eaten it. right in front of me. I wasn't even done explaining the experiment.
Oh wow our city's finances are super fucked thanks to last council.
December 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM
now i'm going to leave the room, and if the marshmallow's still on the table when i get back in five minutes, you can have TWO marshmall- oh, you've eaten it. right in front of me. I wasn't even done explaining the experiment.
Oh wow our city's finances are super fucked thanks to last council.
December 9, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Oh wow our city's finances are super fucked thanks to last council.
City staff should use way less jargon.
December 9, 2025 at 2:10 PM
City staff should use way less jargon.
Reposted by Matt Stickland
Will you ever own a home without crippling debt? Read this article to find out… (spoiler alert if you didn’t buy one in 2007 the answer is no & that’s on u)
New paper out tomorrow. Check your inbox or head on over to Atlantic News or the King's Co-op Bookstore!
December 8, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Will you ever own a home without crippling debt? Read this article to find out… (spoiler alert if you didn’t buy one in 2007 the answer is no & that’s on u)
This is like that time when I went to the doctor for heartburn pills and he was like "have you considered quitting smoking, quitting drinking and losing weight?" And I said, "yeah I considered all those things, why do you think I came in here for pills?"
Don't worry guys, we're doing the suburban plan, but we're not going to take this opportunity to impliment our strategic plans. We're just going to consider them.
December 9, 2025 at 1:49 PM
This is like that time when I went to the doctor for heartburn pills and he was like "have you considered quitting smoking, quitting drinking and losing weight?" And I said, "yeah I considered all those things, why do you think I came in here for pills?"
Reposted by Matt Stickland
I once saw somebody who queued for 45 minutes every day to drive 1/2 mile. Motonormativity is such a powerful force, I suspect for a lot of people driving and movement are seen as the same thing. Add in the influence of habits and automatic behaviour and non-car alternatives don't even register
Glorious headline and content.
www.leighjournal.co.uk/news/2568278...
1.5 miles from work so she moves 4 miles away for a faster journey, because that's the only option apparently.
www.leighjournal.co.uk/news/2568278...
1.5 miles from work so she moves 4 miles away for a faster journey, because that's the only option apparently.
‘Getting to work less then two miles from home was hell on wheels’
The argument over the need for a link road to ease the frequently gridlocked roads between Wigan and Bolton has raged since the end of the Second…
www.leighjournal.co.uk
December 9, 2025 at 12:35 PM
I once saw somebody who queued for 45 minutes every day to drive 1/2 mile. Motonormativity is such a powerful force, I suspect for a lot of people driving and movement are seen as the same thing. Add in the influence of habits and automatic behaviour and non-car alternatives don't even register
Don't worry guys, we're doing the suburban plan, but we're not going to take this opportunity to impliment our strategic plans. We're just going to consider them.
December 9, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Don't worry guys, we're doing the suburban plan, but we're not going to take this opportunity to impliment our strategic plans. We're just going to consider them.
Reposted by Matt Stickland
And most of that parking space is sealed with high embodied carbon emission materials.
1/2
In Germany, we have reserved an area that is larger than London just so that cars – which are parked 23 hours a day – can always find a space.
That is not mobility.
That is a waste of space on an industrial scale.
And then we claim that there is "no room" for cycle paths and green spaces.
In Germany, we have reserved an area that is larger than London just so that cars – which are parked 23 hours a day – can always find a space.
That is not mobility.
That is a waste of space on an industrial scale.
And then we claim that there is "no room" for cycle paths and green spaces.
December 9, 2025 at 12:09 PM
And most of that parking space is sealed with high embodied carbon emission materials.
Reposted by Matt Stickland
In the first six months of congestion pricing, air pollution within Manhattan's toll zone dropped 25%.
Pollution fell across the five boroughs and in the suburbs, too. A clean air win all around.
Pollution fell across the five boroughs and in the suburbs, too. A clean air win all around.
Congestion pricing improved air quality in NYC and suburbs | Cornell Chronicle
Cornell researchers tallied the environmental benefits of New York City’s congestion pricing program and found air pollution dropped by 22% in Manhattan, with additional declines across the city’s fiv...
news.cornell.edu
December 9, 2025 at 12:23 PM
In the first six months of congestion pricing, air pollution within Manhattan's toll zone dropped 25%.
Pollution fell across the five boroughs and in the suburbs, too. A clean air win all around.
Pollution fell across the five boroughs and in the suburbs, too. A clean air win all around.
Wake up nerds it's a budget day in Halifax. Still too early to know if I'm gonna make it in and live post it, or if I stay home and just yell in my basement instead.
December 9, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Wake up nerds it's a budget day in Halifax. Still too early to know if I'm gonna make it in and live post it, or if I stay home and just yell in my basement instead.
Reposted by Matt Stickland
Reposted by Matt Stickland
The thing about the property tax cap is that the government knew, and more or less accurately quantified how bad the impacts would be in advance.
Reports from the time basically read "Do not do this! It will be very bad!"
And then we did it anyways.
substack.com/@grandparade...
Reports from the time basically read "Do not do this! It will be very bad!"
And then we did it anyways.
substack.com/@grandparade...
Halifax founders under provincial tax CAP
No one knows how property taxes work
substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
The thing about the property tax cap is that the government knew, and more or less accurately quantified how bad the impacts would be in advance.
Reports from the time basically read "Do not do this! It will be very bad!"
And then we did it anyways.
substack.com/@grandparade...
Reports from the time basically read "Do not do this! It will be very bad!"
And then we did it anyways.
substack.com/@grandparade...
Reposted by Matt Stickland
NYC’s congestion pricing cleaned the air. This is also what happened when EZ-Pass was put in place in NJ.
Congestion pricing improved air quality in NYC and suburbs | Cornell Chronicle
Cornell researchers tallied the environmental benefits of New York City’s congestion pricing program and found air pollution dropped by 22% in Manhattan, with additional declines across the city’s fiv...
news.cornell.edu
December 9, 2025 at 2:05 AM
NYC’s congestion pricing cleaned the air. This is also what happened when EZ-Pass was put in place in NJ.
Reposted by Matt Stickland
This chapter of the @thewaroncars.bsky.social new book is hard to read as a parent. It’s one of the big motivations that I’ve become a more vocal advocate but the timescales for change in our area are just sooooo long. The freedom and growth we’ve taken from kids is just shameful to think about.
December 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM
This chapter of the @thewaroncars.bsky.social new book is hard to read as a parent. It’s one of the big motivations that I’ve become a more vocal advocate but the timescales for change in our area are just sooooo long. The freedom and growth we’ve taken from kids is just shameful to think about.