Casually throwing away a decade of work, probably 10s of millions of dollars worth, and making Edmonton start from scratch. Stopping a building boom in its tracks too. Red tape reduction my ass.
Micheal J
@chealion.ca
Nerd about many things - coffee, urbanism, municipal issues, OpenStack, Kubernetes. CA President, and technical manager at Cybera (NREN non profit)
the school board-ification of city councils in Alberta
Keith Gerein@keithgerein.bsky.social · 2d agoGuess we'll see what the details are tomorrow, but it appears the UCP gov't has found another way to gut the autonomy of city councils. There's not much left for them to conquer. The disrespect to local voters is real. #yeg #ableg
For anyone else using Google apps with the upcoming timezone change in Canada: support.google.com/calendar/ans... tl;dr - most should be automatically fixed. Some there's a quick fix button.
Fix Calendar events for Canadian daylight saving time - Google Calendar Help
Several Canadian provinces and territories recently decided to stay on daylight saving time permanently. As a result, some Google Calendar events created in certain time zones in Canada may appear one
support.google.com
Today’s computers were a mistake event… How am I supposed to fix that the restaurant’s ordering vendor won’t accept my address that corresponds to any of my credit cards and if using their 25 years out of date correct autocorrect it gets denied? #touchbistrosucks
And a soupçon of white supremacy. I'm no Janet Brown, but I'm a Quebecker by birth & an Albertan by career choice, and the characteristic that binds the two separatist movements is indeed, from lived experience, the racism & white supremacy embedded often disguised as a longing for halcyon days.
Emerence 🍁@damemyniah.bsky.social · 6d ago“The single most predictive factor in determining support for Alberta independence is not working in the energy industry, but the salience of religion in a person’s life” - pollster Janet Brown
"The current level of political animosity is exactly what one would expect to see if an extremist faction attempted to rescind the hard-earned rights of the vast majority of the country’s citizens." There are not enough exclamation points to convey how I felt reading this paragraph
This story, about the links between the top Alberta independence social media account and a well known separatist leader that I did with @jeffyates.bsky.social, has been pretty well read today. There have also been some common questions, so I'm going to add my 2 cents! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
It’s the biggest Alberta separatist account on the internet. It shares DNA with a movement leader | CBC News
The account Rise of Alberta is anonymous and drives four times as much engagement as the next most popular account.
cbc.ca
Never forget when Shoup taught us that the value of parking spaces in the USA is likely more than the value of all the roads and all the cars that drive on them.
Joey Politano🏳️🌈@josephpolitano.bsky.social · 7d agoSort of insane fact about how broken US urban planning is—America now spends more building *just the lights for roads and highways* than on all subways & ground mass transit combined Spending on roadway *pavement* is 18x transit spending
“When we allow governments to erroneously and irresponsibly strip Charter protected rights away from vulnerable communities [we allow] politicians to use lies and stigma […] to impose their ideology and power on those different from them.” Full statements here: www.cpac.ca/headline-pol...
Transgender Advocates Call for Inquiry into Alta., Sask. Laws
Trans and gender-diverse advocates from Alberta and Saskatchewan hold a news conference on Parliament Hill to call for a House of Commons inquiry into the suspension of Charter rights for transgender ...
cpac.ca
Albertans with Canadian flags attached to their car in 2026 and Albertans with Canadian flags attached to their car in 2021 are completely non-overlapping groups.
unironically, bluesky is the social website for ML. couldn’t do this anywhere else
Jaz@jaz.sh · 2w agoOkay so I've built a new Atlas, this time it lets you explore the conversations on Bluesky over the past 7 days graphically. It should update every ~6 hours and help you navigate the information environment that exists on here. I've learned a LOT about what people do here today... atlas.jazco.dev
Walking home with groceries to see a trio of folks on Bromptons go by and you’ve never seen the bikes or the people on them before… Calgary’s growth has some of the most delightful surprises. #yycbike
Excellent article on the emerging field of high speed metros, which are blossoming across China with operational systems in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Chengdu, Ningbo, Nanjing and Beijing while Shanghai, Shenyang, Changsha and Wuhan are planning theirs.
Reece Martin@rmtransit.bsky.social · 2w agoAsian cities are experimenting with an entirely new high speed transport technology. Today's collaboration with @infrastory.bsky.social is on high speed metros. Read now: www.thetransitbrief.net/p/the-future...
To be fair, this is exactly what people said about Uber and Lyft. And there have been studies about how much more people drive when they don't have to worry about parking on one or both ends of their trip. There's little reason to think driverless cars won't lead to an explosion in VMT in cities.
niraliberalism@niral.bsky.social · 2w agoDriverless cars would both reduce car ownership and motivate use of non-car alternatives, imo. Having to call, wait, and pay per use will tip some people towards biking, especially.
I'm not saying others didn't know this. I'm not saying at different points I didn't think aspects of these things. I'm saying the overwhelming evidence is THAT stark. This isn't nuanced, it's nefarious. Evil grievance politics. 3/3
What's happening in Alberta is even more batshit than I ever thought. Danielle Smith is a dangerous psychopath, and the AB separatist movement largely exists because COVID broke far-right brains, and is led by Christo-fascist religious white nationalists, relying on dark money. 2/n
At the conference I attended this weekend there were a lot of panels on Alberta, the referendum, separatism, etc. To be clear, there were very sober, thoughtful experts, and my takeaway was this: 1/n
My child on my proclivity to use the standard kettle for my pour over coffee: “Why are you playing it on hard mode?!?” 🤣🤣 (I’ve got a Hario Mugen on a switch - so it’s very forgiving of not using a gooseneck for control)
Also, this is exactly why the federal government should be coordinating this. The winter map is bonkers.
This is an engaging, well-explained overview of new standardized approaches driving Canmore's transportation modal shift. The mountain town deserves every acknowledgement of its work and the patterns of behaviour that shape how people interact with the street, their surroundings, and each other.
Nic Laporte@nicthedoor.bsky.social · 3w agoCanmore is doing what most North American cities won't. They are doing the hard things that make a more livable community! youtu.be/EAE5DNHWT4g?...
the seat swings from UCP +13.5 in 2023 to NDP +3.6. That's a 17-point swing in a riding that had gone conservative in ten of eleven elections, five weeks before the referendum.
NEW: Advance vote is counted in Calgary-Shaw and unofficial results with 100% of polls reporting show Kyle Campbell of the NDP winning over the UCP’s Mike Derry.
Harry Sanders was a true mensch who brought Calgary's history to life. I wrote in The Sprawl about what he meant to the city.
Remembering the life and work of Harry Sanders | The Sprawl
He made Calgary history come alive.
sprawlcalgary.com
The other day an "influencer" suggested immigrants be sent away b/c what they pay in income tax does not cover the cost of Alberta govt expenditures. Here's a graph of provincial program spending versus income tax revenue. No Albertan pays in income tax anywhere near the cost of public services.
First byline for CBC! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
ANALYSIS | Online Alberta referendum conversation driven by separatists: study | CBC News
Debate about Alberta independence is dominated by a loose network of citizens, advocates and anonymous social media accounts. Some of whom are also selling home decor.
cbc.ca