Which version of the street do you like better? Montreal’s Wellington Street with cars vs. without cars.
Oh The Urbanity!
@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social
More housing, bikes, and transit. https://youtube.com/@ohtheurbanity 📍 Montreal, Quebec
Car-free streets are great for wheelchairs and mobility scooters.
Edmonton’s broad upzoning has (so far) added $15 million to the city’s yearly property tax revenue.
Jacob Loo Dawang@jacobdawang.com · yesterday🧵 NEW POST: Edmonton’s $15M infill property tax dividend Matching permits to assessment data shows that small-scale infill from just 2024-26 will grow the tax base by $1.8B, and revenues by $15M. That's equivalent to a 0.7% property tax rate increase! #yegcc www.jacobdawang.com/blog/2026/pr...
1995: “A few months ago there was some breakthrough announcement that on the internet they were going to broadcast a baseball game. You could listen to a baseball game on your computer. And I just thought to myself: does radio ring a bell?”
Bill Gates Trying to Convince Dave the Internet is the Future | David Letterman
YouTube video by Letterman
youtu.be
Naysayers re: biking for transportation in Minneapolis: “This isn’t Amsterdam.” Minneapolis parents: “So what? We’ll make our own version.”
My friends visiting from the SF Bay Area: how can there be a housing shortage here when there are so many cranes? Me, physically vibrating: well, lets first try comparing against a standard that isn't rock bottom
Whenever I’m in Vancouver BC I’m just in shock at the density around suburban Skytrain stations 10 miles out from the CBD
No they couldn't. People unironically get madder about housing than data centers.
GodlessPrimate@godlessprimate.bsky.social · 3d agoIt's all about priorities. The tech bros gave politicians a lot of money.
Meanwhile, thanks to infill, the inner neighborhoods of Edmonton and those along major transit routes are seeing an abundance of new rental 3 bed townhomes, to the distress of all of the NIMBYs.
My adult intensive French classes (Francisation in Quebec) switched to online in 2020 and it was way more difficult to follow and be engaged.
Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net · 3d agoThe Covid lockdowns convinced me that all of the “e-learning“, unless it is an adult voluntarily choosing to learn that way, is at best replacement level for in person and at worst completely useless.
Arbitrary city boundaries at work. Canadian cities are more likely to be amalgamated with their suburbs than US ones. We don’t actually have half the number of big cities as the US in any meaningful sense. Also Australia seems to be counting metro areas (GCCSAs), not cities/municipalities (LGAs).
Brilliant Maps@brilliantmaps.bsky.social · 4d agoHow Many Cities Over 1 Million People Does Each Country Have? Sort of crazy that Canada and Australia have more than the UK. Or that Russia has more than the US. Full list: brilliantmaps.com/cities-ov...
Every time I see a new build in central Montreal only go up to 3 storeys, I think about what it would take for 6+ to be the standard like in central Lyon (a smaller city!). Changing the zoning? Single-stair? Elevator reform? Moving past the belief that new buildings must never stand out?
Paige's Canadian Civil Alive has switched from event tickets to requiring a yearly membership to his production organization. ... but the cheapest yearly membership is about the same price as an event ticket might be, especially with the early discount before Aug 8th ($35/year).
Canadian Civil@info.canadiancivil.com · last wk.Get your membership and join us on August 15th in #Montreal. https://site.canadiancivil.com/canadian-civil-alive-2026-3/ @reece @rmtransit.bsky.social @carastern.bsky.social @aboutherevideos @OhTheUrbanity @carastern
I think that I once opined that there isn't anything analogous in U.S. history to the inter service rivalries in Japan. But I've also said that the current administration is more comparable to Imperial Japan than other Quasi-Totalitarian States. cc: @sharonk.bsky.social @aelkus.bsky.social
Nouvelle piste cyclable sur Hochelaga, presque terminée. Il ne manque que des plantations et du marquage au sol par endroits. #velomtl
To clarify, I have *some of* all of these things within easy walking distance. But you don’t always get a spot at the nearest daycare. You often go to different libraries for events and activities. Setting up a play date at a park in between both of you.
Oh The Urbanity!@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 4d agoMy big realization: how many child-related trips (schools, daycares, libraries, parks) don't line up well with transit. Like here. Transit is barely faster than walking (cycling is on par with driving). I've always liked cycling, but I've learned it's even more important for car-free families.
Your periodic reminder that my 1991 SF Mission apt was $980/mo in today's dollars - an unaffordable sum for me then. This is what decades of NIMBY SF politics stole from you and our beloved city's creative spark
Maybe less extreme but kids = suburbs is very much the default in Canada too. A lot of it comes down to housing. The “ideal” family home is detached with a yard. Even people open to apartments/condos often just can’t afford enough bedrooms for kids in central neighbourhoods of our bigger cities.
Laura G Mitchell@lauragmitchell.com · 4d agoThere is SUCH a strong cultural push for parents to raise kids in the suburbs in the US. It’s part of why I post boring photos/stories of our days, to show what raising kids in a city is really like. I genuinely think a lot of Americans don’t even entertain the idea & don’t know what’s possible.
My big realization: how many child-related trips (schools, daycares, libraries, parks) don't line up well with transit. Like here. Transit is barely faster than walking (cycling is on par with driving). I've always liked cycling, but I've learned it's even more important for car-free families.
ellen teapot 🇨🇦🏳️⚧️@ellenteapot.ca · 4d agoWhat do you think are some of the important oversights on families with kids in the transit world?
The perception that urbanism ignores kids is interesting. I kind of see it in transit world? But half of cycling BlueSky is Kidical Mass. @lauragmitchell.com and others. YIMBYs talk a lot about housing prices as a barrier to having kids. Single-stair helps family-sized apartments.
Addison Del Mastro@ad-mastro.bsky.social · 4d agoAmerican politics “un-bundles” these two issues in ways that can make it difficult to synthesize them, because of the distrust between left and right, and the mutual suspicion that each cause is a Trojan horse for a more radical cause.
“Despite Canada’s long-standing, if complicated, friendship with Cuba, we have done vanishingly little to help the Cuban people withstand Trump’s aggression. If we are serious about reforging a new global order from the fires that Trump keeps starting, Cuba is as good a place as any to start.”
Linda McQuaig@lindamcquaig.bsky.social · 4d agoCanada should show the same guts as Spain, Brazil & Mexico in standing up to Trump as he tightens the noose around Cuba, starving the Cuban people. Good piece by @justinling.ca www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Salsa dancing every Friday night on Montreal’s Wellington summer pedestrian street
First ride on the new East Don Trail … and it’s pretty great!
Campaign email for Ottawa mayor @mark-sutcliffe.bsky.social accuses competitor @jleiper.bsky.social of wanting to “force you out of your car and onto your bicycle”. What dirty, dishonest language for a city that (like most on this continent) overwhelmingly prioritizes cars above every other mode.
Ariel Troster@arieltroster.com · 6d agoYou don’t have to force me onto a bike …