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Jim Mayer 🇨🇦

@pentastich.bsky.social

Urbanism, utility cycling, rowing, food, vintage cocktails, and city living. Victoria, BC, Canada. He/him. Blog: https://www.boomin-in-victoria.ca Mastodon (rarely) https://urbanists.social/@pentastich Formerly @pentastich on Birdland

2381 Posts793 Follower804 Folgt
Ryan Nicoll@ryannicoll.bsky.social · 8h ago

Yes! It's incredible to see so many people getting around #yyj with cycling and active transportation. And so important to have facilities to manage so many bikes at an event like this like the valet.

Chris Istace 🇨🇦@stasherbc.bsky.social · 10h ago

Saw this photo from yesterday of the free bike valet service yesterday in #VictoriaBC for the free Canadian Snowbirds performance over the ocean along Dallas Road. Wow #YYJ you are doing the #cyclinglife great, setting an example for the rest of #NorthAmerica let alone #Canada. #gobbybike #bikesky

Hundreds of cyclists using the bike valet in Victoria BC
Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · 2w ago

“We know what prevents deaths of people cycling, it’s the same thing that will shift people from ‘interested but concerned’ to choose cycling: high-quality cycling infrastructure like protected bike lanes. The only thing standing in the way of us having that is political will…” Via @cyclehalifax.ca

Cycling infrastructure saves lives - The Coast | News, events, restaurants, concerts and Burger Week for Halifax, Nova Scotia

When I opened Instagram on Monday night and saw the screenshot saying that a person cycling had been killed in Halifax, I felt deeply sad, but I was also angry. Many people I know and care about have ...

thecoast.ca

Oh The Urbanity!@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 2w ago

Car-brain is the idea that building bike lanes means “abolishing” cars. It’s the inability to conceive of a city where people get around in multiple ways. It’s the wild perception that no one in Toronto or Vancouver (or… Calgary?) ever drives.

Jim Mayer 🇨🇦@pentastich.bsky.social · 2w ago

1/ This Times Colonist letter is sadly typical of the uninformed nonsense that too many people seem to believe. Beyond the ignorance (nobody on Council has EVER suggested to "abolish street parking"), it denotes a kind of all-or-nothing reasoning that makes no sense to me. #yyj

A screenshot. It reads: The age of automobile is not over yet Victoria city council would like to abolish street parking. Council wants fewer cars on the streets of Victoria. Their reasoning does not make sense. They compare Victoria with cities such as Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, which have light rail transit. These modes of transportation move people from airports, train stations and outlying areas quickly, therefore no need for a lot of cars. Victoria is a tourist city, people come from all over the Island and the world. How do these people get around from one place to another? Sure, there are buses and bicycles, but you can’t expect elderly or disabled persons to bike ride. If tourists want to visit other places on the Island, they will need a car. We need to accommodate or lose local businesses due to the loss of tourists. Barbara J. Desmond Victoria
Jim Mayer 🇨🇦@pentastich.bsky.social · 2w ago

1/ This Times Colonist letter is sadly typical of the uninformed nonsense that too many people seem to believe. Beyond the ignorance (nobody on Council has EVER suggested to "abolish street parking"), it denotes a kind of all-or-nothing reasoning that makes no sense to me. #yyj

A screenshot. It reads: The age of automobile is not over yet Victoria city council would like to abolish street parking. Council wants fewer cars on the streets of Victoria. Their reasoning does not make sense. They compare Victoria with cities such as Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, which have light rail transit. These modes of transportation move people from airports, train stations and outlying areas quickly, therefore no need for a lot of cars. Victoria is a tourist city, people come from all over the Island and the world. How do these people get around from one place to another? Sure, there are buses and bicycles, but you can’t expect elderly or disabled persons to bike ride. If tourists want to visit other places on the Island, they will need a car. We need to accommodate or lose local businesses due to the loss of tourists. Barbara J. Desmond Victoria
Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈@maxdubler.com · 2w ago

New market rate housing helps poor people by keeping rich people from outbidding them for existing housing. Further, the past 50 years of CA housing policy show us that *not* building enough new market rate homes is TERRIBLE for the poorest, who are forced into overcrowded housing or homelessness.

Sebastian Gorka Izzagirre @obeylittle.bsky.social · 2w ago

My main point is that the market rate housing you advocate for will not help these people and that interests aligned with your group support punitive measures toward that population. You have definitely mobilized a grassroots army of defenders and advocates for market rate development.

Vision Zero Vancouver@visionzerovancouver.ca · 2w ago

“Speed kills. Signage and posted regulations can keep honest people honest. But physical traffic calming, meaning designing streets that are relatively narrow and cannot be driven comfortably fast … those are the things that are moving the needle.” www.governing.com/infrastructu...

This New England City Hasn't Had a Traffic Death in Three Years

Somerville, Mass., officials say their success is rooted in tried-and-true best practices for traffic safety.

governing.com

Canada's National Observer@nationalobserver.com · 2w ago

Carney would like Canada to walk the path blazed by Norway, which exports oil while just as aggressively reducing consumption at home. His government’s electrification targets and Chinese EV imports are steps in that direction, @maxfawcett.bsky.social writes. But we need more than baby steps.

Mark Carney wants to make Canada more like Norway. He has some work to do

The now-annual bouts of wildfire smoke are yet another reminder of the importance of reducing our use of fossil fuels and replacing them wherever possible with electrification. It's time for the prime...

nationalobserver.com

Denis Agar (he/him)@denisagar.bsky.social · 2w ago

Time to repost this @benschneider.bsky.social article! This woman predicted that a policy decision was going to result in mass homelessness. She was right.

106 Years Ago She Predicted Today’s Housing Crisis. What if we’d Listened?

In 1919, Edith Elmer Wood drew the connection between ratcheting minimum housing standards and an inevitable crisis of homelessness. Her predictions have proved eerily accurate.

planetizen.com

mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 2w ago

i think people look at homelessness as a relatively new phenomenon and reason backwards to think that in the Before Times, poor people must've all been able to afford houses/their own apartments etc. Most of the housing types the poor used were actually just outlawed (boarding houses, SROs etc)

mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 2w ago

i think people look at homelessness as a relatively new phenomenon and reason backwards to think that in the Before Times, poor people must've all been able to afford houses/their own apartments etc. Most of the housing types the poor used were actually just outlawed (boarding houses, SROs etc)

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈@maxdubler.com · 2w ago

The two hardest and most unforgiving facts in housing policy are that it actually costs a lot of money to build new homes and that the rents that poor people can afford are not enough to pay off the cost of construction.

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈@maxdubler.com · 2w ago

The two hardest and most unforgiving facts in housing policy are that it actually costs a lot of money to build new homes and that the rents that poor people can afford are not enough to pay off the cost of construction.

Eli Friedmann @eligit.bsky.social · 2w ago

Although I do understand the frustration with the brutally high cost of housing, people tend to deemphasize the actual cost. of materials, maintenance (which goes on indefinitely), insurance etc. The want to think all of the cost is due to the greed of whoever owns the building.

Reece Martin@rmtransit.bsky.social · 2w ago

Great post on "Corridor Zoning" with examples from Van and Tor, highlighting that density should follow stations not corridors, and that the corridor is about "quarantining" density and pollution away from sfh. pedestrianobservations.com/2026/07/14/c...

Corridor Zoning is not Transit-Oriented Development

Corridor zoning is a style of development, in which major arterial streets are zoned for high residential and commercial density, while side streets remain zoned for low density, sometimes even for…

pedestrianobservations.com

Jim Mayer 🇨🇦@pentastich.bsky.social · 3w ago

We've been lucky here in #yyj to have relatively few of the e-moto illegal bikes roaming around. Sadly, I just saw a young man in a very illegal electric dirt bike popping wheelies in front of Munroe's books on Government Street. They shouldn't be legal to purchase or service. #yyjbike