Neil Barratt

broken up piece of road next to the sidewalk.

PSA: People on bikes aren’t swerving to annoy drivers, they’re just trying not to die or destroy their mode of transportation.
This is generally what the bike portion looks like of our “shared” roads. Glorious.

The AI Bubble's Impossible Promises Readers: I’ve done a very generous “free” portion of this newsletter, but I do recommend paying for premium to get the in-depth analysis underpinning the intro. That being said, I want as many people ...

Premium: The AI Bubble's promises are impossible. NVIDIA's customers are running out of money, GPUs die in 3-5 years, most 1GW data centers will never get built, and OpenAI's Abilene data center doesn't won't have the power it needs before 2028 - if it ever does.
www.wheresyoured.at/the-ai-bubbl...

This is a vital conversation that City of Ottawa needs to have with residents. Through density and property valuation, we see massive discrepancies in tax revenue/hectare across the city. Organizations like @strongtownsottawa.bsky.social make this clear. But there are other discrepancies, too! 1/

Hey @ncc-ccn.bsky.social - any news on a reopening of the Ottawa River Pathway behind Parliament? #ottbike

I think I go downhill after lunch but then sometimes have a weird spike right at bedtime. Which is great, obviously

Yep. We can no longer accept that the production of new plastic is a matter for the market to decide.

Breakdowns causing more delays for Para Transpo users | CBC News Para Transpo users are being warned to expect continuing delays over the holidays as the transit service grapples with a rash of breakdowns in its minibus fleet.

OK – we need some answers here. A) if the problem is lack of mechanics – Amilcar should say so. B) if the problem is that the buses are just too damn old, well that’s not going to get fixed in 2 weeks. So WHAT is the plan? www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Rideau River bridge at Carleton University closed for winter — unexpectedly Only opened in June, the bridge connecting Carleton University to Vincent Massey Park has been blocked off.

This is the balance our city thinks is appropriate. It completely is not. We spend millions on cycling infrastructure and close it for half the year. What if we did this to roads? Shoukd we close Strandherd ($112m) from Dec-April? 1/ @brenttoderian.bsky.social ottawacitizen.com/news/carleto...

Well said. Why does maintaining active infrastructure always require a fight in Ottawa? I’m soooo tired. #ottawalkers #ottbike

Brent Toderian: Don’t “Balance” Modes — Prioritize Walking, Biking, and Transit “I’m capable of saying some pretty harsh things — I’m very un-Canadian that way. But most of the time, I would say that if a city hires me, it’s because they know that the s…

“Reconsider this word ‘balance.’ Let’s say, for argument’s sake, your goal is balance. Picture a 100-yard dash where you’ve given the car a 90-yard head start. Even if your goal is balance, by definition u have to prioritize the other modes even to just catch up.” — Still key in @usa.streetsblog.org

Ugghhhh “fare”

Hi @glengower.bsky.social today was the second day this week that I walked from Queen St to Lansdowne without a single bus passing me. Does this service justify a fair increase? @occtranspo.bsky.social @otttransitriders.bsky.social @arieltroster.bsky.social @shawnmenard.bsky.social

'Dude, Where's My Bus?' Ottawa man fed up with OC Transpo makes documentary exploring transit troubles Gio Petti put together a documentary on OC Transpo, asking how we got here. How did a city that was once lauded as an example of how to do transit right, and that boasted some of the highest per capit...

A quick reminder, bad transit costs money too. I'm hoping that voters will take note of which councillors are advocating for better transit, and which are voting for status quo (transit death spiral). ottawa.ctvnews.ca/dude-where-s...

A mix of sun and clouds. Overlooking an intersection with a park in the background.

A dark sky over an intersection with a large 4 storey car park being built

If you haven’t been to Dow’s Lake in #Ottawa for a while. How it started and how it is going on this prime lakefront property.

Riding south on Trillium pathway, and the way you know you're almost at Dow's Lake, is an ugly concrete behemoth appears before you. Just breath-taking (ly terrible).
#Autowa

4 people on bikes riding in a contraflow lane with a driver in a white car about to cross it making a left.

Years ago we had the mayor bike to school with my 6 year old, within the first :30 seconds they were almost hit by a driver on live TV.
Every leader should be required to ride a bike (if able) with a 6 year old before they provide any direction on bike infrastructure.

Globe editorial: The true cost of soaring development charges on new homes Ontario cities need to wean themselves from the habit of hiking fees on new builds in order to subsidize low property tax rates for current residents

Soaring development taxes punish new renters and buyers, while benefiting existing homeowners as free riders. They must be eliminated, in favour of progressive property wealth taxes and/or conditional transfers from provinces and feds. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...

Our parents and grandparents didn't gradually set aside the tax dollars to eventually maintain the assets they built, so we borrow to do it. Politicians are short-term planners and it's always easy to defer setting money aside for maintenance and replacement to keep taxes low.

Our leaders fight us for every square inch of bike lane but everywhere you look you can find millions in taxpayer dollars wasted on car travel, the most expensive, inefficient and dangerous form of travel in cities.

The future of transit IS kids on the bus - EnviroCentre The things we learn when we are young stick with us. Can you still remember your childhood phone number and […]

Ottawa's climate targets rely on 20-30% of all trips in the city to be taken on OC Transpo. Currently it's 8.5%. How do they plan to get there? I'd recommend nurturing young riders - something I spoke about at transit commission today and wrote about here: www.envirocentre.ca/the-future-o...

@octranspo.bsky.social I took the bus to work this morning. The GPS said that two #6 busses were 0 minutes away, and a 7 was eight minutes. But there were no 6s in sight, and a 7 pulled up 3 minutes later. When will the GPS actually work? Who can use a system like this?

Important 🧵

… to spend half $1 billion subsidizing, private sports teams and franchises? Who has the courage to lead in the public interest and move a budget for people, core services, tourism, reputation, and the sort of city we aspire to be. Who’s willing to lead?

Who has the courage to move that to Tewin should be scrapped so that we don’t embed a $600 million initial Cost to permanently subsidize sprawl that we will never be able to afford? Who has the courage to move that Lansdowne 2.0 should be paused until we can actually afford… 3/

Several people cycle on a wide pedestrian and bike bridge across a bay.

A map of the Nepean Bay Area with a red circle where the bridge has been replaced.

#ottbike news: the new, wider and flatter bridge across the #Nepean Creek along the Ottawa River in #Ottawa is open. Thx Zlatko for the pics.

HERE IT IS! My 1st Urbanism & City-Building Starter Pack. I’ll keep adding to it as more city champions arrive here on Bluesky & I discover more of you. Please share this far & wide to support and grow our urbanism community here. Our cities need all the help they can get! go.bsky.app/G7isZfk