Recent content by thommyjo

Just a clown show of a day out there in Whikwentowin and west central. Embarrassing. Loved helping to pick up an elderly man who had flipped his scooter in snow on the sidewalk in our densest urban neighborhood of 20k people. Bike lanes are a joke. Private sidewalks a mess. Alleys horrible...

But like… what are they? Cause population, weather, density and all of that are VERY similar. There won’t be many easier comparables to find. Why is Ottawa spending less than us per km of road and having it ALL cleared in 48hrs, including sidewalks. Broad claims about any of the things you...

Winnipeg and Ottawa have similar budgets per road km as we do. But they both also clear sidewalks and Ottawa in 24hrs. Anyone have insights on why? Seems like we’re getting fleeced.

At what point does Beljan benefit from picking this up and building a bunch of residential with their nearby properties?

Infill, bike infrastructure, and improved transit 100% helps the catchment area grow for downtown vibrancy. The more people who are 10-15 minutes from downtown by transit and bike will help a lot. Significant infill in all these areas is certainly happening. The quarters being the biggest issue...

Not sure that’d make sense. Multiple other rinks nearby. If anything, having skating close by could be a compliment and help sales.

Ice Castles Edmonton opens downtown for the first time https://share.google/jhfu7DmQgeVMt0XuR

Lots of downtowns still have big issues with twice our population. So it’s certainly not a silver bullet. But of all the levers to pull, it’s likely the most wide reaching in benefits. Things change. Brand new LRT lines help a ton to attract new users. And easier payment methods are a huge...

And I think it’s undervalued how much the valley lines and tap pay options will make getting downtown way more chill for suburbanites. For special events, this will help a lot more people get downtown and walking vs just drive into a parkade and out asap. Less parking lots should also help...

Not sure if the problems are the same actually. I’d argue we’ve made progress in many areas, and yet also faced headwinds in many others. Back then, you had a small city, where everyone could access downtown in less than 20 minutes. Today, half our city is more than a 20min drive to downtown...

A great video about the rise of Manchester after many years of decline. Some cool learnings in here around how they revitalized their downtown.

Time for a “adopt a planter” program from DECL maybe ?

Everyone email them and voice your concerns. It can have an impact to show we care. Contact form you can submit here: https://www.factionprojects.com/contact/

“hello darkness my old friend”.

We should have all LRT stops be heated concrete. All main streets, heated. And the city should clear all sidewalks along major bus routes, the central city node (downtown/whikwetowin), and any major nodes at priority 1 levels.