Melissa Bowman

"Premier Doug Ford railed last year against the cameras, saying they don’t work and calling them a municipal cash grab.” And yet... #ASE https://globalnews.ca/news/11802290/ottawa-automated-speed-enforcement/

"Seen on foot or bike, streets are detailed, different. Paths and short-cuts become as important as roads. Buildings, gardens, trees, flowers, people’s faces – the enormous ecology of city life is there to be studied up close as I move slowly through it." #HappyCities https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2026/03/28/im-driving-less-i-dont-want-to-see-the-world-through-drivers-eyes-any-more/

"Transportation professionals have built an environment where a person can do everything right — use a crosswalk, follow the rules, stay alert — and still be at risk of serious injury or death. They know this. They measure it. They cite the statistics.

And then they respond by telling the most at-risk people in that system to be more careful." https://clmarohn.substack.com/p/we-built-a-dangerous-system-then

"I personally cannot imagine removing parking and narrowing the road even further with the current state of traffic.” - township staff.
Yes, why would we build up viable alternatives to vehicle traffic when we can keep doing the same thing that has caused the current state of traffic we all hate? #Cycling #HappyCities https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/cycling-lanes-not-wanted-on-elmira-s-main-drag/article_35946beb-1507-5ec8-840d-7575b57c8b62.html

"Density can help communities achieve a high-quality of life, but only if local governments leverage it to provide the things that really matter: convenient, pedestrian-friendly communities where people can enjoy walking to shops and often run into friends on the street." #HappyCities https://happycities.com/blog/does-density-hurt-happiness

"A person hit by a vehicle travelling at 30 kilometres an hour has a 90-per-cent chance of surviving. Increase the speed to 40 kilometres an hour, though, and the survival rate drops to 60 per cent. A person hit at 50 kilometres an hour has only a 20-per-cent chance of living. Mr. Ford may commiserate with drivers “getting dinged” for going “10 kilometres over,” but small increases in speed matter." #ASE https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-sorry-speed-cameras-arent-the-problem/

"When the welfare state comes in for cuts, we find there’s enough support for stripping away what makes us a country in the name of saving a few bucks. The cycle is a death spiral." -David Moscrop https://www.davidmoscrop.com/p/canada-is-a-nation-of-cheapskates

"Every extra block of distance, car-dependent errand, or isolated service creates barriers that compound over decades. Proximity keeps people independent." https://www.planetizen.com/features/136618-great-cities-dont-just-acknowledge-we-age-them-they-build-it-we-can-too

"A well-made place puts you in contact with other people—neighbors, shopkeepers, strangers you’ll see again, people you don’t get to curate out of your life. That friction isn’t a flaw. It’s a form of discipline. It asks you to be more patient, more aware, more generous than you might otherwise choose to be." https://clmarohn.substack.com/p/the-habitat-that-makes-us-fully-human

"People need consequences for dangerous driving. Automated cameras deliver fair, unbiased enforcement where officers can’t patrol constantly, holding reckless drivers accountable in high-risk areas like school zones while freeing up police for other duties." -Andy Boenau #ASE https://www.urbanismspeakeasy.com/p/some-states-are-making-school-zones

Interesting piece about Robert Harris' painting, "A Meeting of The School Trustees". https://canadaehx.substack.com/p/the-meeting-of-the-school-trustees

"The local councillor there, Michael Thompson, doesn’t want it built. In a letter to committee, he wrote that the lack of parking 'outweighs the benefits of creating new affordable housing.'" Goodness, build the housing already. #PeopleOverParking #Housing https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/six-storeys-10-units-on-paper-it-seemed-the-kind-of-housing-toronto-wants-then/article_f6c6999b-ba0c-4e6b-9b2e-37899bbcd736.html

"Cameras prioritize top-end speeders, data shows. You are nine times more likely to receive a ticket for driving more than 16 km/h over the limit." #ASE https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/the-top-camera-for-ticketing-speeders-is-on-a-waterloo-street-where-a-pedestrian-died/article_d85eb622-abfe-547c-965a-3b6459ef53b2.html

Catch up on what's been happening at local councils in this week's #CitifiedWR including: the Region's multi-phase plan for the old Charles St. Terminal, a new cost related to bylaw enforcement, and a look at why Elmira won't be getting bike lanes on Arthur St. https://citified.substack.com/p/the-council-round-up-apr-2026

"Cities need both market and non-market housing options that meet the needs of diverse residents, and allow low-income residents to remain in their communities and live near to transit and essential services." #HappyCities https://happycities.com/blog/does-density-hurt-happiness

Roads, libraries, and rec facilities seem like the very thing I would expect my property taxes to cover. Why do we try to tie it to new housing development (and also expect it to not increase the cost of that housing)? #WatReg #Housing https://www.therecord.com/news/council/kitchener-development-charge-shortfall/article_95cb27ae-b955-5434-9eab-0087d03addc3.html

"Organizing and launching things on a small scale in our neighbourhoods helps us build and maintain the muscles we need for organizing on a larger scale. It is building up our collective capacity in community, strengthening the web of connections and relationships that make change possible." -Leah Reesor-Keller #WatReg #Playgrounds https://leahreesorkeller.substack.com/p/play-on-midtown-playground-renewal

Hard disagree on this one. Community safety is absolutely part of the mayor's job. It's unfortunate that we by and large assume that police hold all the answers to 'keeping our community safe' and arguments like this strengthen that unfortunate narrative. #WatReg #Policing https://www.therecord.com/opinion/columnists/tactical-officer-at-waterloo-party-a-sign-of-the-times/article_166ce112-9092-5433-a2f6-8a1ae8da323b.html

“The vacancy rate for downtown office space in Waterloo Region remains among the highest in Canada.” Tell me again why we’re building out an over-priced police Communications Centre then? #Policing #WRcouncil https://www.therecord.com/business/real-estate/waterloo-region-commercial-real-estate/article_5c5e6059-3ccb-5cf5-a841-fc61cadec5c1.html

If you need to be reminded of the importance of local journalism (especially important right now it seems!), give Midtown Radio's Community By Design podcast on local media a listen. So good! #WatReg https://communitybydesign.transistor.fm/s1/4

"When wealthy homeowners use local zoning and other land-use laws to block the addition of apartments, townhomes, and subsidized housing in desirable neighborhoods—they create artificial scarcity, thereby propping up their property values." #Housing https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/07/housing-abundance-antitrust/683504/?gift=d4_q1fnTlff69rjuF938UUZ7E4xEPP47s4N5Mp4yJDo

"Investments in the system of support and care, housing, healthcare, education, and so on are the way to public safety." -Alec Karakatsanis (1.35.55) #Policing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZClcBgyg1w

“The faster you can make a transit route, the more it speeds up people’s trips, the more places people can get to in a certain amount of time, and the more competitive it is with other modes of travel. Speed allows us to better use our infrastructure and our existing resources.” Druker said. #WatReg https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/ion-kitchener-speed-trains/article_0a41693a-4c6a-57dd-bcdd-4abf5ee4e69e.html

"We need this broad array of housing types — social housing and market-rate housing and condos and co-ops. Single-stair, at least, helps to unlock some more opportunities.” #Housing https://www.vox.com/housing/410115/housing-single-stair-building-code-icc-fire-safety-firefighters-research

"The brain has limits on how fast it can process information taken in from peripheral vision. So a driver going more quickly experiences a literal narrowing of their vision, making it harder to spot possible risks in time. And the distance needed to brake goes up dramatically with speed, doubling between 30 and 50 kilometres an hour. Both of those factors make a collision more likely. And if one does occur, speed will make it worse." #ASE https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-sorry-speed-cameras-arent-the-problem/

"Complete Streets is an engineering principle that acknowledges what actually exists: people switch modes throughout their day and even within single trips. The same person might drive to a park-and-ride, take transit downtown, walk to lunch, bike to a meeting, then return to the park-and-ride in an Uber." https://www.urbanismspeakeasy.com/p/designing-streets-for-the-average

"Calls for Molloy to apologize for a finding she made based on the evidence presented before her, “threaten judicial independence and the integrity of the trial process and the justice system.” Indeed. #ONpoli https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/umar-zameers-lawyer-blasts-opp-toronto-police-chief-over-secretive-perjury-report--if-anyone-should-be-apologizing-it-should-be-ford-and-demkiw/article_a126c3a8-8cf8-4fc9-bc04-afc1bd0e0c55.html