I am old enough to have been present at some births and some deaths and to observe that the wisest advice about both seems pretty much the same. Be present. Know where you stand and what you value. Acknowledge fear and let it move on. Have a plan and prepare to depart from it at a moment's notice.
A prediction for 2026: the news industry will finally realize that informal community information networks are the most functional version of journalism today.
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-...
Our kids' digital spaces aren't just a tech problem, they're a symptom of the lack of real world space for unsupervised peer play. If we want healthier, happier kids, we must rethink how cities, streets, and communities allow children to explore and form independent cultures away from adults.
In rural/preindustrial areas, kids roam forests or play freely with peers; in cities they're confined and supervised, and retreat into digital worlds.
Western kids are more sheltered and immobile now than in the past, lacking independent spaces and peer cultures where they can truly grow up. @eselster.bsky.social lays it out nicely in Where Do The Children Play? tinyurl.com/4a9t6mba
Worth following @puzycki.bsky.social and his Substack, City of Yes: www.ryanpuzycki.com
This is happening already--WA & OR have re-legalized SRO-style housing. We need to look at prohibitive factors and address them. Bringing SROs back into the urban mix could be an overlooked ingredient in the ultimate recipe for restoring affordability and easing the homelessness crisis.
The author points out that cities now have huge amounts of vacant office space. Subsidized office-to-housing conversions could recreate low-cost units with shared facilities. Points to research done on this typology by @genslerdesign.bsky.social and @pewresearch.org www.gensler.com/blog/pew-stu...
So, should we re-legalize and bring back SROs? Single room occupancy housing once provided flexible and affordable options for people on the margins -- all margins. Today it has almost disappeared.
I just read “The Banished Bottom of the Housing Market” by Ryan Puzycki. It is a clear look at how cities eliminated the lowest rung of the housing ladder. www.ryanpuzycki.com/p/the-banish...
Without fanfare, the BC Ministry of Transportation released a report that makes a strong case for a Westshore to Victoria rail line, writes Sam Holland
open.substack.com/pub/theshado...
The best thing I’ve read in a long time about the psychology of connection and companionship. Not a long read, but a vital one.
Ryan Moulton @moultano Oil is the most Lovecraftian thing that actually exists. You're telling me that there's a black ichor under the earth, made from the ancient dead, whose burning can realize all the dreams of man but only at the price of slowly returning the earth to its primordial state?
Everyone is hope scrolling now
NOEMA's been rolling out bangers this year. In "The Last Days of Social Media" @jamesosullivan.bsky.social sketches out a hopeful little map to help us design our way past the current slopstorm and lay groundwork for the next, better thing. Well worth your time.
Yes, our attention is being collectively neutered in the enshittified omnibucket. This is the first essay I've read that stands up a hopeful, plausible little trellis for us to climb out without quitting the mess we birthed and raised.
www.noemamag.com/the-last-day...
this 72-page book, The ABCs of Media Literacy, is given to every grade nine student in Finland
media literacy is a core component of the national curriculum. everyone has the toolbox and training needed for practicing responsible citizenship
its CIVICS
(a bullshit detector)
abcsofmedia.com
This is the take. Behaviour clearly reads that no accountability is anticipated through democratic process.
Not saying they’re underfunded. My point is it’s understandable that the new chief brings a tin cup to her first appearance at council. For an effective tenure she needs to make a solid first impression with her force first—public later.
Let’s be fair. From a leadership angle, this is a pretty standard opening move for an outside boss. The new Chief needs to establish herself with all her reports as an advocate for the department. Her first words with Council should push to improve the worst pain points outlined by her team.
1/ Well, this is upsetting! Canada Post is closing the postal outlet at Westside Village in Vic West. The nearest other locations are downtown and in Esquimalt, which are both around 2 km away. The article claims this was not a cost or performance issue.
#yyj
www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/va...
"If you want to drive in a city that's growing in population & cars, the best thing you can hope for is your neighbour on one side takes public transit & the one on the other side is walking on some of the short trips & now the neighbour in the back is riding their bike or #ebike now." #BikeLanes
It’s the fear of change, and as understandable as that fear is, there is no placating it and we should not try to. ggwash.org/view/97890/2...
Whew this is spectacular. ✨
By the same author: a less-technical, but thoroughly-reasoned rundown of common questions & objections to supply-side housing solutions through urban densification:
michaelwiebe.com/blog/2024/09...
Following Victoria OCP hearings with interest... thoughtful contributions from many angles. Found this literature review on Vacancy Chains helpful - rigorous explainer on how building new homes of any type drives affordability.
www.buildingabundance.ca/p/vacancy-ch...
As autonomous vehicles spread across the US, they could turn urban streets into a congested, chaotic mess. But it’s not inevitable.
In @vox.com, I proposed specific ways cities can future-proof themselves for self-driving cars.
🧵
Hi Toronto 👋, Victoria here.
We will gladly take these investments in consistent, objective traffic enforcement off your hands!
i don't oppose traffic cameras on panopticon grounds. speed and red light cameras both encourage prosocial behavior without the intervening dubious discretion of the police. to the extent that the cameras are sited in a discriminatory way, that is a *very important* but different issue.
*Stares pointedly at #HamOnt*
