Week in review: June 28, 2018

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Consultations, feedback, and events

• CYCLING:
  • Your ideas wanted for a “minimum grid” of protected cycling routes
  • Survey on updating the Ontario Traffic Manual Book 18: Cycling Facilities
  • Kitchener’s Workshop on Wheels, July 28, 31, August 1, 11, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 25
• TRANSIT TALK: GRT’s New Directions, July 4, 16, 30, August 8, 15, 29, September 5, 10, 25
• KITCHENER: Strategic Plan Review, June 28 and online
• TREES: Kitchener’s Sustainable Urban Forest Strategy, due June 29
• VOTE: Check to see if you are registered to vote in the upcoming municipal elections

Snowed

After initially supporting a winter sidewalk maintenance pilot exploring proactive enforcement and plowing options in committee, Kitchener Council flip-flopped in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and voted 7-4 to not consider any plowing options this year. Shockingly, Councillor Galloway-Sealock, who moved the deferral, implied that she was discounting the opinions of residents who supported the pilot as unrepresentative, as if sharing TriTAG’s position was somehow disqualifying. Fortunately, your opinions can’t be so easily discounted at the ballot box October 22.

• Thank Mayor Vrbanovic and Councillors Marsh, Fernandes, and Gazzola for their steady support of the pilot.
• Does Kitchener City Hall belong in the snow business? (The Record)
• A clear sidewalk is a vital public service (The Record)

Transit

GRT has published ridership numbers for May - we’ve now had 10 consecutive months of higher ridership than the year before! The average year over year increase is 3.4%. GRT has also published new performance measures including overcrowding and missed service hours (due to collisions, mechanical failures, weather, etc.)

• What Doug Ford could mean for transit in Ontario (TVO)
• Region to do more work on the LRT route into Cambridge (The Record)
• In public transit, inefficiency equals exclusion (The Atlantic)
• The story of “micro transit” is a consistent, dismal failure (Streetsblog)
• The real benefits of real-time transit data (Sidewalk Labs)
• How to pass a mega transportation measure (LA County Metro)
• Why is public transport use higher in Australia than America and what to do about it (Transportist)

Cycling

• Kitchener taking to the streets to hear the good and the bad about cycling in the city (The Record)
• Sharing isn’t caring: shifting gears on shared responsibility (Robin Mazumder)
• ‘We know what needs to be done’— imagining a bike-friendly future (The Record)
• Infrastructure — not sundresses — responsible for low cycling rates among women (The Record)
• Cycling should not be a contact sport (Globe and Mail)
• Long a Canadian cycling mecca, Montreal’s future looks downright Scandinavian (The Star)
• Cycling popularity sees drastic rise in year since bike-lane launch (The Star)
• Here are the four elements of a cyclist-friendly ‘protected intersection’ (The Star)
• Be a voice for cycling in your community (Share the Road Cycling Coalition)

Vision Zero

• Crossing guard seriously injured after being hit by car in Kitchener (CBC)
• Advocate wants to see improvements for cyclists, pedestrians (CTV)
• Why the ‘distracted pedestrian’ is a myth (Curbed)
• Five changes Toronto (or our region and cities!) could make to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians (Globe and Mail)
• We designed Canada’s cities for cars, not people – and the people are dying (The Guardian)
• We know how to make roads safer. We just have to do it. (The Star)
• #BuildTheVisionTO: Safe and active streets For all (TCAT) A set of election priorities worth adopting here too.
• Our roads will be safer when they are slower (The Star)
• 5 changes cities can make right now to reduce cyclist deaths (Motherboard)

The shape of our cities

• Office building to go up on site of adult rec centre in Waterloo (The Record)
• Ontario Die Company redevelopment approved by council (Waterloo Chronicle)
• Major redevelopment plan would transform Kitchener’s Fairview Park mall (Kitchener Post)
• Waterloo approves 25-storey tower in uptown (Waterloo Chronicle)
• Breithaupt office tower moves ahead, despite residents’ objections (The Record)
• Large housing, retail development OKed for northeast Waterloo (The Record)
• Office space, retail slated for historic post office site (Waterloo Chronicle)
• Affordable housing to be part of big project in Kitchener core (The Record)
• Parking rates to increase in Uptown Waterloo (CBC)
• Every city with “Goldilocks” parking fees (Reinventing Parking)
• “Unbundling” parking costs is a top way to promote transportation options (Mobility Lab)
• Why affordable housing is so important for development near transit (Streetsblog)