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Looks like there will be a race for mayor in Kelowna after all. The Conservative challenger (successful in 2022, unsuccessful in 2018) facing a challenge from the right. www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna...

An $8,000 kei truck by Suzuki in Japan, not available in Canada to prevent competition vs. the Big Three who want to charge $50,000+ for a pickup truck. Canada should allow kei vehicles. youtu.be/5XJGa6j2l6s

Modulation and stepback are both flat-out ugly and unhelpful.

BRT seems EXTREMELY vulnerable to “hey, there’s 6 full lanes and the buses don’t come that often, why aren’t we using these lanes as car lanes”. The political pragmatism has completely failed for the Quadra-McKenzie plan, among others. Just not seeing the path forward.

The amount of demolition, including of current apartment buildings, that this plan would represent is another significant financial hurdle. Frankly, based on my conversations with professional transportation engineers and planers based in Kelowna, this doesn’t seem realistic at this juncture.

Maybe one day the Province will promise an actually viable and empirically proven traffic solution on Highway 97 and the Bridge to both maintain a steady flow speed and fund a popular alternate mode (actual rail). www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna... I’m extremely skeptical of BRT popularity.

youtu.be/i5v5axBY4S4?... Real conversation with Bliss Bakery when their railing was 2 inches too high (I really hope the city didn’t ticket them, but I was explicitly told I had to collect and report this data).

I spent a summer working for the city of Kelowna where, among other things, they literally sent me around with a tape measure to identify patios where the railing was too high (apparently bylaw used the data for fines) Worst job I ever had. Absolutely crazy.

Ice cream on the beach is clearly capitalism running amok.

Appending this only to say that food trucks are good, but we should probably do more to permit micro-venues as actual retail spaces as well. Very common in France. Should look at the zoning and building code to ensure viability, as well as permitting.

Everything you need to know about “Park Activation” is “things to do”. This screenshot covers it, along with (probably) a washroom, fountain, and playground for bigger parks.

STV or better at every level of govt, agreed.

open.substack.com/pub/davidcol...

“Among Canadians aged 60 and over, 78% say democracy is always preferable to any other kind of government. Among those aged 18 to 29, only 43% say the same.” If you consider this as downstream of the generational malaise over the cost of living and high unemployment, it’s even more concerning.

Bass promoting fare-free LA metro is a really funny example of a politician attempting to pander but instead landing on a proposal that, within the community of people who care a lot about the issue, is a specific shibboleth for not knowing what you're talking about: bsky.app/profile/mayo...

Honestly the thing that bothers me most about UniteHere 40 trying to ban new hotels in Vancouver is that I know from a friend that RMHBC is often full and families often have to book far away from the hospital for appointments. It’s wild to not want short term housing next to a hospital.

No idea, sorry.

“While Judge Michelle Daneliuk agreed with the Crown that Berry's release “would risk the protection and safety of the public,” she opted to release Berry on bail” One would expect that the threat to stab someone would’ve been a reasonable bar for no bail in a reasonable system.

There's one flavor of GOOD accelerating change that few foresaw: All-in price declines in solar, wind and batteries relative to coal and gas. The energy transition is ON, and fossil-fuel wars are only accelerating it.

Insane new research. Scientists gave asthma patients free electric stoves to replace their gas stoves, then checked to see if symptoms improved. Not only did symptoms improve, ditching gas was *better than medicine.* Details in today's newsletter: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/electric-s...