In 2009, a small change to the way Ottawa collects Development Charges resulted in a very significant subsidy on sprawl. This change was made by city staff, against the direction of council, buried in a 450 page background study, and nobody on council seems to have noticed.🧵 Prior to this change, DCs on a suburban single family home were 78% higher than one built Inside the Greenbelt (IGB). Today that number is just 14% higher than an IGB home. This rebalancing goes against everything in our Official Plan, infill pays more, and sprawl pays less.

The section of Bronson under HWY 417 is going to be closed from July 6th to 23rd.

HWY 417 is going to be closed from July 13th to 17th.

This is going to create a perfect storm of traffic chaos for residents of Centretown and The Glebe. Much worse than previous closures.

🧵 In particular, the Northbound detour of Bronson overlaps with both the eastbound and westbound 417 detours. Catherine and Chamberlain are going to be parking lots.

So, I'm waiting at the light. A police car pulls up beside me. The light changes, a car runs the red light, and two cars are blocking the intersection. I think, oh here we go! These people are about to get ticketed! But no, the cop just goes around and DRIVES UP THE BIKE LANE! The 417 is closed, so there's more traffic than usual, but he does this all the time regardless of traffic, just to save a minute going around the block to get home.

He sat in his car for 14 minutes before getting out.

Sorry about the shaky video, I'm holding a baby.

What does a red light mean again? Blocking the crosswalk and bike lane, and another red light runner.