Phil

@philmarfisi

Sidewalk enthusiast. Other interests: public policy, housing, urbanism, Waterloo Region, Ontario politics, #cdnpoli, Star Trek, music, news media, international relations, and the Oxford comma. Democracy is good, actually.

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Phil@philmarfisi· 14d

Disappointed in your position on this Scott. I think you have a lot of reasoned analysis for why you take this position, which I respect, but it's clear to me residents in this neighbourhood are not making these arguments in good faith. (cont)

"Neighbours want housing that matches to the character of our neighbourhood," said Wendy Ridgway, who is helping lead the charge against new housing taller than three storeys.
*We have a great neighbourhood.
We are more than happy to share it with others of modest income, but (we want) neighbours that want to give to the community and are here for the long term."

City officials assured residents that the housing council wants on the site is not transitional or shelter housing for people without jobs. Rather, redevelopment targets working people such as shop
clerks, personal support workers, nurses, teachers and electricians who have incomes but can't afford market rents and costs.

Phil@philmarfisi· 15d

As a side note, this may be one of the best passages Coyne has ever written, and articulates a more healthy form of patriotism for those who may feel hesitancy or skepticism of the concept.

You love your country, in the end, because it is your country. You love it out of gratitude for what has been handed down to us by our ancestors. You love it out of solidarity with those who are living here now. And you love it out of ambition for what it might mean to generations yet to Come.
That's not a moral obligation. It's just a healthier way of being.

Phil@philmarfisi· 23d

I appreciate the sentiments from the head of Restaurants Canada here in trying to be diplomatic about the pros/cons of patios, but they're being a bit too generous. Taking space away from bike lanes? Agreed that's a trade-off that merits striking a balance. Taking space away from cars? Fine.

"One of the things that we're challenged with now is that fight between infrastructure and construction, but people still want to have their patio space and finding that balance" she said. "We've got different cities doing, whether it's CaféTO in Toronto or different patio initiatives throughout the country, but how do we do it where we aren't frustrating drivers and taking over certain bike lanes and all of these other issues?"

Phil@philmarfisi· 29d

How lucky we are to live within the greatest freshwater ecosystem on the planet. Lake Huron forever problems for now.

Phil@philmarfisi· Jul 3

Drake is sad about the national energy program but loves state owned and financed pipelines

Phil@philmarfisi· Jul 1

Me watching this afternoon's game

Distracted boyfriend meme, I'm looking at Senegal while Cabo Verde looks on in annoyance

Phil@philmarfisi· Jul 1

For several years, I've had to cross the road in the winter, or traipse through mud in the spring or fall, for a section on my favourite walking route that didn't have a sidewalk. Well, today it appears the city put in this beauty *and* spruced up the crosswalk. It really is the little things!

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 30

Mbappe is the kind of player that you can't just text a friend and say "did you see that?", because he can put away multiple otherworldly goals in one game

Mbappes goal was disgusting, I am in shock watching these highlights

My friend: which one

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 27

The virgin Europe vs the Chad North America on A/C

The AC us NOT the solution! We need to stop being so egoistic and individualistic! Says one person while another says you're so right, we can defeat heat stroke through the power of personal values

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 26

Love what Waterloo is doing with these hanging plants on Regina in Uptown - the pedestrian experience in certain spots on this street is... not great, so the bright pops of colour are a nice placemaking touch. It's the little things!

A utility pole with pink flowers in planters

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 21

Imagine telling someone pre-2016 that the leader of the world's most powerful country is the kind of guy who think it's vital the prime minister of Canada knows the grievances he has about his birthday party

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 19

Kingston proving that even if it's only a few dozen meters, a thoughtfully designed pedestrian street space can become a downtown haven that works for people of all ages (this one even features a play space for kids!)

A wide lens view of a pedestrianized road space in downtown Kingston Ontario - there are nice tables in the foreground, shade, and a play area for kids and pets in the back

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 11

Folks: the Mill Race Path in St. Jacob's is pretty dang neat

Sad, albeit bucolic little waterfall. In Kitchener-waterloo this would be considered quite the water feature.

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 10

I am begging the Record to give column inches to more diverse viewpoints that at least attempt critical thinking

Over that time, the intersection of Fairway Avenue and Wilson Road in Kitchener would be deemed the most dangerous because it had the most such collisions, with a total of four collisions reported between pedestrians and drivers making a right turn.
Four collisions over five years. By contrast, another recent statistic reminds us that there were 74 collisions last year alone involving Ion light rail trains. Yet, nobody is suggesting we take the trains off the road.

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 9

This comedian nails the appeal of Zohran Mamdani's politics in under two minutes; it all boils down to the incredible appeal of the "turns out you can just do things" agenda. If the NDP could figure out a version of this that works in the Canadian context, they'd probably poll a lot higher!

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 5

The Ontario NDP is once again promoting their anti-grocery tax bill, and I am once again asking when North American progressives are going to stop adopting asinine right-wing anti-tax populism that will only make it more difficult to fund the welfare state in future decades.

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 5

Let's get it done

We are trading Minnesota for Cambridge, Ontario

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 5

Not the point of the story but: this argument for chartering flights actually makes tons of sense, and other premiers should do the same instead of pretending their time isn't valuable by choosing to fly economy.

Ford specifically defended chartering flights to Ottawa, a trip he often makes. While there are about 20 airline flights between Toronto and Ottawa on any given day, Ford argued that flying commercially between them can consume an entire workday. "Everyone knows it's 45 minutes there, maybe an hour back," Ford said on Thursday about flying roundtrip from Toronto to Ottawa. "By the time you leave, you wait in line, spend about seven hours- your whole day. If you think that's productive as a leader of the 19th largest economy in the entire world... If you think that's sufficient. well. we're going to disagree

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 3

Love them or hate them, it's lowkey hilarious that Jagmeet Singh is putting out hopecore reels, Trudeau is sitting on a yacht somewhere on his way to another music festival (i.e., they moved on), and meanwhile their old nemesis Pierre is still out there using the same tired strategies and losing.

Phil@philmarfisi· Jun 1

Like even if this was 200m away from that intersection, the risk of UPFs climbs down dramatically. Ditto nitrogen oxide. and nitrogen dioxide. If you really want to benefit their health, it needs to be even further. The graph is taken from here: www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/docu...

Graph showing the relative concentration of air pollutants. Y axis is percent, x axis is distance from edge of road in metres.

Phil@philmarfisi· May 31

This one's for those who have never seen one of the Great Lakes. Given they hold 20% of the world's surface freshwater, it's no wonder they look like inland seas.

Phil@philmarfisi· May 28

Guelph in the summertime, man

The sun lights up an old limestone church at dusk with trees blending in

Phil@philmarfisi· May 27

Abstract
There is a growing debate about whether upzoning is an effective policy response to housing shortages and unaffordable housing. This paper provides empirical evidence to further inform debate by examining the various impacts of recently implemented zoning reforms on housing construction in Auckland, the largest metropolitan area in New Zealand. In 2016, the city upzoned approximately three quarters of its residential land to facilitate construction of more intensive housing. We use a quasi-experimental approach to analyze the short-run impacts of the reform on construction, allowing for potential shifts in construction from non-upzoned to upzoned areas (displacement effects) that would, if unaccounted for, lead to an overestimation of treatment effects. We find strong evidence that upzoning stimulated construction. Treatment effects remain statistically significant even under implausibly large displacement effects that would necessitate more than a four-fold increase in the trend rate of construction in control areas under the counterfactual of no-upzoning. Our findings support the argument that upzoning can stimulate housing supply and suggest that further work to identify factors that mediate the efficacy of upzoning in achieving wider objectives of the policy would assist policymakers in the design of zoning reforms in the future.

Austin surge of new construction drove down rents

Renter's market in Edmonton as building boom meets drop in demand

Phil@philmarfisi· May 27

This was a fun bike ride

A bike route that begins in cabbagetown, then runs down to the waterfront and eventually up to south Parkdale

Phil@philmarfisi· May 27

The difference between this site and IRL is if I shared this walk with friends they'd question my sanity but the average city nerd on Bsky would probably be like "that's it?"

A walking route that went from woodbine park to queen and then all the way down queen to Parliament and up to Cabbagetown

Phil@philmarfisi· May 27

Getting e-bike pilled with legendary pedestrian street alchemist @chanface.bsky.social

Rodney is biking on an empty road next to a beautiful highway and sea of gentrification buildings

Phil@philmarfisi· May 27

Toronto in the summertime, man

Phil@philmarfisi· May 26

GREAT LAKES SUMMERS ARE BACK BABY!

The infinite skyline of Lake Ontario looks like an ocean but it is actually just the world's greatest freshwater system

Phil@philmarfisi· May 23

*Tyler Austin Harper voice* this beverage is an ode to humanity's hubris, and its genius. It is an improbable paean to the industrial age - a synthetic cocktail of unnameable chemicals. And yet, it is the beverage of the everyman, and eludes the hedonism chasing elites who scoff at its majesty.

Phil@philmarfisi· May 23

First screenshot is the Premier, second is a (completely well-intentioned) local city councillor who are missing the real culprit in the Kitchener encampment issue: the province. The Region simply does not have the financial resources we need to build enough supportive housing. The province does.