July 29th, 2010
Apparently there are a record number of candidates running for municipal council this year. For those looking for some alternatives to the status quo, this is good news. Only one candidate is running unopposed, and several incumbents are retiring – so no matter what, we'll see new faces on council this year. And it's good for our local democracy to have a lot of people show their interest in serving their community.
In the coming months, we'll have a chance to look at the ward races in detail. Folks are still launching campaigns, so the field is shifting. I'm reluctant to step in and start analyzing each race at this point.
But as someone who has a keen interest in seeing more women in elected office, I couldn't resist doing a little calculation. According to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, women make up 13.9 per cent of mayors and 23 per cent of councilors – pretty much on par with other levels of government, and contributing to Canada's dismal international rating for women's participation in politics. FCM wants to raise Canada's average to 30%, and have been running campaign schools and workshops across the country for a few years now. Local councilors Marianne Wilkinson and Jan Harder held a campaign school for women here, which from all reports was well attended. Continue reading this post
July 28th, 2010
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• Time's Michael Grunwald took the train ride from Miami to Orlando to consider the Obama administration's $8 billion investment in high speed rail. The US President aims to create 13 national high speed rail corridors to relieve road and air congestion, reduce carbon emissions and highway deaths, create jobs and jump-start the domestic manufacturing industry. The stimulus funding is a great first step but at 1/8 of last year's spending on highways, there is much more work to be done.
• The New York Times reports on the growing trend of cargo-hauling tricycles in New York City. The bespoke "industrial trikes" transform bikes from personal transportation devices to child-carrying, grocery-hauling complete car alternatives. Users even reported a positive change in their interactions with cars and trucks when using the device. Continue reading this post
July 27th, 2010
The above photo was taken at a street corner in the far eastern reaches of Orléans; an obscure intersection, but of course its pop-culture reference is anything but. Yes, it's that Mulder & Scully, the duo from The X-Files. The story of how these two nondescript suburban thoroughfares got their televisual nomenclature has been told elsewhere but their existence does raise the question – are there other Ottawa streets named after fictional characters?
Well, the fact is that the practice of naming Ottawa streets for famous fictional characters has been going on, albeit sporadically, since as far back as 1899.
This was borne out in the pages of Ottawa Past and Present by one A.H.D. Ross, published back in 1927. In Volume II of that work, there is a list of the streets and parks running ten pages in total. In those ten pages are at least three examples that predate Mulder and Scully. Continue reading this post
July 24th, 2010
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
What does your choice of favourite buildings say about your personality? Continuing to digest the results from the reader survey of the best of Montreal, Spacing contributor Justin Boulanger speculates about the personal traits of the readers of who selected the top three favourite buildings and laments that the Sci-Fi nerds were not organized enough to get Olympic Stadium onto the podium.
In a landmark public space ruling the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled this week that the City of Montreal's anti-postering bylaw is unconstitutional. Christopher DeWolf reports on the story of how the law was challenged and speculates what the city will do to accommodate postering in the future. The post also includes a fantastic gallery of posters from around the city.
As part of the Ideas for Toronto series Adrian Lightstone brings up the issue of using referendums to gauge public support for new revenue tools for transit funding. Citing that referendums having fallen out of style in Canada, Lighstone points out they are frequently used in American cities and other places around the world and have even been used in Toronto.
Mayoral Candidate George Smitherman walked Eglinton Ave all the way across Toronto this week suggesting his interest in urban walkability. Spacing's Todd Harrison caught with him during part of his walk for a discussion about how he would promote walkability as Mayor and put the discussion on Spacing Radio.
On the transit file, the weekly Monday Musings column this week generated discussion on how the proposed service cuts to bus routes around Halifax will affect the city. Additionally, Lauren Oostveen delves into the Halifax archives to look at the city's public transit history.
Spacing Atlantic is launching a photo contest challenging readers to encapsulate their city in a single photograph. Read more about the specific criteria and how to enter.
Continue reading this post
July 23rd, 2010
I'm in Winnipeg this week attending the Fringe Festival; it's a captivating 10-day event that hosts over 150 theatrical productions from around the world, and it centres on the wonderfully-preserved and revitalized Exchange District and Old Market Square.
I grew up here in the 60s and 70s, and in those days no one I knew ever went to the Exchange District; in fact back then the area didn't even go by any name at all and unless you were employed by one of the mid-century businesses that still valued the low rent and central location the district – fur storage, typewriter repair, offset printers, that sort of thing – you had no reason to show your face along the grimy streets just north of the famous corner of Portage and Main. Really, the district had been in slow decline since a short period of boom in the 'teens and twenties when the civic fathers imagined that their role in the Western Canadian grain trade would soon turn the city into "The Chicago of the North". Continue reading this post
July 22nd, 2010
LISTEN TO TODAY'S SPACING RADIO PODCAST
Sometimes exploring a city means just shutting your eyes and listening. In this soundscape, Spacing producer Mieke Anderson takes you underground into the Glasgow subway system.
Affectionately known as "the Clockwork Orange" because of its orange subway cars and circular route, Glasgow's underground dates back to 1896 making it the third oldest in the world. Recently, the city was considering shutting down parts of the system if they couldn't come up with the money for a massive modernization plan (the route itself hasn't changed in over a century). In April, an upgrade worth £290 million was approved guaranteeing residents and visitors many more years of fun lurching and hurtling round and round the city.
So close your eyes and let us take you for a ride!
Links to stuff from Spacing Radio's Summer Shorts 013:
Photo by Karoly Lorentey
July 21st, 2010
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The hull of ship from the 1700s was found last week at the World Trade Centre site in Manhattan, reports CNN. Archaeologists suspect that the ship was sunk to retain and add precious land area to the island.
• Looking for a recession proof industry? The Globe and Mail reports that parking lots continue to pull in record earnings in Canadian cities. With supply limited by increasing real estate development in our downtown cores, the price of parking has increased 233 per cent in Calgary and 130 per cent in Toronto over the past ten years. While some bemoan the dent this has made in their pocket book, Spacing's Shawn Micallef calls this the "universal price of great urbanism" .
• As New York City cracks down on illegal advertisements, Treehugger reports that some of the city's guerilla gardeners are "turning billboard blight into pop-up planters".
Continue reading this post
