iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Erik de Vries

Charlotte @bigorangebike.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I moved to Victoria from Ottawa 7 years ago and these are some of the many things that I love about living here. Bathrooms, water fountains, bike valet, cleanliness, whimsy. I will add flowers. Municipal governments all over Vancouver Island plant flowers everywhere. Life can be beautiful.

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Daniel Moser @dmoser.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

1:00 pm: I post a thing on the free stuff group 1:00 pm and one second: somebody tells me they want it 11:00 pm: still negotiating how and why they can’t pick it up, but also can’t give me their address so I can drop it off, but also why I shouldn’t give it to the next person on the 17-long list.

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Spokane Rising @spokanerising.com · 26/08/2026

imagine spending your retirement doing this

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Nice new bike/pedestrian infrastructure in Courtenay, BC.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

The Save Our Saanich platform is a fantastically consistent compendium of “I’m not against this good thing, but not in this, or any other achievable, way,” across every area of municipal policy: housing, transit, taxation, social services, policing, or zoning.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Some compelling insights here into a behaviour pattern I have always had trouble understanding: people who object disproportionately, and oddly personally, to others who choose ostensibly slower and higher friction ways of getting around and living. medium.com/@cody.little...

medium.com

We Don’t Have a Culture of Convenience in North America. We Have a CULT of Convenience.

And you can tell the difference by what happens when you question it.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Kudos to the City of Victoria for building out its AAA bike network ahead of the closure of the Galloping Goose. I had been dreading my afternoon ride to Burnside from to collect a dishwasher part, but the protected route covered all of Government, Gorge, and Rutland.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Check out the diverse slate coming to Saanich this fall.

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Reposted by Erik de Vries

Moebius Stripper @moebiusstripper.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Getting from one place in the Ottawa suburbs to another place in the Ottawa suburbs be like

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Eric Doherty @ericdoherty.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

My letter in @timescolonist.bsky.social today. "People who live in places where walking and cycling are safe and pleasant, and casual socializing is easier, tend to be more resistant to misinformation and extremist politics." #yyj #bcpoli #urbantruth

Bike lanes make life better for everyone

Re: “Bike lanes and the rise of outrage in our society,” commentary, May 13.

I was in Paris last year and saw what a network of quality bike lanes can do. Traffic volumes have been cut in half. Life is better for everyone, including drivers.

The smiling faces of parents carrying kids on cargo bikes and grandparents riding three- and four-wheel mobility scooters in Paris (and Victoria), are a great reminder that you don’t have to ride a bicycle to use bike and roll lanes.

And in the 2024 French national elections, Paris was a bright spot, soundly rejecting the far right. Paris elected a mayor and council committed to more trees, bike lanes and bus lanes.

Nobody should be surprised by this.

The evidence is overwhelming that creating bike or bus lane networks reduces car traffic (the technical term is “traffic evaporation” if you want to look it up).

In our region, with a growing population and car ownership, traffic would be worse without bike lanes.

There is also good evidence that people who live in places where walking and cycling are safe and pleasant, and casual socializing is easier, tend to be more resistant to misinformation and extremist politics.

What we should be outraged about is having toxic misinformation printed in our daily newspaper.

Eric Doherty
Registered Professional Planner
Victoria

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Reposted by Erik de Vries

It's Jamie @sjamieit.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

The City of Ottawa posted the raw speed data from before and after Doug Ford banned speed cameras and the effect is so obvious it's not even necessary put a line marking when that happened. This chart shows the percentage of drivers going 15km/h or more over the posted limit.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

After due consideration, the angry bike hating community of Saanich has determined that the logical solution to this impasse among its members is to require cyclists be insured, licensed, and road-taxed.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

You can’t just turn to some chat forum and say something like “hey, anybody have a good, reliable sourdough recipe?” or “tips for raising tomatoes on my balcony?” without a deluge of randos giving you contradictory but elaborate answers that cost thousands and take years.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

This logic leads inexorably to the conclusion that we should just stay home, probably in the basement. Everything carries some risk. Want to fly? Nah, I’d rather be alive so I’ll stay home. Want to go for a swim? Nah, you could drown. Nope. Build safe infrastructure, use it, and enforce the law.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Car dependency is so destructive. As employers move back to 100% in-office presence, employees who relied on their cars to fill the gaps left by hollowed-out transit, less (and worse) child care, and high housing costs are already at their limit. The “before COVID” world isn’t there to go back to.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Maybe we shouldn’t be opening the question of whether to build a school up to public consultation at all.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Watching the Olympic opening ceremonies as a dutiful husband. I enjoy the sports, but dread the opening, which clicks in at over four hours. The Canadian uniforms look like they’re dressed as 1970s maple syrup bottles. 2/10.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Look, I know everything is going to heck in a heckbasket, but spring training starts in six weeks.

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Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

One thing I'll never not find funny is how so many "trust the science" folks will quickly dismiss out of hand, without reading it, any study that finds that high housing costs reduce the birth rate.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

A group of local whiners held this tiny project up for seven years because it would slow down their drive by a minute.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

They might as well just use stock photos of the public meetings for this. They all look exactly the same.

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Reposted by Erik de Vries

Pete @peeete.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Why the city continues to entertain these stupid and obviously bad faith arguments is beyond me.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Oh, this is what happened in Ottawa! A single bus route was replaced by an LRT, value-engineered to within an inch of its life, that meant two outdoor transfers to downtown instead.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

The very predictable and oft-heard answer — that people who can afford to fly are so rich that they don’t need transit — is outdated and irrelevant. Transit is good for everyone: it lowers traffic and reduces greenhouse gases, irrespective of who is using it.

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Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️ @shoshana.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

This so much! Parents (usually mothers) in car-centric areas are forced to chauffeur their kids around. It also means they emphasize predictable, scheduled activities (like sports leagues) that cost money. Youth mobility gives kids freedom, saves money, and reduces the unpaid-labor burden on women

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Ottawa 2.0: there’s still a bit of non-privatized green space you can use for 3.0.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

I’m sure this feels like it matters a lot but I’m just wondering how somebody reading this in 1925 or 1825 or 825 would respond.

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Reposted by Erik de Vries

Toon Dreessen @toondreessen.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

It’s a predictable pattern. Suburban and rural (mainly) voted to spend more, get less, align themselves with private interest to fund a project that doesn’t affect them, delivering lower value at the expense of urban quality of life and wrecking women’s pro hockey in the capital.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

On the one hand, I’m glad I was able to get the shingles vax - it’s a very painful disease that is more likely to hit you as you get older. On the other hand, I woke up feeling like I had the worst hangover in history. Hot tip: schedule it before a day you can take off work.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Well, that was a disappointment.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Whatever happens tomorrow, on Sunday I will be looking up the reporting day for pitchers and catchers.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

All in all, it’s just another

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

The finalists for Most Dramatic Wall Moment From The Last 40 Years award

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Not running over kids on Hallowe’en: yet another woke salvo in the war on cars.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

The most disappointing thing for online Dodgers fans today is that they can’t blame Springer “cheating” for their loss.

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Reposted by Erik de Vries

Brendan Kevenides @bkevenides.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

There's never been a better time to bike or take public transit.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

I’m not one to celebrate the misfortunes of others. But in the case of the New York Yankees, I make an exception.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

I don’t post about sports much here, but the Jays crushing the smug, confident, presumptuous Yankees is pretty satisfying. Vladimir Guerrero laughing and yelling, “Daaaaaa Yankees Lose!” was especially fun tonight.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Kids being separated from their parents in the middle of the night, toddlers being zip-tied by masked government employees. How much more will it take before Americans have had enough and take action?

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

This is one of those mornings when I read the news and am flooded anew with relief at having left Ontario.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Vancouver is SO melodramatic once fall starts.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

I took my daughter to downtown LA in March for a week: our goal was to enjoy the city itself. Disney and studios were not on the list. DTLA is a little rundown, but it did not seem dangerous. But it took forever to get anywhere. Transit is underdeveloped, and driving is a nightmare.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

This argument reminds me of having to clean my plate when I was a kid because there were children starving in other countries.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Oh, this new path along Ross Bay is just a delight. I had seem some complaining on the Oak Bay FB group that there isn’t enough room for cars, but they did just fine when they slowed down - which I suspect is part of the point. Amazing work by @victoria.ca.

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Erik de Vries @erikwdv.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

This can’t be right. I have heard repeatedly that housing prices don’t respond to supply, and that the real problem is stone countertops in condos. Why are they hiding the research on stone countertops? /s

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Reposted by Erik de Vries

Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

1/ The TC published my opinion piece on Victoria's OCP. It's critical that Council pass this. The half-century old decision to stop building small apartments in Victoria, and much of Canada, is behind many of our problems. It's time to start fixing that. #yyj www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comm...

timescolonist.com

Comment: OCP is a return to the good old days

It should be easy and predictable to build both market and non-market homes in the City of Victoria.

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