Sign in

Jordan Moffatt

@jordanmoffatt.bsky.social
213 followers 139 following 129 posts

Writer (civic issues in Ottawa), author (fiction) Website: jordanmoffatt.website Newsletter: threespeed.substack.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 15h
It took until 1962 for the City of Ottawa to allow all renters to vote in municipal elections. Before that, those living with roommates or in boarding houses couldn't vote. This changed after a referendum (passed 49,776 to 20,262—though renters barred from voting at the time couldn't participate).
2145
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In my latest newsletter post, I consider whether Ottawa is actually 200 years old this weekend—and how much that should get in the way of a party.
threespeed.substack.com
Is Ottawa really 200 years old? Or is it 172? What about 25?
Like any birthday, Ottawa 200 lets us reflect on age—but how many candles should go on the cake?
295
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Work or run a business from home in Ottawa? You have Rose Fletcher to thank. She fought to make it legal in the 1970s after a zoning bylaw banned it. Read the story in my latest newsletter post. threespeed.substack.com/p/the-woman-...
threespeed.substack.com
The woman who legalized working from home in Ottawa
Rose Fletcher fought City Hall for years before her WFH victory in late 1974
1207
Reposted by Jordan Moffatt
School of Cities @uoftcities.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Our latest policy brief summarizes a paper by Carolyn Whitzman & Jordan Moffatt that proposes a planning model using citizens’ assemblies & a community planning permit system to expand affordable housing & ensure meaningful public participation ow.ly/lpat50ZKq9u
075
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I've noticed a few manhole covers in Ottawa that use an incorrect city wordmark. Compare these two covers pictured (along with the logo itself for reference). The "O" has the wrong amount of spires and the "ttawa" is a different font. (This is my attempt at the most boring bluesky post ever.)
A manhole with an incorrect City of Ottawa wordmarkA manhole with a correct City of Ottawa wordmark.City of Ottawa logo
3100
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
New from me and @cwhitzman.bsky.social
041
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Fun fact: In Ottawa's first zoning bylaw, churches were required to provide one parking space for every 120 inches of pew space. This was contentious in 1964, as the then-mayor Charlotte Whitton felt the math didn't account for "middle-age spread."
2103
Reposted by Jordan Moffatt
Bryn Davidson - Lanefab @lanefab.com · 13/08/2026
@cwhitzman.bsky.social @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social Offer thoughts on a better planning process beyond the nimby/yimby dichotomy. utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/api/c...
Thanks, Michelle Bilek. Jordan Moffatt and I wrote a report on how to rethink public participation on housing from a rights basis. Currently, municipal participation tends to be reactive (yes or no to this development proposal) rather than proactive. It tends to be unrepresentative: favoring existing older, white homeowners over those who might want to live in an area, who are younger or with fewer resources. And it tends towards saying no rather than yes to affordable housing. So what processes might be more inclusive, proactive, and oriented towards positive change?SAYING YES TO
AFFORDABLE HOUSING:
CITIZENS' ASSEMBLIES, LOCAL
DEMOCRACY, AND THE RIGHT TO HOUSING
July 2026
Jordan Moffatt and Carolyn Whitzman
182
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The research I do relies on the bound volumes of the bylaws and minutes of the City of Ottawa, dating back over a century. I’ve spent hours in the Main Branch Ottawa Room with these books (pictured). Sadly, this resource was recently “discarded” by the library. It’s a loss for local history.
23019
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
These homes on Sherwood Drive look normal, sure. But did you know they’re the site of the only residential zoning appeal in Ottawa to reach the Supreme Court of Canada? It’s a wild story of secret council meetings, expropriations, fake highways—and a side of mustard. 🧵Thread…
Two houses on a residential street
23014
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
If you’ve been to Minto Park, you’ve seen the bronze bust of 19th century Argentinian General Jose de San Martín. I often watch people walk up to the bust and give it a close look, hoping to find out what he’s doing there. Does San Martín have some sort of Centretown connection? Thread 🧵...
A bronze bust on a concrete plinth in an urban plaza.
454
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Ottawa Library Main Branch looking sad these days. Heavy weeding leaving shelves half empty. Ottawa Room being cleared of its archival documents.
030
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
I’ve been trying to find out why the bell tower at Ottawa City Hall isn’t used anymore. The City has told me that no records exist related to the carillon, and access to info requests have been unsuccessful. Yet at some point around ten years ago, they stopped ringing. Anyone know anything?
451
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
I had a similar issue. After filing an info request, I was falsely told no info on the subject existed. When I said I had some info already, they told me I should've told them that. They then gave me a few internal emails that discussed how little information they could "get away with" telling me.
cbc.ca
City manager’s emails scarce on details on how 5-day return to office mandate came to be | CBC News
As the City of Ottawa’s 'new standard' for five days in-office begins in the new year, internal documents from the city manager’s office show how Wendy Stephanson planned to defend her controversial d...
252
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
The City of Ottawa is nearing the finish line on its new zoning bylaw. Did you know Ottawa's zoning is only two degrees from Kevin Bacon? 🧵...
Photo of actor Kevin Bacon
26825
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Bill 60 is very bad, and the cancellation of bike infrastructure on Albert-Slater and O'Connor is brutal. But considering the designs for these projects were completed in 2018 and 2019, they should've already been built years ago.
283
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Last week in the Globe, I argued that cities should replace city-wide zoning plans with simplified, flexible, and locally-oriented community planning permit systems (CPPS). Today, @jm-mcgrath argues in TVO that zoning should be standardized at the provincial level. These ideas can be compatible. 🧵
110
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
New from me in the Globe & Mail: Ottawa’s new zoning bylaw is a major step forward—but if we’re lucky, it’ll be the last of its kind.
theglobeandmail.com
Opinion: City zoning is beyond reform. To tackle the housing crisis, scrap the whole thing
Zoning isn’t doing what it’s supposed to be doing in Canada’s cities. The good news is that there is an alternative
062
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
My newest newsletter post over at Ottawa 3 Speed: A review of the proposed bike lanes on Gladstone Avenue and Gilmour Street. Westbound contra-flow lane on Gilmour! Protected intersection at Rochester! Weird, convoluted crossing of Bronson! #ottbike jordobicycles.substack.com/p/gladstone-...
jordobicycles.substack.com
Gladstone-Gilmour bikeway will boost cycling in Centretown...
...But bike lanes all the way down Gladstone are still needed
192
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Successfully defended my Master's thesis! "The development of residential zoning bylaws in Ottawa, 1946–1965" coming soon to a PDF download near you...
050
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
I was surprised to learn today that there used to be bike lanes on Colonel By Drive. The lanes were installed in 1972, but I'm not sure when they were removed. With the pathways getting busier, this is something that @ncc-ccn.bsky.social should consider bringing back—there's a precedent for it.
Newspaper clipping showing a photo and caption of a cyclist using a freshly-painted bike lane.
150
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
One reason why the missing middle is missing: it takes a full year for the Ontario Land Tribunal to overturn a rogue ruling by the Committee of Adjustment, who rejected two 8-unit apartment buildings (two 6 unit buildings were allowed by right) against the opinion of City of Ottawa planners.
232
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Percy & Catherine intersection: drivers get a green light, pedestrians get a walk signal, but cyclists (in between) get a red light. I can't think of any rational explanation for this set-up, and I don't think it exists anywhere else in the city (anybody know?) @arieltroster.com can you fix this?
210
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
They really did it.
120
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
A great example of why main streets require safe cycling infrastructure. If you're wondering why cyclists don't just take parallel routes on quiet side streets, it's because they don't always exist.
171
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Mutchmor Road in Old Ottawa East has to be one of the strangest streets in the city. Why is a two-lane neighbourhood street designed like a highway? In this post, I find out. open.substack.com/pub/jordobic...
open.substack.com
Why is Mutchmor Road so wide?
Exploring how misguided transportation plans haunt Ottawa for generations
2195
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
It's very encouraging for Toronto that its newly-hired Chief Planner is touring Copenhagen for ideas (and posting about it). Note that the City of Ottawa has been without a chief planner since 2022.
3196
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Toronto's foray into multi-unit buildings in traditionally low-density neighbourhoods is starting to produce results. Multiplex permits are up, but projects are still being held back by other zoning constraints such as setbacks and heights. Important lessons here for Ottawa's ongoing zoning reform.
170
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
New from me in the Citizen: Why the City of Ottawa's new Transportation Master Plan is a work of fantasy. Zombie roads, fairy LRTs/BRTs, and the twin dragons of cost and congestion—readers beware! ottawacitizen.com/opinion/zomb...
ottawacitizen.com
Moffatt: Zombies, fairies and dragons in Ottawa’s new transportation plan
This fantasy document won't solve our traffic problems. But other cities have found a way to slay bottlenecks.
0136
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Some lessons could be learned here for Ottawa’s Baseline BRT and not-quite-BRT Carling Avenue transit priority lanes.
140
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
I've seen some uninspiring plans from the City of Ottawa before, but the first draft of the new Transportation Master Plan (TMP) is especially weak. @alex-is.online has a summary here of all the planned projects from the 2013 TMP that have been cancelled in the new one.
151
Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
Big news for flat walls: the 2nd draft of Ottawa's new zoning bylaw ditches the rule from the 1st draft that 20% of a front façade had to be recessed 60 cm. Flat walls mean more interior space for apartments and simpler construction for builders. jordobicycles.substack.com/p/three-spee...
150