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Tyler Smith

@tylerismith.bsky.social
367 followers 618 following 513 posts

Western Canadian living in Ottawa. Urbanist. #YIMBY

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Tyler Smith
David Reevely @davidreevely.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A 15-minute city conspiracy theorist who lives in *Somerset* ward is the wildest thing. Like a flat-Earther astronaut. Just look outside your door! That’s the whole idea! The entire thing!
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Toon Dreessen @toondreessen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Transit woes? Busted sidewalks? Closed rec centres? Long waiting lists for affordable and emergency housing? Parks without washrooms? Closed pools and beaches? Pot holes in roads? Want more of this? Then keep on supporting and voting for 2.5% caps like this.
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Tim Donnelly @timdonnelly.com · 17/09/2026
out here putting an increasing number of quotes around search terms to find basic things like i'm goddamn matt foley
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Another reason I’m glad I switched to Apple Maps a while back. As you zoom out it switches from 2D to 3D so projection issues aren’t present.
arstechnica.com
Popular navigation apps unlikely to ditch Mercator maps despite UN resolution
UN-backed Equal Earth map has educational value but won’t alter navigation apps.
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Denis Agar (he/him) @denisagar.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Checks out
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Brigitte Pellerin @brigittepellerin.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I swear it feels like he’s running against the incumbent. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Mark Sutcliffe pledges boost for police and new 'downtown safety czar' if re-elected | CBC News
Ottawa mayoral candidate Mark Sutcliffe released a public safety plan Thursday that promises to treat addictions, homelessness and mental health as an emergency. Rivals are questioning why he didn't d...
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Help counter the NIMBYs and leave a comment supporting the bridge and get transport truck traffic off Rideau / King Edward.
ctvnews.ca
Public consultation now open on proposed eastern Ottawa-Gatineau bridge
The public can now have their say on a proposed new bridge to link Ottawa and Gatineau, as federal officials begin the next stage of planning for the debated Eastern Bridge Project.
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Paul 🇨🇦 🚵 @paul-pothier.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
A new black fence, unmarked, in a poorly-lit area, running directly across a commonly-used MUP access Does anyone in the city even think for a nanosecond about the consequences of doing shit like this?
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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 01/09/2026
New York’s congestion pricing program has resulted in a statistically significant reduction in travel times for EMS vehicles
nber.org
Urban Congestion Pricing and the Response Times of Emergency Medical Services
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
If you live in a city a taxi is superior for trips like this. No parking concerns and you attention can be fully on the sick kid.
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It's Jamie @sjamieit.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
“The tax dollars of rural residents were invested in infrastructure elsewhere in the city that they themselves never benefited from.” 🤨 Excuse me? Don't make me bust open the spreadsheets.
ctvnews.ca
Sutcliffe promises to boost funding for rural roads, advance ring road if re-elected mayor of Ottawa
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says he will boost funding for rural roads, provide dedicated funding for rural infrastructure priorities and advance building a ring road if re-elected next fall.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Surprisingly well written article on illegal electric motorcycles. I wish more in the media wrote about “e-bikes” this way. Very important to note that electric assist pedal bikes are not the same as these.
calgary.citynews.ca
Youths charged after e‑dirt bike chase through SW Calgary
Police have charged two youths after a group on electric dirt bikes allegedly fled from officers in southwest Calgary earlier this week.
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Christopher Solar 🇨🇦 @christophersolar.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Good morning Mr. Mayor. Overflowing/broken garbage containers, filthy/broken glass, crumbled/rusting concrete barriers instead of proper bollards. This station opened a year and a half ago. None of these problems are new.
Broken glass panel on Corso Italia LRT station.One of several rusted and crumbling jersey barriers placed haphazardly around the Corsa Italia station. Behind it is a bus shelter with filthy glass and overflowing garbage bins.Broken and overflowing garbage bins outside the Corso Italia station.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Mandatory driver resting every 5 years. All ages.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Blais is so cringe
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Reposted by Tyler Smith
Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Axios writer: I melted my brain with AI. Not only can I no longer read, but I don't even understand the purpose of reading anymore. Here's how you can also do this. www.axios.com/2026/08/11/r...
Axios: AI has become my reading buddy as I've plowed through my summer book list, helping me keep track of plots and characters, unpack themes, and make sense of wordy, old prose.

Why it matters: The way many of us actually read books — a few pages before bed, a chapter at the beach, another on a plane — makes it easy to lose the thread. AI can help you pick it back up without starting over.
📖 I really got into using AI while reading James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans." The text was far too dense for casual vacation reading. My first prompt asked:

"I'd like a guide as I read The Last of the Mohicans who can help me understand what I've read and where the story is, without giving spoilers or getting ahead of my progress. Can you do this, chapter by chapter?"
The robot agreed: "Cooper's sentences are long and his diction is archaic."
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It's Jamie @sjamieit.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
This fountain has been leaking for years. I've reported it to 311 several times, they just close my ticket and leave it like this. We need to get rid of this penny pinching mayor and fund our city properly.
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Qagggy! @qagggy.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
if ai worked, wouldn't we be in a golden age of software feature development and bug elimination? yet quickbooks sucks harder than it ever has
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It's Jamie @sjamieit.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The city zoned these homes to allow for commercial use in a residential area and it's just ruined the whole neighbourhood! People are out on a Friday night at the wine bar and eating Vietnamese food on the patio! That patio probably used to be a parking spot that we've now lost forever! Horrifying.
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Strong Towns Ottawa @strongtownsottawa.ca · 05/08/2026
Hey councillor Tierney, please focus on actual improvements to transportation in our city rather than suggesting we should be endangering pedestrians so you don't have to wait a couple more seconds at a red. Those right turn on red bans are there for a reason. www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...
ctvnews.ca
Councillor wants Ottawa to explore more options to keep traffic moving downtown this fall
An Ottawa councillor wants the city to explore more options to keep commuters moving this fall as public servants head to the office four days a week, including allowing right turns on red lights at s...
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
A story of cause and effect: Last November, Ontario banned cities from using speed safety cameras to issue tickets. Reckless speeding immediately surged in Toronto, Ottawa, Guelph, and cities throughout the province. A 🧵 about my latest in Bloomberg (gift link)
bloomberg.com
What Happens When Speed Cameras Get Shut Off
In 2025, Ontario banned automated traffic enforcement. Now the number of drivers exceeding the speed limit has surged, according to traffic data.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
When I come across Doug Ford’s “Safer Ontario” ad campaign I think of the drug detritus in playgrounds in our neighborhood. I’ve only seen his changes making our community less safe. I didn’t use to see this nearly as often when there was a supervised consumption site open nearby. Thanks Doug.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Open streets to people, close them to cars
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
What?
ottawacitizen.com
Mayor willing to work with province as Ottawa misses target for housing funds
There were 7,871 new builds in Ottawa in 2024, only 62.5 per cent of its target of 12,583.
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Stina @stinah.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
If you use AI for your advertisement flyers, I'm going to make assumptions about you. I'm going to assume you cut corners on everything. If you're a bakery, I'm going to assume you use poor quality ingredients. If you're a handyman, same thing, I'll assume you cut corners on your work.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Hey @arieltroster.com, any idea what’s going here?
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Brittlestar @brittlestar.com · 10/07/2026
Canada Is Not America: Ottawa Fireworks
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Impound them.
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Sean Devine @seandevine9.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Another way of looking at this: here’s how Ottawa manages transportation challenges and congestion along Bank Street. Get rid of the cool thing that draws the most people.
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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 03/07/2026
Elon Musk and much of the Silicon Valley tech elite are rich because they were bright precocious young men who happened to have access to computers and the institutions and social networks to start companies before there was much competition. Every entrepreneur works hard. They just got very lucky.
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Jess Davis @jessmarindavis.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Or: audit their use! And then fire for stalking, or literally any other breach of conduct. There is no way that they aren't trained NOT to do this. This is a deliberate choice. What the actual hell.
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Craig F @cfoh.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
"Two solar facilities built on rehabilitated agricultural land were restored with native plants. Argonne researchers observed pollinators thrive." Solar power, when smartly built, can improve agriculture *and* provide clean, pollution-free, low-cost energy. www.anl.gov/article/inse...
anl.gov
Insect populations flourish in the restored habitats of solar energy facilities
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory studied how insect communities responded to newly established habitats on solar energy facilities built on retired agricultural land. At the end of five year...
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Or at least a tram, Porto style! (Too bad we’re committed to ripping it down now)
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Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
“Bike Share Toronto is an impressive success story: a public policy that for a relative pittance has blossomed into a substantial way to move people around Ontario’s biggest city in a way that doesn’t add to car congestion or require billion-dollar decades-long construction projects.”
tvo.org
ANALYSIS: Bike Share Toronto is a huge success. Imagine if we tried harder | TVO Today
The network already moves more passengers than some major transit lines, for a fraction of the cost. It could be so much more.
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Rodney 🚧🚇 @chanface.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I have bad news for him… Vancouver literally is a land of 80% single family homes 😭😭 and this isn’t even counting Metro Vancouver which would be an even higher number
In Vancouver, 80.5 percent of residential land is zoned for detached single-family homes.
Vancouver's zoning bylaw does not completely exclude multi-units on detached houses land. It permits, in some instances, one-family dwellings with secondary suites, laneway houses and two-family dwellings on larger lots.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
We’re pathetic
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Canadian Climate Institute @climateinstitute.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Great news in Ontario!⚡️ 🔋Battery storage projects won all 640 MW of IESO’s latest capacity contracts, beating out gas at some of the lowest prices in recent procurements. Every project is 50%+ Indigenous-owned. news.ontario.ca/en/release/1...
news.ontario.ca
Ontario Newsroom
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Yikes. We bike our son through that intersection all the time.
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GO ALTO @go-alto.ca · 25/05/2026
Hello Canada. We are GO ALTO. Canada has waited long enough for high-speed rail in the Québec–Toronto corridor. We’re here to make support visible and build momentum. Explore the campaign and add your name: go-alto.ca/en/updates/n...
go-alto.ca
GO ALTO launches national campaign for high-speed rail | GO ALTO
An independent public campaign working to make support for high-speed rail visible, public, and sustained.
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Matthew Cebul @matthewcebul.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
He’s right — Bezos pays barely any taxes at all right now, so doubling them won’t do much. We’ll need to increase them by at least an order of magnitude.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
First real day of air conditioning this year and it’s running entirely off the solar panels right now. It’s magic!
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
There better be a norovirus outbreak or something. That said, critical staff like this shouldn’t be in such short supply that the system has to shutdown.
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Eric Ravenscraft @lordravenscraft.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
still not quite over the fact that i watched 15 year olds get sued for millions of dollars for downloading twelve songs and now we all have to accept AI slop because every tech company in the known universe decided that IP laws don't exist now that they're inconvenient for them
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Blake Shaffer 🇨🇦 @blakeshaffer.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
I’ll make some charts soon, but whoa! This stat: “There were 21,574 new zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) sold in March, an increase of **74.7%** from one year earlier. New ZEVs comprised 12.2% of total new motor vehicles sold, compared with 6.5% in March 2025.” www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quo...
www150.statcan.gc.ca
The Daily — New motor vehicle sales, March 2026
In March, 176,500 new motor vehicles were sold in Canada, decreasing 6.6% from March 2025. In dollar terms, sales decreased 3.6% in March 2026 compared with one year earlier. Over the same period, the...
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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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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
My usually customer facing interactions with their services bears this out. They’re always chasing the new shiny and let existing things rot. Gmail still lets obvious spam slip through. What’s the point of all that compute if they can’t solve that?
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🇨🇦Joe Vipond🇨🇦 @jvipondmd.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Now up to 4 of 50 US states approving balcony solar. Zero of 10 Canadian provinces. Time to step up, Canada! 1/2 www.cpr.org/2026/05/07/c...
cpr.org
Colorado approves balcony solar, but approved units aren’t widely available yet
Gov. Polis signed a bill into law on Thursday making Colorado the third state to clear a path for plug-in solar kits.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
It only asked me about the names, ages, and languages spoken! #lolsob
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Mediocre dudes have been able to coast for far too long—often on the backs of women. It’s about time they get more publicly called out.
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Tyler Smith @tylerismith.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
“More drivers have been speeding in Ottawa’s school zones since the Ontario government banned photo radar cameras last fall.” Literally no need to read more than that. Doug Ford and his populist pandering owns the death and injury coming out of this.
ctvnews.ca
Speeds increase 8-10 km/h at former Ottawa photo radar camera locations since cameras banned
Data collected by the City of Ottawa shows the average speed has increased 8 to 10 km/h at several former photo radar locations between October, the last full month for photo radar cameras, and April.
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