Road design, safety and Vision Zero

[danbrotherston]

Certainly being able to leave is a privilege. But I stayed and fought for more than a decade. I have the scars--literal and figurative--to prove it. Waterloo Region is better than some, but it's by far not the best in Canada. We considered staying in Canada. Victoria, Vancouver, Montreal, even Ottawa were options. But with the exception of Montreal, they're all still fairly mediocre. Even if I can afford to live in the best places in those cities we're still going to be surrounded by mediocrity.

Framing it as "running away" is hurtful (from you Acitta specifically), but not necessarily incorrect. That being said, it is correct that it was the ONLY way to live in a place that has relatively high traffic safety and comfortable biking...and now that I have a little one, I'm no longer willing to be a freedom fighter.

As for progress...I've been through this many times. No...we aren't making progress. We are building car dependent sprawl much faster than we are fixing the shit we've built. At best, we are making our cities worse, more slowly than before. But until the culture changes...to see automobiles as, at best, a necessary evil that we should seek to minimize, I don't really see that changing.

When using the term "running away", I was quoting. I didn't mean it as an insult. There are many places in the world I might like to live in, but if I actually moved to any of them, I would lose my OAS and be plunged into destitution, since the OLG refuses to come through with their promised millions.

Fair enough ...

Yeah, there are many reasons why people won't be able to move...I fully acknowledge my privilege here...and even for me, it was challenging.

Best of luck with the OLG planning...weirdly, the Lottery here literally canvases door to door trying to get people to participate...very weird.