Mastodawn

7.6: Abundance, Inclusion, Resilience: The One Million Neighbours Project with Sam Nabi

This episode, Ariel speaks to Sam Nabi about One Million Neighbours, a project bringing together the voices of local non-profits that envisions the future of Waterloo Region once the population has reached one million. Sam discusses the impetus for the project, providing a voice for the voiceless, the issue with grant applications, funding the future, being proactive instead of reactive to harsh policies, and much more. What might an abundant, inclusive, resilient (Ariel says: solarpunk) city look like on the human level? Who lives there, what do they value, and what are their daily lives like? And what does it look like to take action now at the regional/municipal level to ensure that utopian vision?

https://youtu.be/PlJXF0qvV9k

#solarpunk #SolarpunkPresentsPodcast #Episode #SeasonSeven #podcast #interview #OneMillionNeighbours @samnabi @dtkmelissa #VisionOneMillion #HoldTheLineWR #Nonprofits #neighbours #Waterloo #RegionOfWaterloo #Kitchener #KW #UrbanPlanning #transit #PublicSpaces

Today is Victoria Day in Canada, a national holiday, so I briefly considered waiting to post this until Tuesday but screw colonial measures of time; #notmyqueen lol

7.6: Abundance, Inclusion, Resilience: The One Million Neighbours Project with Sam Nabi

YouTube

Melissa Bowman Oct 30, 2024

"Bowman noted that budget season should be a time to consider how best to keep the community safe and look at preventative measures to reduce crime, but said that notion often gets lost when it's time to talk numbers." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-region-police-budget-community-feedback-1.7366500

Waterloo regional police budget should be chance 'for real discussion about community safety,' board told | CBC News

Six people spoke Monday evening to give their opinion on the Waterloo Regional Police Service’s 2025 budget during a public-input session.

CBC

Melissa Bowman Oct 25, 2024

“It is starting to feel like a real network, and you can get to a lot of places without relying on a vehicle,” said Bowman. “In Kitchener we are seeing the benefits of all those investments.” https://buff.ly/4dxSWne

Cycling activists decry proposed bike lane ban: ‘It is not fact based’

The Conservative government proposal has outraged and angered cyclists, who note cities have spent millions to build protected bike lanes along city streets around the province

Metroland Media

Melissa Bowman Oct 24, 2024

We have a "culture that regards investment in public space and design as a cost, and therefore an expense to be minimized. Great cities are great, in large measure, because they understand that public open space is essential to urban life." -@JohnLorinc in @Spacing (issue 65)

Melissa Bowman Oct 23, 2024

"The cars we’re driving are bigger, badder, faster. If you get hit by a sedan, you break your legs and you get thrown over the windshield. If you get hit by an S.U.V., you get hit in the chest, and then you get pulled under the vehicle — so much more likely to die. And we’re selling way more S.U.V.s than we used to." -Kelcie Ralph https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-the-u-s-so-good-at-killing-pedestrians/

Why Is the U.S. So Good at Killing Pedestrians? - Freakonomics

Freakonomics

Melissa Bowman Oct 22, 2024

"A Toronto hospital network opened a new type of housing this week to support people experiencing homelessness in the Parkdale neighbourhood. Dubbed the first-of-its-kind in Canada, Dunn House is a social medicine housing initiative, giving residents access to needed supportive services and permanent housing." https://buff.ly/4f2WwXC

Toronto's new Dunn House aims to revolutionize support for unhoused people with first-of-its-kind housing model - NOW Toronto

A Toronto hospital network opened a new type of housing this week to support people experiencing homelessness in the Parkdale neighbourhood.

NOW Toronto

Melissa Bowman Oct 21, 2024

This week's #CitifiedWR continues to look at the lack of emergency shelters for women and gender-diverse individuals, specifically, the advocacy and action happening right now. https://buff.ly/4dPR0qc

Where are the women's shelters? (pt.2)

Advocacy and Action

Citified

Melissa Bowman Oct 18, 2024

"The mind gets busy when left alone to do its own thing — in particular, it tends to think of other people’s minds. If you want to raise empathetic, imaginative children who can figure out how to entertain themselves, don’t keep their brains too occupied." https://buff.ly/3Tu4Rek

Opinion | Helicopter Parents Should Ignore Their Children More Often

The case for “mindful underparenting.”

The New York Times

Melissa Bowman Oct 17, 2024

Investing in police tech like body cams means a lot more money going towards ever-escalating police budgets. "The police board heard that additional resources will be needed in the future to manage the waves of digital information being compiled." https://buff.ly/3XYqoNR

Digital evidence demands outpacing Waterloo Regional Police resources

Waterloo Regional Police faces increasing demand for digital evidence management, requiring additional resources for disclosure team as new technologies and files are processed.

Metroland Media

Melissa Bowman Oct 16, 2024

"Existing community plans and zoning bylaws tend to highly restrict the types of housing they allow." https://buff.ly/4dvSt4Q

To break housing gridlock, we need to democratize unrepresentative public hearings

Housing policy has a democracy problem. Amid a housing crisis, highly unrepresentative public hearing processes contribute to land-use decisions that fail to reflect the perspectives and interests of all affected residents. But the right reforms can help deepen democracy and break housing gridlock.

Policy Note