Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Taxi’s can be unique and identifying feature of a city that play an important part in the street-scape. As Montreal moves towards implementing its bylaw allowing advertisements on Taxis, Alanah Heffez reports on efforts to create an attractive design promoting the city. The new bylaw is also inspiring some grumbling amongst taxi drivers who report some cabs with the new signs have been mistake for pizza delivery cars.
Spacing Montreal is inviting readers to take part in its first ever reader survey of favourite parts of the city. Categories focus around civic initiatives, public personalities and hidden corners of the urban fabric.
Spacing editor Sean Micallef generated a great discussion this week about taking the cycling movement to the next level in Toronto. In an appeal to cyclists, Micallef advocates that riders acknowledge the political nature of everything they do and that accordingly they must approaching sharing the roadways as part of a sensible dialogue with drivers. Is there an onus on cyclists to promote better behaviour amongst fellow riders?
Major changes are coming to Toronto’s iconic St Lawrence Market as the winning design was announced this week for the redevelopment of the 1960’s era north market building. Spacing’s Nicole McIssac covers the announcement and showcases the exciting new plan.
As part of an always great events series, Veronica Simmonds profiles World Naked Bike day and public consultation on the Halifax Central Library.
The Atlantic Snapshots feature this week focused on another distinctly Atlantic scene, this time in Saint John.
Evan Thornton covers two aspects of the city’s recently announced plans for the Centretown neighbourhood. In the first piece Thornton decries the city’s decision to widen Bronson Avenue, a critical artery in the neighbourhood and already a barrier to pedestrians. On the other hand, Thornton commends the plan’s efforts to target surface parking lots, which are not only unsightly, but also damaging holes in the urban fabric.
Continuing the question of transit funding for the Ottawa LRT plan, Peter Raaymakers covers the recent announcement by the Feds to contribute $600 million to the project. While the funding announcement brings some surety to the plan, the real waiting game of working out the details and determining how the city will contribute its share has begun.