James Gray

@cityoftoronto Is this a declaration of a “major snow storm condition”? The website around snow routes is very vague: toronto.ca/services-payme…

In advance of today’s anticipated snowfall, salting and plowing began yesterday evening as snow began to accumulate. Plowing continues today across the city. As the snow is still falling, multiple rounds of snow clearing will be required to ensure that the roads, sidewalks and bikeways are safe and accessible. Snow clearing follows a priority sequence to keep people safe. ➡️Crews start with expressways and major (arterial) roads to ensure first responders and critical services can move freely. ➡️ Next, crews clear transit routes and collector roads to support public transit and community connectivity. ➡️ Finally, crews address residential streets to restore full mobility for everyone. Please consider postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve. If you need to go out, give yourself extra time, travel with caution and consider taking public transit as there could be slippery conditions and delays. Whenever possible, park vehicles off the street, especially on major roads and snow routes, to help plows clear snow faster and more effectively.  Stay well back from snow clearing vehicles and give crews space to work.   Get updates at toronto.ca/winter. For service requests, contact 311 online or through the 311 mobile app.

@311Toronto there’s a branch in Orchard park right near the playground that seems to be getting droopier. It looks pretty dangerous if it would fall down, especially since it’s near kids. I’m no arborist, but would be nice to know how solid it is as we go into winter.

@311Toronto Thanks!

@jamesACgray We have referred this concern to Transportation Services Signs and Markings for investigation ^ al

@311Toronto the new signpost at Raindrop Plaza at Coxwell and Dundas looks great! But the directions seem kind of wonky e.g. rouge River is basically backwards

@observinthecity I remember some moment in history where I think Peruzza was concerned about a moment where the LRT might go faster than cars, and how upset that might make people.

When all is said and done, *this* will be the biggest boondoggle of the Eglinton Crosstown. When the 14 years of construction and budget overruns are long forgotten, people will be asking why we built it in the first place if the line is not given traffic priority.

@tweethue I’m trying to fix my tap switch light and it seems like it’s been obsoleted. I can’t find it in your support site. When I try to select or add new a blank page shows up in-app. What other Hue hardware/software should I expect to stop working?

@ChrisSpoke Can we please start with congestion pricing, supporting transit (and not general revenues)? I agree that tunnels are cool, but tunnels are more valuable for: trains, pipes, wires.

Car tunnels (w/ congestion pricing) are hugely underrated. The Boring Company is going to be massive.

@HousingNowTO @beynate @SeanFraserMP 8 mo ago took my daughter there to watch working cranes. @beynate gets it. Wonder>doom. Next generation builders.

[Toronto, ON] One year ago, MP @beynate & our #AffordableHousing volunteers were meeting with (then) Federal Housing Minister @SeanFraserMP. Today, Nathaniel has been sworn-in as Canada's new Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities... #CDNPoli x.com/HousingNowTO/s…

@spaikin @KingaSurmaMPP @fordnation @AMOPolicy Wish my 3 year old was asking @KingaSurmaMPP to go to the Science Centre every weekend. I have to explain to her that “yes, the doors are locked”.

Infrastructure minister @KingaSurmaMPP now speaking. Once again, unusually tepid applause to her list of things the govt is doing for municipalities. More evidence that ppl here were underwhelmed with @fordnation’s announcement yesterday. #onpoli #AMO2024 @AMOPolicy

@BeckyKatz96 These lanes are strong.

Actually the University project started in 2010: thirdwavecyclingblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/sep… however the centre running cycle tracks failed by one mistaken ‘no’ vote. Fun fact- when we did the activeto project, we reused the 2010 renderings for the project website and notices. #biketo

@alexbozikovic @cityoftoronto Ontario Traffic Manual seems to place more importance on obstruction of other signs than pedestrians when determining appropriateness of Portable Variable Message Signs.

This sign blocks half a sidewalk to warn drivers about roadwork that’s already slowing them down. Absolutely wild that anyone thinks this is a good idea. @cityoftoronto

@PolesWires Update: they have now added a significantly taller pole than other poles at intersection, with very different architectural treatment, at an arguably very visibly touristy place. Will these bizarre park signals get transferred to new shiny pole? Only time will tell.

Deserves a repost.

@PolesWires this monstrosity at the corner of brand new @WaterfrontTO Love Park deserves a plaque. The Idol of Indifference.

@inHrEye @PolesWires Is there a reason why a beg button when pressed doesn’t instantly start a countdown (perhaps one longer than typical). So frustrating when you push something and have to guess if something has been actioned.

@PolesWires That's not our standard or current design ... for many years. There are many old buttons still out there, it will take a long time to replace them all. But when there is signal work at an intersection, these types of things are updated, just like LBI, LPI, TWSI and detection.

Can you tell if this beg button is pressed? Neither can the other pedestrians. The light is obscured. Normally someone is standing close and others assume the button has been pressed only to discover the pedestrian light does not change. Why is our design so poor?

@SwanBoatSteve Picture of some people (>200?) walking and cycling today near the water. LRT sooner than 10 years from now sure would be nice.

(6/6) Many other projects conflict with LRT construction in part because the LRT has never been "top of mind" and getting its share of priority because few $$ were available. We are building a car-oriented waterfront by default.

In today's Globe, @alexbozikovic writes about what Villiers Island might be and the need for more people and less space for cars. One key item everyone takes for granted is transit, but that is far from certain. The LRT project sat on the back burner at City Hall far too long.

@Markshawtoronto @Ramsey_Kilani Oh man that’s some good data right there! Thanks! I was thinking about per rider usage: distance per trip, if overall km are concentrated to few users or spread flat and if so what distance. That School of Cities is putting in the work!

@Ramsey_Kilani @Markshawtoronto I am curious if bike share has some data around users’ travel, like some kind of fun Pareto: all time, last year, winter/summer.

@jamesACgray @Markshawtoronto I think you win dang

@itsahousingtrap @jeffranson Fair enough. I look at stuff from straight energy perspective that’s from 70s, 80s, 90s mostly - either original or having gone through 1 generation of performance based rebuild. Carbon pricing expectations have made tenable retrofit tech which is common in new build.

@jamesACgray @jeffranson I have designed electrical capacity for boilers in nearly every project I’ve ever done. Haven’t had to convert one yet, but it did not seem expensive if you plan ahead, have your pathways in place, etc. every new building has redundancy so down time isn’t a big problem.

If you wanted to create the largest possible number of affordable housing units, then you would make affordable housing adhere to __________ energy performance requirements compared to a typical project.

@itsahousingtrap @jeffranson I’m not sure what sized electric boilers you have experience with but converting multi-MW of fossil gas heat to electric while maintaining operation is not straightforward. Space, grid capacity, voltage (2+ yrs for big transformers) are major challenges.

@jeffranson @jamesACgray I didn’t see this reply before, you’re right on all counts. Generally there’s very little gas in new buildings except generators and boilers (which are extremely efficient). Carbon tax is the big unknown but it’s not too hard to retrofit an electric boiler at end of life.