Kevin O'Donnell's blog
The moral judgement of stopping a car where you shouldn't
I spotted a van blocking the Laurier bike lane the other day and called it into 3-1-1. By-law was there in under ten minutes and the officer asked me which ticket I'd prefer he issue. Stopping-ina-no-stopping or stopping-ina-bikelane? Read more »
Have you filled out the Liveable Ottawa survey?
Since I just inflicted this email on my Ottawa based contact list, I figured I'd share it here too. You've filled out the survey, right?
Updated: Amy wrote back to comment on how the survey has some deficiencies, see below.
Hello,
Things are very hectic as we prepare for a snap provincial election, so I've been remiss in emailing you about an important topic. I'll make this quick!
A little robot named @OttWatch
Toronto city-wonks recently got TABS on Toronto and I was a little jealous, so I created @OttWatch! Don't get too excited - it's not full featured like TABS, but it could get there, time willing, someday, maybe. Read more »
Ottawa's water fee increase and the incentive to conserve
In an ideal world everyone would conserve our valuable natural resources, like clean drinking water, because it's the moral thing to do. Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world. Read more »
#RoboTweets: the next manipulation frontier. #ottpoli: you're first
Two tweets popped up within 30 minutes of eachother today on #ottpoli but have nothing to do with today's political events (Wynne is being sworn in). Hashtag spam isn't new or notable, but these two are more interesting due to the coordination. Read more »
Another hydro bill, another wasteful use of deficit spending. CEB redirection part 4
Each hydro bill I recieve a 10% discount, like everyone else, even though it serves no purpose. This month the Government of Ontario added $10.80 to the debt just for me even though "helping" me changes absolutely nothing in my household. I'm lucky to not be on the financial edge. Read more »
OTAG says no to road pricing and points out why it's needed
Kevin MacDonald of OTAG (not to be confused with me - of the clan O'Donnell) was kind enough to answer my question on OTAG's road pricing position. In short, OTAG does not support road pricing. His answer is quite detailed and you can read it in full in the comments to my previous post.
In principle a road tax, or a road toll is not something that OTAG would ever consider supporting - Kevin MacDonald, OTAG
What is OTAG's position on congestion charges for roads?
The question I would like to ask OTAG is: what is Ottawa's revenue-per-passenger-mile for roads? I suspect it is a massively negative number. Read more »
Don't wait for the NDP - get a 15% discount on car insurance today
The NDP have called for a 15% reduction in car insurance. I have to admit it is very popular - and why wouldn't it be. Cutting people's bills is always popular for political parties. The difficulty with populist agendas is they frequently have no effect (e.g. regulating gasoline prices weekly), or have unexpected side effects (e.g. shifting wealth to the rich). Read more »
Laurier Bike Lane Stats for Bay, Lyon and Metcalfe up to Q4 2012
Q4 stats are up! Just a housekeeping post to let you know that I've updated the fancy Google chart widget. The spreadsheet is also available. Read more »
