Melissa Bowman
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dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Melissa Bowman
@dtkmelissa.bsky.social
5.7K followers 2K following 3K posts
Passionate about...just about everything! Especially Waterloo Region. 🇨🇦
Author of CitifiedWR blog https://citified.substack.com/
Co-founder of Waterloo Region Yes In My Backyard
"Kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight"
https://linktr.ee/dtkmelissa
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dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Fixed it.
Instead of saying no to community groups, the text has been amended to say no to the wrps budget increase to recognize taxpayers' ability to pay.
November 14, 2025 at 12:32 AM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Let's give this a try, instead. #WRPS www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...
Changed paragraph to say reductions should come from the police budget increase, not community groups funding.
November 14, 2025 at 12:26 AM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
"Bottom line: you cannot build a more cost efficient city without the density." -Don Iveson buff.ly/vlHvqMK
Specifically, more activity and more building stock value per linear feet of roads, pipes and sidewalks is net fiscally positive over time. This is one key reason why the city has pushed to drive density way up, both in new developing neighbourhoods, as well as aggressive infill targets for the mature parts of the city. It’s not only financial upside, however, as density also yields more vibrant communities with greater demographic diversity and better conditions for local business; improved population health outcomes through greater walkability; and lower greenhouse gas emissions per household. Bottom line: you cannot build a more cost efficient city without the density.
November 12, 2025 at 12:30 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
We're over 5 years now with #ion, can we please quit with disparaging transit stopping at malls, please?
Aside from the fact that malls often serve as mini transit hubs, do you know what they also are Mayor Liggett? Workplaces. www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/ar...
Text: Liggett said the route that was supported by the committee on Tuesday is not her preferred option. “Mass transit needs to be taking people to their workplace, not to a shopping mall, not to a downtown core where they can go to a club or something,” she explained.
November 7, 2025 at 11:27 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
"As for ... roundabouts, speed bumps or cushions, not all school zones will be eligible for them.
Even those roads that are eligible may have to wait at least a year and a half, with city staff adding that redesigning a road can take up to a decade." www.thestar.com/news/gta/dou...
Text: “The typical existing time frame for investigation for new ... speed humps and speed cushions is 12 months,” said city spokesperson Kate Lear. “Following community council approval, installation has a typical time frame of six to 16 months.”
November 7, 2025 at 12:19 AM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Good grief. If this is what our leadership offers (this is Cambridge Cllr Helen Shwery), we're screwed. www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...
Text: “Somebody could sell and put a stacked house … and I don’t think that fits everywhere,” she said. “It’s not fair for people that live in a residential-only zone that it’ll affect their property values and just for us to allow it and now they can’t even fight it.”
October 30, 2025 at 12:30 AM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
While I try to be understanding of those who have concerns about increased density in the neighbourhood, I find this hard to emphasize with. If we can't easily turn a single-family home into a 4-6 unit home, how are we going to give people the housing options we all deserve? buff.ly/978GGmS
Text: Throughout the long committee of adjustment hearing about the home’s fate, residents voiced concern that the proposal to make one home into five represented overdevelopment.
October 29, 2025 at 11:15 AM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
"Bowman said from what she could glean from the budget, 2026 is a continuation of budget increases with little connection to improved outcomes." #WRPS www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...
Text: She noted the input session should also be about all-around safety and not just the institution of the service. The service could do better, she said, noting more is needed than just symbolic gestures of painting a cruiser orange and instead engaging with Indigenous communities, telling organizers of “queer-friendly” events to shut down because of threats but not further investigating the threats, and watching community partners such as the House of Friendship scale back essential programs while the police budget rises by millions.
October 28, 2025 at 9:34 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Yes, please! www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/art-...
Text: The formula is simple: Replace century-old houses in the middle of the city with courtyard blocks – apartment buildings of four to six storeys, lined up side by side along the street and leaving a doughnut-hole of green. Their apartments have windows facing both the street and a green space at the centre of the block. Such buildings make up the fabric of many Western European cities.
October 26, 2025 at 10:17 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Contrary to Ford's claims that everyone sees speed cameras as a cash grab, this survey says that just over a third of respondents believe that. The majority consider them a public safety tool.
October 26, 2025 at 7:37 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
It is clear (even among people who don't like speed cameras) that ASE is effective.
Text: Field said her ticket was unfair and that Toronto’s threshold seems more reasonable. “Now, devil’s advocate,” she continued, “it was effective. Now I go through that same area doing 38 in a 40.”
October 25, 2025 at 10:32 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
I still find it surprising (and discouraging) that so many people consider arguments like this as an excuse for speeding. It sounds to me more like an abdication of responsibility (while driving heavy equipment) than a 'reason' of any sort. www.thestar.com/news/gta/spe...
Text: “Initially, some of us who got the tickets didn’t even know the camera was there,” Leliah Field told the Star. “When it’s a route you drive every day, sometimes you’re on autopilot. This particular one is in an area where there’s a winding road, so you can’t use your cruise control.”
October 25, 2025 at 10:30 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
I prefer the 2021 version of the mayor on this issue.
"Vrbanovic — who has since called for removing speed cameras — originally proposed the motion to add more."
Text: “We really need to look at cranking it up, “ said Vrbanovic in 2021. “This is the single biggest issue that councillors hear about, speeding in neighbourhoods, so we really need to take a more comprehensive plan on this, not as a money maker, but as a deterrent to speeders.” All of the surplus money collected was intended to be put toward road safety initiatives and projects.
October 22, 2025 at 10:55 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Yuck. #ASE #KitCouncil www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...
Text: At a news conference in September, Ford singled out Waterloo Region — which passed its ASE plan in 2023 — and invited Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic to speak about how he had distanced himself from the traffic-calming tool.
October 22, 2025 at 10:53 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
"The highest # of charges dropped were speeding, running a red light & driving without a permit, but they also included stunt driving, distracted driving & driving with a suspended license ." (Withdrawn charges may include not just delay, but other reasons such as lack of evidence.)  buff.ly/xEOo43W
Text: In 2019, there were 13,520 Highway Traffic Act charges withdrawn before trial — about five per cent of the cases that came in that year, according to statistics published by the Ontario Court of Justice. Between April 2024 and March 2025, that number had ballooned to 165,973, about 20 per cent of all the charges that came in that year.
October 22, 2025 at 10:39 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Good morning, Waterloo Region! There are few things more beautiful than trees glowing with autumn colours, don't you think?
Tree with red and orange leaves
October 21, 2025 at 11:49 AM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
For those who say that police should be the ones responsible for catching speeders on our roads, not speed cameras: In addition to that being far less efficient and effective, it comes with a very big price tag. www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...
Text: Police are also proposing a dedicated traffic services unit of six officers dedicated solely to traffic enforcement across the region, as, Crowell said, the region averages 15 traffic fatalities a year. The dedicated unit would be $1.24 million of the budget.
October 19, 2025 at 11:02 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Text: A good rule of thumb for identifying whether a proposal is meaningful or hollow is asking the question: would this reform result in greater or fewer resources going to the punishment bureaucracy? Virtually every major “reform” pushed by local, state, and federal punishment bureaucrats would result in either the same or more resources flowing into the punishment bureaucracy.
October 19, 2025 at 10:52 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-pu...
Text: A lot of people are talking about “criminal justice reform.” Much of that talk is dangerous. The conventional wisdom is that there is an emerging consensus that the criminal legal system is “broken.” But the system is “broken” only to the extent that one believes its purpose is to promote the well-being of all members of our society. If the function of the modern punishment system is to preserve racial and economic hierarchy through brutality and control, then its bureaucracy is performing well.
October 19, 2025 at 10:37 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
October 18, 2025 at 9:16 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Cllr Devine introduces a new, but similar motion to what he had earlier proposed: sensitivity training and a reprimand by Council. It passes 6-2.
October 18, 2025 at 4:01 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Cllr Roberts proposes a motion that is just the Integrity Commissioner's recommendations - reprimand and 10 day pay suspension. It's seconded by Cllr Kimpson. And, again it fails due to a tie.
October 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Cllr Devine's motion for sensitivity training also fails on a tie vote.
October 18, 2025 at 3:57 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Hamilton's motion, seconded by Roberts, to add the pay suspension/donation is tied, so it fails.
October 18, 2025 at 3:55 PM
dtkmelissa.bsky.social
Yet another example. www.thestar.com/real-estate/...
Text: Neighbour Michael Miranda was concerned about the impact of the owner having to “squeeze” the garden suite onto the lot, and congestion from added cars. “Yeah, you can use transit, but let’s get freaking real, right?” he told the Star. “There’s just not enough parking.”
October 12, 2025 at 7:42 PM