June Updates

I simply can't top TL;WR newsletter titles, so I'm just going back to the basics!

While June weather has been calling me to get outside (aside from bad air days!), I have still been working on a number of posts that I’m excited to share in the coming weeks. A couple of them have required more reading than usual to understand the issues, such as the recent provincial announcement about ‘breaking up’ Peel region and how that might impact Waterloo Region. So stay tuned for that piece, as well as a strange decision at Cambridge Council, and some thoughts on housing.

Until then, however, I wanted to remind you of some great events happening locally that you may want to get in your calendar now. It’s Tri-Pride tomorrow, from 12-8pm in Willow River Park (aka Victoria Park). The park will also host the 56th annual Multicultural Festival on June 24th and 25th. For me, this is the event that really feels like the start of summer. And, if you haven’t been downtown lately, you’ll want to check out Gaukel Street. This pedestrianized area offers seating, murals and street art by local artists, and lots of events. I’m particularly looking forward to the Gaukel Street Block Party on June 17th. Head on down to enjoy music all day with Good Co. Productions, face-painting, balloon twisting, food, and fun!

I mean, just look at this awesome photo of the Gaukel Block by Ron Holmes! Who wouldn’t want to spend some time here?

The combination of warm weather and a recent tweet about the importance of riding with a helmet has me thinking about cycling infrastructure. While I tend to wear a helmet while cycling, there are some pretty interesting articles about whether that’s needed and even the potential negative impacts of wearing safety gear such as helmets and vests. Either way, I hope it’s clear that imploring people to wear a helmet when riding a bike should not be our first priority when striving to create safe streets. As is often the case in such Twitter discussions, folks started debating the merits of cyclists riding on the sidewalk and who really breaks the most traffic rules. While I consider many of those discussions a distraction from the real task at hand (building safe streets), I did address some of the reasons cyclists may ride on the sidewalk or ‘break’ other traffic rules in a previous post, called Scofflaw Cyclists.

Thanks for reading! If you haven’t yet, subscribe to TL;WR. It’s been wonderful to see that newsletter get longer each week, full of many amazing community events! TL;WR - come for the punny headlines, stay for awesome events!