We squeak when we walk

[ciroccoj]

From Forbes: Which Are The World's Cleanest Cities?

1. Calgary (Canada)
2. Honolulu (USA)
3. Helsinki (Finland)
4. Ottawa (Canada)
5. Minneapolis (USA)
6. (Tie) Oslo (Norway), Stockholm (Sweden)
8. Zurich (Switzerland)
9. Katsuyama (Japan)
10. (Tie) Bern & Geneva (Switzerland), Montreal & Vancouver (Canada), Boston, Lexington, Pittsburgh (USA), Nürnberg (Germany)
18. (Tie) Auckland & Wellington (New Zealand)
20. Dublin (Ireland)
21. (Tie) Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Toronto (Canada)
23. Lyon (France)
24. Copenhagen (Denmark)
25. (Tie) Kobe & Omuta (Japan)

Hee. We're squeaky clean :)

Oh and here's the blurb on Ottawa:

#4 Ottawa
Population: 859,704
Metro area: 2,778 square km
Ottawa is Canada's capital and its fourth-largest city. Its economy revolves around a mix of government functions and high tech business. It is called the Silicon Valley of the north. Ottawa has an operating light rail system for transportation.

Hear that, Mayor Bullet-head O'Brien? Light rail system. It's a good thing. So say the granola wingnuts at Forbes. You think you can lay off badmouthing it and putting so much of your energy into trying to quietly kill it?

Comments

[leaper182.livejournal.com]

A small orange-and-white hamster, wearing sneakers on all four of its paws, walks across the floor.

*squeak squeak squeak*

The hamster blushes, and squeaks her way to work.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

::snicker::

[a-dawn.livejournal.com]

Is it sad that my first thought was "Wait. We don't have a light rail system"? It took me a few seconds to think of the O-train.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no kidding.

You know I've never been on the thing? I would have to go so out of my way, to get to absolutely nowhere I need to be, that I haven't managed to make it in the six years we've been living here.

::sigh::

See, this is why I wanted Munter to win the election. Because someday in my lifetime I would like to have a light rail system (& other public transportation) that is actually useful to regular people.

But no. Ottawa voted for the guy who promised people wealthy enough to own their own homes that we would not have to pay one penny more in property tax.

Well done, people. Way to look out for number one, and to hell with everyone else.

[a-dawn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I voted for Munter too, and totally based on the light rail thing. In fact, light rail was the #1 and deciding issue for me. I'm a pedestrian who lives in centretown. Improved transportation is essential.

I've never been on the O-train either. In fact, I think I have only *seen* the thing once.

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

Notice how there's no Australia on that list? Yeah. ~grumbles~ The smog I could see from my office window yesterday was so damn thick... ugh.

There's an attempt to get a light rail system going in Sydney, and yeah, it's getting killed by the government. And the opposition. And everyone who *doesn't* use public transport.

(On the other hand, Minneapolis, yay!)

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

The smog I could see from my office window yesterday was so damn thick... ugh.
Eugh.

OTOH, can you see the street if you look down from the 30th floor of a building in broad daylight? Because one time I was in Santiago and I couldn't. And when I rubbed my eyes, I got a bit of black stuff on my fingers. Won't describe what happened when I blew my nose.

And the most incredible thing, for people who don't live in Santiago, is that the people there will tell you, with a straight face, that the whole pollution thing is totally over-hyped by the media.

...?

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

Oh, EW.

Okay... Sydney not so bad, then.

[scrtkpr.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, I get to breathe the 2nd-worst polluted air in the US on a daily basis. I really need to move...

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Yowch. That does not sound like fun :(

[lonejaguar.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of disappointed they left Portland, OR out. It's not like it's any dirtier than Van and it's certainly cleaner than Toronto. And it has a light rail system which this guy seems to like a lot ;)

But really, P-town's transit system is one of the best I've seen. Where else could you get on a light rail train and travel anywhere in the downtown core for free?

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of disappointed they left Portland, OR out.
Yeah, I've never been, but have heard good stuff about it. And I'm a bit surprised Toronto made it in at all. I've never been too impressed by it.

Then again, whenever we go to TO I start feel claustrophobic around Whitby and by the time I'm actually in the city I'm hyperventilating, so it's possible that it really is squeaky clean and I'm just irrationally biased against it ;)

But really, P-town's transit system is one of the best I've seen. Where else could you get on a light rail train and travel anywhere in the downtown core for free?
Ooh, nice. Sure wish we had that here. The closest we get is free buses downtown on Canada Day.