Category Archives for "Urban Economics"

Or what to do with underused parking lots and golf courses… OK, I’ll admit it. I am a bad (actually terrible) golfer and a not much better driver (of cars, that is). These days golf is a sport in decline (even before Covid-19 cratered much of the planet’s economy), which has triggered questions like: What […]

Traveling without moving, a new approach to downsizing Most realtors tell a person who is thinking of, say, downsizing, to list and sell their larger home and buy something smaller and presumably cheaper. This kind of talk is a bit self-serving because, if the client follows this piece of advice, the realtor gets another listing […]

I woke up on the Easter long weekend thinking I could help people become successful entrepreneurs by offering a new online course called: Pivot! Start a business in just 3-months w/ practically no money down. “Hi Bruce, I just wanted to say that I was on your Pivot! webinar this afternoon and it was awesome. […]

for LANDLORDS, INVESTORS (AND TENANTS) Here is a webinar in which Bruce M Firestone, PhD, and host Dave Dubeau talk about how to stay afloat during the Covid-19 era and also how to prepare for a hopeful future. Here’s what is covered: -snowbird real estate prices about to collapse? -big market correction coming #Gulp -buying […]

[A version of this article first appeared in Ottawa Business Journal] Since the dawn of the industrial age in the early 1700s when Thomas Newcomen produced the first successful steam engine (later perfected by James Watt in 1769), there has never been a major economy that contracted by 40% in a single quarter. This happened […]

I recently wrote to a senior planner at the city of Ottawa on this topic. Here’s what I said: Marina (not her real name), hope you and your family are well. I think in light of recent events, Ottawa’s OP should be completely overhauled… We were heading in this direction anyway, but now I am […]