Maybe some day in the distant future our policy-makers will understand that updating a few signs doesn’t make a damn difference.

Yes it does, even if compliance is low, and the reason is what you yourself is saying

You need physical speed reduction methods such as speedbumps, roundabouts, raised crosswalks, etc.

Traffic engineers won’t do these road diets on 50km/h streets. Changing the speed limit is an important first step that enables further changes to road infrastructure to help enforce the updated speed limits. This sweeping change is a MAJOR victory, that has been argued for many years. That we were able to pass this for so many neighbourhoods at once is great news and should be celebrated.

This was discussed at length during the council meeting, including later in the same day where another vote was passed to update the commitments and plans for the municipal Vision Zero initiative, which are in fact going to require infrastructure projects.