Oh jeez guys, maybe the NIMBYs are right… Allow corner stores, and Badiali will suddenly pop up in every neighbourhood!

My gosh. This kid isn't even two years old. And when he found out that we were getting on a replacement bus instead of the streetcar for the 504, he started crying. @ttchelps.bsky.social, when will my kid's dream come true?

Street with no sidewalk and no pedestrian access? Does that even exist in Toronto?

"Streets having sidewalks and safe pedestrian access." Hot take: this should be all streets.

For all the crocodile tears shed by residents associations around lack of consultation (which is BS), they understand exactly what's being proposed and their explicit to demand to city council is to gut all of it. More outreach won't change anything. This is a question of values. Time to vote.

Question: should I quit my big city Toronto job and move to the magical Christmas village of Ottawa to make cookies?

it was quite detailed, the only reason they opened in my neighbourhood was because matlow's motion to allow wards to opt-in passed, so he opted-in and we got the ice cream shops I then woke up hungry

I had a dream last night this passed council and the same day a bunch of shops opened in my ward (matlow's) they were all little ice cream shops for some reason, built into the houses of davisville village, how ominous

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Toronto Cenotaph — a quiet, carved reminder of the cost of war that has gathered Torontonians in reflection every November 11 since it was unveiled in 1925. #remembranceday #war #sacrifice #cenotaph #memorial #TorontoHistory #toronto #canada #jeremyhopkin

As much as this compromise is good given the context, I wish objectively beneficial policy didn't have to be piecemealed into 25 different sets of rules.

Having a local neighbourhood cafe contributes to a sense of community. A local grocer or convenience store nearby supports a walkable and livable city. I’m moving this motion to allow for this opportunity in communities that would welcome it. It’s time to lead.

Happy to see it come to a vote now rather than wait a year. I will say instead of ward by ward I'd prefer the motion to attach to the R and RM zones. Would bring us a step closer conceptually to Japanese zoning which I prefer.

TBH this is the best possible outcome for corner stores in Toronto -

so @joshmatlow.bsky.social has posted a motion that allows councillors to adopt neighbourhood retail in their own wards, effectively allowing the removed attachment to be adopted on a ward-by-ward basis. it's not perfect but it's something!!!

Cars might work fine in California or Florida, but they’re not practical here in Canada. We have winter.

To me there's a surprisingly large amount of subtext here. Mayor Chow is speaking from Willowdale. She's saying to suburban voters this isn't scary and new. She's saying to suburban councillors this isn't some downtown thing. She's saying councillor Cheng pick whether you're on the team or not.

"There are plenty of progressives... you might call Chow's base who wish she would take advice from Mamdani. Because nothing in Chow's own... unfolding agenda seems quite as dramatic. You could say the same about the federal and provincial NDP organizations in their campaigns over the past year."

A good summary of several recent disappointing votes at Council that have made it feel like we're constantly defending the little that we have. The article names some disappointing Old City progressive councillors. I want to add comments about the suburbs as we head to election next year.

How Toronto killed Sesame Street. My column on the retreat from allowing shops in neighbourhoods & other watering down of good ideas. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

She posted this on Instagram and the comments were about a 50/50 mix of supporters and the absolute whiniest little NIMBY babies you've ever seen lol Oh no not a corner store! The horror! /s

If her opponents are going to characterize her as some anti-car communist, might as well lean into it.

This is welcome but it does give a bit of "hm, wonder who could do something about this" energy, and I feel like that's been the case with Chow a bit too often. She still has time to be more bold.

Good! We need more of this energy!

in Toronto we aren’t allowed to build corner stores in neighbourhoods and we’re trying to change that so our mayor has to explain why corner stores are a good thing to NIMBYs like they’re children

For my international followers: in Toronto you can’t have a corner store on a residential street unless the business opened before 1959.

too early to say but if we’re lucky, mamdani’s victory woke some long-slumbering progressive political will in her. cross ur fingers

Behold the HORROR of neighbourhood retail. These STRANGERS are lined up for pizza. STEALING business from our main streets. And who knows what DANGER they present to YOU AND YOUR FAMILY?!?!?

Oh sorry I’m late, the line for a plush Timbit was two hours eh

Mayor Chow posted a video about corner stores!

I rarely have good news to report about this streetcar system, but this intersection is slated for transit lanes and a ban on left turns this year. hopefully it serves as a model for the rest of our troubled streetcar system! Things are slowly changing.

Why doesn’t the biggest passenger vehicle on the road simply nudge the others out of the way

You know what, I meant to type trams but I'm not fixing it. Trans people need dedicated right of way too.

Could this be the most Canadian thing ever?

K I cheered for your sport thing when the it was like baseball or whatever I'm gonna need to hear your congratulations -

I've made it through 2 seasons of Cam Boy, so I'm ready for this

Canadian gay hockey romance “Heated Rivalry” comes out on Crave in November and actually it would be unpatriotic not to support our boys -

I forgive you 🥺

Pesky e-bike riders delivering food to people should be ticketed... @tps.ca there appears to be a double standard here because stopping in for some Jerk King, although delicious is not actively responding to an emergency. The use of the lights here, while clever, is certainly inappropriate.

I will literally never shut up about this

It begins. Get Celine ready.

🇨🇦 Eurovision: - Eurovision confirmed they're in early negotiation with the CBC - CBC confirmed the broadcaster picks the artists - Canada is already an associate member of the EBU like Australia

If Poilievre is still here next year they should just split back up into the PC/Reform parties.

Newly elected mayor of NYC, Zohran Mamdani, was inspired by Quebec's daycare system (CPE = centre de la petite enfance) 😊

It's a small graphic design detail, but the loitering guy on TTC signage is actually in front of the red slash, casually leaning against it, making him look *unbelievably* cool.

Oh no, serious people are already asking what it was like to be alive in 2019, I was not ready

For Progress Toronto: - Open Streets - Streetcars that work - A coffee shop on every corner I don’t think it’s about universal appeal, we have a lot of carservatives, but they weren’t going to vote for Olivia Chow anyways.

Dimitri Soudas, former Harper comms guy, told RadCan this morning that he's hearing Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux will cross the floor to the Liberals today. If this happens, the Liberals are one seat short of a majority. You know what that means. That's right. Elizabeth May is Kingmaker.

Toronto desperately needs a positive vision for its future. Mayor Chow has not given us this.

I wrote an op-ed on what I think about the fight for local neighbourhood retail (and the grousing about Badiali's) means for the urban vision of Toronto. Gift link here: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...