Hey folks, if you had plans to depute on behalf of Sneaky Dee’s on Thursday…well, you don’t have to any more.

I cannot say who I just interviewed at Sneak Dee’s yet, but I can tell you I’m not lugging all the video equipment I own on the TTC in this heat for just anybody… the names are only getting bigger.

happy five years to the time The Star put me in the newspaper for getting hotter during COVID.

On July 22nd, @anotherglassbox.bsky.social tells the story of a beloved corner store, ordered to take down its espresso machine, kicking off a fight that reshaped neighbourhood retail in Toronto. Fast forward to today and neighbourhood retail is now largely legal. RSVP below👇

In this house we stan Bif

*narrows eyes* the people are calling me an influencer again

Have had the chance to talk to a series of interesting people about Sneaky Dee’s and the arts the last week…the first one I’ve been truly star struck by has been Bif Naked…and it turns out she’s just a genuinely lovely person???

Crashed @dianachanmcnally.bsky.social’s DJ set at the Sistering picket line with my karaoke machine and she kindly made room for my antics.

Been fielding accusations I’m going NIMBY so decided to do something that will get me accused of being a developer shill. Coming soon: a talk on Finch Store and the neighbourhood retail fight, July 22nd luma.com/e2ipcfkw?fbc...

You might know him as the guitarist from PUP but did you know that @sladkow.bsky.social is also a guy who sits in parks to talk about saving Sneaky Dee’s?

Violent international incident involving inebriated patrons at a safe consumption site www.blogto.com/sports_play/...

I spoke with @hausofdecline.bsky.social about saving Sneaky Dee’s, culture in Toronto, and the need for fight clu—I mean, third spaces in a growing city.

Church Street Pedestrian Pilot is live. Volunteers are setting up flowers and street furniture. Tomfoolery and shenanigans abound.

Where I’m sending all my followers

Catch me on CBC (TV?) tonight at 11pm EST! Church street pedestrianization rollout starts tomorrow Friday at 4pm! Come volunteer or donate at: www.experiencethevillage.ca More info below in thread ⬇️

As many of you know, I've been boosting two small businesses on Bathurst that have faced unique challenges this past year. While I was sad to share that Office closed a couple of weeks ago, the ink is now dry, and the good news is that Spirited Tarts will be taking their space!

St George bike lane bioswales are growing in lush and lively. Looks nice!

I have developed a niche brand of “hosting karaoke for picketers”. here’s me kicking things off for the hard working folks at Sistering who are holding our boy Dougie accountable for wages owed.

Every time my dog is with the sitter and my house is empty and quiet in the evening, I am reminded that I am going to one day have a Very Bad Time when she’s actually gone.

I attended the Rayah press conference today in solidarity with the owner and 20 staff who are set to be locked out at 5 pm today. Bonkers situation. www.blogto.com/eat_drink/20...

When I give lectures on being an effective community activist, I talk a lot about how “brand” is effectively ensuring people know and trust you before you enter the room…but then it happens to me and I’m like, “this stranger knows who I am??? Creepy!!!”

This is what they call me in the Toronto political sphere

Also a useful explanation of the cross-subsidy model that's used on many of the City's current Housing Now/Toronto Builds projects. This is one reason that they're "only" 30% affordable and why staff have been reluctant to put stricter rent controls on the market rate units.

Took some time out of walking my dog to dog-walk the man who is trying to revive the Layton co-op “scandal”, a political specimen older than I am. Also, Yellow Flower on Palmerston has a very nice chocolate chip cookie.

Two years ago I took a different path to Do West Fest, and the rest is history. It’s Dan + Finch Store anniversary day!

I loved karaoke when I used to drink but was too anxious sober. After seven years of sobriety, I started singing with a teaching app at home. At eight years I started going to karaoke alone to face my anxieties. I hit nine years sober in April and this is me now.

It takes a certain kind of courage to go after fellowship projects and shelters. But when it comes to the TPS, a service that accounts for about a fifth of spent property tax dollars (18.6%), why is IntegrityTO all about smiles, polite questions, and mocking concussed neighbours?

I do not approve of off-leash dogs. I especially do not approve of off-leash dogs on the TTC…but I was accosted today by a very insistent, cuddly little guy and couldn’t stay stoic.

Whichever one of you little miscreants came up and introduced yourself to me at karaoke last night: Hold Me Now by the Thompson Twins was a dynamite choice that I absolutely will be stealing and I want to credit you correctly.

Earlier this week I met a bunch of the striking workers of OPSEU Local 511 (while I was down checking out the uni bike lanes 😉). Interviewed some of them yesterday… …but today is a PA day and they were throwing a family picnic, so I dropped by with some entertainment.

This week, IntegrityTO deputized themselves as Church Cop, suggesting that ministries and congregations who engage with harm reduction are morally depraved. Which got me thinking: do they really have the religious and moral chops to make that call? And also, WWPLD (what would Pope Leo do)?

How #BikeToWork Day ended. h/t @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social @ffsafestreets.bsky.social @tomflood.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/anot...

Nothing like getting a couple hundred friends together and making some noise.

Say what you want about the Billy Bishop takeover, it's objectively funny that Ford's two biggest developments in Toronto are: -A fancy waterfront spa -Extending an airport runway to a point approximately two football fields from the fancy waterfront spa

In 1974, Amsterdam and Toronto were "twinned". We got a bridge called the Amsterdam Bridge; they got one called the Torontobrug. Ours closed for safety reasons five years ago and just reopened. Yesterday, my four-year-old dog, Penny, stepped across it for her first time.

Truly awesome reporting work by @emmapaling.bsky.social and @thelocal.to here, taking the reader inside a safe consumption site so you can see for yourself the effects of its coming closure. thelocal.to/moss-park-sa...

Another Glass Box Presents: Tomfoolery in the Intersection Portland and Wellington got a road diet and the usual suspects are having a meltdown. I went down there myself to check out the “clusterf**k”, actually speak with locals, and not hold up traffic to farm content.

Me: never venerate a single design professional. every project is a result of a collaborative process Also me: Claude Cormier was a genius

it's getting real weird out there

Another win for gundam fans

Cathedrals everywhere, eyes to see, etc.

No matter what you think about AI, it's an embarrassing lack of state capacity that it takes us five years to spin up a digital literacy program. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

CN Tower from the OCAD Sharp Centre

lol there is literally a program called "Faith in Harm Reduction" harmreduction.org/our-work/act...

Changed my morning dog walk route and chatted with REAL FLESH HOSPITAL STAFF around the MEATSPACE hospital district re: bike lanes. Have an idea for a fun way to share their stories with you all that I’ll be playing with this week.

Brampton Innovation GO

Saw Doug Ford’s constituency office for the first time. Solidarity with the small determined group of folks holding it down in the intense sun—they got more supportive beeps from passing cars than I woulda thought.

Absolutely incredible. What an amazing new space for us all to enjoy. Congrats to everyone who worked on this, including my talented colleagues at the firm fka Brook McIlroy.

Yesterday I gave a deputation on who really benefits when we sell out the safety of the unhoused on behalf of events like FIFA and voiced support for the Toronto Underhoused Homeless Union. youtu.be/mwdULjkTNhI?...

"why is no one coming to our city/downtown?" politicians & policymakers while they make enemies of the push cart auntie who dares sell elotes at a subway station, the quiet cafe that dares exist on a residential street, and food vendors with signs that dare to be vibrant and attractive