I got some brutal family health news last night so I've spent the day so far in the ravines with Penny (she says hi, btw) to parse. I'm going to try and spend less time online this weekend, but wanted to post some action items re: the upcoming council meeting on Nov. 12.

Came across another indie coffeeshop coping with unusual circumstances last night...remember how the new age crystal store was a holdout at Mirvish Village? Well, a multi-vendor market has opened in its place, including the physical location for Spirited Tarts.

I've seen dozens of videos of Zohran Mamdani being asked for his favourite bodega food. In Toronto, that question would be "what do you buy at the Metro to eat at your desk?"

Dan says it right: this is a city, and we need leaders who will say so.

Prior to 1959, retail units (like one that now contains a popular pizzeria) were allowed without major issue. Then we made rules to block them, and then some people spent a lot of time talking about "old Toronto" as if it was the natural way of things. Which old Toronto? When? Something to consider.

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...

"Neighbourhood interiors were never intended for commercial activity", says one letter writer. To be fair, this is true, if you toss the entirety of human history and modern day Earth outside North America in the trash, and think that urban planning less than a century old is ironclad natural law.

Two blocks from each other on the same street (Palmerston). Remember: what is at stake here is if Emily Rose goes under and is converted to residential, going back is nigh impossible—a community amenity lost for good.

Please enjoy my five minute plea for neighbourhood retail. Also if you do a virtual deputation, Webex doesn’t give vid preview??? So get your angles right first. youtu.be/Eztf53wAhXo?...

What level of extremely online is it that I knew what this was gonna be before I even clicked play

Well we may have lost today but we did have to listen a lot of people speculate that one day they might be confronted by the reality of living in proximity to millions of people, so in many ways we also suffered.

The actual dynamic I’ve observed here is the ignorant scaring the ignorant into action. Neighbourhood retail=pot shops is one I hear a lot. Well, you can’t have pot shops 200m from schools. And the bubble has burst. And (legal ones) have low margins so need traffic/visibility of big streets.

Nearing 2800. I’m hoping to wake up to 3k. Tell all your friends that signing this will help the blue jays or something. I dunno.

I submitted this letter into the public record ealier today telling the committee we had over 2600 signatures on our petition. When I do my deputation tomorrow, I will gleefully be telling them we have over (at least ) 2700.

I don't think everyone needs to take up street photography or even choose the mundane subjects I focus on...But I do think it's nice to meditate on simple beauty during your morning commute.

In the City survey, 72% supported small businesses in Neighbourhoods, with 50% wanting more permissions than are proposed. But many RAs are writing in opposition, despite the proposal being watered down after they asked for more consultation last year.

I’m sick of sharing this link so help me bury the NIMBY opposition to cute neighbourhood shops! They just put a petition with a measly 209 signatures into the record to kill—not modify, kill—this small step towards maybe having corner stores again Let’s tell them what we want: c.org/fYSGWfvYJv

How many petitions and walks does it takes to pass a piece of policy that cranks are mad about but that the general public is overwhelmingly in favour of? Because whatever I did is not enough—still think this has dicey chances.

I’m like if Snow White gave urban walking tours

Three neighbourhood tours in two days. After hours of having to be “on” in overstimulating environments, can’t wait for the quiet peace of my apartment. The quiet peace of my apartment:

The Slovenian urge to yap in front of a garbage bin

Extremely kind words from Josh. Appreciate him coming on the walk today and his continued and consistent support for expanding options for neighbourhood retail! Also he’s very nice lol

I have added a handful of spots to all the time slots for the neighbourhood retail tours I’ll be leading this weekend! Not that you need another excuse to learn about zoning reform but the kind people at Office are offering a discount for attendees! www.eventbrite.ca/e/neighbourh...

Tried the new Italian restaurant Miss Vickie’s…I’d give them each a 7. Good, but I won’t be thinking about any of them in a year.

A Jane's Walk so nice, we had to run it twice! And now...quadrice? I'm retreading the steps I took with the folks from @moreneighboursto.bsky.social, but with a stronger emphasis on retail. This topic is being revisited by Council; we're going to win. www.eventbrite.ca/e/neighbourh...

On the Annex FB page I tried to bring the temp down on this issue and, in the comments, offered to run the neighbourhood retail Jane’s Walk again to help boost the businesses that were leery of this change. Currently I am planning two walks, a session each on Oct 25/26. Stay tuned.

Came across this lovely group of older environmentalists the other day. For all the boomer doomerism online and lamentations that we're ruled by a gentoncracy, worth touching grass and meeting people fighting those narratives every so often.

As expected, all the various speed camera items on the agenda are joined together to create an omnibus item. A speeding omnibus, kind of like that bus in that famous movie, The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down.

Penny says GM

In a letter responding to a Councillor Holyday inquiry, City Manager Paul Johnson has provided a breakdown of revenue and expense numbers related to Toronto’s speed and red-light camera programs. Notably, about 24% of fine revenue goes to the provincial gov. www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis... (PDF)

I've been quite angry on Twitter for the last week and have been trying to parse it...some thoughts: Toronto's problems largely stem from the cost-of-living crisis. A crisis, in part, caused by the simple fact that people *want* to live here. Opportunity, culture, and fulfilment abound

401 Richmond alone reports 24,000 people came by thru bldn last night during nuit Blanche. What a validation of the desire for public life in this city. Toronto seemed so lit last evening. Every year there’s grumps curmudgeons & naysayers but people come out for NB, esp this year. A renewal.

Annex mornings in autumn sun 💛💚🧡

I love Torontos big patch of waterfront dirt.

One of the most captivating parts of Love Park in downtown Toronto is that the towers can reflect the light in beautiful, unnatural ways. Notice how some of the people on the benches in the foreground are lit from both the east and the west.

I am going to Nuit Blanche to see the giant karaoke tower in Chinatown. I am so excited.

Yesterday Councillor Josh Matlow found me at a party and asked me if they were serving marshmallows. The internet has contributed one good thing to my life and this is it.

Really striking how vague the actual policy ideas are here for a sitting councillor announcing a 2nd mayoral bid: more special constables on TTC, vague DC relief, don’t raise property taxes so much. Think this Bradford for Mayor sequel will need more substance. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

I’m ramping up some stuff! We lost neighbourhood retail on the first attempt due to a few key provisions. I’m will address point by point soon but feeling like the incrementalism proposed here is pretty strategic and considered, even if it’s frustrating that we need to take baby steps at all.

While I am serious about the meme potential, I think people are being a little cocky with the “he only got 2% last time” talk. Chow has alienated much of her base and Bradford has a small but active coalition of odd little grassroots conservative hyper-local groups in his corner this time.

Spirit Garden at Nathan Phillips…it’s very good.

Buy Adobe stock now, I am about to do things with Photoshop that have only been dreamed of.

“.. I absolutely couldn’t care less what he [Trump] thinks about me … He’s the living personification of what the 25th Amendment and impeachment were for. If Congress had any guts, he’d be consigned to the trash heap of history.” @time.com time.com/7319963/bruc...

We made a comic about street smarts (this is one of my favorites we've made).

Dropped by the Dufferin Grove Encampment rally on the way to work. I'm told it's being cleared because private citizens are monopolising public space in a way that is potentially hazardous to families and children. Anyhow, here are a bunch of people with off-leash dogs across from the tents.

Been exposed to a couple “I used to be tolerant and then [a couple anecdotes about a minority acting badly]”. Look, it’s ok for my dog to be scared of all German Shepherds after a few bad trips to the dog park, but her brain is chestnut-sized. It’s embarrassing to admit this!

I arrived shortly after this. Counter protest basically turned into a street party that sequestered the original protestors into a very small area of the park…down the hill, the protest might as well have not been happening at all. Felt like a fever dream.

Working on a new theory of urbanism that a neighbourhood’s spiritual death is directly related to the quality and availability of a greasy and delicious breakfast sandwich. The best breakfast sandwich in Yorkville, for instance, is from McDonalds.

The coherence of municipal politics