During the Cabbagetown daycare wars, where a daycare didn't "fit the historic character/use" etc (nor did a playground shade structure) I wrote that all cars parked along the street were also not inline with heritage character so parking should be eliminated. No no no...not that. Not that.

Jordyn Marcellus@jordynmarcellus.ca · 4h ago

Heritage conservation policy is a tool homeowners use to extract ever-greater real estate wealth from everyone else. This post has the receipts. Also: how does an inground pool reflect Rosedale's late 1800s/early 1900s suburban character?

I don't think the solution to Toronto's problems is more meetings. I appreciate Moise moving on things like pedestrian Church or daycares. If people turf him over "insufficient consultation" (not getting their way) or 🙄 developer donor claims, Toronto will be cooked in the doing stuff department.

How wildly different ideas on homelessness are shaping the election in this downtown Toronto ward

Concerns about drug use and public safety are the top issue in the race for Toronto Centre, with candidates offering vastly different solutions.

thestar.com

A picture of a ward struggling with the iron political equilibrium of Toronto: we don't build enough housing or shelters because the suburban low rise neighbourhoods refuse to take either. So everything gets concentrated downtown. Also featuring pointless factional fight on the left.

Ben Spurr@benspurr.bsky.social · yesterday

From me today: How homelessness, public safety — and wildly different visions — are shaping the election race in Toronto Centre www.thestar.com/news/gta/in-...

I wasn't an eligible Toronto voter back in the Transit City days so I've always been a little unsure how that plan made it so far. But looking at how the EELRT has become completely accepted across the board despite being awful maybe the answer is right in front of me.

Isaac Callan@isaaccallan.bsky.social · yesterday

Olivia Chow in Scarborough, highlighting campaign promises on transit. Among the promises is a pledge to get shovels in the ground on the Scarborough East LRT before the end of the next council term. "Chow has made it the City’s top transit priority," her team says. #ToPoli

I'm pretty glad NES jumped into the race because this isn't it on housing music.youtube.com/watch?v=90VI...

James Dann Says Toronto Property Taxes Need to Rise

YouTube video by Toronto the Politics the Show

music.youtube.com

Before (2025) / After (2026) Rue Julien Lacroix in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Many car parking spots were removed for some greenery. One of the last changes done in the pre-election rush in the first half of 2026, actually completed a few weeks after the election.

Thomas-the-tank-engine-core.

Robert Llewellyn@bobbyllew.bsky.social · 3d ago

Some of you will have seen the new Citroen 2CV already. I’m at the launch and I think it looks great. Smaller, lighter, electric and really not expensive

Pre-registering a mildly unfounded take that Chow will again lead in the advanced voting and that election night will be an annoying process of the count tightening.

My perspective is almost the opposite. Politics is a team sport. The problem in Toronto is they're pickup teams down at the Y.

Reece Martin@rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d ago

Increasingly concerned with politics that is played like a team sport and where it's expected that you're going to cheer on your team irrespective of what your team is doing

I think an article that is (intentionally? not sure) pointing out the discrepancy between the learned helplessness of senior city staff and the vast powers the city has but doesn't use to create more housing.

Alex Bozikovic@alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 4d ago

TLDR: Toronto can make it easier to build new housing. Not the opposite. Some city people want to frame this as a complicated matter of “collaboration.” It’s not. www.thestar.com/real-estate/...

TLDR: Toronto can make it easier to build new housing. Not the opposite. Some city people want to frame this as a complicated matter of “collaboration.” It’s not. www.thestar.com/real-estate/...

Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford have big housing ideas. But in Doug Ford’s Ontario, do they have a say?

Planning experts say the city’s role has become more “constrained” under Doug Ford, but it still has some levers to pull — if the premier lets them.

thestar.com

Can no one in Toronto politics retire in a normal way? They're making Gord Perks look normal.

Ummmm...

Matt Elliott@graphicmatt.com · 5d ago

Statement from Councillor Frances Nunziata re: reports she’s dropping out of her race. “I do not comment on rumours. I continue to canvass. My campaign remains unchanged. I will make no further comment.”

Ummmm... toronto.citynews.ca/2026/10/09/f...

Frances Nunziata dropping out of Toronto municipal election race: sources

Long-time Toronto councillor Frances Nunziata will be withdrawing from the municipal election race, two sources tell CityNews.

toronto.citynews.ca

You can’t constrict a market such that the maximum zoning envelope becomes the market minimum and then disclaim responsibility for the zoning envelope by saying it’s the market’s choice. This is only valid under abundance. Until then, codes are actually responsible for thinking things through!

Airgap Your Mind@austinmusicscene.bsky.social · 5d ago

The beauty of the market is that you can choose whether to live there. No one is sentenced to dwell here. Some folks won't care that much and will be fine. The people who do care can avoid, move, or sell if it's that important to them.

We're lucky the TTC bus routes were mostly established in the modernist era because present day Toronto has no ability to do transportation planning in a reasonable way.

Colleen @cbailey6.bsky.social · 5d ago

"...decide, street by street..." Seems like a terrible way to build a functional bike network. What if, instead, we had some sort of plan? Like, a cycling network plan?

"...decide, street by street..." Seems like a terrible way to build a functional bike network. What if, instead, we had some sort of plan? Like, a cycling network plan?

Isaac Callan@isaaccallan.bsky.social · 5d ago

Interesting news release from Brad Bradford's news release - not disagreeing with the upcoming bike lane removal, but pushing back on Queen's Park overreach. Says Ford government shouldn't get to decide future of bike lanes on Yonge, University, rest of Bloor. #ToPoli #OnPoli

I see we're reliving the incredibly dumb "developer money" saga of 2022. Don't do this folks. The people behind it last time were just out there baselessly accusing people on vibes to come up with completely implausible numbers. www.instagram.com/reel/DeP43pi...

High comedy.

Peter Waldkirch 華彼德@pwaldkirch.bsky.social · 6d ago

Fumano to Hardwick: a specific era you want Vancouver to go back to Hardwick: first TEAM in 1970s (Btw that era of team is why we have a housing crisis today.housing construction per capita crashes and never recovered. It was backlash to the west end etc)

I like the Ringer podcasts, think they're good etc. But laughing my head off at them talking about the Man City scandal and thinking that the UK economy couldn't withstand losing the UAE investment into a soccer team.

In addition to trying to break up the country, Danielle Smith is mandating housing for cars, and eliminating housing for people.

Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com · 6d ago

Conservative government of Alberta is preempting Edmonton, requiring the city to: —Reverse the city's 2024 change allowing small-scale apartment buildings to be built citywide. Change resulted in a building boom: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... —Restore parking requirements, which city eliminated in 2020

They both feel like they were concocted by a small group of residents, who lost an election, in a place called the Crooked Cue but I haven't checked Google Maps in Edmonton to verify the situation there.

I am going to try and maintain consistency: what's wrong about Alberta re-imposing legal suburbanism on Edmonton is that suburbanism is deeply illiberal and economically damaging. Local democracy vs. Provincial democracy is more complicated and I come down ambivalent.

The Premier who claims to care about democracy when a small minority of people sign a petition for a referendum. When people vote in a pro-housing city council, that's just sparkling ballot-casting that means nothing.

John Michael McGrath@jm-mcgrath.bsky.social · 6d ago

AB Premier Danielle Smith announces the province is forcing Edmonton to reverse its infill housing rules, because why would you want an example of market-driving housing affordability in your small-government province? www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjx2...

Dan Williams: "we're going to make sure we don't have a Toronto or Vancouver policy in Edmonton". Toronto or Vancouver, WHERE THEY BAN ROWHOMES IN NEIGHBOURHOODS. This brings us down the path of Canada's largest cities with housing crises.

AB Premier Danielle Smith announces the province is forcing Edmonton to reverse its infill housing rules, because why would you want an example of market-driving housing affordability in your small-government province? www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjx2...

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith makes an announcement in Edmonton – October 8, 2026

YouTube video by cpac

youtube.com

"We don't like tall towers and really big developments. Also, and this is key, we don't like small proposals and gentle density. Oh, almost forgot, we want everything to be affordable, but you better believe we're also against those initiatives too."

"Having renters move in next to me makes me feel threatened and the city owes it to me to protect me from them but also developers commodify housing are pricing normal people out so we should build co-ops (somewhere else)". NIMBYs man, they're wild. thelocal.to/scarborough-...

What if a solution to the housing crisis is right in front of us? My long read on the shrinking neighbourhoods of Toronto and Vancouver and how we could fill them up with people again. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Are these the steps that cities with better parks than us take? I'm skeptical. spacing.ca/toronto/2026...

Election 2026: For a joyful, resilient and connected Toronto, let’s start at the park - Spacing Toronto

Is there somewhere to sit in your local park? Do people linger, or hurry through? Is there a safe, shaded way to get there? Do neighbours who disagree about most everything still nod hello by the spla...

spacing.ca