Bilal Akhtar 🇨🇦
@itsbilal.bsky.social
Building a great database. Advocating for a better Toronto and more housing. And a lot of things in between.
This is correct - as is evidenced by the average Amazon item being lower-quality than something that was mostly intended to be sold in a physical store.
Max Dubler 🏳️🌈@maxdubler.com · 3d agoI think my most genuinely unpopular take is that a widely held and genuine consumer preference for cheaper, lower-quality goods, not private equity, is driving the decline in quality of consumer goods like clothing and housewares.
Your periodic reminder that my 1991 SF Mission apt was $980/mo in today's dollars - an unaffordable sum for me then. This is what decades of NIMBY SF politics stole from you and our beloved city's creative spark
Me at a No Frills in Toronto after spending ~2 years in San Francisco
This is why many of us were always skeptical of demand-side housing solutions. It is ultimately just an excuse to move the goalpost and build less housing.
Colleen @cbailey6.bsky.social · 6d agoMany said that we had to cut immigration so governments could "catch up" on housing. I tried to explain, based on my experience in housing advocacy, why I thought that was unlikely. Immigrants were just a scapegoat for governments who didn't prioritize new homes. I wish that I had been proven wrong.
@itsbilal.bsky.social: "that looks like the stop right outside Humber college bus station. Like not the bus station itself, but the one on the road."
Colleen @cbailey6.bsky.social · last wk.Played Jet Lag's Hide & Seek game across Toronto yesterday (very fun) and one of my friends figured out where we were from this photo of a bus stop. Some people are too online but I worry that some of you are too "on transit".
ICYMI, new op-ed from @jacobdawang.com: rolling back zoning reforms would be a mistake. "That means more people priced out of mature neighbourhoods, gatekeeping Edmonton’s best neighbourhoods so that rowhouses look like single-family homes." Read more 👇 edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu... #yegcc
Opinion: Rolling back pro-density zoning restricts housing choice
When we restrict housing choice, we're not preserving neighbourhood character: we're enforcing neighbourhood exclusion.
edmontonjournal.com
No problem here. I was told that the right to bear arms exists specifically for standing up against tyrannical government actions like these. That will solve things very soon.
E. Rosalie@erosalie.infoepi.com · last yr.The White House has posted a new executive order authorizing the federalization of the National Guard to support DHS and ICE functions. The most serious indication is the inclusion of “rebellion against the authority of the Government.” www.whitehouse.gov/presidentia... 1/8
DEFEND ZONING BYLAW RENEWAL Tomorrow, council's Urban Planning Committee will consider amendments to our zoning as part of its one-year review. The usual opposition is looking to roll back progress. Please take 2 min and use our tool to email council 👇 www.growtogetheryeg.com/blog/zoning-...
Zoning Bylaw Renewal: One Year Review
growtogetheryeg.com
If Liberals back someone who is unapologetic about opposing a ceasefire for an ongoing genocide, it's a pretty searing indictment of the moral clarity of centrists in Toronto.
Sean Marshall@seanyyz.bsky.social · last yr.The Liberals and Conservative back room boys are lining up to back Marco Mendicino for mayor. “‘The interesting thing is it is a multi-partisan approach from Liberals and Conservatives who would like to see an alternative to Olivia Chow, said the [anonymous] source…” www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
And on top of that: Land Transfer Tax revenue is way down because people aren’t buying/selling homes as often. The property tax increase was the only good option.
Damien Moule@damienmoule.bsky.social · last yr.I'm just planting this flag now: if the entirety of your mayoral bid in 2026 is saying property tax increases were too high under Chow, you don't understand the operating budget and you're not fit to be mayor. COVID relief funding is gone, so property taxes have to cover the loss in transit revenue.
I'm just planting this flag now: if the entirety of your mayoral bid in 2026 is saying property tax increases were too high under Chow, you don't understand the operating budget and you're not fit to be mayor. COVID relief funding is gone, so property taxes have to cover the loss in transit revenue.
An example of the problems: Mike Layton and Adam Vaughan wanted to stop a Walmart on Bathurst near Kensington. So they initiated a planning study that 1. Didn't prevent a chain store in that property (it's a Winners and freshco) 2. Added a bunch of unrelated growth restrictions on Bathurst
M. Nolan Gray 🥑@mnolangray.bsky.social · last yr.It's funny to think that fighting chain stores in cities used to be this righteous progressive cause. Sorry if it offends your aesthetic sensibilities, but quality chains are what makes a neighborhood attractive to normal people.
Jacob’s analysis (which you should read!) is about Edmonton, but the same pattern repeats in a lot of places: A theoretically-more-permissive zoning that then gets hampered by a litany of restrictions, each of which then necessitate site specific exceptions to get anything built
Jacob Loo Dawang@jacobdawang.com · last yr.NEW BLOG POST On June 3, I'm hearing some councillors will propose adding more restrictions to the RS zone introduced in the Zoning Bylaw Renewal. So, I went deeper into the data, even more than in my last post. Read my blog or highlights in the 🧵 #yeg #yegcc www.jacobdawang.com/blog/2025/re...
The California Model of Governance: 1. Create Regulation A 2. Problem A is side effect of Regulation A 3. Insist Regulation A is unrelated to Problem A 4. Create Regulation B to solve Problem A 5. Side effect of Regulation B is Problem B 6. A referendum stops you from solving either problem
California’s film industry thrived off of open access to world markets. You’re just inviting retaliatory tariffs on California services here, which would absolutely wreck California (as they could also apply to tech).
Governor Gavin Newsom@governor.ca.gov · last yr.California built the film industry — and we’re ready to bring even more jobs home. We’ve proven what strong state incentives can do. Now it’s time for a real federal partnership to Make America Film Again. POTUS, let’s get it done.
Also this argument fails a simple smell test? American cars are too large and heavy to fit in European / Japanese streets GM doesn't make a single mass-market sedan anymore! Even the Chevy Malibu has been discontinued.
Joey Politano🏳️🌈@josephpolitano.bsky.social · last yr.First thing JD has posted in 3 days and it’s doubling down on pro tariff stuff lmfao
“The presence of ... economists skeptical of tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, could all suddenly be considered adverse to U.S. foreign policy interests and subject to deportation based on the unilateral determination of the secretary of state,” www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...
Trump’s Use of Immigration Law Appears to Conflict With Limits Imposed by Congress (Gift Article)
A crackdown targeting foreign students protesting Israel’s treatment of Palestinians conflicts with free-speech protections that lawmakers added in 1990.
nytimes.com
BREAKING: “We will build at a pace not seen since the 2nd World War.” Mark Carney announces he wants to double the pace of housing construction in Canada, half a million new homes/year. He wants the Federal Govt to get back into affordable home-building. Billions in housing loans/grants announced.
I don't blame Kamala's loss on her/Biden as much as I blame it on state and local Democrats running anti-abundance governments and letting outcomes in their cities get worse. The only exception is Colorado, and hey, that's the only state that got bluer in 2024!
Here's something I've been a little tight-lipped about lately: I moved from Toronto to San Francisco to accept a job around the start of the year It's a decision I finalized last fall, but the ramifications of that move became clearer well after my decision given *waves arms around*
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, a month of generosity, community service and peace. As Muslim Canadians gather with family and community tonight, we can all strive to uphold these important values. Eid Mubarak.
Hey Americans apologizing for your countries' actions. I get it, but at the same time, this isn't a "oopsie" thing. This will destroy the Canadian economy. The action is to call and write your reps and demand better from your electeds. This is economic war on your closest ally, act like it.
“But it’s Trudeau’s fault cuz fentanyl” — Shopify exec bros
Joey Politano🏳️🌈@josephpolitano.bsky.social · 2y agoWow guys, I’m starting to think the president might not have well thought out narrow concerns about Northern Border Security behind his trade war with Canada
My brother in Islam, that’s a museum you got, not a neighbourhood
Oh The Urbanity!@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 2y ago“The hallmark of this neighbourhood is [that] nothing ever changes. It stays the same.”
The ugly truth is already out in the open. The question is whether we will correct course now, or continue repeating our mistakes.
Shawn Micallef@shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 2y agoKing Liberty Station must be built. The promise, if there is any, of Toronto’s exclusionary zoning regime is false. My @thestar.com this week. www.thestar.com/opinion/if-t...
