The Bell Jar filming in Kensington Market

Mirvish Village sign is being installed. The homage to Honest Ed's wasn't in the initial renderings.

Bike Share Toronto revenue is up about 25% over last year for the first half of 2026. This is even after a record-breaking cold and snowy winter caused a slow start to the year.

Municipal politicians talk a lot about meeting "TransformTO" goals. I have made a tool that actually tracks commute mode share in Toronto and measures how close we are to hitting these goals! See what your ward's transportation mode share is and hold candidates to account.

Over the past week over 32,000 people, across over 2,000 cities have contributed to what they define as "downtown." NYC is clearly delineated by the East-West streets as northern borders. Chicago centres on the loop, but bleeds into the surrounding areas. London is bi-modal.

Where is downtown? It's an endless debate. Let's finally settle it! Choose a city, add your definition of downtown, and compare it to the general public. Then share your map on social media!

Newly reconstructed intersection on “Transitway” of King St at Church. Why take the opportunity to improve the streetscape in anyway when you can just put it back in its temporary cheap state as it was before.

Sneaky Dee’s was saved by a bank. Kudos to all who brought media attention to this fight to get to the point where RBC didn’t want to be involved. Probably wasn’t as simple as just “we didn’t know we owned the land.” Could be that they knew and were good to sell, but escalated due to bad press.

Dan Seljak@anotherglassbox.bsky.social · last mo.

Anyhow, for a hint at why this happened, check out this neat letter from RBC that was submitted right before the withdrawal

4 police and 7 security guards permanently stationed over 2 blocks of Church street. All because cars are now not permitted along this stretch. When anyone talks about “cost overruns” for pedestrianization, this is where it’s coming from. This cannot be the model going forward.

I hope that the “report” that will come to council about pedestrianization in Toronto will lay out that we cannot treat pedestrianized streets and pilots as “festivals.” The cost and staff effort is far too high. They must be treated like any other street. Just without cars and designed for people.

Phil@philmarfisi.bsky.social · last mo.

The outrageous requests from police are the main story here but why on God's green earth did the organizers have to pay *$63,000* in permit fees and payments to the Toronto Parking Authority? Our cities need to find a way to reduce fees and red tape for car free public spaces.

The ultimate irony is IntegrityTO booking a tent at pride. With all he has posted to villainize pedestrian streets and queer people, it’s definitely something that this grifter feels comfortable enough to use a queer pedestrian street to preach his vitriol.

Olivia Chow’s deputy campaign manager and transition lead was running this councillor’s election day operations.

Matt Elliott@graphicmatt.com · last mo.

Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin appears to be asking questions about road safety and crossing guards while driving.

I hope this kills the idea in Toronto that these types of things need 15 years and 5 multi-year consultation periods and environmental studies before pilot implementation.

Shawn Micallef@shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Day 2 of church street pedestrianization. I am floored at how fast it happened. Nice work from the TSA interpreting a 8 sites. Even got into the Steps controversy (you can see the remnants of the steps in background)

It's amazing how quickly a space can be transformed by political will and a few barriers. Just one night in, before any semi-permanent street furniture or activations, the newly pedestrianized gay village in Toronto feels like a completely different -- festival -- atmosphere.

Remember in 2025 when a TTC spokesperson said their *goal* was 10 slow zones and that it would "never be zero".

Rodney 🚧🚇@chanface.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Only two reduced speed zones on the TTC subway now!! FIFA really does force cities to get their shit together www.ttc.ca/riding-the-t...

There were over 46k Bike Share rides in Toronto yesterday, more than the average ridership of the Queen streetcar. The cost to the city to operate that streetcar was over $50k/day in 2015. Bike share costs the city $8k/day. 6x as cost efficient. Smart cities invest in cycling.

Working on an archive project for my past council coverage and some of these old quotes from Councillor Brad Bradford are wild in retrospect. This was April 2022! Not that long ago!

Seriously, the solution to "crowd management" is pedestrianization more often, in more places, and for longer. Instead, transportation services just used "risks associated with high attendance" as a reason to not support Church St. pedestrianization. There is so much rot at city hall.

ℳatt@matttomic.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Every time my city has a street festival, there are complaints the next day about how crowded it was. And instead of recognizing this as a city's overwhelming demand for more festivals and pedestrianization, the powers-that-be treat it as an excuse to offer fewer festivals due to crowding risks

Portland and Wellington, Toronto, Canada. June 2026, Colourized.

Observing The City@observingthecity.ca · 2mo ago

Church Street, Toronto, Canada. June 2026, Colourized.

Streets are for people.

The most shocking thing to Canadians about this pedestrianization project would be the timeline. 4 years from pop-up pilot to complete road redesign. What happens when you don’t “consult” to-death over a decade. Opposers carried a coffin through the space to signify the death of the area. Ignore.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett@modacitylife.com · 2mo ago

Data collected during the trial found more people were walking and cycling in the area. The street became a destination in its own right rather than simply a through route. Terraces replaced approximately 30 parked cars, while visitors lingered longer in what had become a more welcoming environment.

Brad Bradford continues to campaign against things that *he* supported under Tory's mayoralty, before Chow stepped foot into office. This time its the world cup deal that Tory negotiated and signed. Brad happily supported Tory in this awful deal at the time.

Journalists need to respond to Bradford with this every time he tells this lie during the campaign. Total community safety indicators have decreased every year since Chow’s election. Also, homicides are at lowest point since mid-70s and lowest per capita since the 50s.

Matt Elliott@graphicmatt.com · 2mo ago

Also: crime is not at an all-time high. What are we even doing here.

Church Street, Toronto, Canada. June 2026, Colourized.

I’m going to start a grant program. $5000 grants to take a trip to Barcelona. Eligibility requirement: Toronto City Councillor or member of Transportation Services staff

Further to the “squeaky wheel problem” thing, there’s one guy who has basically been waging war against these food stalls for several months. You can read his correspondence with the city here: www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis... (PDF)

Dan Seljak@anotherglassbox.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Some sort of issue between bylaw and the food market near Yonge and Dundas has resulted in all the shops’ signage being removed. Landlord is dealing with City, but consider supporting the vendors as it gets resolved—foot traffic will suffer.

It’s really sad that @chanface.bsky.social has to be asking these questions. The city should be throwing their support behind this project and investing in making it a success by activating the space. Instead they expect local BIAs to do everything to “activate” spaces and let these initiatives die.

Rodney 🚧🚇@chanface.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Would you donate $10-20 if there was a community fund for street furniture, planters, art, etc to better activate the Church Street Pedestrianization? Or do you know any potential sponsors? Or even more importantly, your time! Please signup to volunteer here, there are multiple ways to help:

28 cyclists and 11 cars make their way through an intersection on University Avenue during rush hour on a Thursday, 8:45AM. The moving vehicles (and 3 parked cars) are allotted 3x the space. There are many actors out their not acting in good faith.

2 years after approval, bike lanes are finally coming to Portland. This will provide the only waterfront connection between Strachan and Simcoe!

@safestreetsto.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Progress starts tonight!

I really don’t like how Chow has completely conceded to equating “safety” with more cops, and “congestion” with limiting impacts to drivers.

Matt Elliott@graphicmatt.com · 2mo ago

Mayor Olivia Chow makes it official: she’s running for mayor for a third time. Press release confirming her run touts her work hiring cops, speeding up Gardiner construction, freezing TTC fares, expanding school food, etc.