[NON BLOG] Hello from me, 21 times

I would like to say hello. I have been gone from here a long time, I think, the longest break I have ever taken from blogging.

What have I been doing all this time? In the main, I have been trying to live my strange new life this 2020 as best as I can. This includes thinking seriously about what I want to do with this space, and its neighbours. 2020 is many things, but one thing that it can be is a vital space to look back and reflect. (At least it can be those as fortunate as I to be able to use it so; I acknowledge my privilege.) This is going to be a year of transition.

In the meantime, I would like to share with you twenty-one selfies, taken by me in the course of my day-to-day life, at work and at play, all but one within the borders of the city of Toronto. (Oh, borders are things we have come to know too well.)

My last selfie is an unmasked one. Resolution aside, I quite like the photo that my Echo Show 5 took of me.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Mississauga, Oshawa, Hamilton, London, Kingston, Montréal, Québec

• A historic bridge over the Credit River in Mississauga, happily, will not be demolished but instead will be repaired. CBC reports.
• Now that automobile production has stopped at the Oshawa General Motors plant, what will become of that city? CBC reports.
• The auditor-general of Ontario will investigate the claimed costs that led to the cancellation of the Hamilton LRT. Global News reports.
• A new bus route now connects London, Ontario, to Sarnia. Global News reports.
• Kingstonist reports that filming for the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery has just finished up in Kingston, at the pen.
• Joe Buongiorno writes at CBC Montreal at his, specifically Italian Canadian, experiences with the Jean Talon Market in Montréal.
• Le Devoir notes that many radio stations in Québec City are leading opposition to the proposed streetcar system.

[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links

• NOW Toronto reports on the long-time independent weekly’s sale to a venture capital firm, here.
• The Yonge-Eglinton Centre now hosts a venue where people can nap in peace. Toronto Life has photos, here.
• The family of North York van attack victim Anne-Marie D’Amico hopes to raise one million dollars for a women’s shelter. The National Post reports.
• Toronto Community Housing, after a terrible accident, has banned its tenants from having window air conditioners. Global News reports.
• blogTO reports on the ridiculous heights to which surge pricing took ride fares on Uber and Lyft during yesterday morning’s shutdown.
• blogTO notes that the Ontario government has provided funding to study the idea of extension of the Eglinton Crosstown west to Pearson Airport.

[URBAN NOTE] Fifteen urban links

• It has been forty years since a train derailment that threatened to unleash toxic chemicals on Mississauga resulted in a remarkably successful mass evacuation. CBC reports.
• There is a Vimy display in Kingston’s Communications and Electronics Museum. Global News reports.
• It is unsettling that the Ontario city of Hamilton reports such a high levels of hate crimes. CBC reports.
• Le Devoir shares a warning that inattention to language means that Longueuil could end up becoming as English/French bilingual as the West Island.
• VICE reports on how the dying desert town of California City is hoping for a revival based on cannabis, here</u.
• MacLean’s tells the story about how an encounter of koi with local otters in Vancouver reflects a human culture clash, too.
• SCMP looks at how planners want to use big data to make Shenzhen a “smart socialist” city, here.
• CityLab hosts an article by Andrew Kenney looking at the importance of an old map of Denver for he, a newcomer to the city.
• These photos of the recent acqua alta in Venice are heartbreaking. CityLab has them.
• JSTOR Daily tells the story of an ill-timed parade in 1918 Philadelphia that helped the Spanish flu spread throughout the city.
• The LRB Blog looks at a corner of Berlin marked by the history of German Southwest Africa.
• Guardian Cities shares a remarkable ambitious plan to remake Addis Ababa into a global city.
• Durban, in South Africa, may offer lessons for other southern African metropolises. Guardian Cities reports.
• The NYR Daily recently took a look at what happened to so completely gentrify the West Village of New York City.
• Feargus O’Sullivan at CityLab takes a look at a new documentary, If New York Was Called Angouleme. What if the site of New York City was colonized by the French in the early 16th century?

[URBAN NOTE] Ten Toronto links

• The vicious homophobia exhibited by TCDSB trustee Mike Del Grande is, IMHO, another reason to defund public Catholic education in Ontario. Global News reports.
• The CCLV streetcars of the TTC are set to be pulled by the end of November. Global News reports.
• The Scarborough Bluffs are set to see some worthwhile investment. blogTO reports.
• CBC notes growth in food bank usage in Toronto and Mississauga.
• Presto users are being mischarged based on GPS mistakes. CBC reports.
• Renovictions have spiked 300% over the past four years. blogTO reports.
• The cost of rent continues to grow in Toronto. blogTO reports.
• A new project hopes to make Yonge and Eglinton less congested. The Toronto Star reports.
• New regulations about Airbnb should make the real estate market easier for renters. NOW Toronto reports.
• Owing to family request, a new street in Etobicoke will not be named after former Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Global News reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Nine city links

• The new LRT that will unite Brampton and Mississauga looks very cool. blogTO reports.
• The small farming town of Belfountain is apparently facing a major influx of Toronto tourists seeking fall sights. Global News reports.
• Ridership on Kitchener-Waterloo transit generally has increased sharply since the opening of the Ion LRT. CBC reports.
• London, Ontario, is trying to regenerate its downtown. Global News reports.
• CTV Ottawa reports on O-Train Fans, a new fan community devoted to exploring the Confederation Line.
• La Presse looks at how people cross the street in Montréal in a way different from people in Québec City, here.
• A high-density apartment development in Fredericton is unpopular among some neighbours. Global News reports.
• Hillsborough, New Brunswick, is trying to keep its grocery store alive. Global News reports.
• Calgary hosts a new development of compact homes for military veterans. Global News reports.

[PHOTO] Boarding zone for the Union-Pearson Express, Toronto Pearson

[PHOTO] We The Champs sweatshirt, $C 69.99

Patriotism is not cheap.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Mississauga, Miami, Montréal, Jakarta, Lausanne

• Missisauga’s mayor Bonnie Crombie makes the case for her city’s independence from Peel Region, over at the Toronto Star.
• CityLab features a Richard Florida interview with sociologist Alejandro Portes on his new book examining the history and future of Miami.
• New maps showing flood risks are available to municipalities in the Montréal region, but for various reasons they are not using them yet. CBC reports.
• Guardian Cities reports on how the new president of Indonesia wants to move the country’s capital away from megacity Jakarta to a new location on the island of Borneo.
• CityLab reports on how the Swiss city of Lausanne is making use of innovative new community consultations to decide how to manage its Place de la Riponne.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Mississauga, Montréal, Thunder Bay, Port-au-Prince, London

• The City of Mississauga is encouraging residents to take part in a postal campaign to push for independence from Peel Region. Global News reports.
• A Montréal city councillor wants the city to try to get a world’s fair in 2030. CTV reports.
• April Lindgren at The Conversation considersthe important role that local media in Thunder Bay can play in dealing, with, among other issues, Indigenous concerns.
• Amy Wilentz considers at The Atlantic whether France, after the devastation of Notre-Dame in Paris, should perhaps contribute to the reconstruction of the cathedral of Port-au-Prince, a decade after its destruction in the earthquake that devastated an already poor ex-French Haiti.
• Ben Rogers at Open Democracy makes the case for seeing London, despite its position as a global city, as also a metropolis inextricably at the heart of England, too.