[URBAN NOTE] Four Toronto links: first Jewish deli, first Modern apartments, Junction, real estate

• At Torontoist, Ellen Scheinberg tells the story of the Harris Delicatessen, first Jewish deli of Toronto.
• Spacing’s Chris Bateman describes how the City Park tower complex in Church and Wellesley were the first Modern apartment high-rises in Toronto.
• At the Toronto Star, Scott Wheeler notes the complaints of some Junction residents that gentrification is driving out the poor.
• Is the recent drop in housing prices giving buyers too much power over sellers? The Toronto Star reports.

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[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links, from strange disappearances to the Toronto Islands to odd suburbs

• James Dubro highlights at Torontoist the disappearing queer men of Toronto. Is a serial killer at work?
• At the Toronto Star, Paul Hunter reports on how the Toronto Islands have been reopened starting today.
• John Lorinc’s investigation of high-rise safety in Toronto is alarming, and ends here and here.
• Scott Wheeler looks at the controversial mounted cow sculpture of Cathedraltown, in Markham.
• Victoria Gibson reports on the $150 million a year spent by the federal government at Pickering on property never used to build an airport.

[PHOTO] A meeting for Toronto’s missing 2LGBTQA*, 1 August 2017

I saw this placard advertising a meeting, to be held tomorrow the 1st of August at 5:30 pm at the 519 Community Centre, discussing Toronto’s missing queer men on a building at Church and Wellesley. The community is paying attention to this alarming mystery.

[URBAN NOTE] Six links on Toronto, on mass transit and infrastructure generally

• This story of a TTC worker who took a day’s fares home with him, where they got confiscated by police, and then compensated by union pressure for having been suspended without pay … wow.
• Edward Keenan makes the point that cost overruns for city infrastructure need to be taken seriously. The quoted price for a park staircase is just off.
• Daily Xtra notes the sad state of repairs of the rainbow crosswalks of Toronto.
• CBC reports on Twyn Rivers Drive, a Scarborough route some say should be marked as off-limits for heavy vehicles.
• NOW Toronto reports on how Mississauga is starting to outshine Toronto in the department of bike lanes.
• Torontoist’s Tricia Wood writes about the almost impressive dysfunction at Metrolinx.

[URBAN NOTE] Three reports of crime and possible crimes in Toronto

• CBC reports on a Scarborough group trying to get the police to contact neighbourhood groups re: missing people.
• In the Toronto Star, Kristyn Wong-Tam reports Toronto police do not believe disappearances of men in Church and Wellesley are connected.
• VICE tells a shocking story of a man allegedly beaten by a policeman with a steel pipe, blinded in an eye. Coverup?

[PHOTO] Four photos of the Pride rainbow colours at Loblaws 60 Carlton

After seven years of vacancy, the Maple Leaf Gardens building on Church and Carlton that had once housed the home area of the Toronto Maple Leafs became a Loblaws grocery store in 2011. Because of its size and its storied location, Loblaws 60 Carlton is arguably one of the chain’s flagship stores. Because of its location on Church Street, Carlton Street in fact being one of several possible southern termini of Church and Wellesley, the store’s merchandise is also regularly tricked out in the rainbow colours of Pride when this season comes about.

[PHOTO] Pride selfie, with beads, even

I save my fineries for special occasions.