[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links

• Urban Toronto looked at indigenous uses being proposed for the West Don Lands, here.
• That Toronto has become a major hub for Shopify is a significant economic factor. Global News reports.
• There will be an emergency exercise held at Union Station. Global News reports.
• Transit Toronto notes the opening of a new York Regional Transit bus hub at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.
• Transit Toronto shared video of a recent TTC public art project, “A Streetcar Called Toronto”, here.
• Venerable Toronto movie rental store Videoflicks will be closing. blogTO reports.
• The Evergreen Brickworks in the Don Valley will be hosting a winter village this season. blogTO reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links

• I do hope Toronto does something with the abandoned foot court on Queen West and John. blogTO reports.
• blogTO looks at the new Villiers Island set to occupy the mouth of the Don River in the Port Lands.
• An Ossington laneway is going to be repainted after a botched improvement project destroyed its public art. The Toronto Star reports.
• Steve Munro fisks a defense by the Toronto Board of Trade of the proposed Ontario Line, here.
• Andrew Cash, sadly not elected in my riding of Davenport, writes in the Toronto Star about the importance of Toronto having active local MPs.
• National Observer looks at how the City of Toronto is encouraging residents grow gardens for pollinators.
• Samantha Edwards writes at NOW Toronto about how the long-closed Paradise on Bloor theatre is set to reopen in December.

[VIDEO] Crossing the Bloor Viaduct, facing south

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Galleria Mall, Ontario vs Toronto, Ontario Line, housing, theatre

• Urban Toronto shares a detailed plan for the Galleria Mall redevelopment.
• Jennifer Pagliaro at the Toronto Star shows how the Ontario government keeps undermining decisions made in Toronto, here.
• Actually building the Ontario Line, beneath Fort York and the Don River, will be a very tricky affair. The Toronto Star reports.
• This Toronto Star article describing how four young adults in their early 20s have to cram into a single apartment in order to live in Toronto is a terrible indictment of our housing policies.
• Rick Salutin at Rabble celebrates the achievements of Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: GO Transit, rent, land transfer tax, books, Viaduct

• Transit Toronto notes that GO Transit has introduced regular weekday train service to Niagara Falls.
• Average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto has hit $C 2260. blogTO reports.
• Revenue from the much-needed land transfer tax that supplies City of Toronto budgets is below expectations, the Toronto Star reported.
• NOW Toronto shares a list of the most-borrowed books from the Toronto Public Library system in 2018.
• Spacing celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Prince Edward Viaduct, also known as the Bloor Street Viaduct, arcing across the Don River.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Art Shoppe, Quayside, Villiers Island, comic books, police

• Urban Toronto shows a photo of the Art Shoppe at Yonge and Eglinton, seven years ago and now in the condo era.
• Sidewalk Labs promises to provide a substantial amount of affordable housing at Quayside. The Toronto Star reports.

<

• blogTO takes< a look at Villiers Island, set to be constructed at the mouth of the Don.
• Crowdfunding might yet deliver to Toronto a comic book library. blogTO reports.
• Pride Toronto is undertaking a cross-country study looking at ways to improve police-LGBTQ relations. The Toronto Star reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Port Lands, High Park beer, #tunnelofglam, Toronto Pride, refugees

• The project of building a new river valley in the Port Lands, at the mouth of the Don, is a breathtakingly bold vision. The Toronto Star reports.
• The High Park Zoo will be getting its own brand of beer. (Will the capybaras feature? One hopes.) blogTO reports.
• Toronto will be getting a sparkling tunnel at Yonge and St. Clair, Instagram-ready already with the hashtag #tunnelofglam picked out. blogTO reports.
• Kristyn Wong-Tam writes at NOW Toronto about why now might be time for Toronto Pride, to ensure its independence and security from threats, to break free from restrictive funding sources.
• Perhaps 40% of the people making use of Toronto shelters for the homeless are refugees or asylum claimants, a new report suggests. CBC reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Jennifer Keesmaat, John Tory, 650 Parliament, St. Clair, Don Valley

• Lauren Pelley at CBC Toronto notes how, despite trying hard, Jennifer Keesmaat was unable to displace John Tory as the clear front-runner.
• Mark Gollom at CBC notes that John Tory may be able to find ways to work with Doug Ford, though the province will remain the dominant partner in any relationship.
• Many of the tenants displaced from 650 Parliament Street were happy to return briefly to their old homes, to retrieve belongings. The Toronto Star reports.
• blogTO shares these vintage photos of St. Clair Avenue a century ago, to all appearances just another rural road.
• Urban Toronto shared a gorgeous aerial photo of Toronto, looking south from a point in the Don Valley towards the downtown.

[PHOTO] Three photos of Toronto seen exiting the city

[PHOTO] Looking southwest across Riverdale Park East, Broadview and Montcrest