[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Pierrefonds, Edmundston, Saskatoon, Louisville, Belfast, Jerusalem …

• Ending free coffee for municipal employees in the Québec community of Pierrefonds created massive controversy. CBC reports.
• The mayor of the Francophone city of Edmundston in New Brunswick has encouraged immigrant Québec students hurt by immigration changes to come to his community. CTV News reports.
• The price of crystal meth in Saskatoon is apparently as low as $3 a bag. Global News reports.
• Guardian Cities notes how Louisville, low on trees, is trying to regreen the city as a way to deal with rising temperatures.
• Open Democracy considers if the DUP is about to lose its strongholds in Belfast.
• Guardian Cities looks at the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab, a place where Palestinians can access their metropolis (and their partners).
• CityLab shares photos of the wonderful new public library of Helsinki.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Ottawa, Montréal, Halifax, Peripignan, Helsinki

• The Confederation LRT line, happily, has opened in Ottawa. Global News reports.
• Dorchester Square in Montréal will feature an open-air gallery for emerging artists. CTV reports.
• How, exactly, will the crane that collapsed in Halifax in Dorian be removed? CBC reports.
• Guardian Cities tells the story of how Gypsies in Perpignan resisted gentrification, here.
• Atlas Obscura reports on the summer custom, in Helsinki, of families cleaning their carpets with salt water on piers.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Hamilton, Halifax, London, Helsinki, Rustavi

• Some new high-rise housing developments in Hamilton are lacking in permits. Global News reports.
• Halifax is currently undergoing public consultations to see what is to be done with a statue of controversial British governor Cornwallis. Global News reports.
• Guardian Cities looks at how the ring-tailed parakeet has come to thrive in its adopted home of London.
• Guardian Cities reports on how the city of Helsinki has solved its problem with homelessness by automatically giving people in need housing.
• Open Democracy looks at the Georgian city of Rustavi, during the Soviet era dependent on a single industry like many others and left to cope with the collapse of this economy in the post-Soviet era.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Mississauga, Buffalo, Surrey, Helsinki

• CBC reports on a terrible hate crime committed against a Mississauga man.
• The second Jollibee in the GTA, this one in Mississauga, is slated to open tomorrow. blogTO reports.
• Making an old elementary school in Buffalo into a platform for solar panels and community activities is ingenious. Curbed reports.
• MacLean’s reports on how a growing community of feral peacocks is complicating life for people in the British Columbia city of Surrey, here.
• This description in Guardian Cities of the new central library in Helsinki makes this place, and Finland’s thriving library culture, sound very attractive.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Mississauga, Kahnawake, Madrid, Helsinki, Mumbai

• Croatian-Canadian fans in Mississauga were definitely organized and ready to celebrate the Croatian team playing in the World Cup finals. Global News reports.
• People in Kahnawake are looking forward to an upcoming powwow, as a celebration of indigenous culture and a vehicle for reconciliation. Global News reports.
• CityLab notes the progress that environmental initiatives in Madrid have had in bringing wildlife back to the Spanish capital.
• Politico Europe reports on the mood in Helsinki on the eve of the Trump-Putin summit there. Avoiding a repetition of Munich was prominent in locals’ minds.
• Namrata Kolachalam at Roads and Kingdoms reports from Mumbai on the negative environmental impact of a controversial statue of Marathi conqueror Shivaji on local fishing communities.