[PHOTO] Giant pit, Lansdowne north of Dupont

[PHOTO] Canadian Pacific crossing, Lansdowne north of Dupont

[PHOTO] Twin towers, Fuse Condos

[PHOTO] Four photos of Lansdowne and Dupont

Dupont and Lansdowne is an intersection at the heart of an emerging cluster of high-rises, some of which are at least eye-catching.

[PHOTO] Three photos of front yard flowers on Lansdowne Avenue

My heart was warmed yesterday evening when I walked home along Lansdowne Avenue and saw the flowers in the front yards of the different homes. The tulips and daffodils were lovely, but the sheer heft of the flowering trees impressed me. Were those five-petal white flowers in the second photos product of a tilia or linden tree, as my later googling suggested?

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links: 1919, condos, Long Branch, transit, Walk-Up Weekdays, sakura

• Jamie Bradburn shares some editorials from Toronto newspapers in 1919 reacting to the city’s general strike.
• CBC Toronto reports on the growing number of 311 complaints about short-term rentals in many condo complexes, like the Ice Condos.
• blogTO profiles an excellent-looking condo at 1100 Lansdowne Avenue, on Lansdowne near Davenport.
• Tess Kalinowski writes at the Toronto Star about controversies in Long Branch regarding lot severance. How can this old community densify?
• Edward Keenan writes at the Toronto Star about the point that a transit shelter enclosed on four sides did not make, and the point that it did perhaps make inadvertantly.
• The Toronto Public Library announces its Walk-Up Weekdays program, where this month possession of a library card can give someone free admission to a city museum.
• The Toronto cherry blossom festival in High Park will start this weekend, with road closures starting Saturday. Global News reports.

[PHOTO] Virgin Mary on Lansdowne

I had last taken a photo of this particular blue-and-white statue of the Virgin Mary back in July 2017, while I was walking on Lansdowne Avenue, on the western edge of the heavily Portuguese-Canadian (and even more heavily Roman Catholic) west-end neighbourhood of Wallace Emerson, caught my eye when I was walking down the street on the Saturday before a flight out. Yesterday evening, I walked by the same address with the same statue, this time without a luxurious front garden full of greenery, standing simply and unadorned on the corner of Lansdowne and Paton Road in bright spring sunshine.

[PHOTO] Five photos from a progress home, Lansdowne to Dupont

Last night was a wonderful spring evening, with a perfect sky above a warming earth.

[PHOTO] Looking west towards Lansdowne, crossing the tracks at Bartlett

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links: 1 Yorkville, Davenport Village, Meridian, homelessness, Pride, art

• Urban Toronto notes that 1 Yorkville is nearing completion.
• Urban Toronto notes the plans for the massive redevelopment of Davenport Village, north and west of Dupont and Lansdowne.
• The Sony Centre is now going to be called Meridian Hall, thanks to the Ontario credit union of the same name buying the name rights. blogTO reports.
• This story of a tenant who was deprived heating by her landlords’ neglect is appalling. I hope things get fixed quickly for her. Global News reports.
• Declan Keogh reports in NOW Toronto that the funding problems of Pride Toronto are linked to the police ban enacted in 2016.
• This Nicholas Hune-Brown feature at Toronto Life about the crisis of homelessness in Toronto is terribly compelling in sharing these stories.
• This Toronto Life feature on the installations on the seventh floor of the Hudson’s Bay makes this place very visit-worthy.