[PHOTO] Our Mother Mary in blue, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church (1515 Queen Street West)

I was walking last weekend west past Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church, in the west of the neighbourhood of Parkdale, when I saw this statue of the Virgin Mary. I had wanted to take a photo of the tatue, framed so nicely by the window behind it and with a coat painted in an earnest sky blue, for aesthetic reasons. I also recalled the old tradition of asking the Virgin Mary to intercede with Christ for mercy in–for instance–times of plague.

This image has turned out to become one of my most popular photos on Instagram, largely because of apparently Lebanese users finding the image via hashtags.

[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links

• Google has apologized for the negative shade its image search cast on Scarborough with a Twitter thread. Global News reports.
• The National Post looks at the story of the architecturally remarkable Integral House, on sale for $C 21.5 million.
• South Indian Dosa Mahal, a beloved Bloordale restaurant apparently displaced by landlords, has found a new home. blogTO reports.
• The infamous Parkdale McDonald, at King and Dufferin, has officially been closed down, relocated. blogTO reports.
• The Ontario Cannabis Store is experimenting with a same-day delivery program. NOW Toronto reports.
• Lia Grainger writes at NOW Toronto about how poor city planning has resulted in multiple dangerous intersections. (I know of two in my broader neighbourhood.)

[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links

• Steve Munro looks at a recent examination by the Toronto auditor-general about the problems of Presto, here.
• blogTO notes that, on the weekend of the 22nd, the Toronto Reference Library will host another book sale.
• Spacing lets someone evicted for putting his apartment up for Airbnb tell his story.
• Global News tells the story of Charlie’s Friend Art Café in Bloordale, here.
• This Toronto Life account of the life and crimes of Alek Minassian remains authentically disturbing to me.
• The idea of a Toronto city charter, a constitution to protect the city’s prerogatives, does sound pretty good to me. CBC reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: buses, 592 Sherbourne, Parkdale, planning, Doug Ford

• Transit Toronto reports on the first electric bus in the TTC, now running the 35 Jane route.
• Toronto Life takes a look at the history of 592 Sherbourne Street, now the restaurant Maison Selby.
• NOW Toronto interviews people in Parkdale protesting against the cuts of Doug Ford.
• John Lorinc at Spacing looks at the many problems with the Doug Ford alteration of city and provincial planning.
• blogTO observes that this year’s iteration of Ford Fest is going, inevitably, to be very political.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: food, McDonald’s, cell phones, cricket, renoviction

• NOW Toronto notes that poor and racialized people in Toronto find it difficult to access healthy food.
• blogTO observes that the McDonald’s at King and Dufferin has installed blue lights in washrooms to try to discourage the shooting up there of heroin.
• The TTC is set to offer cell phone service in some downtown tunnels. blogTO reports.
• Perry King at Spacing reports on how Toronto needs to expand its facilities for the growing number of players of cricket.
• Samantha Edwards at NOW Toronto reports that the owner of 795 College has been fined $C 135 000 for the renoviction of prior tenants.

[PHOTO] Six photos of moments at Dufferin on Queen, looking north

Last night at 11 o’clock, I found myself on Dufferin at Queen, waiting for the northbound 29 Dufferin to come. The quiet perfect of the intersection at night, marked only by the occasional car, spoke to me.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Scotiabank, Parkdale, Integral House, Queen Video, #TinyTown

• blogTO shared the remarkable news that the Scotiabank Theatre, on John south of Queen, is set to be replaced by a condo development.
• Emily Mathieu at the Toronto Star reports on how a trust in Parkdale bought a rooming house for the benefit of tenants there.
• The world-famous Integral House in Rosedale is on sale for more than $C 20 million. blogTO reports.
• Norm Wilner at NOW Toronto notes how the Criterion Channel is in no position to immediately replace the broad selections of now-departed Queen Video.
• Francine Kopun reports at the Toronto Star about the sad state of the Tiny Town, the miniature scale model in the atrium of Toronto City Hall.

[PHOTO] Ten photos of Queen Street West, Yonge west to Dufferin

Early Thursday afternoon, I took an extended walk west along ‘a href=Èhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Street_(Toronto)#Yonge_to_University”>Queen Street from Yonge towards Dufferin. Spring is here, but it is not here just yet; the grass is green but the trees have not yet sprouted new leaves. Can it really be only two weeks until the first cherry blossoms appear?

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: interstitial buildings, Neon, Drake, Pizza Pizza, Yayoi Kusama

• The Toronto Star looks at how buildings destined for demolition for condos are, in the interim, enjoying some innovative alternative uses.
• CBC Toronto takes a look at the efforts of photographer Jon Simo, owner of Neon Demon Studios, to preserve and promote neon signs. (I went to the pop-up museum this weekend; photos to come.)
• Toronto Life shares old photos of the Drake Hotel predating its transformation into a west-end hub.
• blogTO lists the best, and the worst, Pizza Pizza locations in Toronto.
• blogTO shares photos of Let’s Survive Together, the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror room bought by the AGO for its permanent collection.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: TTC, Cumbrae’s, Vegandale, environment, Peter Harris

• Edward Keenan notes at the Toronto Star, drawing from an analysis of TTC budgets by Steve Munro, that things are not likely to get better for riders on the Bloor-Danforth line for at least another decade.
• blogTO notes a protest of vegans outside of Queen Street West butcher shop Cumbrae’s, the protesters pretending to sell dog meat.
• Gilbert Ngabo writes at the Toronto Star about the mystery regarding the ownership of two Parkdale restaurants which loudly claim not to be part of the unpopular Vegandale.
• Priyanka Vittal writes at NOW Toronto about how it might make sense for Toronto to sue oil companies for the costs of global warming-related environmental disasters.
• Toronto Life notes the hyperrealistic city scenes of oil painter Peter Harris.