[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links

• Some of the apartments hit by the Gosford apartment fire have been repaired and opened to their tenants again. Global News reports.
• Steve Munro maps the 70 O’Connor bus route in action as a case study, here.
• Condo developers have created the new neighbourhood of “West St. Clair West” out of, among other established neighbourhoods, Carleton Village. blogTO reports.
• The plans for the controversial new Pharrell Williams condo development at Yonge and Eglinton look interesting. blogTO shares.
• Should Toronto have free public mass transit? NOW Toronto makes the case.
• Brian Doucet at Spacing Toronto takes a look at the Toronto CLRV streetcars in their North American context, here.
• The repeated flooding of the Toronto Islands, as NOW Toronto points out, surely demonstrates the reality of climate change for Toronto.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Zellers, Dufferin Mall, Toronto Islands, Japan, Guild Park

• Narcity notes the sad news that the last Zellers stores in Canada, including the one in Etobicoke, will be closed by January 2020.
• Tanya Mok at blogTO looks at the successes of the Dufferin Mall.
• blogTO looks at the William Meany Maze on the Toronto Islands.
• Jamie Bradburn writes of the early history of Japanese restaurants in Toronto.
• Melanie Zettler at Global News writes about the history of the Guild Park and Gardens, in Scarborough.

[URBAN NOTE] Eight Toronto links: neighbourhoods, housing, mass transit, Great Lakes

• I do agree with the argument of Emma Teitel in the Toronto Star that, between the east and the west of Toronto, the west is the more snobbish. (West-ender, here.)
• blogTO notes that home prices in Toronto are ridiculously out of the reach of average millennials.
• Is multi-generational housing the solution to the housing shortage in Toronto? The Toronto Star reports.
• Toronto Life profiles</u. the photos taken by Jesse Colin Jackson of the now-demolished Regent Park building of 14 Blevins Place.
• The story of the terrible, expensive architectural problems with the TTC’s Pioneer Village station is appalling. The Toronto Star reports.
• Steve Munro notes how the TTC is decidedly unhappy with the failings of Presto.
• Christian Mittelstaedt writes at NOW Toronto about how the flooding of the Toronto Islands this year can be traced, in part, to problems with how Canada and the United States jointly manage the Great Lakes.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links: Lake Ontario, fly, Ontario Place, Port Lands, parks

• Measured at Toronto, Lake Ontario has reached its highest point in recorded history. blogTO reports.
• Beach season has to be put off in Toronto until mid-June at least, on account of the record high water. blogTO reports.
• Legendary queer nightclub fly–or fly 2.0–is shutting down this Pride. blogTO reports.
• The provincial government call for development proposals for Ontario Place, happily, makes no mention of casinos. The National Post reports.
• This BBC article takes a convenient outsider’s look at the controversy over the Google involvement in the Port Lands development project.
• Tanya Mok at blogTO introduces readers to the very unusual June Callwood Park, designed around a voiceprint of the late journalist and activist.
• Samantha Edwards at NOW Toronto looks at the impromptu party being Daniel Rotsztain to celebrate The Pillars at Queens Quay at York this evening. (I think I’ll be there.)

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links: #DoorsOpenTO, Eglinton Crosstown, Lake Ontario, public art

• Transit Toronto notes that both the Eglinton Crosstown yards and Lower Bay station were open this weekend past for Doors Open. I got to see both!
• Urban Toronto looks at the newly revealed Eglinton Crosstown vehicles.
• blogTO observes the rapid flooding faced not only by the Toronto Islands but by the waterfront generally.
• blogTO reports on the exciting possibility of a ferry connecting Etobicoke, at Humber Bay Shores, to the downtown.
• Building a linear park over the subway trench between Davisville and Eglinton stations in midtown Toronto is an idea that appeals to me. blogTO reports.
• NOW Toronto reports on a slew of original coffee shops around Toronto, including a laundromat hybrid on Dufferin.
• Urban Toronto celebrates the Ron Arad sculpture Safe Hands at One Bloor East.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links: flooding, weather, towers, plants

• Rising water levels on the eastern beaches of Toronto are a growing concern. The Toronto Star reports.
• Earlier this month, a poster at r/toronto shared photos of Toronto Islands flooding, here.
• The City of Toronto is warning of flood risks near the Lake Ontario shoreline. CBC reports.
• blogTO notes the unusually cold weather this May.
• Urban Toronto looks at the Grenadier Square tower near High Park.
• Toronto Life shares photos of the Tokyo Smokes cannabis shop, in the old HMV at Yonge and Dundas.
• James Burt at Spacing identifies some invasive plants in the Toronto area.

[URBAN NOTE} Seven Toronto links: Lake Ontario, UP Express, Rail Deck Park, Google, TTC, Doors Open

• Reddit’s r/toronto shares this photo of the level of Lake Ontario having risen above the level of the boardwalk at HTO Park. Are we in for another year of flooding, on the Toronto Islands particularly?
• This CBC Toronto article from a week ago notes how Lake Ontario is getting close to 2017 levels.
• Changes in the Presto system have left many people who use the Union-Pearson Express to commute in a financially costly situation. CBC Toronto reports.
• This court case, besides setting boundaries on what planning boards can and cannot do, will also determine the fate of the Rail Deck Park. I hope it will survive. The Toronto Star reports.
• Stefanie Marotta at the Toronto Star reports on a Jane’s Walk led by MP Adam Vaughan and Bianca Wylie of the waterfront, inspired by their criticism of the Sidewalk Labs plans.
• Shazlin Rahman writes at Spacing about the prejudices that push Muslim women away from the TTC, and what can be done to protect these women.
• Urban Toronto shares the news of Open Doors 2019 in Toronto on 25 and 26 May, with more than 150 buildings being opened to the public.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Ordnance Triangle, Yonge and Dundas, Toronto Islands, Ontario Place

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• Urban Toronto has profiled another new tower rising in another new neighbourhood, Garrison Point in the Ordnance Triangle not far from Liberty Village.
• Loryssa Quattrociocchi writes at NOW Toronto about how a property at Dundas East and Victoria, at Yonge-Dundas Square, has languished in official neglect for years.
• Don Sampson, living in the old family home on the Toronto Islands last held by his brother, has been spared eviction for the time being. The Toronto Star reports.
• David Rider at the Toronto Star notes that the selection of Ford ally James Ginou to the head of the Ontario Place board of directors, and the critical language that he has used about the development, is alarming to many.
• John Lorinc at Spacing questions what Toronto city council will do to ease the housing crisis.

[URBAN NOTE] Twelve Toronto links (#toronto, #topoli)

• Because of a lack of support from the University of Toronto, Ten Editions Bookstore on Spadina Avenue between College and Bloor has closed down permanently. blogTO reports.
• Statler’s on Church Street, a popular Village bar known for its performance spaces, closed down suddenly on account of massive rent increases. blogTO reports.
• The famed Coffee Time restaurant at Coxwell and Gerrard, subject of a documentary that looks at this affordable coffee place’s connections to locals, has closed down permanently. blogTO reports.
• Gilbert Ngabo at the Toronto Star reports on how Torontonians now have now choice but to use the Presto card. My experiences reflect others’ in that things have been working out for me, so far.
• GO Transit’s connections directly to York University have ceased in the wake of the subway extension, as promised. Many who depended on the direct link are unhappy that it is no longer being sustained. Global News reports.
• This Toronto Sun article shares the call of a brother of a victim who died by suicide at a TTC station for more action to prevent such unfortunate events.
• Steve Munro reports on the different challenges facing the TTC board in 2019.
• Enzo DiMatteo at NOW Toronto makes the case that Toronto needs to continue to address gun violence as a public health issue if it is to control this plague.
• A tall and skinny home in Riverdale that has gone on sale for $C 3 million has as many detractors as supporters. Global News reports.
• CBC Toronto notes that the new nickname of the Economist for Toronto and its tech sector, “Maple Valley”, is not catching on with locals.
• Marco Chown Oved at the Toronto Star shares the story of Don Sampson, a long-time resident of the Toronto Islands who faces losing the family home there because he cannot inherit the property from his brother.
• The cast of the venerable Global Television drama Train 48, filmed on a GO Transit Lakeshore West train in 2003-2005, recently reunited. Global News reports.

[ISL] Five #islands links: Nantucket, Newfoundland, Scotland, South Goulburn, Toronto Islands

• JSTOR Daily notes</u. the unorthodox and generally unacknowledged truce struck between Nantucket Island and the British Empire in 1814, during the War of 1812.
• A visit by Anthony Bourdain had lasting effects on the culinary scene on Newfoundland. Global News reports.
• The Island Review reports on the different plans of the different islands of Scotland to commemorate the end of the First World War.
• Michael Erard at The Atlantic writes about the remarkable South Goulburn Island, an island off the coast of Australia where speakers of nine different languages co-exist in a shared passive multilingualism.
• Richard Longley wrote at NOW Toronto about the challenges faced by the Toronto Islands in the era of climate change and instability.