The Star: North York councillors peeved at being overruled by the Ontario Municipal Board – on a condo complex they didn’t want – exacted poetic justice yesterday by giving the project an address the developer won’t soon forget: OMB Folly. … Councillor David Shiner said the move may usher in a welcome precedent: “When wecontinue reading
Toronto Archives
And so it begins
I think we know how this story goes. After months of slower sales and record-high inventory, Toronto’s real estate prices begin their descent: In the City of Toronto the average price declined one per cent to $377,990 from last August’s $381,681. Existing home sales in the city were down 25% year-over-year, which qualifies as “stable”continue reading
The Right School — called Jackman
I hope Toronto Life didn’t pay full freight to Philip Preville, whose cover story “PS, I Love You” (not yet posted online) adorns the magazine’s September “The Right School” issue. Here’s how the story is billed: A handful of schools drive parents into a frenzy of status lust — and they’ll do anything to getcontinue reading
The trouble with eyewitness accounts
..neatly summarized in one paragraph of the Star’s story on the shootings in the Annex: Marc Biginelli, 21, watched events unfold from Bloor St. He said a tall young black man wearing a black T-shirt and baggy jeans came at the group from behind, gun in hand, and that he was “very tense, very aggressive.”continue reading
The scourge of sunlight
I’m with Barry Hertz of the National Post — time for Toronto to calm the fuck down when it comes to heat alerts. He tracked the panic , visiting several cooling centres yesterday — as he puts it, “one of those perfect summer days we could only dream of last winter.” Some highlights of hiscontinue reading
But Brooklin is booming!
Could the communications team at the Toronto Real Estate Board be the worst in the city? Granted, TREB is the lobby group representing realtors, know most for erratic capitalization and repeated punctuation marks. And, OK, it’s hard to put out press release after press release about a deflating market after years of hyperbolic boasting aboutcontinue reading
Real Estate Ad of the Week
From today’s Globe. It seems the identity of the seller is more important than the property — which doesn’t say much for the property. I’d imagine this sales pitch appeals greatly to a specific type of southern Ontario Anglophile, though: BRITISH HEIRESS Due to declining years wishes to sell country estate, 1 hour from Toronto.continue reading
Fraser fantasies
I can’t believe I’m bothering to quarrel with a report from the Fraser Institute, but sometimes it’s just too tempting to resist. The right-wing think tank released a survey yesterday that will be the foundation of its urban policy research agenda, headed up by that champion of cities, former Ontario premier Mike Harris. Among thecontinue reading
The TTC does fine, except for the actual riders –
The original hat tip for this in the Toronto blogosphere goes to 299bloorcallcontrol, as far as I’m aware, though Spacing has weighed in: The TTC has just begun installing a new 2008 edition of its subway network maps in subway cars … The TTC did away with just displaying the approximate address numbers along Yonge,continue reading
And if you like world class cities, go live in one
Ever-wise city councillors vote to kill street life on Bloor. I guess they’re hoping this will transform the exciting line-up of nondescript architecture, inexpensive European chain clothing stores and discounters into Toronto’s own answer to the Magnificent Mile. If you’d rather be able to buy the occasional hot dog, well, perhaps you should just move: Councillorcontinue reading