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Friday evening, I went with Jim to the Metro grocery store in College Park for some last-minute shopping. It was an interesting scene, crowded with shoppers, evidencing empty shelves where certain products where I expected there to be shortfalls (paper products, bread, eggs and dairy, perishable meats). There were presences, too, of canned goods that were unpopular (plenty of beets, for instance) and of a whole wall of orchids in bloom.
The atmosphere of the Metro was interesting. People there had intent, but there was no panic.
The atmosphere of the Metro was interesting. People there had intent, but there was no panic.
[URBAN NOTE] Ten Montréal links
Dec. 19th, 2019 01:37 pm- MTL Blog shares this map of the Greater Montréal mass transit network, with a uniform design for all its networks, here.
- Exo commuters in Montréal are decidedly unhappy with the Exo chairperson for the unhelpful tips they gave. CTV News reports.
- Montréal has bought 140 acres of land in the West Island for its planned great park there. CTV News reports.
- Notre Dame East is set to be revamped as an urban boulevard. CTV News reports.
- Controversy over the Royalmount shopping complex grows. CBC reports.
- Montréal is reckoned by a Google team to be a major centre for game development. CTV News reports.
- A new fund seeks to increase the diversity of artists whose works are displayed in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. CTV News reports.
- Montréal mayor Valérie Plante promises to help out record stores fined for being opened past 5 on a weekend. CTV News reports.
- Royal LePage suggests that home values in Montréal will grow sharply in 2020, more than in any other major Canadian city. CTV News reports.
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[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links
Dec. 3rd, 2019 03:12 pm- NOW Toronto reports on the long-time independent weekly's sale to a venture capital firm, here.
- The Yonge-Eglinton Centre now hosts a venue where people can nap in peace. Toronto Life has photos, here.
- The family of North York van attack victim Anne-Marie D'Amico hopes to raise one million dollars for a women's shelter. The National Post reports.
- Toronto Community Housing, after a terrible accident, has banned its tenants from having window air conditioners. Global News reports.
- blogTO reports on the ridiculous heights to which surge pricing took ride fares on Uber and Lyft during yesterday morning's shutdown.
- blogTO notes that the Ontario government has provided funding to study the idea of extension of the Eglinton Crosstown west to Pearson Airport.
[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links
Nov. 28th, 2019 02:57 pm- 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] Seven Toronto links
Nov. 27th, 2019 02:17 pm- A beautiful Toronto would be nice, but this goal will take planning. The Toronto Star reports.
- Sean Marshall writes about the sad ironies of suburban neighbourhoods in Toronto unsafe for pedestrians.
- Jamie Bradburn takes a look at Davenport Road in the past, here.
- Transit Toronto notes the arrival tomorrow in the GTA of the Holiday Trains of the CPR, part of a fundraising campaign for foodbanks.
- Spacing shares an essay considering the idea of a map of Toronto according to runnability.
- Sidekick West, a new comic shop in the Junction Triangle, has unfortunately closed down. blogTO reports.
- Toronto Life breaks down the references in the massive 10-story mural painted by BirdO at Yonge and St. Clair.
- The mayor of Ottawa is suggesting freezing Confederation Line fare increases in light of the system's problems. Global News reports.
- La Presse looks at the problems faced by the Marché Jean-Talon, here.
- Greater Moncton, arguably the leading metropolis of New Brunswick, wants to double its intake of immigrants. Global News reports.
- Jamie Bradburn looks at Lafayette Park in Detroit, designed by Mies van der Rohe.
- Will Vancouver be connected to Washington State by a high-speed train route? Global News reports.
[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links
Nov. 6th, 2019 05:31 pm- A new project hopes to revitalize the Golden Mile of Scarborough, along Eglinton Avenue. The Toronto Star reports.
- blogTO looks at how IKEA is going to be opening a new smaller store in downtown Toronto in the next two years, here.
- blogTO looks at a plan to make 80 Bloor Street West, in Yorkville, into a golden skyscraper 79 stories tall.
- Sadly, Chick-Fil-A at Yonge and Bloor still has long lines. blogTO reports.
- Radheyan Simonpillai reviews the new Kevin Donovan book The Billionaire Murders, looking at the unsolved killings of the Shermans in 2017.
[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links
Nov. 3rd, 2019 01:03 pm- Urban Toronto looked at indigenous uses being proposed for the West Don Lands, here.
- That Toronto has become a major hub for Shopify is a significant economic factor. Global News reports.
- There will be an emergency exercise held at Union Station. Global News reports.
- Transit Toronto notes the opening of a new York Regional Transit bus hub at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.
- Transit Toronto shared video of a recent TTC public art project, "A Streetcar Called Toronto", here.
- Venerable Toronto movie rental store Videoflicks will be closing. blogTO reports.
- The Evergreen Brickworks in the Don Valley will be hosting a winter village this season. blogTO reports.
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[URBAN NOTE] Nine Montréal links
Oct. 30th, 2019 07:00 pm- The 9th floor restaurant at the Montréal Eaton's looks like an architectural delight. CBC reports.
- This bike repair shop in Greenfield Park looks cool. CBC repors.
- I quite like the idea behind this rooftop garden in Saint-Henri. CBC reports.
- Is building a baseball stadium for Montréal after the Expos went going to be as much of an issue, and in the same ways, as building a hockey stadium after the Nordiques was for Québec City? CTV News reports.
- Renovictions are almost always a bad thing. CTV News reports.
- A cooperative of artisans has banded together to operate a storefront location in Saint-Henri that none could afford individually. CTV News reports.
- Amherst Street has been renamed Atateken, as part of reconciliation with indigenous peoples. CBC reports.
- The plight of homeless indigenous people around Cabot Square is desperate. CBC reports.
- La Presse notes a sharp fall in attendance at the Grande Bibliothèque over the past decade, a consequence of cutbacks.
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[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto notes
Oct. 30th, 2019 03:07 pm- Matt Gurney wonders if the losses of votes for the Conservatives in the Greater Toronto Area will doom Andrew Scheer, over at the National Post.
- Jamie Bradburn took a look at the opening of the Ontario Science Centre, here.
- Spacing shares an argument for density transition zones in Toronto, here.
- The Village Idiot Pub in Toronto, across Dundas from the AGO, will rebrand itself the Village Genius. Global News reports.
- Queen and Coxwell will soon host some new affordable housing. Global News reports.
- The closure of a flea market on Old Weston road, a year after a tragic shooting, is a shame. The Toronto Star
- I am going to see at least some of the works in this year's Toronto Biennial. NOW Toronto reports.
[URBAN NOTE] Ten Toronto links
Oct. 26th, 2019 06:13 pm- blogTO looks at the Toronto of the 1950s, when Highway 2--Lake Shore and Kingston Road--was the way into the city.
- Jamie Bradburn takes a look at a 1950 tourist guide to Ontario, specifically focusing on its descriptions of Toronto.
- Jamie Bradburn looks at how, in the post-war era, dining at the Coxwell Kresge in-house restaurant was a thing.
- blogTO notes how many in Leslieville are unhappy with the idea of the Ontario Line being built above-ground.
- Samantha Edwards at NOW Toronto notes that there is going to be a Pride rally outside of Palmerston library where Meghan Murphy will be speaking.
- Spacing looks at the connections between Nuit Blanche and the Toronto Biennial, for Toronto as an artistic city.
- NOW Toronto shares some photos of Honest Ed's in its dying days.
- Toronto Life tells the story of Peperonata Lane, a west-end laneway that took its name from a popular neighbourhood pepper-roasting event.
- blogTO notes a new movie being filmed in Regent Park, here.
- blogTO shares photos of the new Garrison Crossing pedestrian bridge, here.
- blogTO notes that Toronto is getting richer even as the rest of Canada is getting poorer, though growth in Toronto is drriven by debt.
- Steve Munro looks at the ongoing reconstruction of the intersection of Kingston Road and Queen.
- blogTO looks at the reopening of an illegal cannabis store.
- Jamie Bradburn looks at the different ways mass media in 1930 Toronto shared election results.
- Nicholas Sanderson writes at Spacing about what other cities can learn from the experience of Toronto with ride-hailing apps.
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- CBC Montreal notes how there is now a mural in memory of missing child Ariel Kouakou in a east-end Rosemont alley.
- CultMTL takes a look at an odd convenience store hidden in the basement of an apartment block near McGill University, here.
- CBC Montreal notes how mass transit is the top priority for mayor Valérie Plante, here.
- An archeological dig near Pointe Claire is revealing ruins dating back to the time of New France. Global News reports.
CBC Montreal looks at the new campus of the Université de Montréal, and controversy over its transformation of neighbourhoods.
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- Kingston will be hosting an open house discussion on the legacies of its most famous resident, John A. MacDonald. Global News reports.
- The Toronto Star reports on a beach and land ownership controversy in the Georgian Bay resort Town of the Blue Mountains, here.
- CBC Montreal reports on the closure of the Québec City church Très-Saint-Sacrement, after just under a century of operation, here.
- Cost increases for the Green Line LRT in Calgary may lead to route changes. Global News reports.
- The Brick has taken over the space of Sears in the West Edmonton Mall, offering hope to shopping malls of survival. Global News reports.
- Kingston is experiencing a serious housing crisis, exacerbated by the return of students to such educational institutions as Queen's. Global News reports.
- CBC looks at how, on the eve of the federal election, issues like cost of living are big even in relatively affordable Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
- CityLab looks at controversy in Paris over the reconstruction of the Gare du Nord station, here.
- Vice shares photos of Gibraltar on the eve of Brexit, here.
- Guardian Cities shares photos of the wordless images advertising shops in the city of Brazzaville, here.
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[URBAN NOTE] Ten Montréal links
Sep. 6th, 2019 04:38 am- La Presse notes the restoration of the old Archambault sign to its location at Sainte-Catherine and Berri. (I am reminded of the Sam the Record Man sign in Toronto.)
- HuffPostQuebec notes that some of the strings of balls from 18 nuances de gai are up for sale.
- Expelling Hong Kong activists from the Montréal pride parade should not have been done. CBC Montreal reports.
- Camillien-Houde Way, on Mount Royal, will become more difficult for cyclists with the removal of a traffic light. CTV reports.
- Les Forges de Montréal, heritage to the city's blacksmithing tradition, has been saved. Global News reports.
- Historian Desmond Morton, of McGill, has died. CBC Montreal reports.
- The City of Montréal is trying to fight against food insecurity. CBC Montreal U>reports.
- Craig Desson at CBC Montreal reports on the lasting legacy of Moshe Safdie and Habitat 67, and the replication of this prefabricated concrete model in rising Asia.
- Actions of clients are the leading causes of delays on the Metro. CBC Montreal reports.
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