[PHOTO] Looking south down Dufferin past the Golden Arches

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• blogTO looks at Toronto's old neon signs and its still-visible ghost signs.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly looks at Donald Trump as a bully.


• Dangerous Minds shares vintage photos from the set of Labyrinth.


• The Dragon's Gaze notes a not-unexpected non-detection of Proxima Centauri b.


• The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the presidential debates through the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu.


• Joe. My. God. notes Glenn Beck's endorsement of Hillary Clinton.


• Language Log looks at how foreigners pronounce "ni hao".


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that Donald Trump has been using material from Russian disinformation campaigns directly.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer reports on very odd fiscal legislation in Brazil that seems unlikely to end in controlling spending.


• Window on Eurasia reports on the marginalized Ainu of Kamchatka and suggests Sufism in central Asia is doomed.

[URBAN NOT] "Why so many of America's sushi restaurants are Chinese-owned"

The Daily Herald carried Ana Swanson's Washington Post article looking at the economics of immigrant food in the United States. I'm sure similar phenomena apply in Canada.

Eric Zhou grew up in China's Fujian province watching his father, an accomplished chef, whip up banquets of intricate Chinese dishes. But when Zhou moved to the United States and started working in a Chinese restaurant, he saw that his native cuisine was mostly considered cheap in this country, confined to greasy takeout counters and $7.95 lunch buffets.

So Zhou edged his way into a much more lucrative industry: Japanese food. Years later, he owns four Japanese and Asian fusion restaurants in the Washington area. With Chinese food, he says, "the price in America is too low. Japanese restaurants don't have this problem. To us, it's more suitable. It's a better life."

Zhou, 44, has joined thousands of other Chinese immigrants in the United States in seeking a leg up the economic ladder through Japanese food. From Ames, Iowa, to Lancaster, Pa., Chinese Americans have opened many of the sushi joints that dot suburban malls and city blocks across the country. It's the result of what experts describe as a striking convergence between U.S. ethnic-food preferences and the economic pressures facing a new wave of Chinese immigrants, whose population in the United States has tripled in the past 25 years.

Which cuisines sell well and which do not may seem a combination of chance and cultural tastes. But the outsize role of Chinese Americans in the Japanese food business, according to academics who have studied it, sheds light on deeper forces. The influx of low-wage Chinese immigrants -- China recently eclipsed Mexico as the largest source of immigrants to the United States -- has created fierce competition to provide cheap food. At the same time, Japan's wealth and economic success helped its cuisine gain a reputation as trendy and refined. So for many entrepreneurial Chinese immigrants looking to get ahead, Japanese food has often become the better opportunity.

"Chinese entrepreneurs have figured out that this is a way to make a slightly better living and get out of the ... world of $10, $5 food at the bottom end of the market," says Krishnendu Ray, who leads New York University's food studies program.

[ISL] "Former Ontario farmers creating Amish paradise on Prince Edward Island"

The Globe and Mail hosts Kevin Bissett's Canadian Press article about the birth of an Amish community in southeastern Prince Edward Island.

There’s a sudden population boom in eastern P.E.I., and the local hardware store has been buzzing.

Home Hardware owner Mark Beck says they’ve been busy supplying new customers with lumber, hardware, and paint. They’ve even started stocking a specific model of straw hat.

His new clients, he says, are very particular about their straw hats.

About 14 pioneer Amish families from southwestern Ontario have bought farms here this year, lured by low land prices, and settled in the communities of Dundas and Summerville. Many more families are expected.

“Being rural P.E.I., any time there’s new business, it’s a boom,” Beck said from his perch on Main Street.

A horse-drawn wagon soon passes by, heading into downtown. Onboard are two young Amish men, each dressed in light blue shirts, dark blue pants with suspenders, and straw hats. One sports a bushy beard.

“We see the buggies in the town every week and it’s kind of exciting,” says Beck. “It’s new, it’s change, and it’s nice to see the old farms getting worked.”

[URBAN NOTE] "Is Saint John, New Brunswick, the place to be for inexpensive real estate?"

CBC News' Julia Wright reports from the New Brunswick city of Saint John, where real estate can be astoundingly inexpensive.

Not every house hunter would see the potential in a partially renovated, century old, long uninhabited house in Saint John, N.B.'s old north end.

But Daniel Gable, 36, isn't a typical buyer.

Gable, a musician and former tree planter, became frustrated with real estate prices in his former home of Squamish, B.C., where he said the price of a single-family home starts around $500,000.

He started "searching around the country looking for — not the cheapest home I could find, although that's what it ended up being — but for an affordable house, basically."

The search led him to Saint John's old north end.

Looking online, Gable saw an old red house on Victoria Street listed at a mere $10,000 — a price, he said, that was too good to pass up.

[URBAN NOTE] "Rooming house conversions worry housing advocates"

The Toronto Star's Betsy Powell reports on how a former rooming house on Sherbourne Street is being transformed into an AirBnB hostel. This does not seem like progress.

For 30 years the boxy, Second Empire-style building at 180 Sherbourne St. operated as a licensed rooming house for some of Toronto’s neediest residents.

Today, a vintage chandelier hangs in the ground-floor lobby. Nearby is a welcome sign, checkout policy and display rack filled with maps and brochures about local attractions.

Travellers looking for a bargain find their way to this property “in the heart of downtown Toronto” via online lodging site Airbnb, where host “Silvana” offers 12 units starting at $34 for a “simple room with a single bed” to $100 a night for a room with two double beds.

Airbnb says its hosts are regular people sharing their homes for a bit of extra income with guests seeking an “authentic” travel experience.

Airbnb’s popularity has jumped dramatically in Toronto in the past two years, but critics say it is doing so based on a “sharing” myth — at the same time as it cuts into scarce available rentals and creates unfair competition for the heavily regulated hospitality industry.

[URBAN NOTE] "Italy suspends Rome's bid for the 2024 Olympic Games"

The Globe and Mail shares the article by the Associated Press' Andrew Dampf about how Rome is not in the running for the 2024 Olympic Games, and Romans, at least, are happy.

Italy suspended Rome’s bid for the 2024 Olympics on Tuesday, forced to pull the plug because of the staunch opposition of the city’s mayor.

Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago said that he had written to the IOC announcing the decision to “interrupt the candidacy.”

While the letter left open a small possibility for a revival of the bid if there is a change in city government, Malago didn’t hold out much hope.

“Today the game is over. But if someone decides that the game isn’t over it’s not up to us. But today we’re ending the game,” Malago told The Associated Press after his announcement at a news conference. “That’s it.”

The move comes after Rome’s city council voted last month to withdraw support of the bid on the recommendation of Mayor Virginia Raggi.

[URBAN NOTE] "Brampton facing fourth lawsuit over $500 million development deal"

The Toronto Star's San Grewal reports on the latest lawsuit against Brampton's municipal government. This suburban Toronto city seems like it's in a terrible mess.

With a web of legal action already surrounding Brampton’s controversial $500-million downtown redevelopment plan, a fourth lawsuit has been filed against the city over the project, this time by a group of residents.

Two families whose properties are adjacent to a recently finished city hall expansion that is the only part of the redevelopment project that has moved forward, are suing the city, as well as the builder, Dominus, and the building’s current owner, Fengate LP, for $2,250,000.

Members of the Meisner family and the Sproule family are seeking $2,000,000 million in damages for trespassing and nuisance, $150,000 for breach of contract and $100,000 for punitive damages. The statement of claim, filed earlier this year, alleges that landscaping and fencing on the plaintiffs’ properties that was supposed to have been replaced after it was damaged or moved during construction has not been dealt with. The lawsuit also claims loss of value to the properties.

When contacted by the Star, Dominus referred to a joint statement of defence for all the defendants in the case, which says they did not trespass and “always had permission” when entering the plaintiff’s property. The statement of defence also denies there has been a loss of property values as a result of the construction project.

Fengate said it cannot comment as the matter is before the court. The city said it is aware of the matter and “is taking appropriate measures to facilitate a resolution.”