[PHOTO] Some of what I saw on Bloor during the BIG on Bloor Festival (#bloordale, #bigonbloor)

I was on Bloor Street West, in Bloordale, on the 21st of July, when the BIG on Bloor Festival shut down the street between Dufferin and Lansdowne to make way for a pedestrian mall. The sky was cloudy and the light patchy, but the street was packed. The small vendors and and booths advertising plans for massive redevelopments of Bloor and Dufferin and the Galleria Mall were fun, as were established stores like antiquarian bookstore The Monkey's Paw and the local outpost of Dead Dog Records. The RAGGA NYC exhibit currently playing at the Mercer Union capped things off nicely, on this venture into this familiar, gentrifying but entertaining, neighbourhood.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Julianna Kozis, Danforth, black communities, weapons, politics

• Julianna Kozis has been identified as the girl 10 years old killed in Sunday's shooting. The Toronto Star reports.


• Toronto Life shares a list of twenty of the top attractions along the Danforth.


• NOW Toronto reports the concerns of community groups that the response to gun violence will further marginalize black communities, too much emphasis being placed on enforcement and not enough on supporting marginalized communities.


• Toronto City Council has just voted, by 41-4, to ban the sale of handguns and ammunition within city limits. Narcity reports.


• David Rider notes that John Tory wants the Ontario government to change the municipal government of Toronto, to give the mayor more powers, in a response to (among other things) gun violence. THe Toronto Star has it.

[NEWS] Five links on the Ontario of Doug Ford (@fordnation, #onpoli)

• Ford and Horvath have already clashed over the question of police oversight. The Toronto Star reports.


• Brian Budd at The Conversation suggests, drawing from experience elsewhere, that an effective way to deal with Ford Nation populism is for the NDP to adopt a like platform aimed towards those Ford Nation voters who want something better.


• Michael Babad at The Globe and Mail notes that, for a variety of reasons both structural and contingent, the economy of Ontario will have to experience slower growth in the future.


• John Ivison notes that Doug Ford's closing down on wind energy contracts sends a terrible message to businesses seeking secure long-term deals in Ontario, over at the National Post.


• Doug Ford is being unclear as to what sex ed curriculum, exactly, will be in Ontario schools come September. The Toronto Star a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/07/24/doug-ford-stokes-further-confusion-over-tories-sex-ed-plans.html">reports.