Sheppard West

John Tory is the new Mayor of Toronto; Doug Ford and Olivia Chow, were on 2nd and 3rd spot respectively in terms of number of votes. In Ward 9 (York Central), Maria Augimeri was re-elected by a larger margin than in the previous election.

Just in case you were wondering what is all the hoopla with bike lanes when traffic is already so bad in our city, here's fresh new proof that this helps alleviate the problems.

Even with such segragation, the current policy of (more or less) shared use is vastly improved over dumping subsidized housing on the Jane St corridor.

We have recently come across a program run by Google Ad Words that gives out up to $10000 in grants to nonprofits to advertise in the AdWords network.

Neighbourhood activists say they worry about the noise and mess that hundreds of undergraduates could bring. And locals fear the towering structure coming to 245 College, between Huron St. and Spadina Ave., will set a precedent for the construction of other tall buildings in the area. .

In May 1999, back when Giorgio Mammoliti was just "George," the councillor for North York--Humber was vehemently opposed to the idea of officially allowing a clothing optional beach at Hanlan's Point, fearing it would lead to rampant public nudity in Toronto. "Today it's a secluded beach, tomorrow it will be the beachfront and then it will be the streets," he said. City council approved the idea 41-9, but Mammoliti refused to let the vote pass without a spectacle. "After removing his shirt and tie, Mammoliti briefly posed half-naked for television crews before the air-conditioning prompted him to slip a jacket over his bare, hairy chest," the Toronto Star reported. "Mammoliti declined to remove his pants." Sources / More info:  The top 5 Giorgio Mammoliti controversies

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti stunned fellow councillors with his remarks about Parkdale and insinuations about fellow councillor Gord Perks in the context of a debate about resuming all-ages dance parties at Exhibition Place. Sources / More info:  Giorgio Mammoliti stuns fellow councillors by calling Parkdale a ‘pedophile district’ | Toronto Star

Six TTC employees and ex-employees charged with theft, fraud | Toronto Star : “It is alleged that over the course of several years, these individuals stole, defrauded and attempted to circumvent TTC purchasing policies and authorities, harming our collective reputation and the public’s trust,” CEO Andy Byford wrote to the system’s 13,000 employees on Wednesday. He announced mandatory ethics training for all supervisory and management staff, and a forensic audit of the system’s contract protocols, signing authority and procurement practices. The scandal is the second in two years at the TTC. In January 2013, eight transit enforcement officers were fired and five of them arrested and charged in a fraudulent ticketing scam. The officers were allegedly writing tickets to people with no fixed address to cover up the fact they weren’t working when they were supposed to be. Councillor Maria Augimeri, TTC chair, said she trusts that Byford “is putting in place a solid list of controls which...

Much like love, wooing voters sometimes requires dabbling in the art of seduction.

Hug a tree – it’s saving you money, according to a report from TD Economics released Monday.

In March 2012, Yevgeniy Kim signed a listing agreement with Peggy Laidlaw, an agent with Sutton Group All Pro Realty, for the sale of his home in Fenelon Falls. The asking price was $990,000 and the agreement expired on October 31, 2012, with a commission of 5 per cent plus HST. .

Facing charges for allegedly violating election law in 2010, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti is being accused of committing a new breach on Wednesday.

Toronto Community Housing Corp. alleges two former executives oversaw the filing of more than $1 million in fabricated costs in connection with reconstruction work after a fire at 200 Wellesley St. E. That’s according to statements of defence filed by the city-owned social housing agency Monday in Superior Court, in response to lawsuits launched by Lou Canton and Roman Mesec alleging they were wrongfully dismissed. TCHC assigned the pair to work at its for-profit subsidiary, Housing Services Inc., in 2007. In 2010, they had responsibility for overseeing HSI’s role in the reconstruction of the TCHC apartment building at 200 Wellesley after a fire displaced many of its 1,200 residents for weeks. .

In comparison to the United States, Toronto and Montreal score better than any large U.S. city except New York and San Francisco. And Vancouver, with a Transit Score of 74, trounces nearby Seattle (our home town), with a Transit Score of 57.

The case of a woman ordered to pay the City of Toronto more than $9,000 in legal fees serves as a cautionary tale that when a person intends to sue the city, they must give notice early — very early.

"It's pretty simple," says Dan Egan, the city's cycling manager. "When you start your trip you just turn it on and when you finish your trip you turn it off. It will upload the data to a server where it's kept anonymously and it will allow us to monitor and look at cycling trends in the city."

Members of The Three Canadian Tenors serenade Fennell at the event then known as Mayor Susan Fennell's Annual Gala on Feb. 28, 2009. The annual gala and golf tournament, in 2012 and 2013 combined, raised $1,710,106, of which $1,077,323 went toward the cost of the events. Sources / More info:  Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell's private fundraisers returned only 25 per cent to community | Toronto Star

Tim Rose is a guy you really don’t want to face off with in a “most unusual place you ever had sex” competition. You may have done it in your boss’s office—heck, even the prime minister’s office—but Rose’s answer will always be better: It’s his electric wheelchair. To the uninitiated, a wired wheelchair exists simply for mobility’s sake—it’s necessary and life-changing, obviously, but possesses all the glamour and excitement of a toaster.

Toronto and Vancouver lead rise in home sales in April | Toronto Star : Canadian home sales were up 2.7 per cent from March to April, boosted by the Vancouver and Toronto markets, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. However, some complain about the toll taken by the land transfer tax , and the white painters are not what they used to be . More troubling, economist David Madani is among those predicting a crash  soon.

Toronto found by PWC (Price, Waterhouse, Cooper) to be the 4th most attractive city in the world by PWC after London, New York and Singapore.

The Toronto Star is keeping track of all the promises made by mayor-wannabes. Highly recommended! (via  Toronto Mayoral Election Promise Tracker | Toronto Star )

Councillor Karen Stintz (Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence), a mayoral candidate whose riding had an 18-per-cent failure rate on nearly 1,000 tests, said financial incentives for homeowners who want to replace their lead pipes is worth consideration. “If that’s the reason people aren’t replacing the pipes, then I think we have an obligation to look at that,” she said. “People expect that when they turn on their taps, the water is safe to drink. It’s a reasonable expectation and one we need to make sure we deliver on.”

Among urban policy-focused academics, few issues today are as distressing and contentious as gentrification. Much of the focus in public debate has been on the newly upscale neighborhoods in major U.S. cities, like New York’s Chelsea, East Village, or Williamsburg; San Francisco’s Portero Hill and Mission District; Chicago’s Wicker Park; or Boston’s South End.

The city councillor brother of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford did not back down Sunday from comments about a home for developmentally disabled youth in his ward, saying it is a “nightmare” for the neighbourhood. Coun. Doug Ford told TV station CP24 that his “heart goes out” to families with autistic children, but he said this issue is about kids in the residential home who have “violent tendencies.” “I’ve been a Rotarian for 25 years helping kids with challenges, but you can’t disrupt the neighbourhood like that,” Ford said. .

Since our Mambo / Joomla CMS-enabled website is no longer in existence, we decided to transition the former website into the more nimble blog format.

Neighbourhood Improvement Areas Map Under a new ranking system revealed by city staff on Monday, each of Toronto’s 140 neighbourhoods has been given an “equity score” based on 15 criteria that includes health, economics, political participation and education. A team of experts set 42.89 as a benchmark score. Communities that fall below the line are designated as a “ Neighbourhood Improvement Area ,” which replaces the old “Priority Neighbourhood Area.” Black Creek scored the lowest, with 21.38. Lawrence Park north was the highest, with 92.05. Westminster-Branson, ranked 38th overall, came in at 46.57. This north Toronto neighbourhood is one of eight that no longer qualifies as a priority investment area. Malvern, Dorset Park, L’Amoreaux, Yorkdale-Glen Park, Steeles, Englemount-Lawrence and Humber Heights-Westmount round out that list. Each was part of the city’s original neighbourhoods program, which was launched eight years ago after the so-called Summer of the Gun. The de...