Sheppard West

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. .