By Gene Anderson, Our Oakland
Sunday a group met near the Lake Merritt BART station for a Jane’s Walk. Jane Jacobs was an urbanist, activist and author. She’s probably best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities which argued that urban renewal did not respect the needs of most city dwellers. Each year since her death in 2007, people around the world gather for walks in her memory.
This walk was led by Himy, an Oakland Wiki contributor and neighbor of Jane Jacobs from Toronto. Although he …

By Amanda Greenhoe, Calvin College – News & Stories
Next week, a contemplative experience comes to Calvin’s chapel undercroft.
From March 25 through March 28, students, faculty and staff will have the chance to walk a prayer labyrinth.
Last year a labyrinth was offered on campus in observance of Holy Week, and Calvin’s Coordinator of Spiritual Direction and Prayer, Sharon Bytwerk, says the positive response of the college community prompted another installation this year.
“Many people last year commented on how it helped them draw close to God, so we are again offering it,” …

Steve Fisher ‏(@GracingTheStage) : @HiMYSYeD created a great visual Storify of Sunday’s #RemembranceDay sunrise ceremony (I’m the “biggest” sentry):

SPPG at U of T : Thank you @HiMYSYeD for this #storify on the Hudson Yards “Big City, Big Ideas” talk

By Chris Dart | Torontoist
Roughly two dozen protesters—and an almost equal number of reporters—gathered in St. James Park on Monday to mark Occupy Toronto‘s one year anniversary. The gathering, which featured all the flags, dogs, signs, and acoustic guitars that people have come to expect from the Occupy movement, felt like part protest and part class reunion.
“The goal for me is to just see old friends,” said Occupier Christopher Lambe. “I think this is a day where people are going to come to this …

By Daren Foster (aka City Slikr) | Torontoist
Let’s look at yesterday’s Executive Committee meeting not as a glass-half-empty scenario—as a group of councillors unable or unwilling to deal with some seemingly intractable problems faced by the city that elected them. Instead, let’s think of the glass as being half full.
With two of the biggest files on the table yesterday—those being transit and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC)—Mayor Ford and his closest allies reached a compromise with his council opponents. Yes: compromise, Mayor Ford. …

Railpath Run 2012 was a success. We had over 150 people register in the event this and are estimating over $5000 was raised for The Stop Community Food Centre.

Thanks to Himy Syed, we have a second set of photos posted that he took, and an amazing VIDEO!

It’s thought that Toronto may have the greatest number of labyrinths of anywhere in the world.. This might be in large part thanks to HiMY SYeD who started the Toronto City of labyrinths project in 2002 with the goal of putting a labyrinth within walking distance of every Torontonian.

In addition to Labyrinths and running for mayor HiMY is also a prolific youtuber, with recordings of a wide variety of Toronto events on offer.

Posted by John Michael McGrath | OpenFile Toronto
The second morning of Rob Ford’s conflict of interest case was not a comfortable one for Mayor Ford to sit through. In hours of argument, lawyer Clayton Ruby laid out his case that Ford had demonstrated a “pattern of behaviour” of not only failing to understand the importance of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, but deliberately going out of his way to not understand it.
“That’s not good faith,” Ruby told the court. “That’s willful blindness.”
At issue is whether …

Mayor Ford at a Pan American Games announcement in May. He’ll have lots more microphones in his face come September, that’s for sure. Photo by HiMY SYeD, from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

I don’t know about the rest of the tumblr muslims out there, but all these reports and reblogs of the despicable acts of hatred done towards our community has really taken its toll on ending off this holy month on a high note.

Which is why I think its so important that stories like THIS get more attention:

I first met brother Himy (@HiMYSYeD, himysyed.tumblr.com) at a masjid two weeks ago, I was a little hesitant to approach him because of his pseudo-celebrity status in my eyes. Getting the idea from a few folks down in the states, Brother Himy has been on the quest of biking to 30 Masajid within the Greater Toronto Area for the month of Ramadan – you can follow his progress at 30masjids.com.

Himy Syed’s bike got stolen on Wednesday morning August 1. That sort of minor theft usually doesn’t get reported in papers, but this one made it. Himy Syed has a special bike. Not that its magic or has cool gear – Himy’s bike was being used to visit 30 mosques in the GTA in the 30 days of Ramadan.

What happened next is exactly the sort of thing that makes you proud to live in Canada.

By Katherine Dunn | Toronto Star
A surprise gift has put a Toronto man back on the road, after a bike thief frustrated his plans to pedal to 30 mosques in 30 days during Ramadan.
“This could have been a Metropass ending,” said Himy Syed, whose beloved bike was stolen while he napped inside a downtown mosque last week. “It isn’t going to be.”
On Sunday, Canadian Tire, who heard about his project “30 Masjids” in the Toronto Star, gave him a new set of wheels.
Landon French, Vice President of Community Relations at …

By Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif | Toronto Star
Being on a peaceful religious journey won’t spare you from Toronto’s bike thieves.
Himy Syed walked into the 52 Division police station with his severed bicycle lock, dejected.
His curious journey — pedaling his metallic orange Norco to 30 different mosques during Ramadan — was slowed down by a bike thief with bolt cutters.
“That’s all I got,” he told the police officer, holding up the Kryptonite lock.
Around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Syed biked to Masjid Toronto, the downtown mosque at Chestnut and Dundas Sts., …

From CBC News | Toronto
A Toronto Muslim who has pledged to cycle to 30 mosques during Ramadan has been forced off the road.
Himy Syed had received a new bicycle as a Ramadan gift from his brother and sister-in-law so he could blog and tweet stories about the various Muslim communities.
But after attending early morning prayers at a downtown Toronto mosque recently, he walked outside to find his bike had been stolen.
“It is the ideal way to do Ramadan, going to different masjids because you have to pray at 4:00 – …

Posted by Kelli Korducki | OpenFile Toronto

At long last, the City of Toronto will be announcing its new chief planner today, and it appears that Jennifer Keesmaat will be filling in for the vacancy left by longtime planner Gary Wright earlier this year.

Blog photo by Himy Syed, via Flickr.

The TTC has shut down Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue for major repairs, closing off the crossroads from July 9 to July 23.

Photographer HiMY SYeD (special to the Gleaner) took photos of the intersection over the course of a week.

“Good photo of today’s ‪#OneCity‬ announcement for Wikipedia by @HiMYSYeD”

Photo by Himy Syed via Flickr.

Perhaps the most remarkable detail to come out of the surprise unveiling of the OneCity Transit Plan is that it remained just that—a surprise.

The $30 billion proposal had been in development for three months, without anyone blabbing to reporters. Until the last few weeks, only four councillors even knew about the plan at all.

HiMY SYeD

Going for him: SYeD ran in 2010 and has remained a constant fixture at events and gatherings around the city.

Watch this great 2012 Scotiabank Rat Race for United Way video made by one of our supporters @HiMYSYeD

Posted by Steve Kupferman | OpenFile Toronto on Saturday, June 9, 2012
Here’s a fun Saturday distraction for municipal politics nerds: a report card by the Academy of the Impossible that grades every city councillor on his or her social media skills.
Shelley Carroll, the Ward 33 councillor who is never seen in public without a smartphone in hand, gets an A-. Mayor Ford gets a C, which is generous considering the fact that his Twitter feed is obviously written by staffers. Giorgio Mammoliti, councillor for Ward 7, gets …

A friend of #CodeRedTO, @HiMYSYeD, kindle recorded much of our transit information session on May 3rd at the Agincourt Library near Sheppard and Kennedy. Not everything was captured so be sure to join us at a future event!

In Toronto, we are fortunate to have many public labyrinths scattered throughout the city, due in large part to the Labyrinth Community Network and labyrinth enthusiast and creator HiMY SYeD. One of my favourites, the High Park Labyrinth, is shown here.

The best thing about this labyrinth is that it is kind of a secret.

By Carmi Levy, Written Inc.
Reports emerging out of Toronto that there’s been a shooting at the downtown Eaton Centre mall.
I guess now we see how social media impacts an in-progress crime. I’ll paste resources below, as well as on my tweetstream – @carmilevy
Feel free to share your own in comments.
Sad.
Update from the Toronto Police 8:50 pm
Constable Victor Kwong has just confirmed the following:

At 6:23 pm, police were called in to shooting at food court, lower level, north end of the mall.
8 victims have been identified, with injuries of varying severities. …

Posted by Kelli Korducki, OpenFile Toronto
Friday’s Union Station flood disaster stalled Yonge-University-Spadina trains between Osgoode and Bloor stations for about 10 hours. It also lent itself a little too well to meme creation. Writes the Sun’s Ian Robertson:
As news spread of what TTC spokesman Jessica Martin on Saturday called the site’s worst recent flooding, photo funsters posted altered pictures on Twitter that seemed to show Ford surrounded by sharks.
One prankster inserted the famous Jaws movie poster showing a giant shark attacking a swimmer. Another computer whiz inserted …

Women in Toronto Politics panel. Photo by HiMY SYeD from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

Tonight’s panel, titled “The Front Page,” will discuss the way we talk about women in politics, and the way that impacts women who choose to enter politics. Featuring Toronto city councillors Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) and Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East), Torontoist‘s own editor-in-chief Hamutal Dotan, and civics teacher Jse-Che Lam. Alison Loat, founder of Samara Canada, will moderate the conversation.

Women in Toronto Politics
23 May
Foursquare 1.0 snapped at our inaugural panel, The Comment Section, by the wonderful Himy Syed.

Huge credit to HiMY SYeD for capturing video of the mayor’s entrance. You can view more footage of the event on his website.

By Cheryl | Service Untitled
A strong business culture that is aligned with superior business goals outperforms their competitors by light years. These are the organizations who have figured out how to delight their customers and even make them smile. After all isn’t the Zappos’ motto “powered by service” incredibly motivational which delivers a message of trust and reliability? Zappos has worked hard to develop their culture resulting in a high percentage of return customers; a much more lucrative business model than having to …