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):

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!

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Posted by Steve Kupferman on Saturday, May 12, 2012 | OpenFile Toronto
The Globe’s makes an intriguing (albeit satirical) suggestion: exploit Mayor Rob Ford’s sometimes-embarrassing antics as a tourist draw.
As Southey puts it:
We’re stuck with this mayor for over two years more. But it needn’t be all bad. I hereby invite the rest of Canada, and indeed the world, to visit Toronto, the City with the World’s Most Embarrassing Mayor! Forgo your drive to the Reversing Falls: Imagine the children’s wonder at the Reversing Council, a place …

By Alexis Stoymenoff, Vancouver Observer
[View the story "#FreedomTrain protests ramping up at Enbridge AGM" on Storify]

Dear Mr. HiMY SYeD,
Mr. Todd Harrison mentioned that I should contact you directly.
For a book on Meaning in Architectural Design, which I presently finish, I would like to include your photograph of the Council Chamber, Toronto City Hall (shown attached).
I saw it some time ago in a Spacing publication, on a flickr website and just recently on your photopia website. From the latter I derived the attached copy.
I would very much appreciate your giving me permission to publish the photo in my book by returning this e-mail with a remark accordingly. The photo …

By Steve Kupferman, Torontoist

SPOTTED BY: HiMY SYeD, from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
WHERE: Stapled to a fence at the High Park Zoo.
WHEN: Saturday, April 14
WHAT: City council cut the High Park Zoo’s budget earlier this year, but thanks to a generous private donation it will probably be fine for the time being. Even so, it seems at least one member of the public is still inclined to hold Mayor Rob Ford to account. We’re pretty sure those numbers aren’t accurate, and the penmanship and spelling could use some …

By Samina Esha, National Post
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 79 representing cities part-time recreation workers are set to vote on Tuesday. The voting comes after union reached a tentative deal following a five-hour negotiation with the city on Friday morning.
“I wouldn’t say we are happy because that is a pretty strong term. In terms of the agreement, it is a development from what the city had originally offered,” said Cim Nunn, a spokesman for the CUPE 79.
The two main issues for the …

The Toronto Transit Commission held a townhall at the Keele Campus at York University on March 29th 2012. Here’s what’s transpired…

Posted by Emily Burke on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | OpenFile Toronto
With only today and tomorrow remaining before city council’s big transit meeting, the mayor could be using these final hours to show council his funding strategy for underground transit along Sheppard. Instead, he’s handing out flyers with images of light-rail crashes that have caused fatalities.
Rather than sorting out his own numbers and committing to a concrete plan, he’s trying to sway the centrist councillors by scaring them out of voting for LRT. But the …

Posted by: Adam Weitner, Podcamp Toronto
PodCamp Toronto 2012 was a weekend of knowledge-sharing and learning, discussion and debate, collaboration, relationship building, and all around unconference awesomeness.
In true PodCamp form, there was a wide range of session topics. People were talking about all kinds of things, from internet memes, to building trust with podcasting, to social media and film, to a crash course on mobile app development. There was a live #SMmeasure chat, a panel discussion on search vs. social, and of course, plenty of chatter about, and even a session on the shiny new toy, Pinterest. (That only …

Posted by John Michael McGrath, OpenFile Toronto
Here’s an item from the weekend that shouldn’t be missed: the Toronto Star/Angus Reid survey on Rob Ford’s approval rating, subways, and who Torontonians trust on these issues. But before we dive in to the numbers, why does a poll like this matter three years before an election? Because the Mayor and his brother Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etoicoke North) think they’ve got re-election in the bag. From Marcus Gee’s Saturday column in the Globe and Mail:
Councillor Ford said …

A Week in Headlines
By Hillary Lutes on Feb 22, 2012 • Canculture
“Toronto’s Bloor Cinema to reopen its doors in March” and more in this week’s headlines.
Photo courtesy of HiMY SYeD.

Posted by John Michael McGrath, OpenFile Toronto
The Toronto Star has an important point in its latest article over the chaos that is Toronto’s transit planning, since yesterday’s TTC meeting torpedoed Karen Stintz’ (Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence) attempt to get some answers from staff. From the Star:
The vote prompted some city councillors to suggest it’s more important than ever to put the mayor’s transit plans before city council even if it means calling a special council meeting.
“It’s clear that a majority of council doesn’t think this administration and its few …

Posted by John Michael McGrath, OpenFile Toronto
One of the items that was supposed to be on the agenda at the City of Toronto Executive Committee meeting today was the potential sale of 740 units, most of which are single-family homes, from Toronto Community Housing Corporation’s stock, the plan being to use the money to spruce up the remaining apartments in TCHC’s inventory.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the committee. Ford unexpectedly, and almost at the last minute—the city clerk sent out a …