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 …

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

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 – …

By Noor Javed | Toronto Star

Already, over the course of the month in which Muslims abstain from drinking and eating from sunrise to sunset, he has made his way to 10 of the city’s mosques, or masjids in Arabic, and has been blogging about his experience so far at 30masjids.ca.

And even though he arrives to his destination hungry, his posts (other than a few pictures) are rarely about the food.

“I didn’t want to just say, hey, this is what I ate,” said Syed, who ran for mayor in 2010. “I am meeting the individuals who built the masjids. This is living history and oral traditions that nobody has been documenting,” he said.

HiMY SYeD

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

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!

By Whitney French, Writing in a Tree
As promised, here’s a recap of my first article I wrote for the Annex Gleaner. I had the pleasure to interview Himy Syed, founder of the Toronto City of Labyrinths Project. This initiative is to create enough labyrinths in the city so that every Torontoian is within walking distance of one. Syed also ran for mayor in 2010, the former Executive Director of Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association, is the Founding Editor of Torontopedia.ca, a city wiki emphasizing neighbourhoods AND a remarkble …

City of Labyrinths Project (Toronto, Ontario)

Toronto, where Jane lived during the latter half of her life, will be the setting for more walks than any other city during the weekend; still, several stand out. This walk on the 5th, organized by a group that aims “to place a semi-permanent labyrinth within walking distance of every Torontonian,” celebrates the city’s existing sidewalk mazes, and explores the history of labyrinth design.

The Toronto City of Labyrinths Walk offers a unique perspective of city-bound labyrinths. Himy Syed, founder of the Toronto City of Labyrinths Project, leads this walk for the second time. Beginning at Christie Station, Syed discusses the origin of labyrinths, their trans-cultural nature and their contemporary relevance, despite the fact that they have been used for centuries.

By Joanna Lavoie, InsideToronto
For his latest “outstallation” project, a giant labyrinth in the form of a three-leaf clover, West Toronto resident Himy Syed uses the Beach as his canvas.
Syed’s Triskelion Labyrinth can be found on Woodbine Beach, just east of the Donald D. Summerville Outdoor Pool.
He started the project about a week ago and had hoped to finish it by St. Patrick’s Day, but life got a little busy and he’s now hoping to wrap up the project in the next few days.
Creating large-scale public art …

Labyrinth Community Network
Newsletter
Volume 4 . Issue 1
HiMY SYeD founded the project, Toronto City of Labyrinths, to create a labyrinth within walking distance of every Torontonian inside the city limits. To date he has created some 60 plus labyrinths. Watch for his book early in 2012, titled Toronto City of Labyrinths. You can reach him through his excellent website: http://www.labyrinths.ca
Hello Himy
I was so pleased with your contribution to our newsletter.
You really live your Sufi name.
We hope our paths cross soon.
JoAnn

From Ford For Toronto by Matt Elliott (@GraphicMatt)
Beginning at 9:30 a.m. and extending through to the next morning, the City of Toronto’s Executive Committee — led by Mayor Rob Ford — heard more than one hundred and fifty deputations from a diverse group of citizens. In a sincere bid to ensure that the passion, insight and creativity displayed over the course of that epic meeting is not forgotten, Ford For Toronto will be posting a deputation video every weekday for the month of August.

Deputant: HiMY SYeD (website, twitter)
Occupation: Independent Photojournalist; …

5:51 AM: More hilarity, courtesy of defeated mayoral candidate HiMY SYeD. Begins: “We need to acknowledge the city staff and clerks, they are the unsung heroes of this.” (This is true.) Then continues: “I’m a member of Ford Nation. Nobody was gonna do it, so I stepped up.” …

City Hall  | By Matthew Kupfer | July 29, 2011
Daily Cable | The Toronto Standard
For almost 20 hours, from 11:30 am Thursday to about 6:40 Friday, Toronto city hall was a democratic hotbed. Almost 340 people registered to speak before the Executive Committee of city council, at the invitation of Mayor Rob Ford. They were there to talk about the KPMG Core Service Review.
“This is one of the proudest days I’ve ever had at city hall,” the mayor said, acknowledging that not everyone agrees, …

“I do not want the official Toronto city library bookmobile to become a Tim Horton’s Truck,” said Himy Syed, who argued Toronto needs many libraries to serve its diverse, multilingual population. “If you want to destroy civilization, you burn the libraries.”

By Jenny Yuen, Toronto Sun
TORONTO - The decision to axe some of the city’s 98 libraries will have to wait until September.
The Toronto Public Library Board voted 5-1 Tuesday night to defer the matter until its Sept. 13 meeting with the request that KPMG, the consulting group who recommended closing branches and reducing service days and hours, attends the meeting so they can clarify any “grey areas.”
“They won’t have my support if they can’t attend and let us know what the details of the report are,” vice-chairman …

By Meg Campbell, Torontoist

Rob Ford’s CP24 interview with Stephen LeDrew last Friday raised many an eyebrow amongst City Hall watchers. Edward Keenan did some lightning-fast fact-checking for the Grid, and over the weekend Ford For Toronto writer (and Torontoist guest contributor) Matt Elliott put together his own debunking analysis of the interview. Elliott recommends people see the full interview before watching his edited version (above).
Margaret Atwood apparently has an Oprah-like influence over her legion of followers. When she tweeted about the petition to protect Toronto’s libraries, hosted on the …

By Alyshah Hasham, Toronto Star
Ninety-three candles flickered in the night at Little Norway Park, as Norwegians and Torontonians held a vigil for the victims of the massacres in Oslo and Utoya island on Sunday.
At 9:30 p.m., the small group held a moment of silence.
Kari Dehli came to the park on Queens Quay to be with others from Norway, “rather than sitting at home, looking at the internet for the news … just to be with other people. It’s also what’s going on in Norway, people …

By DDKay in Canadian Money Forum
There was a soulful candlelight vigil held here tonight in Little Norway Park, organised by a native community activist and practicing Muslim, Himy Syed.
I don’t see attacks on the Canadian national identity, each nation plays its part, I see unity, understanding.
Both Norway and our economy would be a sinkhole if we didn’t have this cheat called natural resources.
Multiculturalism in my experience has always been a beautiful thing.

By Brian, OssingtonVillage.com
Don’t say the people in the Ossington area don’t have a good time and make the best of a bad thing. And who said Thursday and Friday nights are just full of douchy 905ers? We know how to have fun.
The corner of Ossington and Dundas has been closed for a few days while they repave the entire intersection. So the section of Ossington north of Rolyat to Dundas has been barren at night. So what are local businesses and regulars to do? A …

From rtlechow’s posterous

By Derek Lang, BagelHot
Ended up walking down to the beach today. It was rainy and it’s been a while since I’ve been down there since moving to the other side of the city. Not surprisingly there was no one around. Torontoians are odd that way in that a bit of rain scares them off. Being a saturday they couldn’t even use the excuse that they were at work.
While walking toward the life guard station, in the distance I saw a figure …

From Condo.ca
One of Toronto’s most famous citizens, Jane Jacobs died in 2006, but her legacy lives on in many ways, including the annual Jane’s Walk that takes place this weekend in Toronto and in 68 cities around the world. It’s a fitting way to remember the great urban theorist—the date is chosen to coincide with her May 4 birthday—who believed that the health of cities depended on the involvement of citizens in the life of their neighbourhoods.
Way back in 1957 when urban planning in …

Title: Tr_ns_tC_ty – Toronto Missing Urban Strategy
Starts at: Sunday, 3 p.m.
Meeting Place: Finch Bus Terminal, northeast corner of Bishop Avenue and Yonge Street

Rob Ford’s first action as mayor was to tell someone that he planned on killing Transit City in favour of building subways. While Ford’s position has caused considerable furor, the debate over transit in Toronto has been raging for decades, encompassing issues like the role of bike lanes and choosing between subways and streetcars. This hour-and-a-half-long walk promises to analyze the current political questions regarding Toronto’s transit system, and will also provide contextual background about public transit in Toronto dating back to the 19th century.