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.

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!

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 …

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 …

By Derek Flack, blogTO
So yesterday’s vote to return to an LRT-based transit strategy for Toronto (one that looks a lot like the former phase one Transit City plans) was kind of a big deal — regardless of which of the competing plans you hoped would win the day. Ranging from elation to frustration, there’s been no shortage of reaction to the events at city hall. Here’s a quick roundup of what’s being said in the aftermath of one the most significant city council decisions in …

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
The big news from city hall this week will be the multi-day meeting (with the over-under being at least three shoutfests across council chambers) over the city budget. While there have already been several changes, as the budget has made it through both the budget and Mayor’s executive committee, on neither of those committees do opponents to the Mayor’s cuts have serious weight. That’s going to change when the budget comes to full council, and the Globe and …

From Centre for City Ecology
Last night was Day 1 of Toronto Talks Mobility, the Transportation Month event hosted by the University of Toronto’s Cities Centre and the Canadian Urban Transit Association which continues today at Wynchwood Barns.
Students from the University of Toronto’s Workshop in Planning Practice will be writing summaries of this event and we will post them on our mobiliTO project page in the next couple of weeks. For now, here are some press articles and photos and comments from Twitter, like these:
nowtoronto The catchphrase of tonight is “value …

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, …

By John Michael McGrath, Toronto Life
One of the much talked-about aspects of Calgary’s recent election has been how Naheed Nenshi successfully transformed social media, Twitter especially, into a campaign tool. Compare that innovation with how Toronto’s candidates have been using social media, and our mayoral hopefuls do not come out looking great. Yes, all of the major candidates—and most of the minor ones—have been using Twitter and Facebook. But no, it hasn’t mattered a lot. If Web smarts had been a major force in this campaign, we’d all be asking ourselves if prolific …

By Tomato Pretz, YummyLocal
TTC Wednesdays are back where you can get a pizza square for only $1.
Every Wednesday from now to November 3rd,  starting at noon to six so you can get one for lunch and one for a snack on the way home.
Now you won’t have to wonder why your subway car smells like pizza….
Duration:  September 22 – November 3.2010
TTC Booth:  Link
United Way Website:  Link

Photographs by:  HiMY SYeD / photopia

By Kelly Grant, The Globe and Mail
Well, this is guaranteed to be a time-sucker inside at least five campaign offices in Toronto.
OneStop Media, the company behind the TV screens in TTC stations, has unveiled a new game called Mayoral Munch. It’s Pac-Man with a political twist.
Players select one major mayoral candidate to be Pac-Man, which automatically turns the other four into baddies.
The candidate picked most often sits atop a constantly updated poll that will be displayed on OneStop’s screens across Toronto.

HiMY SYeD – Fast forward to the 3:17 mark
As of …

By Mike Adler, InsideToronto
Avvy Go, a lawyer working with Chinese and Southeast Asian immigrants, follows Toronto’s race for mayor and for a month she’s felt depressed.
Ever since Rob Ford spoke of his desire to close the door on newcomers – saying the city can’t take care of the people it has – “it seems like everybody else is trying to race to the bottom along with him,” Go told a mayoral debate this week.
Members of her own community have echoed Ford’s comments, said Go, representing the Colour of Poverty campaign …

By Corey Mintz, Toronto Star
Proposing to my dinner guests that there are three major reasons to seek elected office — altruism, ego or delusion — I ask each of them why they are running for mayor.
Keith Cole takes one minute to express his desire that arts and culture be as necessary to any political platform, as positions on the environment or transit.
Rocco Achampong says that what Toronto needs to balance its budget is to challenge collective bargaining agreements, if necessary, at the highest judicial level. “There’s no principle of law …

By Fabiola Carletti, Toronto Star Staff Reporter
Himy Syed examines a tattered subway map written entirely in phonetic Chinese characters.
Without understanding a word, he draws a translation for Queen’s Park station right on to the pavement in front of the Bickford Centre, a language school for adults.
“People come from all over the city, here, to learn English,” says Syed, 40. “This is my way of saying ‘Welcome,’ ” he says, adding that he wanted to do something for the school after a lockdown drill in May 2009 led the community …

By Laura Grande, The Toronto Observer
Small business owners mixed with various other protesters Monday to demonstrate against Toronto city councillor Adam Giambrone’s run for mayor.
Giambrone, who is also chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission, officially announced his candidacy for the top job Monday night at Revival nightclub on College Street.
Filled beyond capacity and resembling the crowds on the oft-ridiculed TTC subway system, hundreds of supporters turned up to hear the 32-year-old Giambrone toss his hat into the ring.
However, outside the club, the volume was even louder as chants of “Adam …

By MARCUS BOWMAN, Spacing Toronto
Adam Giambrone took some time this afternoon to address the fast escalating criticism of customer service on the TTC. His message was one of commitment to a new focus at the commission. Acknowledging the ‘perfect storm’ of bad press that started with the botched fare hike and culminated last week with a slew of pictures of sleeping employees; the Chair stated that this is was an opportunity the commission could seize upon to refocus itself on the issue of customer service.
“Focus” was indeed the word of day, …

By JOHN LORINC, Spacing Votes
In a lunchtime speech to the Empire Club at the Royal York today, mayoral hopeful Rocco Rossi laid out some of the key planks of his platform — promises that will likely set the tone and the dynamic of the race to come.
He vowed to cancel all future bike lanes on major arterial roads, including Jarvis Street, and complete the balance of the city’s cycling plan on residential or secondary streets. He also promised to review existing bike lanes on arterials.
As for Transit City, Rossi condemned …

Dressed in Prsoners costumes, these two musicians captivated many transit passengers with their Banjo and Guitar Bluegrass music at the TTC ‘s busiest subway station interchange, Bloor-Yonge Station.

“The TTC is the canary in the coal mine, the coal mine is the City of Toronto,” concerned resident Himy Syed said at the meeting. “So if you don’t solve this problem, you’re not going to solve the other problem.”