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

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

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…

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 …

By TantienHime
This was taken in the Beaches in Toronto on a spring day. The path has been worn down by those who have tread the path of the labyrinth. Thanks Himy for drawing it out.

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 …

Bike City [ 1:35 - 1:55 ] :
” In Toronto we’ve actually, now about to lose cycling infrastructure. Despite the spin that comes from our municipal level of government, we are actually going to be losing bike lanes and increasing the expenditure in this area. ” — HiMY SYeD

By Chris Boutet (@ChrisBoutet), The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Nov. 14, 2011 9:10AM EST
Last updated Monday, Nov. 14, 2011 10:53AM EST
View the story “Hundreds fill Toronto streets for #ghostride in memory of fallen cyclist Jenna Morrison” on Storify]

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 …

View the story “After I went to bed, #StarWarsCouncil started trending” on Storify]

Posted by John Michael McGrath, OpenFile Toronto
Apparently following on the success of #councildrinks, some of the tricksters who keep an eye on city council meetings started a new hashtag game on Twitter last night: Star Wars-themed jokes about city council. Some of the best ones from earlier this morning.
View the story “#starwarscouncil” on Storify]
 
Blog photo by phil g via Flickr.

Posted by John Michael McGrath | OpenFile Toronto
Late yesterday afternoon, City Hall reporters started pointing their Twitter followers to an interesting budget document, tipped off by councillor Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park), which shows that Toronto’s Land Transfer Tax has raised much more money than previously projected—37 per cent more. That one boost alone could mean close to $100 million in unexpected revenue. Of course, Perks has been warning for weeks that the $774 million number that Mayor Rob Ford and his allies have …

“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 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 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 …

By Orwell’s Bastard
Storify: great for aggregating tweets, but you can go blind putting them in order if you’re dealing with more than a handful.
If only there were a sort function …
[View the story "Why it's important to kill off the Pissed-off Taxpayer meme | #TOpoli" on Storify]
Tips of the chapeau to @AureliaCotta and @timfalconer and @HiMYSYeD as well.

Mayor Rob Ford: “I never supported #Jarvis Bike Lanes…only rumour I want ‘em removed..not a priority” #bikeTO #TOcouncil

By Derek Flack, blogTO
Shortly after Toronto City Council passed the 2011 budget by a vote of 31-14, Rob Ford proclaimed that it was a “great day for Toronto residents.” Although major questions loom on account of the $774-million hole facing the City in 2012 — a subject bizarrely decried off-limits by Speaker Frances Nunziata — as promised, there will be no property tax increase this year. And while Ford and his supporters claim that there were no major service cuts associated with the …

By Caitlin Orr — Rye Here, Rye Now
Normally, someone walking through St. James Town encounters a bouquet of scents from diverse residents’ cooking. Two months ago, the acrid smell of smoke overwhelmed all else within blocks of the neighbourhood, in every direction. A six-alarm blaze spread to at least two apartments in 200 Wellesley on September 24, a high-rise managed by Toronto Community Housing.
Authorities have still not determined the cause of the fire, but it was very difficult to put out because of a lot of “combustible debris” in the …

By Hollie Pollard, CommonCentsMom
Dear Mr Syed,
First and foremost I wanted thank you for the race you have run as candidate for this great city of Toronto.
Himy, months ago when I came back I was part of the masses who thought politicians could not be trusted. I had been involved in politics when I was younger and had come to hate the backrooms of politics. I had come to hate the process. I felt that we the average citizen really did not make a difference. I had …

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 …

Report by Michael Pihach, InTorontoMagTv
Mayoral debate at The 519
Two of Toronto’s top three mayoral candidates took questions from the public at the 519 Church St. Community Centre on October 18.
Issues discussed included funding for HIV/AIDS prevention, support for local business, safe injection sites and bed bugs.
IN Toronto was there.
Candidate Rob Ford was not.