Damien Moule

Eliminating side setbacks in (at least) the R zone and for the Major Streets buildings are key next steps for low rise building reform in Toronto.

If you’re pushing housing in lowrise n’hoods, eliminating useless sideyards is the unlock for the urban design everybody says they want.
In exchange for sideyards that no one uses, you get better units, lush interior courtyards, space for trees and play, higher density and lower energy use.

One and a half million people are killed by animals every year. Almost one million by other animals, and more than half a million from direct conflict among ourselves.

Almost all of these deaths from other animals are caused by just two types: mosquitoes and snakes.

Guess I lived through the golden age of the 504. Something to tell my daughter about.

Screaming, crying, throwing up.
stevemunro.ca/2026/03/06/t...

This might seems cute and effective, but remember that North American traffic engineers prohibit some movements from or into lateral streets only when they are under heavy stress.

What it's like following Toronto housing policy.

"Did you see the big news down at city hall?"
"Oh, Bill and John are at it again?"

It's weird to read 19th century Toronto political history, when the city was much smaller, and think about the scales. McKenzie fighting the Family Compact in a town of 10,000. Think of how small municipal world feels now, and shrink it by a factor of 300.

Part of a City of Toronto Executive Committee agenda EX29.4Opens in new window Pothole Blitz and Local Road Repair Strategy (Ward All) EX29.5Opens in new window Street Furniture and Litter Bin Program Update (Ward All) March 6, 2026 - A communication was posted.

Redpath Ave on a rainy day showing numerous potholes filled with rain, including a large accumulation of water next to the sidewalk curb that is filled with gravel and unable to make it to the sewer grate because of the unevenness of the road.

On the one hand, the agenda for the first Exec Committee meeting in 3 months appears to be driven by a need to make a pre-election show of "doing something." On the other hand, if we didn't have cynical pre-election agendas, maybe we would never get anything done?

Exactly.

He was good at continuing to get elected and I think underrated at managing his coalition. But in terms of outcomes and legacy and setting up the next generation of politically similar politicians he was well below average.

I will concede most not all. Just the Gardiner stands out as a generational disaster and smart track was a waste of time. I will give him partial credit for housing, but mostly Bailao and Bradford and Tory got on board 8 years too late.

Even if you're a fan of Tory-ism you should be really mad at him. He didn't co-ordinate his allies during the mayoral by-election and sent Bradford on a huge skid that's ended up here. He didn't try and set up any organizations or groom any mayoral or council candidates. No lasting infrastructure.

Someone needs to tell them it's ok to not want your friends to be mayor. I have lots of friends I wouldn't want to be mayor.

I have to put EHON and the Housing Action Plan in there but for all three it's unclear to me how much credit Tory himself deserves or whether he'd stand by them again at all.

I don't understand the pining for Tory to have run again. He took the wrong side of every major decision during his terms, ran in '22 knowing he was sitting on something that could take him down, made no attempt to set up a successor, and would have turned this election into a substance free mess.

Trying to be genuine shade.

I'm not entirely sure the brothers Spoke have the umm.. patience to wage a successful factional fight for mayor but I'm also interested to see what the rising (but still small) culture war resentment faction on the right tries to do. They can't be that happy with Bradford or the Tories.

Not only is February brutal in Edmonton... the leasing market feels like this snowstorm too. The absorption rate has completely shifted. Many of us predicted that Spring 2026 leasing would be different, but I don't think anyone expected this many units to hit the market at the same time. Right now, tenants have options - lots of them. They walk into a showing, and if the unit isn't exactly what they want...there is similar one just across a street. What we're seeing right now is something we haven't seen in a while - a real competition between landlords. free months of rent gift cards parking incentives flexible move-in dates upgraded appliances utility credits Everyone is trying to lease asap as the lender is coming at you and if you don't achieve proforma - you get to buy the rate down ouch! For investors this means a few things: You need to be strategic, flexible, and realistic (!!!) with pricing and incentives.

Turns out building more homes makes housing more affordable.

Edmonton real estate investors are realizing that because so many options are on the market for tenants, they need to be sweetening the pot with incentives - and being "realistic" with rent.

#yeg #yegcc

I think I'm missing something. How is a co-op more automatically organized for advocacy than say.. a condo? They seem on the face quite similar in terms of organization.

Mine were dairy and bean farmers in Ontario, unsuccessful in New Brunswick, and low german speaking Mennonites in modern Ukraine who didn't survive/fled the Russian Revolution.

What people had in their heads when pitching the Finch LRT... vs. what we got.

Refreshing to see the conservative side of Toronto politics flailing around looking for a candidate to run against an incumbent mayor for a change.

true. both are needed to provide faster streetcar service in Toronto.

A few years back @jacobdawang.com made an interactive map showing TDSB school utilization for those interested.
jdawang.github.io/tdsb/

No one seems to want to make that decision after the last round of closures. Not the elected trustees, not the provincially assigned supervisors. They're all just pounding the table and repeating the basics: high expenses due to too much floor space per student.

I don't want to blame stable neighbourhoods for literally everything in the city... But like I want to blame them for a lot.

Spatial mismatch. There's no school in Liberty Village so every nearby development says there's no capacity. But Central Tech is empty and massive and old.

If you wanted to help the TDSB with the clear problem of too many undersubscribed schools, you could have you know.. allowed more people to live near those schools.