Supporters of Toronto's failed bid for Expo 2015 are looking for someone to blame. Jane Pitfield, not surprisingly, has been quick to point the finger at David Miller. And though Miller's official position is that it would have been a boost for the City, his lack of commitment may reflect a notion that it is no longer 1967, and that Expos are an outmoded form of urban development for a city like ours. Toronto may no longer need Expo to prove that it is 'world class,' and perhaps we have eschewed the definition of 'world class' altogether. To call Toronto 'world ...

Jane Pitfield is worried that people don't want to come downtown anymore. It's too dirty, it's overrun by panhandlers and it's unsafe. Pitfield addressed these concerns on Wednesday in her final policy announcement on "improving the quality of life" in Toronto -- specifically in the city centre, where she believes help is desperately needed. The majority of her platform was dedicated to dealing with homelessness and panhandling. Her proposed solutions called for "City Council to come up with a plan" that would include counselling and job training for the homeless, as well as to request provincial assistance for more detox beds ...

A predominantly older crowd was on hand Wednesday at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse to watch the leading mayoral candidates and Stephen LeDrew square off for a heritage-themed debate hosted by the Toronto Historical Society. The candidates were asked for their views on the proposed Toronto Appeals Board, which would replace the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) in cases involving minor variances, and which some believe would be more favourable to heritage than the OMB has traditionally been. None of the candidates, however, were willing to make any promise that a City-run appeals board would defend heritage interests more rigorously than the ...

For some downtown Toronto residents, the idea of a mall being something worth preserving might seem odd. But in Don Mills, this is exactly what community preservation advocates are fighting over. Cadillac Fairview, the company that owns the Don Mills Centre, is in the process of demolishing the current mall and replacing it with an outdoor "lifestyle centre," which will include condominiums as well as outdoor-concept retail stores. The mall was conceived as the epicentre of a new planned community, the first of its kind in North America. To reflect post-war optimism in Toronto, buildings in the area were ...

The event itself was hackneyed and uninformative, but at the Hart House mayoral debate on Monday, mainstay fringe candidate Kevin Clarke had a novel strategy for making the frontrunners who were actually invited feel very, very awkward. Clarke disrupted proceedings before the debate began by climbing on stage, eccentrically voicing his opinion about the current state of municipal affairs and refusing to leave. Eyewitness accounts have him engaging a broom in conversation in order to underscore his view that the bristles on Miller's 'broom' had worn down to an inefective nub. The incident may draw much-needed attention to the overuse of ...

In front of a local bar on St. Clair Avenue West, Jane Pitfield held a press conference to announce her transportation strategies for the City of Toronto. "All day rush hour, transit disruptions, crowded buses and subway cars: that's Miller Time in Toronto," she told reporters on Wednesday. In the debate between extending the subway or pursuing a wider strategy of improved bus and streetcar service, Pitfield clearly came down on the side of subway extension. "We need some bold, large scale, big vision ideas besides streetcar right-of-ways, which I think are anti-car," she said. Her plan is to see the subway ...

Few residents of Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina want to see a big-box complex go up at Queen and Portland streets, but that alone may not stop the powerful real-estate development firm, RioCan, from going ahead with its reported plans to build a Home Depot or a Dominion on the site that is currently being used as a parking lot. Something is going to be built on that property -- it's just a question of what. I recently spoke to a number of candidates running in Ward 20, including Adam Vaughan, Helen Kennedy, Chris Ouellette, and Joseph Tuan, and each ...

The Democracy geeks came out in droves Wednesday evening for a town hall meeting featuring about 30 candidates running for mayor hosted by the St. Lawrence Centre Forum in collaboration with 'Who Runs This Town?' Those attending were inundated before the debate with leaflets promoting each candidate's often very specific agendas. The candidates included the token communist, whose civic agenda focused primarily on supporting the TTC union (which was not well received by the crowd), the head shop owner, the guy with the ceramic banana draped around his neck, and of course, the ubiquitous hippie candidate named ...

Jane Pitfield met with media Friday afternoon at the corner of Bay and Queen streets to stir voter outrage over the nine per cent pay raise Council and the mayor approved for themselves this past summer. This is the second recent campaign event Pitfield has held at a city intersection. The street corner stump meetings are in keeping with the populist image she is attempting to cultivate, saying, "I have been speaking to the people on the streets...I know how the majority of the people feel." Accompanied by about a dozen Council candidates, Pitfield said of the raise in ...

The past few days have been busy ones for heritage matters in Toronto. During this week's Council marathon, a few issues were brought to the table: 48 Abell Ave. The Toronto Star reported Thursday on Councillor Adam Giambrone's efforts to save 48 Abell Ave., a warehouse along the trendy Queen West West strip that developers intend to demolish and turn into a 17-storey condo building. If Council votes to give the warehouse heritage status, it may save the building, which is currently a haven for artists and musicians to live and work. Council will likely vote on the matter ...