Politics
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Toronto politics in a hashtag
It was 2010. The G20 protests were in the news, and Rob Ford was running for mayor. Some of Toronto’s Twitter users took to the web to air their...
By Kat Eschner -
PARKS CRISIS conclusion: 10 ideas to help solve Toronto’s parks acquisition crisis
In May 2014, council gave the city’s planning team the green light to embark on a three-year planning exercise, branded TOCore, that’s meant to figure out...
By John Lorinc -
PARKS IN CRISIS part 5: The system worked (slowly) for a west end park
On a warm spring afternoon, the park on the corner of Sorauren and Wabash avenues in the west Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale looks like a perfect dream...
By Kimberley Noble -
PARKS IN CRISIS part 4: A tale of two parks
By John Lorinc and Alex Steep Over the past few years, the city has seen a handful of examples of park construction that offer impressive illustrations of...
By John Lorinc -
PARKS IN CRISIS part 3: The perils of cash-in-lieu
By John Lorinc and Alex Steep At its final meeting of the fractious 2010-2014 term, City Council gave its blessing to what will become one of the few new...
By John Lorinc -
PARKS IN CRISIS sidebar: How Section 42 works
Under Section 42 of the Ontario planning act, municipalities can ask developers to dedicate land or cash for the purposes of creating new parkland. The...
By John Lorinc -
PARKS IN CRISIS part 2: How the money flows
By John Lorinc and Kimberley Noble The information shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the numbers are nonetheless startling. According to data obtained by...
By John Lorinc -
PARKS IN CRISIS part 1: All built up and no place to go
By John Lorinc and Alex Steep At a raucous public meeting about the future of Bickford Park last year, emotions ran high. Some residents wanted to remove...
By John Lorinc -
What the Spadina subway overrun means for Scarborough, pt. 2
EDITOR’S NOTE: Read part one of this series published yesterday When private firms invest in new equipment, the managers must pay close attention to...
By John Lorinc -
What the Spadina subway overrun means for Scarborough, pt. 1
Parents: hide your children! Apparently, Mayor John Tory is in a state of high dudgeon over the reported (but as yet unconfirmed) $400 million overrun on...
By John Lorinc -
MESLIN: Connecting the Dots – Exposing the influence of lobbyists at City Hall
Five years ago, Toronto City Council banned all corporate and union contributions for municipal election campaigns. This was supposed to eliminate the...
By Dave Meslin -
LORINC: This ice isn’t transparent
Here’s my question about last week’s deal to have two private firms ante up funds to keep some of the City’s rinks open: Is there any kind of firewall...
By John Lorinc