Colleen
@cbailey6.bsky.social
Scientist, cyclist, knitter. But only 2 out of 3 at any one time. 🔰
📌 Toronto
📌 Toronto
Reposted by Colleen
Toronto deliberately killed apartment construction in the early 1970s, after a generation-long building boom.
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Charting number of rental units in apartment buildings in Toronto by year of construction
(This is a quick update to a similar chart I made ~2.5 years ago)
#toronto #housing #dataviz #NationalHousingDay
(This is a quick update to a similar chart I made ~2.5 years ago)
#toronto #housing #dataviz #NationalHousingDay
November 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Toronto deliberately killed apartment construction in the early 1970s, after a generation-long building boom.
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Reposted by Colleen
I told my students about the north york secondary plan last week on our field trip up there. I should be applied to the whole city. Where condo meets sidewalk can be actually great cuz of it.
If you're interested in making this spine a little chunkier, the latest on the North York Secondary Plan should be at Planning and Housing Committee on December 3rd. No new details available yet but opposition from the low-rise Neighbourhood is expected.
November 21, 2025 at 3:04 PM
I told my students about the north york secondary plan last week on our field trip up there. I should be applied to the whole city. Where condo meets sidewalk can be actually great cuz of it.
The idea of putting almost all growth into a few "Urban Growth Centres" has really messed up people's minds about what a city is. www.thestar.com/news/gta/law...
November 21, 2025 at 12:20 PM
The idea of putting almost all growth into a few "Urban Growth Centres" has really messed up people's minds about what a city is. www.thestar.com/news/gta/law...
A++ editing. Would contribute tax dollars again.
A rare case where I pitched my editor something else this week and he said, basically, "we can do that later but for now I think our audience needs to see McGrath go off on the parking authority."
November 20, 2025 at 5:59 PM
A++ editing. Would contribute tax dollars again.
Reposted by Colleen
Note here that the check on the Legislature’s invocation of s. 33 was voters. Even though Mr. Klein likely was at less risk of being defeated in an election than Ms. Smith is, public outrage was such that he reversed course on the use of the notwithstanding clause.
A quote from former Alberta premier Ralph Klein I hadn't come across before (in a column @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social wrote in 2024).
albertaviews.ca/stripping-aw...
albertaviews.ca/stripping-aw...
November 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Note here that the check on the Legislature’s invocation of s. 33 was voters. Even though Mr. Klein likely was at less risk of being defeated in an election than Ms. Smith is, public outrage was such that he reversed course on the use of the notwithstanding clause.
Many good puns on the bear statue but this one is the winner so far. www.thestar.com/news/gta/a-g...
November 20, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Many good puns on the bear statue but this one is the winner so far. www.thestar.com/news/gta/a-g...
Reposted by Colleen
November 20, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Colleen
I'm quoted in today's Toronto Star, on the merits of a full HST rebate on newly constructed homes.
Read here:
Read here:
Ford says HST break should apply to ‘anyone who buys a new home’
Proponents say expanding the HST exemption, currently limited to first-time homebuyers on new home up to $1 million, could help the struggling industry.
www.thestar.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:11 AM
I'm quoted in today's Toronto Star, on the merits of a full HST rebate on newly constructed homes.
Read here:
Read here:
Unfortunately, the Toronto Star didn't get the memo about the accounting fiction. The "good" news is that, like everyone these days, the TPA are underspending their capital budget by about 30% so they're not as big a money-loser as the budget predicts. www.thestar.com/news/gta/why...
November 19, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Unfortunately, the Toronto Star didn't get the memo about the accounting fiction. The "good" news is that, like everyone these days, the TPA are underspending their capital budget by about 30% so they're not as big a money-loser as the budget predicts. www.thestar.com/news/gta/why...
A 2-year approval process. "But Weiss maintains that the collective oversight of the tree resulted in a design rooted in care that greatly elevated and improved the project." Iswydt. www.designlinesmagazine.com/spaces/how-a...
How A Retro-Futurist Pocket Laneway House Evolved With a Tree
Artist and curator Paola Poletto walks us through the unique footprint of this Weiss Architecture & Urbanism laneway house.
www.designlinesmagazine.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:37 AM
A 2-year approval process. "But Weiss maintains that the collective oversight of the tree resulted in a design rooted in care that greatly elevated and improved the project." Iswydt. www.designlinesmagazine.com/spaces/how-a...
Reposted by Colleen
I think we need to revisit the fact that Council spent over a decade calling the $1m houses “middle class housing for normal people” and the $500k apartments “luxury housing for elites”
And then heaped extraordinary costs and obligations onto the latter in order to subsidize the former.
And then heaped extraordinary costs and obligations onto the latter in order to subsidize the former.
November 19, 2025 at 1:31 AM
I think we need to revisit the fact that Council spent over a decade calling the $1m houses “middle class housing for normal people” and the $500k apartments “luxury housing for elites”
And then heaped extraordinary costs and obligations onto the latter in order to subsidize the former.
And then heaped extraordinary costs and obligations onto the latter in order to subsidize the former.
This week, I noticed that one of the lights on my walk to work has an advanced left in the morning (used to only be evening rush hour). Happened a couple of years ago at a light up the road too. I was never consulted, never saw an item on either at Community Council. Just, one day, it changed.
November 18, 2025 at 6:58 PM
This week, I noticed that one of the lights on my walk to work has an advanced left in the morning (used to only be evening rush hour). Happened a couple of years ago at a light up the road too. I was never consulted, never saw an item on either at Community Council. Just, one day, it changed.
Creating a caricature of your critics in order to dodge responsibility for the negative consequences of your votes is the real immaturity here. If you don't want to be held accountable for the way your votes affect Toronto, maybe councillor isn't the right job for you.
November 18, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Creating a caricature of your critics in order to dodge responsibility for the negative consequences of your votes is the real immaturity here. If you don't want to be held accountable for the way your votes affect Toronto, maybe councillor isn't the right job for you.
Reposted by Colleen
Welcome to Toronto’s newest partially open transit hub!
November 16, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Welcome to Toronto’s newest partially open transit hub!
Reposted by Colleen
The budget vote PASSES 170-168. If my live vote page is correct, there were 2 NDP absences, 2 CPC absences. CPC absent: Matt Jeneroux and Shannon Stubbs. The Speaker also didn't vote, of course.
November 18, 2025 at 12:05 AM
The budget vote PASSES 170-168. If my live vote page is correct, there were 2 NDP absences, 2 CPC absences. CPC absent: Matt Jeneroux and Shannon Stubbs. The Speaker also didn't vote, of course.
The Trillium has been doing some great reporting on Ontario's Skills Development Fund. The next group of documents that they're looking to FOI costs an estimated $12,000 in fees. If you've got a bit of extra money, you can help them crowdfund for it.
In the course of our investigation into the Skills Development Fund, we've filed a lot of FOI requests. We recently got some high cost estimates for records and decided to ask the public for help.
Read all about our crowdfunding campaign here.
www.thetrillium.ca/news/the-tri...
Read all about our crowdfunding campaign here.
www.thetrillium.ca/news/the-tri...
CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN: Help us investigate the Skills Development Fund
Your contribution can make hidden government documents public
www.thetrillium.ca
November 17, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The Trillium has been doing some great reporting on Ontario's Skills Development Fund. The next group of documents that they're looking to FOI costs an estimated $12,000 in fees. If you've got a bit of extra money, you can help them crowdfund for it.
Reposted by Colleen
Yglesias (and others like him) almost always argue something that boils down to: "Sure, tacking to the right isn't working for Labour right now. And it consistently hasn't worked here, either, and there's no real reason to think it will.
But what if it did work, huh? What then?"
But what if it did work, huh? What then?"
matt yglesias' primary claim about politics is that to win elections, democrats should adopt the strategy which has given starmer a 13% approval rating in the UK
November 17, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Yglesias (and others like him) almost always argue something that boils down to: "Sure, tacking to the right isn't working for Labour right now. And it consistently hasn't worked here, either, and there's no real reason to think it will.
But what if it did work, huh? What then?"
But what if it did work, huh? What then?"
Reposted by Colleen
Superb skills development fund scoop from the Toronto Star, which has got its hands on a database of scores for applications.
It reveals several with scores of 50 or less where the minister overruled civil servants to hand out the money anyway. #OnPoli
www.thestar.com/politics/pro...
It reveals several with scores of 50 or less where the minister overruled civil servants to hand out the money anyway. #OnPoli
www.thestar.com/politics/pro...
Secret data reveals which low-scoring applicants still received millions of dollars from the Ford government’s skills fund
Secret government data obtained by the Star shows 26 applicants scoring 50 per cent or lower received $36.6 million from Premier Doug Ford's controversial Skills Development Fund earlier this year.
www.thestar.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Superb skills development fund scoop from the Toronto Star, which has got its hands on a database of scores for applications.
It reveals several with scores of 50 or less where the minister overruled civil servants to hand out the money anyway. #OnPoli
www.thestar.com/politics/pro...
It reveals several with scores of 50 or less where the minister overruled civil servants to hand out the money anyway. #OnPoli
www.thestar.com/politics/pro...
Reposted by Colleen
This will not be news to regular readers, but it's worth noting whenever Toronto council debates housing (or transportation or neighbourhood amenities) that just three of the 25 wards absorbed three-quarters of the city's population growth between 2016 and 2021
November 14, 2025 at 5:07 PM
This will not be news to regular readers, but it's worth noting whenever Toronto council debates housing (or transportation or neighbourhood amenities) that just three of the 25 wards absorbed three-quarters of the city's population growth between 2016 and 2021
Reposted by Colleen
I would like to challenge this assertion by an Eastern Passage resident, she said: “It’s not rocket science: you don’t put high-density units in between single-family dwellings. That’s not good city planning.”
I would argue that it is, and a mix of densities is good for cities & their residents.
I would argue that it is, and a mix of densities is good for cities & their residents.
Eastern Passage housing developments a mistake in more ways than one, say neighbours
HRM looking at exceptions for waterfront developments after unintentional bylaw changes
www.saltwire.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:56 PM
I would like to challenge this assertion by an Eastern Passage resident, she said: “It’s not rocket science: you don’t put high-density units in between single-family dwellings. That’s not good city planning.”
I would argue that it is, and a mix of densities is good for cities & their residents.
I would argue that it is, and a mix of densities is good for cities & their residents.
Reposted by Colleen
"Let the provincial government decide if they want to have an MZO and quash this housing. But we, as a council, should not aid them and abet them in doing so. And this is why I am voting against this. This is a FARCE," says Moise of the Sanofi MZO.
November 14, 2025 at 12:33 AM
"Let the provincial government decide if they want to have an MZO and quash this housing. But we, as a council, should not aid them and abet them in doing so. And this is why I am voting against this. This is a FARCE," says Moise of the Sanofi MZO.
Not the worst. Congrats to those of you downtown. Hopefully we have at least helped the existing Finch Store types there to avoid some future paperwork.
The neighbourhood retail report as amended CARRIES 23-2.
Toronto Council votes to permit corner stores in all Old Toronto & East York wards, and expands permission for retail on some (but not all) major streets city-wide.
Toronto Council votes to permit corner stores in all Old Toronto & East York wards, and expands permission for retail on some (but not all) major streets city-wide.
November 13, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Not the worst. Congrats to those of you downtown. Hopefully we have at least helped the existing Finch Store types there to avoid some future paperwork.
Reposted by Colleen
@stateofthecity.bsky.social is proven right once again. So much of our municipal code and bylaws are made up on the floor of council with no public rationale in any reports. Tough for voters, reporters, businesses, political parties. No way to run a city.
November 13, 2025 at 5:07 PM
@stateofthecity.bsky.social is proven right once again. So much of our municipal code and bylaws are made up on the floor of council with no public rationale in any reports. Tough for voters, reporters, businesses, political parties. No way to run a city.
Why did we do two years of consultation if we were just going to ignore the results? An abandonment of the residents in the suburbs who came out to support this. If my councillor doesn't support reasonable policies, let her vote against them so that I know instead of giving her cover!
The Perks motion is posted. It includes a loooong list of major streets where retail would NOT be allowed. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
November 13, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Why did we do two years of consultation if we were just going to ignore the results? An abandonment of the residents in the suburbs who came out to support this. If my councillor doesn't support reasonable policies, let her vote against them so that I know instead of giving her cover!
If people looking at the vaccine facility can bring the country "to its knees," then I have questions. But let's start with what makes apartment residents more likely to have "nefarious objectives" than people in other types of homes? www.thestar.com/real-estate/...
Toronto councillor calls rental highrise a ‘security concern,’ endorses MZO to limit height near Sanofi plant
Sanofi has cited security concerns about planned highrises near its plant, while the developer says the provincial order would effectively kill the project.
www.thestar.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:48 PM
If people looking at the vaccine facility can bring the country "to its knees," then I have questions. But let's start with what makes apartment residents more likely to have "nefarious objectives" than people in other types of homes? www.thestar.com/real-estate/...