Garnet Lollar
garnetlollar.bsky.social
Garnet Lollar
@garnetlollar.bsky.social
TDSB Science Teacher, More Neighbours Toronto member, big unruly nerd. He/him.
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Just a gentle reminder that we've been there to support rent-geared-to-income housing, and affordable housing, and city-led housing, and homeless shelters, and supportive housing, and non-profit developers, and student residences, and multiplexes, and garden suites, and, and, and...
January 14, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Yes in my backyard
Just a gentle reminder that we've been there to support rent-geared-to-income housing, and affordable housing, and city-led housing, and homeless shelters, and supportive housing, and non-profit developers, and student residences, and multiplexes, and garden suites, and, and, and...
January 14, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Happy new year - it's "back to work" in more ways than one!

Make it a new year's resolution to get out to more IN-PERSON consultations in your area!

Not sure where to start? Use our Consultations 101 video here for tips to get your foot in the door!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvUc...
Toronto City Consultations 101: How to Advocate For More Housing In Your Neighbourhood!
YouTube video by More Neighbours Toronto
www.youtube.com
January 5, 2026 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Allowing Small Single Stairs building in Toronto would unlock many more homes to be built

And now the State of Minnesota found that these buildings are also safer.
A new bombshell modeling report by the State of Minnesota has found that small single-stair buildings with smoke-separated stairwells are likely to be SIGNIFICANTLY SAFER than typical double-loaded apartment buildings
December 18, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Surreal meeting @uytaelee.bsky.social from About Here, @carastern.bsky.social from Missing Middle Podcast, and Paige Saunders at the @moreneighboursto.bsky.social AGM/Holiday Party!
December 7, 2025 at 3:54 AM
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And this, dear reader is how you prevent housing from being built.
This study was initiated in 2021. This is phase 2, which has had at least 6 community engagement sessions, 10 local pop-ups and a Local Advisory Committee in addition to dedicated engagement for certain groups.
December 3, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
"The chair of this committee frequently says that in Ontario, we zone for buildings, not for people. But when we have a report that says adding new buildings will create complete communities and we couldn't possibly do that in Rosedale, I wonder if that's true."
December 4, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
NEW: In Toronto's previously red hot rental market, rent decreases were a rarity. Now, one prominent Toronto realtor said he hears about once per month from landlord clients who have been willing to negotiate price downward to keep good tenants. www.torontotoday.ca/local/real-e...
How Toronto tenants are negotiating rent decreases amid the condo downturn
Where tenants have been successful in negotiating lower rent, it’s typically in the range of a 10 or 15 per cent decrease, according to a real estate expert
www.torontotoday.ca
November 27, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
The first single stair approval under Toronto's Alternative Solution Proposals! This will allow more livable space in the units while maintaining fire safety through sprinklers and other measures. Thanks to @pamelablais.bsky.social for persisting & everyone at the City who helped to make it happen.
Update on my single exit stair ASP: we have an approval!

Thanks to sixplex and single stair supporters Mayor Olivia Chow, Cllr Jamaal Myers, @joshmatlow.bsky.social and others who get why single exit stairs are key to creating livable, accessible, small scale housing. 1/6
After TO Council passed a motion indicating the City was open to Alternative Solution Proposals for a single stair in apts up to 4 storeys, I applied for a single stair in a 3 storey Part 9 6plex.

I’m told it’s the first one, so it’s a test case. Here’s how it’s going.

#singlestair #sixplex
November 21, 2025 at 5:19 PM
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As MPPs vote on Bill 33, check out @royinori.bsky.social's analysis of what it would mean for colleges and universities thelocal.to/bill-33-onta...
Doug Ford Is Trying to Control How Universities Operate | The Local
Ontario’s Bill 33 mandates merit-based admissions and gives the province unprecedented power over university and college operations. Is it part of a broader right-wing crackdown on campuses?
thelocal.to
November 19, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
The province's actions, together with it's inability to build or encourage necessary housing, is setting us up for a massive social deficit.

When affordable housing or rent becomes so difficult to find, we're pushing people onto the streets, into the hospitals, and into the morgues.
#Bill60 will likely be passed this week, and it will grow homelessness across Ontario — something our food banks, shelters, and municipalities do not have the resources to address.

When you wonder why encampments are growing in your community, remember Bill 60.

My remarks today at the OLA:
November 18, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Councillor Shelley Carroll says she gets a lot of calls wanting her to fight applications for cannabis store licenses, but, "I can't, in my database, find a single complaint about one once they are open." Perhaps there's a lesson there.
November 13, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Yesterday I sat for a lecture by 3 folks from ReHousing. Hosted by UofT's school of Arch, they detailed the history of change in Toronto, how post-war suburbs rubber-stamped neighbourhoods as repetitive as a 100 floor condo does today, horizontally, & how for half a century we've seen near no change
November 14, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
#Breaking: Toronto will allow new corner stores in residential neighbourhoods
Toronto will allow new corner stores in residential neighbourhoods
Small-scale retail will be allowed on select 'community streets' downtown.
www.thestar.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
The myth that there are "hundreds of thousands" of vacant units wasn't true when local NIMBYs said it in 2024 and it's not true when the Attorney General of Ontario says it today. Tenants shouldn't have their rights weakened because of the Ford government's failure to build.
October 24, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Councillors will put in black and white that they are requesting a heritage study in response to intensification and new housing. And then heritage staff will tell you to your face that heritage doesn't prevent development.
October 22, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
NEW: Vehicles registered to Doug Ford's cabinet ministers have been caught by automated speed cameras more than 20 times.

In one case, they were driving 70 in a 40 zone. On average, they were 17 over the limit. #OnPoli
globalnews.ca/news/1146373...
Vehicles registered to Ford cabinet ministers caught by speed cameras more than 20 times | Globalnews.ca
Documents obtained by Global News reveal that, over three years, vehicles registered to Ford’s cabinet minister received more than $3,300 in fines for speeding.
globalnews.ca
October 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
If you've finished with baseball, stop by North York Centre for #NuitBlanche. Someone (not us!) cut up Toronto's bylaws to make new ones. It's art!
Make your own edit: futureperfectbyelaws.com
October 4, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
We often assume seniors rely on driving and can't use active transportation for their daily needs, but often it's the reverse: many people become unable to drive as they age. This #WeekWithoutDriving, I'm thinking of my great aunt and others like her who get around without a car.
October 2, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Meeting on Oct 16 to update the Official Plan to agree with provincial policy. Themes include:
- Population and Employment Growth Forecasting
- References to Urban Growth Centres
- Heritage and Archaeology
- Employment Areas and Land Use Compatibility
Info & registration: www.toronto.ca/PPSUpdate
Provincial Planning Statement 2024 Consistency Exercise
We want to hear from you! Register for our virtual Public Open House on October 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. to to learn more about proposed changes to Official Plan sections on growth forecasting, mobility, h...
www.toronto.ca
October 2, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
It was very special to work with six brilliant, thoughtful Indigenous writers — Michelle Good, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Eva Jewell, Janelle Lapointe, Anna McKenzie and Riley Yesno — on this series about truth and reconciliation, in print & online for @thewalrus.ca. thewalrus.ca/truth-and-re...
The Truth of Reconciliation | The Walrus
The TRC report, released in 2015, laid out ninety-four clear Calls to Action. Ten years later, Indigenous writers reflect on what has and hasn’t been achieved
thewalrus.ca
September 30, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
At tonight’s “consultation”…

When a high school kid tried to raise concerns about the teachers strike, Bruce McAllister cut the kids mic and then suggested his parents should have beaten him more.

Listen to the clip yourself…

It’s…

Telling.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli
September 30, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
Super cringe.
And more of a personal grievance: each of the 4 panelists pronounced it "nuke-u-lar".

It'd be nice if the critics for nuclear actually had the science background to understand it's "nu-clear", as in the nucleus of the atoms decaying to produce abundant energy for us.
September 17, 2025 at 1:37 AM
@paulafletcher.bsky.social @petertabuns.bsky.social Hosted a panel on ON's energy future- there was no opportunity for questions from the public, and even the chat function was disabled partway through.

There were a lot of misinformed takes against nuclear, and very little said about fossil fuels!
September 17, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Garnet Lollar
With fall drawing near, civic life in the city reinvigorates with more public consultations- there's never been a better time to advocate for more housing!

Want to get involved, but not sure how? We made a video to help you get started!

Funded through #MNTOgigs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvUc...
Toronto City Consultations 101: How to Advocate For More Housing In Your Neighbourhood!
YouTube video by More Neighbours Toronto
www.youtube.com
September 16, 2025 at 11:52 AM