blogTO | Posts by Derek

The Eaton Centre turns 35 years old

Derek Flack — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:24:35 EST

The Eaton Centre, everyone's favourite urban eyesore, has reached the ripe old age of 35. That might be a harsh way to start off an anniversary toast — particularly given all the efforts to make our monumental downtown shopping mall more friendly to the street — but it comes from an affectionate place. Even if the idea to plop down a massive, inward-oriented shopping mall in the heart of the city seems strange today, back in the 1970s this type of planning was all the rage — and that gives the place a certain historical quality that's survived the numerous changes to its facade.

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A new candidate for best delivery pizza in Toronto

Derek Flack — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:32:14 EST

Toronto is blessed with many things, consensus on transit planning and a wealth of quality pizza delivery options are not among them. But there is hope — at least in the latter category. Recently opened in Mimico, this delivery-focused restaurant bridges the gap between super thin-crusted Neapolitan offerings and the dough-bombs that many parlours pawn off as pizza.

Read my review of FBI Pizza in the restaurants section.

Reaction to the return of Transit City in Toronto

Derek Flack — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:41:55 EST

So yesterday's vote to return to an LRT-based transit strategy for Toronto (one that looks a lot like the former phase one Transit City plans) was kind of a big deal — regardless of which of the competing plans you hoped would win the day. Ranging from elation to frustration, there's been no shortage of reaction to the events at city hall. Here's a quick roundup of what's being said in the aftermath of one the most significant city council decisions in recent memory.

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How does each Toronto transit plan stack up?

Derek Flack — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:06:09 EST

It's showdown time at City Hall today, as council convenes for a special meeting to debate the merits of Rob Ford's vision for underground transit versus the wider-reaching, primarily above-ground plan first put forward by the previous administration. In the lead up to what will surely be a closely monitored session, it's worth asking how exactly we got here. Few would have imagined that David Miller's LRT plan would be back on the agenda when Ford declared Transit City dead on his first official day in office — even if he never had the unilateral authority to do so.

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James Joyce pub to become Neapolitan pizza franchise

Derek Flack — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:10:11 EST

The Annex is about to get in on the Neapolitan pizza craze. But it won't be courtesy of the folks behind Pizza e Pazzi, Queen Margherita Pizza or Pizzeria Libretto. Vacant since a bailiff's notice was posted on its front door last June, the space that used to house the anything-but-Irish James Joyce pub will soon be home to a Famoso Pizzeria, a franchise that established roots in Alberta back in 2006 but is now making a push east. Along with the Annex location, the company's website also promises a restaurant at Yorkdale Mall in Spring 2012.

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Council rebels against Ford's underground transit vision

Derek Flack — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:27:06 EST

Rob Ford's vision for transit in Toronto has come under fire from a variety of important sources over the last 24 hours, the most important of which is surely city council itself. TTC Chair Karen Stintz, who had previously called for a compromise plan on transit development in Toronto, announced via Twitter early this morning that she'd move to call a special meeting of city council to address a letter from Metrolinx asking for clear direction from the City of Toronto on its favoured use of the $8.4 billion in transit funding provided by the province.

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Transit and planning experts rally against Ford's plans

Derek Flack — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:07:38 EST

It's deja vu, to be sure — but will Mayor Ford's plans be undone once again? Roughly 120 urban planning and transit experts — many of whom criticized the Fords' redevelopment vision for the Port Lands last September — have released an open letter that urges Toronto city councillors to put a stop to a plan that would see the Eglinton Crosstown LRT buried in its entirety. Noting that the current policy would "inflict punitive social costs on large numbers of our citizens who will receive no relief from unacceptably poor transit service and unremitting congestion," the authors outline a three-step plan to get Toronto transit planning back on track.

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City of Toronto and CUPE 416 reach tentative deal

Derek Flack — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:35:42 EST

Well, Adam Vaughan was right. Interviewed by CP24 shortly after CUPE local 416 president Mark Ferguson announced that the City had offered his union a take-it-or-leave-it offer on Friday, Vaughan speculated that the two sides might be a lot closer to a deal than they were letting on. That seemed a dubious observation when the City announced that it would impose new terms and conditions of employment as of 12:01 a.m Sunday., at which point the a lockout or strike could legally begin.

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Would you pay road tolls to help fund Ford's subway?

Derek Flack — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:51:39 EST

Although Gordon Chong's report on the feasibility of the Sheppard subway extension won't go before the City's executive committee until February 13, excerpts revealed by the Toronto Sun indicate that the project is "doable" (or "do-able," as some would put it). That's mildly surprising given the reticence of the private sector to fund subway expansion in the past. So what's the catch?

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Towards a map of Toronto desire lines

Derek Flack — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:38:04 EST

Eric Fischer, digital cartographer extraordinaire, is at it again with a new series of maps that track the paths that smartphone-toting people take to travel through cities. Using geotagged tweets, the Oakland-based data visualization specialist has plotted the arteries of Twitter traffic for a host of cities around the world including Toronto.

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The Real Jerk wins temporary injunction to stay put

Derek Flack — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:10:51 EST

The Real Jerk will get to stay at the southeast corner of Queen and Broadview, for a little longer anyway. After being given a paltry 31 days to vacate the space they've occupied for over 20 years, owner Edward Pottinger and his wife filed for a temporary injunction to remain at their current location until they can find a suitable alternative.

The restaurant confirmed earlier today via Twitter that it had won the case. Although not all the details have become available, it would appear that the victory means the Real Jerk will remain where it is for another year.

Update (12:00 p.m.):

Ed Pottinger has told the Globe and Mail that he is already scouting another location for his Queen east fixture. Although a reprieve was granted, there will be a steep increase of rent in the upcoming months if the restaurant doesn't find a new home.

Entrepreneurs Rick Aulier and Scott Brockington are gunning to open an Irish pub in the space at a rate of $12,000 a month, a $5,700 hike from the rent Pottinger has been paying. Although the restaurant has the right to stay for a year, if it doesn't relocate by March 1, 2012, Pottinger will be required to make up the rent that Aulier and Brockington would pay.

Despite this potential increase, he remains upbeat with the news. "This is what I always wanted. I just wanted a little more time to relocate and I now have that. Whatever happens from now on, I'm going to be looking for a new place to relocate the Jerk, hopefully in the neighbourhood," he told CTV news on Wednesday evening.

Update by Roxanne Hathway-Baxter

Will Karen Stintz survive as TTC Chair?

Derek Flack — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:50:18 EST

Compromise? We don't want compromise!

In a move that amounts to an open revolt against TTC chair Karen Stintz, Ford supporters on the TTC board voted yesterday to prevent the study of further above ground options for the Eglinton Crosstown Line.

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Toronto rooftopping gets some time in the spotlight

Derek Flack — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:49:10 EST

Toronto rooftopping — and specifically the work of blogTO's own Tom Ryaboi — has been put under a rather sizable spotlight over the last couple of days. After a photo feature in the Telegraph on Monday, articles in the Daily Mail, the Sun (UK), the New York Daily News, and the Toronto Star followed, with more surely to come as mainstream outlets show off their desire to feature the putative next big thing. Even the Toronto Standard got in on the fun, calling rooftop photography "the new iteration of planking."

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The case against Rob Ford's cancellation of Transit City

Derek Flack — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:39:37 EST

"Rumours of Transit City's death have been greatly exaggerated," Joe Mihevc told a scrum of reporters earlier today at City Hall. The confident proclamation comes after the Toronto city councillor solicited legal advice on whether or not Mayor Rob Ford had the authority to cancel unilaterally the transportation plan put forward by the Miller administration when he first took office over a year ago. In a nutshell, the legal document contained below puts forward the argument that only city council itself has the power to take such action. According to Mihevc, "the mayor was speaking for himself and no one else."

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City releases plans for separated Sherbourne bike lane

Derek Flack — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:55:25 EST

Toronto is finally getting separated bike lanes, and now we have a pretty good idea of what they're going to look like. Unveiled at an open house yesterday, the plans for separated cycling infrastructure on Sherbourne Street should be realized by fall 2012 — at which time, you know, Jarvis is slated to lose its bike lanes.

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