“Toronto – Canada’s version of a Democrat run city”

Olivia Chow is on a mission to keep Toronto’s financial district alive.

Since the fall, the mayor has been meeting with the CEOs of some of Canada’s largest banks — CIBC, TD, RBC and BMO — to discuss, among other issues, how to get Torontonians back in the office at least four days a week, if not five — and they’re calling on her to set the example.

“Well, it’s important to make sure our financial district is vibrant,” Chow told the Star in an interview. She said she is concerned about Toronto becoming “a ghost town” like other cities in the U.S. grappling with so-called “doom loops” that have seen an uptick in local crime and homelessness. “That’s not healthy.”

“Gardiner commute times have increased 250% sure boss I’ll head back to the office” said no one ever.

… Trips now take up to 250% longer during morning rush hour than before the construction. Afternoon rush hour is taking 230% longer. Commercial drivers are spending 80% more time on the roads. And travel times are up 43% on the main parallel routes.

These numbers are staggering, but sadly not surprising.

I don’t go downtown anymore. City Hall wins.

While the two sides in the TTC contract talks are still at the bargaining table, the president of ATU Local 113 is not optimistic a deal can be reached before the looming Friday strike deadline.

“We’re still bargaining but we have an impasse regarding job security and wages and benefits,” Marvin Alfred said Wednesday morning.

About half of GTA residents say they would consider leaving to buy property in one of Canada’s more affordable cities, according to a new Royal LePage survey.

The online poll, which surveyed 900 Canadians aged 18 and older living in the country’s three largest urban centres, found that about 50 per cent of respondents would consider buying a property in one of Canada’s most affordable cities “if they were able to find a job or work remotely.”

Among renters, about 60 per cent said they would be willing to relocate while only about 45 per cent of current homeowners said they would consider it.

Really, Toronto? Is this the best that you can do?

After months of agonizing traffic paralysis, and untold millions wasted (literally untold, due to secrecy and Toronto’s incompetent system of awarding contracts –only contracting bosses get rich in Toronto), city council finally asks staff to take a month or two to see whether it can speed the work up to save the city from strangling itself.

This should kill off the downtown and let’s face it that is the goal.

Some have suggested that the Gardner debacle will give a boost to TTC ridership.

No. I will simply avoid Downtown Toronto rather than ride the Homeless Junkie Choo-Choo.

When strangers pound at the door of her downtown Toronto apartment, Janice Bellmore has learned to keep calm, make sure her lock is secured, and turn up the TV to drown out the noise. Calling security, in the complex she’s lived in for two decades, often feels futile.

It’s not unusual for unfamiliar faces to roam her building — a weathered concrete and brick apartment, with rusting metal railings looking over a wide courtyard connecting it to hundreds of other homes. In many cases, the people who enter this sprawling complex are desperate to find potent street drugs, tenants say. And it’s a reliable place to look, as vulnerable tenants having their units taken over by dealers is a chronic problem.