… She is against the big boost to the police budget just announced by Toronto’s mayor, John Tory. She’d like to see the money spent on shelter beds, mental-health supports and help for troubled young people instead.
But she is convinced things are going wrong in her city.
Random: Anyone anywhere anytime.
Which is what stokes the fear in a city that feels evermore like it’s ripping apart at the seams — and in particular where strangers converge.
The vulnerability of public spaces, as wide as a subway platform, as narrow as a crosstown bus. A TTC shelter, a busy station in the middle of the day, a desolate station in the small hours of the night.
Not sure the rest of Canada gives a damn about TO, hell I live here and I don’t much care for the place. Voting Trudeau makes a body hate you.
“I suggest you guys call customer service and maybe put in a complaint or two – maybe you should even call the mayor’s office and give him a piece of your mind because that’s probably your best option at this point. I have no control over this.”
And … Police release video after violent purse snatching at Broadview Station
“There are people who are timid about the drawing a connection between some of the incidents we’re seeing and mental health. I’m not timid about that,” Tory said. “Because in the end, if you see someone push someone onto the tracks of the subway that is not known to them or a random person, you see someone — an elderly person – get pushed out on the street and lost their life by a complete stranger, those are incidents that are evidence of some issues out there that people have with mental health.”
3, 2, 1 Tory’s mental health comments are RACIST!
A pity as it’s the right call.
WARMINGTON: TTC operators and passengers prey for violent offenders
TTC workers and passengers are like sitting ducks.
It’s time to call it for what it is: Toronto’s transit system has spun off the rails when it comes to protecting people.
The TTC is a homeless shelter. I don’t see it getting better.
Toronto is a Liberal-Left city and they seem to have a knack for rapid urban decay.
I used to say that Toronto was an iced cake that was rotten inside.
Now the icing is rotten too.
Is Toronto tops when it comes to global visitors?
Well, it ranked somewhere near the middle on a list of 85 of the world’s most overrated cities by independent market analyst King Casino Bonus in the U.K.
No question Toronto is a cold city and that will only get worse as ghettoization continues.
You can’t escape the feeling the city is on the threshold of a US style urban decline.
City infrastructure is crumbling and everything has that shopworn look.
The TTC now operates as a homeless shelter.
The question is not can I hold on but why should I?
Boring and pretentious? Yup.
Expensive? You bet.
But think of the restaurants.
TORONTO — Police in Toronto say two transit workers have been injured following a report that close to a dozen youths attacked them on a bus Monday afternoon.
John Tory suggests spending more money is surely the answer …
Toronto Mayor John Tory said in a statement about the incident that acts of violence and disrespect against transit workers need to end, and that he’s very concerned about what he said was the “increasing number of criminal acts involving young people.”
“I encourage anyone with information to help police find those responsible for this attack so they can face consequences for their behaviour,” Tory said.
“I strongly believe this is something all governments have to work together to urgently address with social and mental health experts.”
Toronto is getting what it voted for – diversity in abundance
It will be up to a coroner to determine how an elderly woman died before Toronto Police decide whether to turn this case over to Homicide detectives.
In the meantime, police have a man in custody being investigated for aggravated assault — but any pending charge could potentially be upgraded as the investigation unfolds and cause of death is determined.
“Conceptions of White is an exhibition offering context and nuanced perspectives that help viewers grapple with contemporary configurations of White identity. The exhibition examines the origins, travel, and present reality of “Whiteness” as a concept and a racial invention that classifies degrees of civility/humanity.
Select historical objects and artworks illustrate White origin myths within their historical context, revealing Whiteness as a North American, settler-colonial invention of the seventeenth century, created alongside “Blackness” and “Aboriginality.”
John Tory raised our taxes to fund this racist shit.
h/t Sweetpea
Toronto is one of the worst cities in the world for traffic, according to a new report issued by a traffic analytics company.
The report, published by INRIX this month, draws on four years of mobility and anonymized GPS probe data to identify traffic patterns in various cities across the world.
Toronto was ranked seventh globally in the world and first in Canada for worst traffic, with commuters losing an average of 118 hours on Greater Toronto Area roads and highways to congestion in 2022.
There are troubling headwinds for Toronto’s pre-construction real estate market as buyers are increasingly worried they’re unable to close their purchase agreements due to significantly higher interest rates.
Some realtors have noticed a rise in inquiries for what are known as assignment sales — a legal transaction in which the original pre-construction condo buyer transfers the rights and obligations of the purchase agreement to another buyer.
Calls from concerned buyers have doubled in the last few months for Simeon Papailias, managing partner of Royal LePage’s REC Canada, as many are wondering if they can get out of a purchase agreement with the developer.
The Home Vacancy Tax kicks in with a February deadline to register your residence’s status.
And of course Jello Tory has announced a BIG TAX increase to cover his spendthrift ways…
Tory calls for big tax hike as spending continues to climb
Since John Tory’s first budget proposal was presented to council, the cost of running Toronto has gone up by 40%. It’s not clear what all that new spending is buying given the state of the city, but those are the cold hard facts when examining the two budget proposals.
Has anyone else noted the Scarborough Health Networks fundraising shakedown commercial?
You’re a racist if you donate your money to anyone else but the SHN.
Welcome to Toronto a Democrat run city in Canada!
Swedish fast-fashion retail giant H&M has permanently shuttered one of its first Toronto locations after more than a decade.
The store, at 427-429 Queen St. W., first opened in August 2007 in Toronto’s trendy Queen West neighbourhood, well known as a shopping, nightlife and tourist destination.
The news of its closure follows a spate of popular retail-chain departures on the famous Queen West strip throughout the pandemic, including stores like the Gap, Le Château, GUESS, EB Games and NYX.
I am rarely downtown anymore, perhaps I’m due for a drive through just to get a current sense of things, closest I’ve been is King & Cowan a couple of times of late.
I wonder if this is the start of the world class urban decline downtown Toronto Liberals have been striving for.
And who cares about them anyway?
Toronto needs a revised motto. How bout’ “We hate you if you’re not diverse like us.”
Bail hearings are scheduled for later this month for four of eight girls facing second-degree murder charges in the death of a Toronto homeless man.
Police have said that three 13-year-olds, three 14-year-olds, and two 16-year-olds allegedly swarmed and stabbed a 59-year-old man in the city’s downtown core in mid-December.
One teen is set to appear in court for a bail hearing on Jan. 20, two others on Jan. 25, and another on Jan. 27.
Mayor John Tory announced Tuesday that he plans to increase the police budget by almost $50 million this year, a move he said was necessary to keep communities safe, but which immediately sparked opposition from critics who say more officers aren’t the answer.
At a press conference at city hall, Tory said the additional $48.3 million in police funding would represent a 4.3 per cent increase compared to the force’s 2022 budget.
The money will go toward initiatives like expanding the Toronto Police Neighbourhood Community Officer program, and hiring 200 officers, the mayor said.
In recent months, Toronto’s transit system has ramped up service, students have returned to in-person classes and daycares are up and running once again.
Things almost seem like they did before COVID-19 changed the world. But despite the gradual return to normal, you might notice the city feels emptier.
A November report from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Data Lab analyzed foot traffic trends in cities across the country from January 2020 to September 2022. It found foot traffic in Toronto’s downtown core is 46 per cent lower than before the pandemic hit — a stark contrast to places like Brampton, Brantford and Barrie, where foot traffic actually increased.
Toronto is a pretty dull, Karen’y city and its downtown is unattractive and cold especially in winter.
I don’t blame anyone for not returning.
It doesn’t take much to best living in the downtown core.
Just a place where you could afford to live rather than subsist would be a good start.
A park or ravine without or at least with fewer addicts, drunks and the mentally ill.
A place where it still makes sense to report a crime.
A place where the municipal government and school board hasn’t declared a DEI or CRT race war on you and your family.
A place that hasn’t declared war on your car.
A place where you knew your taxes weren’t being wasted on reparations for minor attracted illegal alien transgendered cannibal animists on bail for gun crimes.
A place where you didn’t have to dream like this.
For 50 years, Connie Harrison has taken the TTC. She first came to Toronto in 1972, back when the city had those “really funny old streetcars,” and has used public transit ever since, both to get around and to explore new areas of the city.
But during the pandemic, something changed. One day while riding her local bus, Harrison noticed a group of what appeared to be intoxicated people outwardly discussing killing someone. Elsewhere on the system, she began to see more and more people “out of control,” acting threatening and aggressive, seemingly without reprimand.
