Our next Making Room event is a special one. In 1973, Mitchell Cohen led tenant marches in Montreal. Since then, he's built nearly 40,000 homes across the GTA including Regent Park's revitalization. On June 23rd, he takes the stage himself in song and stories, with a full band

Just outside downtown Vancouver, the Squamish Nation is building one of the most remarkable housing projects in the world: Senakw, which will eventually house 9,000 people. Because it's on First Nations reserve land, Senakw is being built without zoning rules, height limits, parking minimums, or extended public consultations. The only thing they kept was Vancouver's safety standards. worksinprogress.co/issue/how… - The project singlehandedly accounts for 7% of the entire city's new housing between now and 2033. - It's expected to generate around C$10 billion in total income, equivalent to more than two million dollars per member of the Squamish Nation. - The Squamish people approved the project in two referendums that passed with landslide support. Apart from just being really cool, Senakw shows two things that have wider relevance for getting things built. The first is that microdemocracy can deliver support for development if the decisionmakers will benefit from it. This is one example of many that devolving decisions *down* can work at least as well as moving them *up* to higher levels of government. The second is that microdemocracy can bring wider legitimacy. Vancouver's city government *could* have blocked Senakw if it had tried – it is notoriously sceptical of projects like this. The fact that it actually supported the project may show that local self-government can deliver upzoning that has the consent of the wider community, without the need for 'stakeholder consultations'. The fact that the Squamish are a First Nations group does complicate this, though. The story of how Senakw got built is pretty incredible, since much of the Squamish people's 20th Century was spent fighting to get land back that had been confiscated from them illegally in 1913. It was thanks to one Squamish elder (the "Keeper of the Names") and Catholic church records that their property was restored to them. Read the story of Senakw now at Works in Progress, and in our new print issue, arriving at subscribers' doors this week.

Progress on the tallest academic mass timber building in Canada! 14 floors at U of T

Two years ago I took a new route to Do West Fest and saw a sign in a corner store window. Today I surprised the owner of Finch Store with a silly little gesture. In turn she insisted I pose with her first-of-its-kind-under-the-new-rules business liscense.

A new @pewtrusts study finds that infill housing near jobs, stores, and transit costs governments ~$21,000 less per home to serve, cuts long term infrastructure maintenance costs in half, and generates 13% more in annual property tax revenue per acre than sprawl.

My letter to Ontario’s Minister of Finance regarding the need to support the activation of vacant redevelopment sites: Given the challenges the housing market is facing, there are a growing number of approved development sites that are sitting idle for years at a time. Vacant sites diminish the vibrancy of our main streets, reduce neighbourhood safety, generate no economic activity and adversely impact neighbouring businesses. Community-oriented interim uses, including pop-up recreation activations, offer a practical solution. Where they have been implemented, they have demonstrated clear benefits for streets, safety, and local economies. However, a critical policy gap is penalizing these interim uses…

[Register NOW] Mount Dennis - Affordable & Workforce Housing Walking Tour (Saturday, June 6th  •  NOON - 2:00 PM). Event LINK - eventbrite.ca/e/mount-dennis…

Hey - I think this makes a tonne of sense and is very high leverage as far as marginal policy updates go: partywallpermission.com/

I spent some time looking at the company behind a massive lobbying push to have Toronto's island airport expanded. What I found was a deep tangle of corporate and PR webs that all obscured a relatively simple truth. thestar.com/opinion/star-col…

Jeebus! 🤯 It's hard to see how any honest politician can now support moving even a step further towards commissioning a jet runway PROPOSAL for the Island, let alone actually lifting the ban on jets. End this insanity NOW! (1/3)

Who's behind the massive lobbying campaign to expand the island airport? What I discovered should worry us all trib.al/3EPUcXX

Ontario led the declines across the board in residential construction, Statistics Canada data shows. globalnews.ca/news/11863110/…

RSVP Here: luma.com/57fce6kz

Our next Making Room event is a special one. In 1973, Mitchell Cohen led tenant marches in Montreal. Since then, he's built nearly 40,000 homes across the GTA including Regent Park's revitalization. On June 23rd, he takes the stage himself in song and stories, with a full band

RT @TTCNewsroom: #TTC is deeply saddened to learn that former City Councillor and TTC Board Chair Howard Moscoe passed away this morning. O…

To paraphrase from a different context: "If you can keep it"

Was on Church Street last night to celebrate the pedestrian pilot passing council and saw what originally inspired me to propose pedestrianizing it in the first place—sidewalks so crowded that spill into the parking lane!

Open Data Jams are coming to a @TOtechweek near you, and we mean BUSINESS We're focusing on the entrepreneurs and enterprises building on the city - if you're into open data, business, or civic space, come through! May 28th Metro Hall luma.com/jfot7afn