🌡️ Clear skies and temperatures in the low-20s should greet you for the rest of the day. The weekend could get a little wet and see the thermostat drop a touch lower.
🅿️ Won’t somebody think of the plight of the poor car? The city wants to develop a bunch of parking lots for housing, given the whole housing crisis thing. The Globe and Mail obtained a list of the 130 sites under consideration and used it as a springboard to ponder whether parking or people matter more.
🐦 Toronto is the city of raccoons but those pesky rats of the sky also plague the city’s streets. The city’s pigeon birth control program — which laces food with a non-lethal drug that messes with the egg's ability to hatch — is making progress.
📚 Me fail English? That’s unpossible! Toronto’s EQAO results show kids are having trouble with reading, writing and math.
🚶♂️ The stretch of walkway underneath the Gardiner between Bathurst and Spadina is getting a makeover to make it a place where people can do cool stuff.
🍽️ More and more Torontonians are treating themselves to solo restaurant experiences and the industry expects the trend to continue.
🍕 Badiali’s, the legendary pizza joint near Trinity Bellwoods, is opening a second location in the Annex. I live close to the original one and welcome this news, assuming it makes the lines shorter.
🌱 Toronto wants to be carbon neutral by 2040. Doug Ford wants to limit the city’s ability to build bike lanes. How will the latter affect the former?
🏗️ Housing starts are down in the city. The typical story of regulatory hurdles, high fees, and high interest rates are behind the lag.
🏟️ This might already be the case, but Toronto could become ToRogersonto (a bit of a stretch) with the latest news of a new Rogers Stadium at Downsview. Monetizing entertainment venues is the name of the game even as some historic venues — like the Danforth Music Hall and Massey Hall — don’t have corporate sponsors preceding their original names.
🦓 The Toronto Zoo is using an autonomous, 3D-printed robot painted like a zebra to deliver food to the animals.
Commuter corner
The TTC provided a handy map of all the reduced speed zones. For those who aren’t aware, they’re seriously slowing commutes. It’s particularly bad between Sheppard West and Dupont stations.
No subway service from Woodbine to Kennedy from Friday at 11 p.m. to Monday at 6 a.m.
Track work means service from Victoria Park to Kennedy stations ends at 11 p.m. until Oct. 4.
Starting at 11 p.m. this week, southbound trains between Finch and Sheppard will use the northbound platform at Downsview Park and Sheppard West Station. Northbound trains will turn back towards Vaughan Metropolitan Centre from Sheppard West Station and use the northbound platform.
Events, dear boy, events
The Word on the Street Festival celebrates all things literary at Queen’s Park on Saturday and Sunday.
The Toronto Garlic Festival will shut down Spadina between Davenport and Dupont from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The Fall Home Show runs at the Enercare Centre today through Sunday.
If you’re hungry for just about any type of food, Sunday’s Tastes of Home Festival at Evergreen Brickworks has you covered.
Oktoberfest starts today and runs all day Saturday.
The Latin Parade and Fall Fiesta parade starts at Yonge and Bloor at 11 a.m. on Saturday before setting up shop in Yonge-Dundas Square for the rest of the weekend.
The largest vintage clothing sale in the country takes over the Queen Elizabeth Building this weekend.
Grammy-winning Canadian DJ Kaytranada is at Budweiser Stage tonight. I’ll see you there.
Enjoy an open house and free concert from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thompson Hall this Saturday starting at 10 a.m.
Carlton Cinema hosts the Toronto Hungarian Film Festival today through Sunday.
Hit up the Hillcrest TTC complex near Bathurst and Dupont if you want to see some old-timey streetcars on Saturday. The transit yard is celebrating its 100th anniversary and opening its doors to the public.