Frances Nunziata sounded the death knell of any potential major cuts to the Toronto Public Library today when she told Inside Toronto that she will not be supporting branch closures, period. Not in her ward, not in other parts of the city.

Earlier this week, Torontoist reported that Councillor Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) was dismayed because he perceived there to be more library branches in his area of Etobicoke than Tim Hortons. Though the actual numbers don’t support Mr. Ford’s claim, would it horrible if it was true? Through collections and outreach programs, the Toronto Public Library’s 99 branches provide more brain food than all of the double-doubles and boxes of Timbits sold throughout the city.

In today's weird and wonderful Urban Planner: visit a brothel with Anusree Roy, play some sexy bingo with Good For Her, catch a special performance of Tom Waits' music with the multi-instrumental Orchestre d'Hommes-Orchestres, and hear a space expert discuss his book about life beyond our solar system—aliens!

   City council voted 32–13 this afternoon to pass the City’s operating budget for 2011—the only year worth talking about, if you ask Councillor and Speaker Frances Nunziata (Ward 11, York South-Weston). As part of that decision, council voted 19–25 not to give the Toronto Public Library the money it needs to keep the branch [...]

Douglas Coupland could have taken better stock of his surroundings before he spoke. The writer of Generation X and jPod was on stage in the Toronto Reference Library’s new event space, the Bram and Bluma Appel Salon, for the space’s inaugural event on September 23, the first of three planned installments of The Writer’s Room, [...]

Why travel? Especially in a city like Toronto, where we can experience so many cultures just by walking through any of the dozens of ethnically-diverse neighbourhoods? What, at its essence, makes traveling to Italy different than drinking prosecco in Little Italy? What’s the difference, really, between hanging with the Dutch and eating Dutch chocolate ice [...]