We love the TTC—we really do—but they make it hard to like them sometimes. The Commission does a good job behind the scenes keeping an enormous fleet of vehicles running, in reasonable repair, and reasonably on time, but where they really drop the ball is when it comes to the actual transit rider. Frustratingly, they have no shortage of passionate, inventive, and resourceful riders who seem to be happily at their disposal (gratis, even!),......

Our friends over at Spacing Magazine have officially launched their foray into a whole new blogging environment, Spacing Montréal. Covering the urban environment five hours down the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, Spacing's new blog looks at many of the same public space issues in Montreal (in a refreshing mix of both official languages) that the newly-rebranded Spacing Toronto examines here. It may be worth noting the many parallels between Toronto and Montreal that make it a......

Last summer, Clear Channel Outdoor threatened to sue the Toronto Public Space Committee; last week Astral Media Outdoor threatened to sue Rami Tabello and his IllegalSigns.ca. That left one bidder for the "street furniture" contract with a relatively fuck-up-free slate. "Some people are blessed with intelligence; some people are blessed with good looks; others, with personality," Tabello wrote on Wednesday. "Then there's Nick Arakgi of CBS Outdoor. He's blessed with having competitors that are......

When Torontoist joined forces with blogTO, Reading Toronto, and Spacing and asked our readers for feedback on the TTC's website at the beginning of this month, we had absolutely no idea that we would get such an enormous response. We'd like to thank you all again for participating, and we've taken each and every one of the ideas that we received to heart. Now, it's time to move forward. The Editors and Publishers of......

One more piece of bad news for Jane Pitfield's campaign: besides having one of the worst glamour shots we've ever seen on her media page (see above), whoever's writing her blog for her is cribbing Spacing Votes, Spacing Magazine's election blog. Details are a bit scarce, but what we know for sure so far is that for several days a recent entry on Jane Pitfield's blog copied one of John Lorinc's - almost word......

These 45 seats might be empty now but come November 13 we'll get to help decide who should fill them. Yes, the municipal elections are upon us. So where should those addicted to municipal politics go for their online fix? Spacing Votes is the go-to choice. Matt Blackett and the team that brings you your favourite horizontally-inclined magazine has gathered a gaggle of bloggers, students and journalists to cover the election. They link to......

Let's start of by saying how much we love the TTC. Sure, it's expensive and plagued with corporate infighting, but it gets us where we want to go (for the most part) and there's a soothing comfort in the gentle rumble of our slick red streetcars. There's also a certain pride that many TTC riders have; a camaraderie rooted in the shared experience of Riding The Rocket -- which is why we're distraught at the......

"Overheard" on the Toronto Livejournal community: ME (On Bicycle): What kind of bike is that? COP (On horseback, in the bike lane): WHAT? ME: What kind of bike is that? COP: It's a horse. ME: Great! Get the @#$% out of the bike lane then. We have to admire this guy's moxie and want to point you to Matt Blackett's passionate rant about mounted cops from the Spacing Wire.......

The province has given municipalities the power to set closing time for bars. Toronto even gets the power to add additional taxes to booze. The province might even give this power to other municipalities if it works well in Toronto. Was there a link between the man who took a shot at police in Etobicoke yesterday and a series of recent sexual assaults? Council wants to make it illegal to harm law-enforcement animals. The law......

Is this what the Annex could've looked like? The above rendering is what the vibrant corner of Bloor and Spadina would've looked like if the Spadina Expressway had been built and just one example of how close this city came to making one of its largest planning blunders. Tomorrow night Spacing Magazine pays tribute to the people who helped stop the highway, and just how Toronto has been shaped and continues to be shaped......

Torontoist arrived late at the Toronto the Good party but spotted Mayor Miller. We also ran into Trevor, the booker at the Boat and he mentioned that the Mayor had done his best to make himself the life of the party. Here he is hugging the plush version of City Hall. We also heard from Matt Blackett that he enthusiastically fired a cannon at the Gardiner. Let's hope he's as enthusiastic about tearing it down.......

The Spacing Wire has been hard at work reporting on the destruction of the sidewalk carvings on King and Simcoe. What Torontoist finds even more interesting is how vocal the comments have been. They've called the city on its callousness in destroying one man's years of hard work, and yet another on the city's blindness to a unique, piece of urban beauty. Matt Blackett gives us an update on it here. Photo from Spacing......

Ok, the headline is a little misleading. Spacing isn't being turned into a blockbuster Hollywood film. We think the magazine would be better suited as a Canadian indie production that becomes a sleeper hit, and wonder who'd play Shawn Micallef and Matt Blackett?. But Torontoist digresses. The Spacing Magazine crew is actually putting on Public Space Invaders, a night of short films about the streets, alleyways, parks and squares we call home. Doors start......

A few reasons why you should check out In Transit, opening tonight at the Toronto Free Gallery (660 Queen St. E.) 1) More TTC love Despite jacking up the fares and crumbling infrastructure, the TTC needs more love than ever. Boy Reporter has lived in a city where the transit workers went on strike for three months and the buses stop running after 2:00AM so he appreciates the fact that the TTC hasn't done......

A handful of terrific TO photobloggers will be at the Yorkdale Apple Store tonight at 7pm to show their work and chat. It'll be a good time, and you'll finally get to check out Apple's 'genius bar,' so get yourselves there. Presenters include Gayla Trail, Matt Blackett, Adam Krawesky and TOist's own, Rannie Turingan.......

Torontoist doesn't usually have much reason to go up to the Sheppard Line or as we call it the "IKEA" line. But after hearing about the public art built in to the new stations of the Sheppard line, we decided to investigate. There's art at other TTC stations (Dupont and College comes to mind) and the work of people like Matt Blackett have made many of us see that even the utilitarian tile designs of......

The letters pages of this month's issue of Masthead magazine are positively snark-laden. Taddle Creek's Editor-in-Chief sees fit to quibble with the high praise given Spacing Mag's buttons in last mo's issue for not using an authentic TTC font. But the actual backgrounds on the pins aren't real either - Designer Matt Blackett illustrated them to represent the look of the TTC stations - so it's a bit of a silly point of contention. That......