Extra, Extra: People Against the Quarry, Apps for the City

By Meg Campbell

Every weekday’s end, Extra, Extra collects just about everything you ought to care about or ought not miss.

• This video about the proposed mega quarry in Melancthon, Ont., was created by Kate Heming and Andrew Sheppard to highlight the work of the North Dufferin Agricultural Community Taskforce, a citizens’ group fighting the project. For more background, read Hamutal Dotan’s comprehensive report on the quarry and its potential impact and check out photos of a recent protest. Follow @nomegaquarry on Twitter to keep up with developments.[via @kateheming]
• Those heading out to explore the city’s usually off-limits interiors this weekend might need some help navigating. To the rescue comes Doors Open Mobile – Toronto , an app developed using Toronto’s Open Data initiative, that will guide Doors Open explorers through the streets of Toronto with its “Map It” and “Around Me” features. For more information, visit the Doors Open Mobile’s site. Read our top picks from this year’s Doors Open options here.
• Ever get that urge to hop into a time machine and see what your ‘hood looked like last century, or the century before? The ZeitagTO app, created by Gary Blakely, lets you do just that, sort of. Users can pull up photos from the City of Toronto Archives, who cooperated with Blakeley for the project, that correspond to their current location. The app is still being built, and there are currently about 500 images in its database. Blakeley said he hopes history and heritage enthusiasts will lend their expertise to the project.
• Deputy Mayor and Councillor Doug Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre) wants the City to redraw its ward boundaries, which have stayed the same since they were established in 2000. As the Globe notes, adjustments are made to federal and provincial ridings once a decade, to account for shifts in population. The suggestion is now in the hands of the city clerk, who could officially make the recommendation.
• Toronto firm sustainable.TO Architecture + Building won an impressive international design prize this week, reports Urban Toronto. The “Passive House” competition challenged architects from around the globe to design a home fit for the climate of New Orleans that would use a little energy as possible by applying the Passive House Standard. Sustainable.TO’s design, the “Low Cost, Low Energy House,” was selected as the best from a pool of 65 entries.

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