A lotof good events have happened in Toronto since my last newsletter in September. Some bad, too.

First up, the biggest of good events: It. has. finally. happened. Finally. After more than a decade of delays, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT launched in February! I honestly wondered if it would ever open. People didn’t know what to believe about possible opening dates. But it happened. After 15 years of disruption on Eglinton, it happened.

Should there be an investigation into this construction fiasco, given it only took 6 years to build the Chunnel and 40 months to build the CN Tower? I think so, though it’s doubtful. I don’t even think residents will get an apology. People like Doug Ford and others will just shrug and move on or say we should be grateful, I guess. As someone who had to live with this mess for all of that time, I am feeling disgruntled and I expect to stay that way for awhile.

In other transit events, this was good: the Gardiner Expressway reopens over a year ahead of schedule. Yay! Not sure if it is good or bad but the Dundas subway station just changed its name. However I noticed that Dundas West still is…Dundas West. Perhaps that will change some time in the next 15 years.

In non-transit events, the other big bad thing that happened since my last newsletter was the Toronto Blue Jays’ heartbreaking loss of the World Series to the LA Dodgers. Hey, I am glad for Los Angeles: that city has suffered much recently and could use the win. But I would have been delighted if we had won it. I got to go to the Skydome and see the Jays win the last two World Series: I would have loved to see them win again, even if — like everyone else in Toronto — I was watching it on TV.

For more on that plus other good things that happened in 2025, go here.

Another bad thing that happened in the last while was eight current and former Toronto police officers bein charged in the Project South probe as part of an organized crime bust. You know things are bad when it gets worldwide attention in newspapers like The Guardian.

Homelessness is not a new thing in Toronto. There’s never enough resources, it seems. To see what I mean, you can check here and see: Daily Shelter & Overnight Service Occupancy & Capacity – City of Toronto Open Data Portal over at open.toronto.ca. However, one good thing that happened was the Slaight family donated $25M to fight Toronto homelessness.

The Ford government recently privatized the blue box recycling program in Toronto. It was bad at first, with many complaining about the botched roll out of it. Even on my street things were not picked up for a time. It seems to have sorted itself out though.

Finally, I must say, it’s been a winter. I am looking forward to spring. But before I go, here are some good Toronto links I want to share:

• This is new and cool: the Forma Toronto, a new set of King West Condos by Frank Gehry.
• The Cumberland Terrace is old but still cool.
• This is a good glimpse into Sunnybrook hospital, a place I’ve been more than I care to say. It’s a great hospital though, I will say that.

See you ’round six months from now. In the meantime, go see the Cumberland Terrace while you still can.