Toronto: a city where what’s old and what’s new are often bundled up in the same topic. Take the topic of bike lanes. The mayor and the premier have been fighting over this for some time, yet it stays in the news. Having recently been reelected in a landslide win, Premier Ford is expected to soon rip some of them out. Meanwhile, Mayor Chow now is planning to expand them in other ways.

There are plenty advocating for more bike lanes. Meanwhile, there are a handful of toronto businessmen and more advocating the other way. Personally I think we need more bike infrastructure, if for the food delivery people on bikes alone. Is ripping up bike lanes a good look for the city? No it is not.

Another old thing in the news is the Santa Claus parade. It has fallen on such bad times that there was a a “go fund me” set up for it. At least for 2024 it was saved, thanks to funding from the Federal government. Here’s hoping it gets more funding for 2025 and beyond.

Another old thing getting new life is the TTC. In this case, the TTC is getting some newness in the form of a $2.3 billion fleet of modern subway trains. That’s a welcome injection of goodness into transit. As for other transit developments, it looks the Eglinton LRT may open in July. Amazing. Not so amazing is the ripped up streets at Yonge and Eglinton. Looking forward to the day that type of activity in my neighborhood is old news. It’s just one thing after another in midtown Toronto.

The restaurant scene in Toronto is a great mixture of old and new. I started thinking about that when I read this piece on the favorite old restos of Toronto chefs. From that I went down a rabbithole and checked out the 10 oldest restaurants in Toronto, then I read this piece on old school Toronto restaurants. Followed up with this, on the oldest restaurants in toronto you can still visit. And since I couldn’t get enough, I watched this entire blogTO slideshow on old school restaurants in Toronto.

Of cours there’s lots of great new places to dine. Check out thislist of  the best new Toronto restos for 2024. I’ve been to General Public, and it’s great, and I want to get to Linny’s soon. There’s also a number of places on this best of  Winterlicious 2025 that I need to see. You should go to see them too, if you can.

In other developments over the last 6 months:

• Toronto was walloped with a lot of snow this winter, taking days to remove it all.
• Toronto was also hit with a 6.9% property tax hike.
• A plane burst into flames at Pearson! Fortunately no one died. Here’s what we know about the flight over Canada that rolled over on the runway.
• Big real estate moves are going on at nearby (to me) Merton St. Meanwhile more Toronto offices are being converted into residences.
• A new train, direct from Toronto to Muskoka, is in the mix.
• Also new is this new waterway springing up in Toronto.
• One of my favorite buildings and cinemas in Toronto, Hot Docs, is up for sale. Hoping we don’t lose it. Unlike one of my favorite old book stores, which we did lose. It’s featured here in this great piece on Brittnell’s. I miss it.
• Also building related: Toronto has seen a the recent plunge in rent prices.

Finally, happy 50th anniversary to courage my love in Kensington. It’s not just a store name: it’s also a good commandment. Have courage! Thanks for reading my random Toronto notes. I’ll pen another one in September.