Be ruthless with the systems and kind to the people - Michael Brooks

Joined April 2011
Index of threads describing Toronto's enormous urban change:
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Urban Cayman retweeted
ok we defeated that cornball and now we focus on telling olivia chow to stop overfunding the cops
#BREAKING: Olivia Chow re-elected as Toronto’s mayor. cp24.com/local/toronto/2026/…
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It's so painful to see catenary at St. Clair and Oakwood. We used to be a real City, I can't believe Olivia tore this all out.
Did you know Toronto used blue buses from Edmonton in the early 90s?
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Urban Cayman retweeted
Brian, Chow took office in July 2023. Your own data shows crime surged under Tory, peaked in '23, then declined in '24 and '25 So why is Chow responsible for the increase she inherited, but gets no credit for the decline? Is this journalism, or just a grudge with a spreadsheet?
Chow and her supporters keep saying crime is down. Many in the media foolishly report this even though they could look at the numbers themselves. Year to date, more crime on the major crime indicators than the same time last year.
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We don’t agree with Nick Kouvalis on much, but we do agree politicians need to have principles and that Brad Bradford has none. Brad went from a progressive who voted to defund the police to courting MAGA supporters. Why should you trust his word? Listen to Kouvalis yourself ⬇️
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Uzbekistan doing things with railways Canada can’t even dream of…
The new face of #Uzbekistan Railways in 2026 - it's very modern & impressive 🚆🇺🇿 #NonstopEurotrip
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You know who *does* know that difference? People with millions, hundreds of millions, and billions of dollars who very much want Brad to win.
Replying to @g_meslin
A vulnerability in our politics is that most people only have experience dealing with hundreds or thousands of dollars, and are not easily able to conceptualize the difference between that and billions.
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This is Sherbourne and Dundas. Pick any of North America’s ten largest cities and I’ll show you a corner like this. You haven’t exposed Toronto. You’ve filmed people struggling and dressed it up as commentary.
This is the Toronto you would not see in the Travel Brochures.
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Urban Cayman retweeted
I've generally avoided commenting on the municipal race in Toronto, but this claim touches a nerve. Bradford's approach is pretty much the opposite of financially reasonable, taking a tight budgetary situation and dramatically worsening it on both the expenditure & revenue sides.
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I fucking hope so
Paris today. Your city tomorrow?
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Honestly if I didn't know that this video was posted by a Maple MAGA person, I would have assumed that this video was praising Toronto's subway system for being clean, quiet, spacious, orderly, used well, etc.
TORONTO SUBWAY St Patrick to Osgoode Station 1pm Thursday October 15 2026
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It’s hard to top Toronto media framing on new projects, but to be fair, the Bay Area is the NIMBY GOAT
View from I-80 will be very different if controversial developer moves ahead sfgate.com/local/article/sf-…
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Thanks for the bulletin, Jacob. Cool entry into a Toronto issue since Tent City (look it up) You may not be aware of this, but many of us fought during ten years of austerity budgets in Toronto for protection of unhoused ppl and increases to social services funding which did not happen until this Mayor, and while still not adequate, homelessness rates increased nearly everywhere else in Ontario in 2025, but they dropped significantly in Toronto.
To potential supporters of @oliviachow: Today is the first chilly day of the year in Toronto. It is 7:45 AM and I’m on the TTC and there are three poor unhoused souls languishing on two separate cars on the trains. They need help. No one is helping them. People, (mostly marathon runners) plug their noses and move away. Whose job is it to help them? There are many, but chief among them is the CEO of the city. That’s the mayor. Olivia Chow hasn’t taken transit in three years. So it’s no wonder this goes on without end. We need change. Please vote for Brad Bradford @BradMBradford for mayor.
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Urban Cayman retweeted
Internal docs show MTO staff warned against Ford govt’s bike lane removal: “No empirical evidence that ties bike lanes as the sole source of congestion, nor is there data that shows removing bike lanes help with better traffic flow” thestar.com/news/gta/doug-fo… #onpoli #bikeTO #TOpoli
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Vande Bharat Express Crossing World's Highest Rail Bridge, India 🇮🇳🔥
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Urban Cayman retweeted
If you live outside of Toronto, the Ontario government is blowing $50 million of you tax dollars on ripping bike lanes out of Toronto. This is money that could be spent on keeping your local hospital's ER open or fixing your local school's roof.
Work to restore vehicle lanes on Bloor Street West was scheduled to begin tonight but was halted by protesters. Make no mistake: these bike lanes are coming out. We have a clear mandate and we will deliver.
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Urban Cayman retweeted
Legends #biketo
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Your tax dollars hard at work making sure your tax dollars aren't blocked from being wasted
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Urban Cayman retweeted
Provincial Minister from Brampton, who ignored 19,000 comments received during consultation as well as internal advice against bike lane removals, ‘has a clear mandate’ to remove local bike lanes on city streets in a municipality where his government lost 15 of 25 ridings.
Work to restore vehicle lanes on Bloor Street West was scheduled to begin tonight but was halted by protesters. Make no mistake: these bike lanes are coming out. We have a clear mandate and we will deliver.
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Urban Cayman retweeted
Looks like the cyclists have won round one... #biketo Video from Tom Flood on bsky
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Construction trucks leaving Bloor and Islington area after being successfully deterred from starting work on removing bike lanes in Toronto by a large protest.
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