A Funkaoshi Production

Police violence visualized using Google street view and maps.

He’s also got a book deal. Good for him.

My friend Gary and his brother opened up a board game cafe right on Queen St. West. Nice.

Aziz Ansari co-wrote a book about romance. Weird. Here he writes briefly about his parent’s arranged marriage.

Today I learned about Soul & Sorcery.

John Tory is good at being wrong about things. Hopefully he’ll change his mind on this issue, but it seems like he’s in the pocket of various lobbyists.

Booyaka!

In a single month, the N.S.A.’s invasive call-tracking program was declared unlawful by the courts and disowned by Congress. After a White House-appointed oversight board investigation found that this program had not stopped a single terrorist attack, even the president who once defended its propriety and criticized its disclosure has now ordered it terminated. This is the power of an informed public.

“The campaign to rebuild the Gardiner is a highly organized, choreographed affair.” Fuck the Gardiner.

All too often, Toronto’s media treats the suburbs and their large immigrant and racialized communities like some undiscovered country. Last March, when U.S. economist Tyler Cowen declared that Scarborough had the best ethnic food on the continent, media like the Toronto Star, City News, and CTV reacted predictably: with some surprise (mystifying to anyone who’s ever eaten east of Victoria Park) and some self-congratulation (psst: occasional “exotic” restaurant reviews don’t scratch the surface of the suburban food scene). Meanwhile, here at the Ethnic Aisle we were more than a bit baffled.

The suburbs (i.e. “the 905” plus Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke) are often treated like they aren’t really part of Toronto, or real at all. We’ve always wanted to challenge this bias. It’s nonsensical. Thousands of people work west of Kipling but live east of Yonge, or shop south of Dundas and live north of Steeles, crossing invisible borders every day. Mainly, we like good stories and the GTA is full of stories of art, and murder, and terrible transit and, yes, really good food.

Welcome to the East to West issue of the Ethnic Aisle, in which we delve into the challenges and joys of life in Toronto’s suburbs.

Another great set of articles from the Ethnic Aisle. They have started a Patreon campaign to help fund the work they do. You should contribute!

Really weird art project by Kyle McDonald.

What a crazy goal!

In an unexpected moment of candour, a police officer confessed to me that nothing is likely to change on Millwood until a child is killed. The officer cited the death of Georgia Walsh, the 7-year-old girl who was hit and killed while crossing an intersection in Leaside in July 2014. Residents had been clamouring for a solution for years. A month after Walsh was hit, the city implemented a right-turn-on-red restriction at the corner where she died.

This article is pretty depressing.

If there is one measure guaranteed to reduce pedestrian deaths, it’s slowing cars down. When a pedestrian is struck at a speed of 50 kilometres per hour, the fatality rate is 85 per cent; when the speed is lowered to 40, it’s 25 per cent. In separate reports in 2012, Ontario’s chief coroner and Toronto’s chief medical officer recommended that the city-wide limit drop to 40 kilometres per hour, and on residential streets to 30. Denzil ­Minnan-Wong, then-chair of the public works committee, suggested that the CMO find another line of work.

Denzil ­Minnan-Wong is such a dirt bag piece of shit.