Malcolm MacMahon
@amacmahon.bsky.social
Writer, public employee, cyclist
You were a huge part of this! Staff are allowed to be experts but not advocates, and councillors are afraid to advocate, so advocacy falls on unreasonable people. As Shaw says, "Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Thank you for being unreasonable about neighbourhood retail!
November 14, 2025 at 6:10 PM
You were a huge part of this! Staff are allowed to be experts but not advocates, and councillors are afraid to advocate, so advocacy falls on unreasonable people. As Shaw says, "Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Thank you for being unreasonable about neighbourhood retail!
Atlantic Canada has public school rates around 98%. Unfortunately Canada wide that number is only ~91% and has been slowly dropping. Rookie numbers, gotta hit 100%.
November 14, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Atlantic Canada has public school rates around 98%. Unfortunately Canada wide that number is only ~91% and has been slowly dropping. Rookie numbers, gotta hit 100%.
I honestly cannot wait for John's TVO article on abolishing the TPA. Heck, make it a book, I'll buy it.
November 14, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I honestly cannot wait for John's TVO article on abolishing the TPA. Heck, make it a book, I'll buy it.
It's a decent kludge given the circumstances. May 1000 Badialis bloom in Beaconsfield.
Disappointing to see the Community Streets map doesn't have anything in Cabbagetown. I guess it's not a community!
Disappointing to see the Community Streets map doesn't have anything in Cabbagetown. I guess it's not a community!
November 14, 2025 at 12:56 PM
It's a decent kludge given the circumstances. May 1000 Badialis bloom in Beaconsfield.
Disappointing to see the Community Streets map doesn't have anything in Cabbagetown. I guess it's not a community!
Disappointing to see the Community Streets map doesn't have anything in Cabbagetown. I guess it's not a community!
The emails suggest that Summers has an attraction to smaller numbers.
November 13, 2025 at 6:54 PM
The emails suggest that Summers has an attraction to smaller numbers.
You have to follow Robert's Rules of Vibing.
November 13, 2025 at 6:50 PM
You have to follow Robert's Rules of Vibing.
@stateofthecity.bsky.social is proven right once again. So much of our municipal code and bylaws are made up on the floor of council with no public rationale in any reports. Tough for voters, reporters, businesses, political parties. No way to run a city.
November 13, 2025 at 5:07 PM
@stateofthecity.bsky.social is proven right once again. So much of our municipal code and bylaws are made up on the floor of council with no public rationale in any reports. Tough for voters, reporters, businesses, political parties. No way to run a city.
Huge congratulations to you and your team. A bit shocking how the built form here is still mostly bungalows at the intersection of two major streets. Hopefully many more projects like yours in the years ahead.
November 12, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Huge congratulations to you and your team. A bit shocking how the built form here is still mostly bungalows at the intersection of two major streets. Hopefully many more projects like yours in the years ahead.
I often think about the population of Toronto if the prevailing built form was east-york semis, or Cabbagetown row housing instead of bungalows. It's so much denser than the inner suburbs. I'm thinking 6-8 million?
November 12, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I often think about the population of Toronto if the prevailing built form was east-york semis, or Cabbagetown row housing instead of bungalows. It's so much denser than the inner suburbs. I'm thinking 6-8 million?
Wonder if garbage AI campaign will sway Saxe's vote again?
November 11, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Wonder if garbage AI campaign will sway Saxe's vote again?
Almond milk is lightly flavored water that takes a million gallons of water to make. You could probably make it with sugar, artificial almond flavour, and xanthan gum, and most people wouldn't know the difference. Crazy product.
November 11, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Almond milk is lightly flavored water that takes a million gallons of water to make. You could probably make it with sugar, artificial almond flavour, and xanthan gum, and most people wouldn't know the difference. Crazy product.
Could this be the nuclear option that finally decides the daycare issue in Cabbagetown? It'll be a neighbourhood full of daycares on top of pizza parlours.
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Could this be the nuclear option that finally decides the daycare issue in Cabbagetown? It'll be a neighbourhood full of daycares on top of pizza parlours.
There are YIMBYs in Britain (I think mostly centre-right to Libertarian) that advocate for street votes, because getting a ward to rezone is so hard. This isn't ideal, but the zoning map already looks like the map of the Holy Roman Empire, so it's a lateral step.
November 10, 2025 at 9:12 PM
There are YIMBYs in Britain (I think mostly centre-right to Libertarian) that advocate for street votes, because getting a ward to rezone is so hard. This isn't ideal, but the zoning map already looks like the map of the Holy Roman Empire, so it's a lateral step.
We should heritage designate the gas station.
November 8, 2025 at 9:35 PM
We should heritage designate the gas station.
The theory of induced demand for corner store pizza parlours. You think "oh, I'll open a different pizza parlour to decrease congestion at Badialis", but it instantly fills back up and now you have two lines.
November 8, 2025 at 8:05 PM
The theory of induced demand for corner store pizza parlours. You think "oh, I'll open a different pizza parlour to decrease congestion at Badialis", but it instantly fills back up and now you have two lines.
KING-BIG is going to make a lot of tradespeople very rich, and a lot of condo board members very stressed.
November 7, 2025 at 1:50 PM
KING-BIG is going to make a lot of tradespeople very rich, and a lot of condo board members very stressed.
Might be less true for rental developers and pension funds who have to manage the buildings long term, if there is a good business case for the green roof. The brad lambs of the world will pocket the difference, though.
November 6, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Might be less true for rental developers and pension funds who have to manage the buildings long term, if there is a good business case for the green roof. The brad lambs of the world will pocket the difference, though.
I think this is slightly less true out east. In Alberta a backbencher and party leader will get the same result in a given riding. Out east there are big swings in ridings between elections, and candidate quality matters.
November 5, 2025 at 9:37 PM
I think this is slightly less true out east. In Alberta a backbencher and party leader will get the same result in a given riding. Out east there are big swings in ridings between elections, and candidate quality matters.
I've worked with lots of politicians who are good communicators, strong on the radio or a talk show, and even they struggle in a close-up. It's a very real skill that takes a long time to develop.
November 4, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I've worked with lots of politicians who are good communicators, strong on the radio or a talk show, and even they struggle in a close-up. It's a very real skill that takes a long time to develop.
I think she may have deleted this one, but lots of those other stories were as bad or worse! It's a vile meltdown.
November 4, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I think she may have deleted this one, but lots of those other stories were as bad or worse! It's a vile meltdown.
His mom turned down directing a Harry Potter movie to direct a film with a $9.5m dollar budget. She'd need some level of comfort to refuse a big pay day, but also, importantly, she didn't take the big pay day!
November 3, 2025 at 5:26 PM
His mom turned down directing a Harry Potter movie to direct a film with a $9.5m dollar budget. She'd need some level of comfort to refuse a big pay day, but also, importantly, she didn't take the big pay day!
As a class, the top 10% should pay way more tax, and social democracy is impossible without it. But I think many broad problems - collapse of media, deindustrialization - is more the fault of 1% and billionaire class than PMCs and small business owners.
November 2, 2025 at 7:54 PM
As a class, the top 10% should pay way more tax, and social democracy is impossible without it. But I think many broad problems - collapse of media, deindustrialization - is more the fault of 1% and billionaire class than PMCs and small business owners.
As a downtowner I wish they'd done the opt-in compromise again, but the major streets compromise is probably the better option. And because so much opposition was coming from Beaconsfield and downtown neighbourhoods, the opt-in could fail too on weird gamesmanship.
October 30, 2025 at 10:21 PM
As a downtowner I wish they'd done the opt-in compromise again, but the major streets compromise is probably the better option. And because so much opposition was coming from Beaconsfield and downtown neighbourhoods, the opt-in could fail too on weird gamesmanship.
Innovative had them at 14% in 2020, when their 2023 result ended up being 0.25%. Albertans forget how cooked the party is between elections.
October 30, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Innovative had them at 14% in 2020, when their 2023 result ended up being 0.25%. Albertans forget how cooked the party is between elections.
I guess the type of people who would normally lie to a pollster are also adamantly against Epstein? Because I think "do you want free money" would have more than 2% refusals.
October 28, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I guess the type of people who would normally lie to a pollster are also adamantly against Epstein? Because I think "do you want free money" would have more than 2% refusals.