Dan Seljak
@anotherglassbox.bsky.social
Building hater/appreciator out of Toronto. He/they. Hates your neighbourhood’s character, yes, specifically yours.
I also wanted to explicitly thank @jasonthorne.bsky.social and the EHON team for their efforts on this. It’s already a pretty thankless task dealing with resistance to change, and then a neurodivergent street photographer won’t stop yapping from the other side. Grateful for their grace + patience.
November 15, 2025 at 1:34 PM
I also wanted to explicitly thank @jasonthorne.bsky.social and the EHON team for their efforts on this. It’s already a pretty thankless task dealing with resistance to change, and then a neurodivergent street photographer won’t stop yapping from the other side. Grateful for their grace + patience.
I am really happy (not entirely but that’s a whole other tangle) with this outcome and article. My only caveat is I am given too much credit in this one.
#Breaking: Toronto will allow new corner stores in residential neighbourhoods
Toronto will allow new corner stores in residential neighbourhoods
Small-scale retail will be allowed on select 'community streets' downtown.
www.thestar.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:51 PM
I am really happy (not entirely but that’s a whole other tangle) with this outcome and article. My only caveat is I am given too much credit in this one.
Reposted by Dan Seljak
Thank you to everyone who wrote in and helped Toronto get this far, especially to @anotherglassbox.bsky.social for all of his work.
November 13, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Thank you to everyone who wrote in and helped Toronto get this far, especially to @anotherglassbox.bsky.social for all of his work.
A win! But it took thousands—including petition signatories, tour participants, emailers, Matlow’s staff, the mayor’s staff, the councillors themselves, and some I surely forgot—to keep momentum and morph this into consensus. Thank you all.
November 13, 2025 at 8:56 PM
A win! But it took thousands—including petition signatories, tour participants, emailers, Matlow’s staff, the mayor’s staff, the councillors themselves, and some I surely forgot—to keep momentum and morph this into consensus. Thank you all.
The leftist Toronto media bias towards reality has struck once again.
November 13, 2025 at 7:25 PM
The leftist Toronto media bias towards reality has struck once again.
I went back to Family Mini Mart today to show you all what neighbourhood retail actually looks like. No AI. No Music. Time to grow up.
November 12, 2025 at 2:29 AM
I went back to Family Mini Mart today to show you all what neighbourhood retail actually looks like. No AI. No Music. Time to grow up.
what a time to be alive
November 11, 2025 at 10:21 PM
what a time to be alive
"they're making corner stores a culture war issue"
November 11, 2025 at 5:35 PM
"they're making corner stores a culture war issue"
Reposted by Dan Seljak
BREAKING: Neighbourhood Retail already leading to increased theft.
The shamelessness of aping my own documentation and art (their creation on the left, my photo on the right) to exaggerate the impacts of retail… Sad. Derivative. Misleading.
November 11, 2025 at 2:27 PM
BREAKING: Neighbourhood Retail already leading to increased theft.
The shamelessness of aping my own documentation and art (their creation on the left, my photo on the right) to exaggerate the impacts of retail… Sad. Derivative. Misleading.
November 11, 2025 at 1:46 PM
The shamelessness of aping my own documentation and art (their creation on the left, my photo on the right) to exaggerate the impacts of retail… Sad. Derivative. Misleading.
Reposted by Dan Seljak
I kind of want to go to the rave at the mid-block 7-Eleven in Riverdale?
The folks at IntegrityTO have finally weighed in on neighbourhood retail with AI generated scenes of creepy faceless loiterers congregating outside a 7-11…
Mind you the recommendation (that didn’t make it past committee) was for *corner lots*. They can’t even prompt right.
Mind you the recommendation (that didn’t make it past committee) was for *corner lots*. They can’t even prompt right.
November 11, 2025 at 1:01 PM
I kind of want to go to the rave at the mid-block 7-Eleven in Riverdale?
The folks at IntegrityTO have finally weighed in on neighbourhood retail with AI generated scenes of creepy faceless loiterers congregating outside a 7-11…
Mind you the recommendation (that didn’t make it past committee) was for *corner lots*. They can’t even prompt right.
Mind you the recommendation (that didn’t make it past committee) was for *corner lots*. They can’t even prompt right.
November 11, 2025 at 12:54 PM
The folks at IntegrityTO have finally weighed in on neighbourhood retail with AI generated scenes of creepy faceless loiterers congregating outside a 7-11…
Mind you the recommendation (that didn’t make it past committee) was for *corner lots*. They can’t even prompt right.
Mind you the recommendation (that didn’t make it past committee) was for *corner lots*. They can’t even prompt right.
so @joshmatlow.bsky.social has posted a motion that allows councillors to adopt neighbourhood retail in their own wards, effectively allowing the removed attachment to be adopted on a ward-by-ward basis. it's not perfect but it's something!!!
November 10, 2025 at 7:28 PM
so @joshmatlow.bsky.social has posted a motion that allows councillors to adopt neighbourhood retail in their own wards, effectively allowing the removed attachment to be adopted on a ward-by-ward basis. it's not perfect but it's something!!!
I got some brutal family health news last night so I've spent the day so far in the ravines with Penny (she says hi, btw) to parse. I'm going to try and spend less time online this weekend, but wanted to post some action items re: the upcoming council meeting on Nov. 12.
November 7, 2025 at 7:11 PM
I got some brutal family health news last night so I've spent the day so far in the ravines with Penny (she says hi, btw) to parse. I'm going to try and spend less time online this weekend, but wanted to post some action items re: the upcoming council meeting on Nov. 12.
Came across another indie coffeeshop coping with unusual circumstances last night...remember how the new age crystal store was a holdout at Mirvish Village? Well, a multi-vendor market has opened in its place, including the physical location for Spirited Tarts.
November 7, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Came across another indie coffeeshop coping with unusual circumstances last night...remember how the new age crystal store was a holdout at Mirvish Village? Well, a multi-vendor market has opened in its place, including the physical location for Spirited Tarts.
Reposted by Dan Seljak
I've seen dozens of videos of Zohran Mamdani being asked for his favourite bodega food.
In Toronto, that question would be "what do you buy at the Metro to eat at your desk?"
In Toronto, that question would be "what do you buy at the Metro to eat at your desk?"
November 5, 2025 at 2:58 PM
I've seen dozens of videos of Zohran Mamdani being asked for his favourite bodega food.
In Toronto, that question would be "what do you buy at the Metro to eat at your desk?"
In Toronto, that question would be "what do you buy at the Metro to eat at your desk?"
Reposted by Dan Seljak
Dan says it right: this is a city, and we need leaders who will say so.
I wrote an op-ed on what I think about the fight for local neighbourhood retail (and the grousing about Badiali's) means for the urban vision of Toronto. Gift link here: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
When even the humble corner store is impossible to open in Toronto, it’s a sign of something deeply wrong
We need to accept that Toronto is now a big city.
www.thestar.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Dan says it right: this is a city, and we need leaders who will say so.
Reposted by Dan Seljak
Prior to 1959, retail units (like one that now contains a popular pizzeria) were allowed without major issue. Then we made rules to block them, and then some people spent a lot of time talking about "old Toronto" as if it was the natural way of things. Which old Toronto? When? Something to consider.
I wrote an op-ed on what I think about the fight for local neighbourhood retail (and the grousing about Badiali's) means for the urban vision of Toronto. Gift link here: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
When even the humble corner store is impossible to open in Toronto, it’s a sign of something deeply wrong
We need to accept that Toronto is now a big city.
www.thestar.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Prior to 1959, retail units (like one that now contains a popular pizzeria) were allowed without major issue. Then we made rules to block them, and then some people spent a lot of time talking about "old Toronto" as if it was the natural way of things. Which old Toronto? When? Something to consider.
I wrote an op-ed on what I think about the fight for local neighbourhood retail (and the grousing about Badiali's) means for the urban vision of Toronto. Gift link here: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
When even the humble corner store is impossible to open in Toronto, it’s a sign of something deeply wrong
We need to accept that Toronto is now a big city.
www.thestar.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I wrote an op-ed on what I think about the fight for local neighbourhood retail (and the grousing about Badiali's) means for the urban vision of Toronto. Gift link here: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
Reposted by Dan Seljak
"Neighbourhood interiors were never intended for commercial activity", says one letter writer. To be fair, this is true, if you toss the entirety of human history and modern day Earth outside North America in the trash, and think that urban planning less than a century old is ironclad natural law.
No corner coffee shops: Toronto committee waters down neighbourhood retail plan
It’s the second time in less than a year councillors balked at allowing certain businesses to open on some residential streets
www.torontotoday.ca
October 31, 2025 at 1:29 PM
"Neighbourhood interiors were never intended for commercial activity", says one letter writer. To be fair, this is true, if you toss the entirety of human history and modern day Earth outside North America in the trash, and think that urban planning less than a century old is ironclad natural law.
Two blocks from each other on the same street (Palmerston). Remember: what is at stake here is if Emily Rose goes under and is converted to residential, going back is nigh impossible—a community amenity lost for good.
November 2, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Two blocks from each other on the same street (Palmerston). Remember: what is at stake here is if Emily Rose goes under and is converted to residential, going back is nigh impossible—a community amenity lost for good.
Please enjoy my five minute plea for neighbourhood retail. Also if you do a virtual deputation, Webex doesn’t give vid preview??? So get your angles right first. youtu.be/Eztf53wAhXo?...
Oct 30 - Deputation on Toronto Neighbourhood Retail
YouTube video by Dan Seljak (Another Glass Box)
youtu.be
October 31, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Please enjoy my five minute plea for neighbourhood retail. Also if you do a virtual deputation, Webex doesn’t give vid preview??? So get your angles right first. youtu.be/Eztf53wAhXo?...
Reposted by Dan Seljak
What level of extremely online is it that I knew what this was gonna be before I even clicked play
October 31, 2025 at 4:06 AM
What level of extremely online is it that I knew what this was gonna be before I even clicked play
Well we may have lost today but we did have to listen a lot of people speculate that one day they might be confronted by the reality of living in proximity to millions of people, so in many ways we also suffered.
I’m sick of sharing this link so help me bury the NIMBY opposition to cute neighbourhood shops! They just put a petition with a measly 209 signatures into the record to kill—not modify, kill—this small step towards maybe having corner stores again
Let’s tell them what we want: c.org/fYSGWfvYJv
Let’s tell them what we want: c.org/fYSGWfvYJv
Sign the Petition
Save Finch Store/Martin Cafe and Protect TO Neighbourhood Retail
c.org
October 30, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Well we may have lost today but we did have to listen a lot of people speculate that one day they might be confronted by the reality of living in proximity to millions of people, so in many ways we also suffered.
The actual dynamic I’ve observed here is the ignorant scaring the ignorant into action. Neighbourhood retail=pot shops is one I hear a lot. Well, you can’t have pot shops 200m from schools. And the bubble has burst. And (legal ones) have low margins so need traffic/visibility of big streets.
Why would anyone object to this store or to others like it? I miss the four that have "gone under" in my neighbourhood -- places where people in the 'hood could get to know each other and brag about their kids!
October 29, 2025 at 11:37 PM
The actual dynamic I’ve observed here is the ignorant scaring the ignorant into action. Neighbourhood retail=pot shops is one I hear a lot. Well, you can’t have pot shops 200m from schools. And the bubble has burst. And (legal ones) have low margins so need traffic/visibility of big streets.