iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I just politely ask, if we were removing sidewalks on all streets that had them, and people needed to walk in SUV lanes to get everywhere, and the consequences are just as well known there, would you also think a similar reaction was outsized? Or do you feel doing this to one is not like the other?

0150

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 12h

Simple version is also why ppl wrongly say we can have cheaper rent & preserve homes as main investments: if we expect rising sale prices (as past decades have shown), we won't build unless the equivalent profit, the mortgage payments aka rent, can also rise. But capped, big disparity? No new rental

000

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 19h

Smith wants Alberta to listen to the voters, when it comes to a referendum that had to be jolted to life and legitimacy and is most prominently backed by American billionaires and politicians. But when those same voters discuss, decide, and elect pro-housing councils and zoning, democracy be damned.

040

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 23h

Btw Ford on bike lane interference & NIMBY mayor empowering (Windsor), inspiring NIMBY Premier (Alberta today), abetted by weak Feds (see below), I do feel hope dimming. It's the very hollowing-out neighbourhoods & school areas of my ward which are backing a NIMBY candidate. bsky.app/profile/andr...

130

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 23h

While I'm in agreement, it's notable to me that even one of the most progressive Toronto wards, along one of their bike routes keeping kids safe getting to school, is wall to wall election signs for a car-focused "responsible development" anti-homeless NIMBY candidate. bsky.app/profile/andr...

110

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I'm really not liking that my bike to work in Davenport featured a lot of Marco signs. A very NIMBY, car focused, seemingly compassion-less reactionary. I feel confident Chow will do well in our ward, which may be why he hasn't tied himself to Brad, but I'm not liking seeing this, & worry for Bravo

001

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

When you are one city, sprawl is subsidized by all. When you are landlocked Toronto, you can cause sprawl with NIMBYism, but the costs are borne by your neighbours. Conversely, biking, transit, density savings are spread to our NIMBY neighbourhoods (& neighbour cities). Non-ideal motivators.

060

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I think that still follows my theoretical rule of pragmatism. There is no likely-to-be-electable farther-right candidate in that ward, and plenty of opportunity for a less known and/or farther left candidate to get in if attempting to sway any voters.

020

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

It is more generally about using certified and untampered with/damaged batteries/chargers. It is not often discussed that this is what causes the fires, not the battery cells being in an ebike battery. www.toronto.ca/news/toronto...

toronto.ca

Toronto Fire Services launches Fire Prevention Week 2026: Safe Charging is a Superpower

News Release October 4, 2026 Toronto Fire Services is encouraging residents to make fire safety a priority during Fire Prevention Week 2026, taking place from Sunday, October 4 to Saturday, October 10...

100

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The last term A Better City's had in charge of Vancouver very much tells us that "conservatives who might win over anyone left of them, while delivering zero change or better city" is absolutely the brand that is fully delivered on. It is A Better City than nightmares of one w compassionate leaders.

010

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

How so? It's pragmatic. All have 0 credible more-right candidate to aim for w/o risk a split vote allows a lefty candidate in over. Opposite approach of Toronto Centre progressives stewing over whether half the incumbent's vote can be nabbed w/o letting the most MAGA candidate in, for minimal gains.

110

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This really is my Halloween ballot 👻

110

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I've been accosted, sworn at, filmed, when bringing Bosch batteries into buildings. I ask folks whether they support Chow, Bradford, or the fire chief, as all support this battery's certification. Even one self-identifying as an insurer, didn't understand it's their Underwriter's Labs certifying it.

130

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The city doesn't kill anything, it's just death by a thousand cuts. Or by any one of the thousand cuts. Oh and if none of the thousand successfully cuts, reroute to a thousand-and-first cut to get the job done, I mean oops so sad what a shame nothing could be done.

030

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

One would hope that at 20-30 times the financial outlay, for one Canadian corridor vs available to all major cities, they wouldn't flop like cooked spaghetti. But losing half the provincial support & the largest source/destination on the line (asides TO), yowza.

000

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I just worry about credibility. If government's policy was to give cash to cities who allowed housing, & cities kept the cash when they didn't, what lesson did cities learn for the new government policy to give cash to cities who reduce DCs? Why not take cash & do nothing, or do it & then revert?

100

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In neither version did a PM say you get carrot/get no stick for sitting still, yet that was the result. It's only a carrot if it's tied to a direction you have to move to get the carrot, not if it's brought to you regardless. It's only a stick if you have to move to avoid it, not if it's never swung

100

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Some are, yes, & that's my point too. Everyone hates the thought of letting people live near the one thing everyone in the community values (uh...seriously?). Except they hate it vastly more to let people live next to them, they just always think that would only be 'foisted' upon others, never them.

110

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It was a legacy program of the 99% of MPs and staff that he inherited in choosing to lead a party you'd think one would only lead if broadly agreeing with its main policy choices. Let alone that if you didn't believe in it, it's even worse to play it out as he did, vs cut/retract it all.

100

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Let alone that the complaints against him are the universal complaints against any councillor. There is no councillor who doesn't get accused of allowing too much (always in reality not enough) new housing creation in a bad spot (which is universally the most supported spot of all the complainants).

100

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

That's exactly what I'm talking about, seeing people look at this poll & expecting to be able to peel half of the poll-leading incumbent's current poll numbers to one specific candidate who has less than half what the two frontrunners have.

120

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Seems a risky bet, expecting this of a PM who had a housing accelerator fund, which was meant to give money only to communities which made changes to allow more housing, but then nonetheless gave (nearly) all the money to communities who refused or backtracked on doing so, vs retracting their share

111

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Maybe more a Jill Stein situation? Seems there's a pair of only-ones-likely-to-win, with a huge gap of quality but small vote gap between them, & a third candidate - who is a smaller quality but vast vote gap from the non-MAGA-esque option - who has little chance of winning. bsky.app/profile/cana...

110

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Certainly seems like, sadly, a recipe is available for getting the vastly worst possible outcome, one of the worst possible candidates to see alter council's tenor, in trying to achieve a much smaller improvement which would seem to have very little chance of being achieved. bsky.app/profile/cana...

050

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

One would expect former-councillor-for-half-of-the-ward Fragedakis would possibly be up there with never-represented-the-area Saxe and hand-selected-and-disingenuously-electorally-advantaged-by-prior-councillor Ehrhardt

010

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

As the pre-ordained-since-last-election-at-minimum FletcherJr, I would hesitate to expect anything better from her than the incredible let down that all too often was Fletcher herself.

120

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Still hard to imagine it working. Cross-subsidy only works if there's something extra to take from. Ppl'll say 'developer profits', but profit margins are required by banks to even get the loan, & req grows higher w the uncertainty created by pol's & n'hood groups' delays. It's ~blood from a stone.

000

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Stone Soup is a story that needs far more telling when it comes to hsg. We all need to put our thing in the pot. Anyone pointing at a single thing (& I know you aren't here) is pointing at someone else's, to defect from theirs & their friends' things. But we need everything, everywhere, all at once.

000

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Midrise by def'n is low unit ct, so cross-subsidy is even higher, & with a single 500-unit tower instead being twenty 25-unit midrises, the local sale comp effect becomes vastly more widespread. We're in a pickle, a Stone Soup of closed hsg policy doors, when the healthy soup needs em all in the pot

210

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It's not just that, there really isn't a policy relaxation that makes any sense, as they are council-set policies. Plus, if your typical 1bed cost $500k, but the IZ sets it at $525k to subsidize a 5% IZ rate, you've now pushed the total stock of 1beds from a $500 -> $525k valuation, a bad outcome.

100

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

What I'd seek from anything sounding like IZ is for city to add & buy floors in any development. Helps smooth affordable hsg production, requires no city land, adds income mix to new hsg. But in general, IZ's forced cross-subsidy just sets a new hsg cost floor, inflating all other hsg prices. V bad.

110

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Sadly, few such markets really exist, and if prices only increased modestly, it means interest rates and .mortgage payments would follow similarly, as would rent needed to cover them. Have protections against v large rent increase that's intended eviction. But RC isn't needed when supply is healthy.

110

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

RC lowers production of new housing, increases all manners of disinvestment in existing stock, increases evictions/homelessness, increases posted rents to cover RC cross-subsidy. RC is the source, & I say this as one who believes in amounts of RC for ppl & small biz. RC causes supply constraints.

110

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We set on fire endless zoning codes, the traditional view that Toronto should not change as much as London England or Rome, the idea that endless delays have no consequences, that home values can be high but affordable, high but rents low. Not a year goes by I don't see a friend leaving for cost😓

020

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Ouf, no, the consequences after the win are far more disastrous for BB winning. If I had to put a sports win/loss over much else, it'd be nine-plus separate misfortunes in LA 2028. Again, just for a few week stretches.

100

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

As one who has seen some of the only November baseball in history, if all prior chances fail, there's a simple, beautiful way for me to pass the torch of this almost year long feeling to someone else. Spooky season horror story pass it on style.

000

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

And the Sox and Guardians, right? I was just thinking of my picks and had two double series, two nobody series. I'd pick Rays over picking anyone in the other, though, and thats says plenty.

211

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Its rankings do often baffle me. I imagine it partly due to the less relatable nature of being an early buyer amongst the later comers who show you what the value is, partly the very extreme portrayals all around, but the truth of his story pierces through it all. Gets me from the first note.

020

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

If you've lived a certain life, or can imagine it, that movie strikes a chord. Many. And to seek a new sunrise amidst many clouds of grey, and see them too, is no easy task.

050

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Life As A House. The Family Man. The Blues Brothers. Tenet. Sinister. Back to the Future III. The Matrix. Moneyball. It's a Wonderful Life. Titanic. The Dark Knight. Culkin Home Alones. Honestly the holiday ones have such a power attached to them (first time I saw LoTR, too, coincidentally).

3101

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

He could've had me explaining how I went into trumpet because recorder taught me a hatred of fingerings, but to eschewed music entirely? That's one teetotal too far. And I was under no illusions I wouldn't play 1st trumpet; these trades foolishly think he might not continue stopping most new housing

010

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Maybe having Toronto council platform and even make decisions in part based on this person's made-up AI resident complaints was, oh, I don't know, a bad idea? Is it the only reason, no, and also the NDP organization will really need to search deep inside if this all goes sideways given their choices

020

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Kitchener and London rivalry alive and well, even if you're in Ottawa ;)

000

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sometimes it isn't even about whether we get the housing or not, it's the developers who attended Doug's daughter's fundraising stag & doe who get to move the new hwy413 interchange from being on their new suburb's property, to being on a formerly protected wetland.

010

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

No, come from Hamilton and get a free tour of the steel plant that has an unstaffed OT shift for the Stelco production that was 'reshored' 😬

010

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Is there a similar cumulative, or any overall chart, showing how many properties in the city fall into different distance-from-LRT buckets?

000

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Why are housing costs key? Saving $1.66M in hospital costs is great, but at ~$2,700/month/person, that has at times been the asking Toronto rent for that area. The new build's cost, at today's mortgage rates, with taxes, utilities, etc, would run nearly $2,400pp. The savings should be much bigger.

Preliminary data has shown that 48 residents of Dunn House visited emergency rooms 52 per cent fewer times a year after they moved in, along with a 79 per cent drop in the length of their hospital stays when they were admitted.

The 48 patients racked up $2.1 million in hospital costs over 12 months before moving into Dunn House, and in the year after the hospital saved $1.66 million.

The federal government will invest more than $25 million to get the third building up and running, with units for about 80 people. The City of Toronto will contribute $19 million while UHN Foundation will pony up $20 million for the broader build.

000

Andrew @andrewjd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is exactly why Marlee didn't get the bike lanes virtually every anti-bike politician says should go in exactly that non-main street.

170