In the spirit of the historical “Sunday on X” series, one is prompted to ask the question: where were you 111 years ago?

If you’re anything like me, you weren’t born yet, which is just as well because that period in time would’ve been too tempting!

The following photos from the July 25, 1915 edition of the Toronto Sunday World illustrate the types of fun summer activities of the era — basking in the sunshine and enjoying a roasted wiener with some mustard (or other condiments) …

… reveling in the atmosphere of seaside jaunts …

… partaking in pleasant pastimes …

… and/or engaging in other wholesome summertime activities.

Did you notice that the final “photograph” is actually an illustration?

Well done!

Did you also spot the forbidding “X” on the ball being tossed about by the children? The fact that this commanding symbol hangs over the captured rabbit below it is a sure sign that one shouldn’t venture down any rabbit holes and instead hold fast to the certitude of child-like naïveté.

Happy summer, everyone!

Andy Byford isn’t exactly a household name so let me fill you in on his bona fides.

Andy was chief general manager, then CEO, of Toronto’s public transit system (TTC), for nearly six years (2011-2017). By 2014 he had his foot in the door of the New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and immediately after his departure from the TTC he became president of a similar body in New York. In all three capacities he was to modernize the transit system.

Here’s Andy “Train Daddy” Byford:

What a smile.

I had some criticisms of his tenure during his time in Toronto and recall that his vision for the transit system led to a marked reduction in service just as he was heading out the door:

October 12, 2017
The following is a joint statement from TTC Chair Josh Colle and TTC CEO Andy Byford.

News by Bombardier Transportation today that a promised delivery of a cumulative total of 70 streetcars by the end of this year has been revised to 65 is extremely disappointing and frustrating.

There should be 146 new streetcars in service today; instead there are just 45. This is completely unacceptable. The TTC is having to continue to use buses on streetcar routes to meet ridership demand.

The TTC is pursuing a $50 million legal claim against Bombardier for its ongoing failure to meet delivery targets and the TTC Board has directed staff to pursue other potential suppliers for future streetcar orders. In the meantime, the TTC is making every effort to keep its old streetcars on the road as long as it can, ensuring they are both reliable and safe.

There was also the fumbled Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension, $150 million over budget and 2 years behind schedule at the time that Andy picked up and left. Under his watch there were also other budget problems, even as transit fares increased. And the fact that the subway refresh was completed successfully under his watch is not something he can take much credit for; he mostly just guided that inherited train into the station.

A year after relocating to New York, Andy unveiled his plan to improve the city’s bus routes. He left the position in 2020 and, 6 years later, little progress appears to have been made.

Leaving his New York job he almost immediately slid into a very similar role in London, England. He quit that position two years later. Unsurprisingly, Transport for London was left with budget holes and disgruntled workers. Similarly, Andy’s main accomplishment was to oversee the completion of a project someone else had started.

In 2023 he joined Amtrak as Vice President of High-Speed Rail Development Programs and last year Trump appointed him as a special advisor to the Amtrak Board of Directors. I expect a train wreck followed by a hasty exit.

Given the implications, it’s odd that I haven’t seen the following information being discussed in any major Toronto publications or blogs. According to a mid-February post on the Better Dwelling website, roughly 1 in 6 people in Toronto are seniors over the age of 65, outnumbering kids (aged 0-14). The fact that seniors make up about 17% of Toronto’s population may not seem particularly alarming until one looks at the trend:

The problem here is that the system requires youths to subsidize geriatrics (via taxes, etc.) and the systemic imbalance in this arrangement is growing. As noted in Better Dwelling’s analysis, “A key ratio when analyzing an economy is the ratio of new workforce entrants (age 20 to 24) to exits (60 to 64). Entrants, who are soon-to-be first-time home buyers and about to enter family formation years—need to outpace lost experience and maintain productivity. When they don’t, it signals economic drag ahead.“

The current data indicates that, “Entrants fell 4.6% (-25.6k) to 557.6k in 2025, while exits climbed 1.4% (+5.9k) to 439.7k. Even with temporary residents inflating the near-term count, the ratio is approaching critical levels [and] The interprovincial migration trend worsens the issue.“

Better Dwelling’s analysis claims that, “Returning to the destabilizing immigration targets may be the first reaction of many policymakers, but it only temporarily improves the short-term optics while creating a bigger dependency issue.“

In its conclusion the report says that even if the government managed to “correct course” right now, it would still take decades for the city and surrounding regions to pull out of the morass.

Translation: interesting times lie ahead for Toronto.

Months have now elapsed since the unusual U.S. embassy shooting here in Toronto.

To refresh, in March of this year a vehicle pulled up in front of the United States embassy on University Avenue, two people got out, opened fire on the building, returned to their SUV, and sped off to the south. At the time the cops were calling it a “national security” issue.

On May 19^th an update on the incident was reported by CTV news in which an Iraqi national by the name of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi was implicated. It’s alleged that Al-Saadi was associated with a group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), translated as the “Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand” (or something like that).

It’s claimed that HAYI was unknown until March of this year although, ostensibly, a dormant Telegram group existed for it as far back as 2024, maybe earlier. The history here is a bit murky.

Nevertheless, the narrative has since widened, implicating a parent Iranian group by the name of Kata’ib Hezbollah in the recent killing of Toronto Police Services Constable Marc Pinizzotto.

According to reports of the time, a co-conspirator named Nicholas Bennett was shot by TPS during a related takedown and a 19-year-old male going by Zara Jabbi (below) escaped.

Four other people were in the apartment at Martha Eaton Way near Trethewey and Black Creek at the time of the coordinated raids. Additional details remain scarce, with the exception of the alleged supplier of stolen transport equipment, Sheldon Tracy-Stewart.

It’s recently come to light that the final suspect (Jabbi), has been arrested. To wit, “He is charged with theft of a motor vehicle, possession of property obtained by crime, discharging a firearm at a place, attacking premises of internationally protected persons, and multiple firearms offences.”

Here’s where it gets weirder: I meticulously analyzed and questioned the official timeline of the shooting which was reported as beginning at around 4:29 a.m. Yet the current mainstream record claims that, “Police allege Jabbi and another suspect drove a stolen white Honda CR-V to the consulate around 5:29 a.m., exited, and fired multiple rounds at the building before fleeing.“

Maybe this is just an AI summarization error; all I know is that there’s still a missing and unexplained hour in the timeline. Could be a Mandela Effect.

I have some history with this subject.

A little over 16 years ago I posted about the start of the St. Market North redevelopment project. If you’re not familiar, the north building sits directly across the street from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market — an adjunct, if you will.

Initially, five teams identified only by colour put forward their proposals for the upgrade. About 2 months later, City Council chose the “Red Team” consisting of Adamson Associates Architects and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

The following is a panorama I took of the north market at the time. For comparison, below it is the original “Red Team” design from about the same angle:

I stand by my earlier description of the then-existing market as “a stripped-down school gymnasium”. Built in 1968 as a “temporary” measure, it was basically a concrete enclosure into which folding tables, camping chairs, and local farm products (antiques on Sundays), were dragged on a weekly basis.

No matter which team’s design was chosen, the redevelopment was bound to be an aesthetic improvement.

The new north market finally opened about a year ago, in early April 2025. The following image is probably also a rendering (too many suits in the area!) but this is pretty much exactly how the building looks today — same angle as that initial 2010 pano:

A budget for the redevelopment was estimated at $58 million and the building was expected to be finished in 2014. Unofficially.

The official budget was nearly $75 million, revised in 2013 to about $95.5 million, and the final approved cost in 2024 was about $128 million.

An official timeline for the project’s completion may exist but I haven’t yet found it. There was the whole “archeological finds” thing but that accounted for only a couple of years of delays.

In short, based on the available metrics the St. Lawrence Market North project was close to a decade behind the estimated schedule and close to 70% more expensive than the official outlook.

Sounds familiar.

As I work my way down the quickly dwindling roster of the Raisin Gang, it’s understandable that its members should become more elusive and difficult to track down.

And my penultimate target has proven to be an exceptionally slippery one: James Boyd

To the best of my knowledge, he only ever orchestrated various Gang activities from behind the scenes so tracking him by physical characteristics like face or voice wasn’t possible.

Nevertheless, I started with a simple search and hit on a matching profile nearly right away: a James Boyd of Toronto, currently production manager at Brown Bag Films with a bunch of experience in audio production and the music business.

Gotcha!

But … hmm … no mention of Ryerson/Metro University. In fact, this James claims to have studied music at Keele University about a decade earlier.

An expanded search produced more numerous but less likely candidates, everything from realtors to VPs at gold mining outfits. It took me a while to dig through the pile but I’m fairly certain that I’ve found our elusive Mr. Boyd.

As may be expected, he’s presently hiding out as a lawyer with Siskinds, LLP in London (Ontario).

The tip-off was a small mention at the bottom of his profile: “Prior to pursuing a legal career, James owned and operated a corporate video production company in Toronto for five years…“

The “corporate video production company” is ostensibly “Single Space Productions” which lists Ryerson University as a client. Accordingly, James studied at Ryerson from 2004 to 2009, starting out in film and going on to major in “Radio and Television Arts”.

In the summer of 2009 his story goes dark but we can infer that the he and the Gang probably sat around stewing in the hot juices of their own malevolence until mid-August when the first Raisin Gang video was uploaded. I discovered them about ten months later.

Among James’ earliest recorded experiences, from late 2007 to early 2009, is the role of “Equipment Distribution Centre staff” at Ryerson where, “I tested and maintained the department’s audio and video equipment & facilities and authorized & supervised the rental of equipment … also one of the senior staff in charge of supervising the other staff on-duty and overseeing daily operations of the centre.”

I believe that’s how you spell “smoking gun”.

And just like the rest of the Raisin ne’er-do-wells, in 2015 he desperately tried to cover his tracks by spending a few years Doctoring a Law degree at Western University (also in London).

Thus physically removed from repercussions of the Gang’s history, he was able to freely oscillate between studying his filthy trade and working his way up the legal ladder. He now splits his time between spreading his undoubtedly vile doctrine at the university and putting it into practice at the firm.

Raisin Gang/corporate video straight to lawyer; the man is pure villainy. Enough said.

And with that I turn my attention to the last remaining Gang member: Dan Ramos.

You’ve seen it with your own eyes, Dan. My exposés are merciless. The curtain sets. I await your imminent contact.

A while ago in another place.

^(larger)

If you go back a little bit through the history of TCL posts you’ll find that I’m no stranger to edgy software and modern technologies. I also tend to interpret such things through a particular lens.

Yet, despite the inherent incredulity of my purview, I was surprised to discover this obscure tidbit of homegrown PC history: the MCM/70 portable computer by Micro Computer Machines Inc.

Here’s their 1973, totally undercover “Executive” edition:

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a spring-activated blade ready to shoot forth from within a well-placed cooling vent in there somewhere … strictly for personal defense, of course.

Originally, MCM Inc. operated out of a desolate area of what is now Toronto called Willowdale. Founded in 1971, the company had a roughly 10-year production run before shutting down operations. One of the most notable names behind the effort was Professor Mers Kutt. Other participants are less well known.

It’s safe to say that the MCM/70 is considered to be among the first, if not the first, in the field of personal/portable computing. In other words, this is a very early version of the thing you carry around with you whenever you vacate your domicile, bowels, etc.

More extensive histories and galleries of the machine exist online but projects involving subsequent products, such as the results of the Department of National Defence’s war games simulations using the MCM/800, remain unavailable.

Perhaps you think that I’m engaging in cynical hyperbole but I assure you that I’m not: City Hall is going to demolish the most iconic section of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. Sure, they plan to rebuild it again afterwards but it’ll look and feel much different — the old Yonge Street of today will be gone.

The push for this started back in the summer of 2011. At the time it was considered a long shot since the concept was mainly just a pedestrian-friendly facelift put forward by gay, lefty-pinko junior Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam and Pride-avoiding, right wing, penny-pinching, newly-elected businessman Rob Ford (remember him?) who, it may surprise you to learn, wasn’t really a big fan of walking or running, wasn’t onboard. So the idea simmered on the back burner for about a decade.

At some point it was determined that a length of Yonge would need century-old water mains replaced and, since this requires wrecking and rebuilding the street anyhow, the proposal resurfaced, congealing early in 2021 into something called yongeTOmorrow. I don’t know to what extent the Wong-Tam’s plan has morphed over the years but right now City Hall is eyeing the portion between Queen Street and College/Carlton for the first phase of a Yonge makeover.

As of 2024, the most current design by engineering firm Parsons splits up the initial stretch into three themed sections.

Each of these sections are clustered around what the project calls Anchors, defined as “existing landmarks that contribute towards the identity of Yonge Street.”

While the “Green Gateway” is indeed quite green and the “Performance/Retail” portion is also aptly named, I’m hesitant to use the word “Innovation” for its designated section simply because of that area’s proximity to Ryerson/Metro University. Some of their innovations are dubious if you ask me.

Nevertheless, the practical result of the current plan would be the reduction of the street to one lane in each direction, to be shared by both motor vehicles and bikes. The design includes “Designated Short-Term Areas”, presumably short bits where the road flares out to two lanes for drop-offs/pick-ups. Along with this there’s a speed limit reduction to 30 km/h.

The resulting space will be used to widen sidewalks and include strips with greenery and street furniture, sort of like permanent curb lane cafés à la CaféTO. How much of these strips will be for public use and how much will be designated for adjoining businesses (i.e. private, à la CaféTO), remains to be seen.

Tenders for the construction are expected to begin in 2030 and construction itself is expected to take about 5 years — with the proviso that this is dependent on the progress of Doug Ford’s unspoken tribute to his late brother Rob, the Ontario Line.

If the timelines of something like Union Station Revitalization or the new St. Lawrence North Market are anything to go by, it’ll be a miracle if any projected costs haven’t at least doubled by the time shovels are in the ground, or whatever futuristic digging implements will be in use at the time, which will likely be 2040 at the earliest.

That gives us at least 14 years to experience and capture the downtown Yonge Street of future yesteryear.

The design is still undergoing public review and there’s a scheduled public drop-in event next Tuesday at the central YMCA that, “will provide an opportunity to view the project information panels and speak with members of the project team one-on-one.” In other words, if you want to meet some of the people who will eventually be responsible for astronomical cost overruns, extensive delays, and assorted disruptions to the surrounding community, this might be the event for you.

Maybe I’m just trafficking in hyperbolic cynicism. Maybe they’ll have coffee and doughnuts. Whatever the case, a “pt.2” is inevitable.

Unfortunately, further productions by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol are no longer welcome around here.

Shame because I enjoyed Nirvana The Band/Nirvanna The Band The Show. I mean, it got a bit long in the tooth near the end but the premise was fun: two lifelong buddies try creative ways to get booked to perform at the Rivoli. The execution/production of the show was great, they had good chemistry, and the ubiquitous backdrop of Toronto circa 2007/2017 was gratifying.

Besides, they clearly worked hard on it.

However, having sat through Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie I can now confidently say that the shark has been thoroughly jumped. Aside from the quirky humour, one of the appeals of the original series was the captured reality of urban Toronto. In other words, the earlier episodes didn’t feel like they needed a whole studio production crew.

Unfortunately this feeling has been lost. The budget’s grown, the jokes feel tired and hackneyed, and then there’s the time-traveling RV with a contrived plot involving spilled Orbitz. Even the movie poster’s kinda lame.

If you’re looking to see a recorded slice of Toronto and get in a few chuckles then I can recommend (most of) Matt and Jay’s old series. The movie … not so much.