Tag: Toronto

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How do young people afford a house? They find roommates.

How do young people afford a house? They find roommates:

“When you look at the home market for first-time buyers, to get in can seem like an insurmountable task,” says Aaron Zifkin, Airbnb’s country director for Canada. “In a lot of our host community meet-ups, we’re seeing a lot of people who are really excited being able to bridge that pay point by earning a little extra income from a nanny suite.” Or, if no nanny suite exists, the pullout couch in the living room might do.

In Vancouver, for example, more than half of the money taken in by the 4,200 Airbnb hosts went to pay for necessities like the rent, mortgage or groceries, according to a company report released in July. With the typical host earning $6,500 each year, more than half of them said the extra cash was a reason they could afford to stay in their home. Seven per cent said the money helped them avoid foreclosure.

But don’t worry: there isn’t really a housing crisis in major metropolitan areas when people have to rent (parts of) their home in order to avoid forclosure. And the fact that roommates are a requirement for many 30-somethings to purchase 850ft condos in Toronto is entirely appropriate.

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The Best Coffee Roasters in Toronto

Only helpful for those local to Toronto, but it’s great for those of us that are. I particularly enjoy Pilot and Propeller, though admit that my favorite place to get coffee these days is from Ideal Coffee (the Red Sea beans are absolutely terrific). Still, I look forward to trying the whole list and determining if there is a company that can unseat Ideal Coffee or Pilot and Propeller!

The Best Coffee Roasters in Toronto

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Young, rich and totally not buying a house

In Toronto there’s a small group of people that are responsible for spending big and not thinking about the longer-term implications of their decisions now. This article highlights the current life that one such person has, with lots of time spent on how much he travels and drinks and parties while he travels. The subject of the piece consistently devalues experiences that are inexpensive, a devaluation of those who decide to have a family, and a broader (incorrect) focus on life just being about what wine you drink or what car you (temporarily) drive. It’s definitely one of the lowest ‘hate reads’ I’ve come across in recent memory.

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This woman is fed up with sexual harassment on the TTC

This woman is fed up with sexual harassment on the TTC:

Ross said the TTC does not track complaints of sexual harassment but it does track complaints about sexual assault. “Regardless of the number, one is too many.”

He said the TTC is developing an app that would allow riders to report harassment through their smartphones and it will give riders another tool to protect themselves when on TTC trains.

The TTC is developing an app, so people can report incidents, while mobile phone service isn’t offered to 90% of riders and wifi isn’t installed on the trains themselves.

Brilliant.

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Lack of public Wi-Fi in Toronto raises privacy concerns: experts

Lack of public Wi-Fi in Toronto raises privacy concerns: experts:

The lack of public Wi-Fi in Toronto means those in need of wireless Internet must trade their privacy for connectivity, experts say.

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Privacy concerns aside, Christopher Parsons with the Citizen Lab at U of T said leaving Wi-Fi in the hands of businesses limits access. While a public Wi-Fi system would be open to all, not everyone can afford the price of admission – implied or otherwise – at places like Starbucks.

“For some people, stepping in and getting a latte for five dollars is fine, but for other people that five-dollar latte is an incredible extravagance. They may not feel comfortable in that situation, or they may not feel welcome.”

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Toronto Police Chief Bragged About Monitoring Protesters and Anonymous Is Pissed

Toronto Police Chief Bragged About Monitoring Protesters and Anonymous Is Pissed:

In his speech, Blair bragged about the Toronto Police Service’s (TPS) ability to monitor an Israel/Palestine demonstration in 2012, which happened on the same day as Toronto’s Grey Cup celebration.

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VICE contacted Christopher Parsons, a cybersurveillance researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, to discuss this line between legality and ethics.

“The legality of monitoring public communications isn’t entirely black and white… but it doesn’t strike me that what [Bill Blair described] was necessarily illegal,” said Parsons in an emailed statement. “That authorities are monitoring public communications, where authorities are not considered to be a ‘member of the audience,’ really gets to the heart of many contemporary privacy debates: under what conditions is something private or not?”

Parsons said the legal situation is similar to the context of a barroom.

“Bars are public places,” he said. “People talk loudly and are overheard by strangers at neighbouring tables. But we have a privacy-based expectation that when we speak to our friends or colleagues the people three tables down aren’t just overhearing (they might have to if I’m being loud!) but recording the communication for purposes I wouldn’t approve of.”

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Presto bringing big ideas – and maybe free coffee – to TTC riders

Presto bringing big ideas – and maybe free coffee – to TTC riders:

Privacy concerns

While few can argue with the prospect of a less-cramped streetcar, one Toronto-based privacy advocate has some concerns about the TTC tracking his trips.

“The use of aggregate rider data can be really helpful in terms of figuring out how to improve transit,” said Christopher Parsons, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.

“But the question is what minimal amount of data is necessary to collect for that planning, and is there a way to authenticate Presto cards that maximally protects individuals’ privacy?”

A spokesperson for Metrolinx told Metro that riders have the option of using Presto cards even if they haven’t registered any of their personal information.

That’s good, Parsons said, but it may not be enough.

“If you’re looking at large datasets, you can start picking out individuals based on just one or two other data points,” he said.

Ultimately, any technology like Presto involves some measure of surveillance, and Parsons says he believes it will be up to riders to decide whether the benefits of the card outweigh any concerns.

“That’s a choice Torontonians will have to make,” he said.

 

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Picking out a face in the crowd: Toronto police considering facial recognition technology

Picking out a face in the crowd: Toronto police considering facial recognition technology:

But for all its abilities, privacy advocates caution that the technology raises big questions about surveillance, and has potential implications for members of the public who aren’t suspects of a crime.

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In cases like these, the technology has clear advantages, says privacy expert Christopher Parsons, a fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.

“Serious crimes — rapes, murders, manslaughter — these are the kinds of crimes that must be brought to justice,” he says. “But for other crimes, lesser crimes, maybe those aren’t the situations where we [should] use these really efficient, high-tech systems.” The risk, he says, is that “it starts … criminalizing a large portion of the population.”

Police aren’t the only organizations to employ this type of technology. Some department stores and retail chains also use it to catch repeat shoplifters. But Parsons points out there is a difference between private individuals capturing images and the police.

“[Private individuals] don’t have the power to arrest,” he says.

 

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Queen’s Park backs slowly away from transit-dedicated tax hikes

Toronto desperately needs serious leadership on the transit file, and soon: the condo boom is going to bring even more cars on the streets, and that’s going to aggravate already horrible congestion. If Toronto wants to state that it’s a world city then it needs to have the services you’d expect of such a city. And decent public transit is high on the ‘expected services’ list.

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Hidden experts have big ideas for Toronto public transit | Toronto Star

Change parking hours on main streets to reflect changing lifestyles.

Lobo, 50, has been driving a streetcar for 25 years and still loves it. “I never want to do anything else but go back and forth and be my best every day, 10 hours a day,” he said proudly.

He’s seen a lot of changes — not only in the number of passengers, but in the behaviour of passengers, too. People used to have the time to chat, but these days are more focused on their lives and their iPhones, he said.

Lifestyles have changed, too. Workers used to leave the office at 4:30, but these days are more likely to leave at 6 or 7 p.m. So, he asked: Why is parking still allowed after 6 p.m. at some spots on King Street?

“You’ve gone from two lanes to one lane of traffic,” he said. “You go on King St. at 6:30 and the traffic doesn’t move.”

Lobo suggested allowing parking on main streets after 8 p.m. only. He insisted we won’t have to go as far as banning cars on King St. during rush hour; this simple change would make a big difference.

They make other suggestions, as well, but as someone who often has to catch the King streetcar this suggestion resonated most strongly with me. It’s absolutely infuriating being stuck in gridlock along King, though I guess it does force me to get out and just walk to get home faster than on the streetcar.