-
Dec 6, 2024 | 
westendphoenix.com | Megan Kinch
“I used to sleep there, in Steve Goof ’s alley,” says Jake Fish, from the punk band the Downloadz. He points at the crevice between two buildings in Kensington Market. “Sometimes I would go to work, and go to the booze can here, then sleep in that alley. Then I’d go to work hanging off the side of a building doing balcony construction,” he says. Fish is still working construction, but he’s housed now and has certifications for working at heights and a newly minted G2 licence.
-
Nov 7, 2024 | 
canadiandimension.com | Megan Kinch
Working construction in a housing crisis Megan Kinch / November 7, 2024 / 5 min read I shouldn’t have to live in substandard housing while building and repairing homes for others. Everyone deserves housing and a decent quality of life, but there is a major paradox when the people who build the housing don’t make enough to live in it. The irony of being a construction worker in a housing crisis is not lost on me or my co-workers.
-
Nov 7, 2024 | 
canadiandimension.com | Megan Kinch
It feels deeply ironic to be a building-trades worker during a housing crisis. I build homes—condos more specifically—for other people, but I cannot afford a decent place to live myself. I’ve even worked on building a social housing tower, brand-new, and high quality. I do not qualify for it because I make too much money, but I also don’t make enough to afford a clean, nice, market rate apartment.
-
Oct 8, 2023 | 
blogto.com | Megan Kinch
Monday is the last day for Toronto's drinking in parks pilot project. After that, the 27 parks where drinking has been allowed will return to default status, and the parks prohibition era begins again. What does this mean for drinking culture in Toronto? and does anyone care? The importance of the pilot is perhaps less than might seem, given that alcohol drinking is also prominent in many other city parks that are not part of the current pilot.
-
Oct 7, 2023 | 
blogto.com | Megan Kinch
There's always a flavour adventure awaiting in Chinatown - one part of a complex history of resistance and accommodation by Asian immigrants facing discrimination has always been offering foods for the community but also for visitors and tourists. The best Chinatown experience, might be to go for dim sum but that costs money, especially when you gotta pay rent in this city. Not all food experiences need to be serious and high-brow.
-
Sep 18, 2023 | 
blogto.com | Megan Kinch
Toronto neighbourhood devastated after local grocer suddenly shuts down Kensington market neighbours are sad to see the newest incarnation of the Oxford fruit stand close. Joe and his family had quickly become part of the fabric of the neighbourhood, and his fruits and flowers were of particularly high quality, as well as being a visual treat popular with photographers and passers-by. People have attached paper to the window outside, with notes for Joe and his family.
-
Sep 15, 2023 | 
spacing.ca | Tricia Wood |Matt Armstrong |Megan Kinch |John Lorinc
In the fall of 2022, I spent three months studying public transportation in Spain, mainly the metro in Madrid. I came away extremely impressed by the technical aspects, and also by the way in which Spanish cities build good public space in and through their transportation systems. Toronto and Madrid are similarly sized cities both in land area and in population, and there is a lot Toronto could learn about strengthening public transportation from the Spanish capital.
-
Sep 14, 2023 | 
blogto.com | Megan Kinch
More than a hundred people in the park in Kensington Market on Tuesday night were shocked to see a city of Toronto van drive right through the park and scrape the whole side on a bollard. Later the van drive drove through the park on the grass before stopping, apparently unable to negotiate a small hill. Video from the incident appeared on the popular Instagram and Facebook channel Shitshow.
-
Jul 27, 2023 | 
spacing.ca | Sakeina Syed |Megan Kinch |John Lorinc
About a week ago, I was riding the Scarborough RT and missed my stop. It wasn’t by any misstep on my end, however. Instead, the train hurtled towards Scarborough Centre station before abruptly slamming to a halt on the tracks, several metres before the entryway. A muffled voice blared on the speaker, announcing unspecified technical difficulties. Within a few minutes, the cars began moving with an exhausted wheeze, finally inching around the curve into Scarborough Centre station.
-
Mar 29, 2023 | 
westendphoenix.com | Megan Kinch
The entire cement slab is a like a cake. The carpenters make the frame - its pan - out of wood. Cement is the batter poured into the frame until it hardens; then that frame is laboriously peeled off. Instead of butter to grease the pan, they spray oil on everything. It gets all over your pants and into your skin and you smell like slab oil, which is doubtless some kind of poison. Instead of flour, you get coated in cement dust. Maybe you wear a mask if you can get one; maybe you don't.
