In the (almost) five years since our first kid was born, my wife and I have amassed an impressive collection of children’s books. But as our collection grew, I noticed that only a handful of our books depict cities in a positive light. The vast majority of children’s stories take place in bucolic settings, which I’ll admit makes sense if you’re writing about anthropomorphic woodland creatures. What’s worse, many books that do feature urban settings tend to demonize them as polluted or dangerous places (witness the classic Harry the Dirty Dog or the works of Bill Peet). This realization set me on a mission to find kids’ books that celebrate and take place in—or, even better, are actually about—cities. I’m pleased to report that I’ve found a handful. If you have kids, or know any, and you’re looking to give them a gift that subtly inflicts your pro-urban agenda on their young and malleable minds, you can’t go wrong with any of these fine titles: Jonathan Cleaned Up — Then He Heard a Sound Robert Munsch No list of city-focused books would be complete without this, Robert Munsch’s hilarious ode to bureaucratic ineptitude. When a subway station appears in his apartment, Jonathan does what any good citizen would do: he goes to City Hall to complain. He navigates his way through the red tape and eventually discovers the secret to getting things fixed: just apply copious amounts of blackberry jam. Long-time Torontonians’ hearts will warm at the sight of a red Gloucester subway car, though unfortunately for Jonathan, said train deposits hundreds of inconsiderate commuters straight into his living room. The Curious Garden Peter Brown New York’s High Line is the inspiration for this amazing story about Liam, a boy in a drab city who finds a few tenacious plants growing on an abandoned railway and decides to become a gardener. As Liam’s horticultural skills improve, his garden starts to grow of its own accord, and soon takes over the entire city — with a bit of help from a few other guerrilla gardeners inspired by Liam’s example.

It could have been the great view of the financial district, or the historic digs, or the amazing collection of photos on the walls. It could have been the gorgeous weather. But more than likely, it was all of those things, and more, that combined to make last night’s party at the Design Exchange such a hit. For evidence of all the fun we had, check out the slideshow, above, of photos taken throughout the night by Yvonne Bambrick. Thanks to everyone who ...

News broke earlier this afternoon that Paul Oberman, the developer behind the restoration of prominent Toronto heritage properties including the Gooderham Flatiron Building and the Summerhill Station LCBO, died last night in a plane crash in Maine. The Star has a post about the crash, and a a moving tribute to Oberman by Lloyd Alter is up on TreeHugger. There's also a Facebook memorial group. Photos by Randolph Croft and Stephen Best

This hilarious satire of the debate surrounding our mayor-elect's transit plans was posted to YouTube by longtime Spacing Toronto commenter iSkyscraper. Nobody does deadpan better than a computer, n'est-ce pas? Best part: "So you think that, despite everything I've just pointed out, a modern city should have a vision of removing streetcars? I guess Rob Ford is not only smarter than transit experts in Toronto, but in every city in North America?" "Yes. Rob Ford does not like trains. He will ...

LISTEN TO THIS SPACING RADIO PODCAST George Smitherman loves to walk. Earlier this week, in fact, he walked along Eglinton — all the way across Toronto. I caught up with him yesterday in Leaside, and we walked and talked until just west of Victoria Park. I asked how Smitherman’s vision for Toronto applied to walkability, and what he as mayor would do to improve walking conditions in suburban communities. Smitherman, however, does not see walking as an issue-in-itself. Integration is his buzzword, and as such, he thinks of walking primarily ...

In a clear case of hero worship gone haywire, hundreds of people are presently camped out on sidewalks surrounding MuchMusic’s headquarters at Queen and John streets. The line begins on the southeast corner and runs south to Richmond, then wraps around the building and snakes all the way to St. Patrick Street, where I just talked to two girls who told me they are in 836th and 837th place. Yes, it’s that time of year again: the MuchMusic Video Awards air live from the station’s parking lot on June 20, and ...

Adam Giambrone is abandoning his campaign for mayor. His assistant, Kevin Beaulieu, informed the media of this decision after Giambrone suprised the assembled reporters by making no major announcements at the press conference he called this morning. UPDATE: It appears that Giambrone intended to make the announcement himself, but was unable to finish delivering his prepared comments. In his remarks, he apologized once again to his partner, Sarah McQuarrie, as well as to his colleagues on council and to the "young people who believed in me." His statement lasted less than two minutes, and he took no questions. Giambrone launched his mayoralty campaign at the beginning of the month. Yesterday, he admitted to having an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman named Kristen Lucas, and then apologized later in the day for having “intimate relations” with multiple women in the past year. UPDATE: Here is Giambrone's complete statement. The part in bold is what he failed to read aloud.

The TTC fare increase was approved yesterday by the Commission. It takes effect January 3, 2010. Here's a breakdown of the fare changes, with the current (soon to be former) rates in parentheses: Adult Cash: $3.00 ($2.75) Token: $2.50 ($2.25) Weekly Pass: $36.00 ($32.25) Regular Metropass: $121.00 ($109.00) VIP*: $106.00 $107.00^ ($96.00) MDP: $110.00 $111.00^ ($100.00) Senior/Student Cash: $2.00 ($1.85) Ticket: $1.65 ($1.50) Weekly Pass: $28.00 ($25.50) Regular Metropass: $99.00 ($91.25) MDP: $89.00 ($84.00) Child Cash: $0.75 ($0.70) Ticket: $0.55 ($0.50) Day Pass: $10.00 ($9.00) GTA Pass (TTC Portion): $29.25 ($25.30) * = Volume Incentive Program (not the other kind of "VIP") ^ = The ...

Yes, the TTC fare increase seems like a foregone conclusion. But if you've been spending your afternoons lining up repeatedly at collector booths to stock up on tokens, let me suggest an alternative way to save yourself some money: sign up for the Metropass Discount Plan (MDP). Yesterday, I subscribed for the MDP at the current, pre-increase rate of $100 per month. The caveat was that I had to buy a December Metropass at the MDP office at Davisville station. Interestingly, this was my second attempt at getting ...

photos by Sam Javanrouh -- also view series on Spacing's Flickr account In a rainy debut Friday morning, Toronto's newest pedestrian scramble came online at 10am at the corner of Yonge and Bloor. The revamped intersection has two differences from the city's first scramble installation at Yonge and Dundas: right turns are allowed on green lights, which may gum things up slightly at first, but there are also no streetcars to contend with. City staff are expecting the standard confusion and grumbling to accompany the ...