Gianmarco Segato

@_ChanFace I just shake my head as I pass the crazy line of vehicles on that stretch every weekend. Why subject yourself to that? It also completely blocks the buses from travelling efficiently there- why wasn’t a bus lane included when they literally just built this?

One of these forms of transportation is more efficient than the other…

@observinthecity Absolutely ridiculous. Peak Toronto overreach.

4 police and 7 security guards permanently stationed over 2 blocks of Church street. All because cars are now not permitted along this stretch. When anyone talks about “cost overruns” for pedestrianization, this is where it’s coming from. This cannot be the model going forward.

@EmilyFarina5 @RenderPornStar Yep it’s a ghost town with all of those major retailers gone. What the heck is going to fill those huge spaces…oh right, storage locker businesses. That’ll bring in the foot traffic!

@ducadiposa @RenderPornStar The end of Toronto‘s big department store era (Eaton, Nordstrom, Saks, The Bay) contributed to Downtown Yonfe’s demise. By contrast the wide sidewalks of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue are still teeming with prosperous shoppers — a century after it became a premier US retail street.

I don't like any of the highrises built during the past two decades on downtown Yonge Street. For a proper urban experience, Rochester and Buffalo show us how to respectfully restore heritage buildings and maintain a vibrant street vibe.

@EmilyFarina5 @RenderPornStar It’s appalling and embarrassing. On the few occasions I find myself walking up Yonge & seeing obvious tourists around me I just cringe. Think of the major central thoroughfare in almost any other major city & weep.

@RenderPornStar What happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars Toronto collected in development charges and double land transfer taxes from condo buyers and investors? The downtown Yonge streetscape is as dismal and decrepit as ever.

@larkingrumple @grangeparkopera When forced to choose - this is my favourite opera - in all its versions.

What a great opera Don Carlo is… and a pulsating performance in this @grangeparkopera revival. Crackling Philip-Inquisitor encounter, the whole evening crowned by Elin Pritchard’s majestic Elisabetta. 👑

@SlopHq Then why has the incoming separatist government said they’ll pull out of high speed rail?

the rest of canada treats building transit like a chore you put off. quebec treats it like cuisine, something you either do properly or you don't do at all. you cannot rush the metro for the same reason you cannot rush a cassoulet

@coreyherscu Sadly my hometown of Hamilton largely the same downtown. Don’t get me started on how lovely downtown was back in the day (erm, my childhood and teen years). Heartbreaking and unacceptable.

I implore anyone to park in downtown London at any time of the day, look around, and not second-guess whether you're in a small Ontario town or on the set of The Walking Dead.

@JoshMatlow Sort of regret having filled out that survey now. Had a strange feeling as I progressed through it that questions were extremely biased towards a forgone conclusion.

We have a real opportunity to stop Doug Ford’s plan to bring jets to Toronto’s waterfront. The federal government has opened a public consultation, and they need to hear from you. Their survey is not the only way to do it. You can send an email right now with just a few clicks by visiting joshmatlow.ca/waterfront. Contrary to what Doug Ford has promised, studies warn that jets at Billy Bishop pose a significant risk of increased noise pollution, water pollution, air pollution, and traffic congestion, which would negatively impact housing, public spaces, and public perception – potentially reducing tourism and economic development on the waterfront. Any proposal for Billy Bishop and our city’s waterfront must include Toronto as a full partner. Your participation in this consultation is an important first step. Please make your voice heard!

@Stephen74977713 This was my introduction to this opera so it’s sound & those interpretations seared in my brain.

Bought last week for 5 euros in a Dusseldorf flee market. Record in perfect condition. Don’t normally go for highlights but I already own 3 complete sets on CD. I love Cotrubas.

@RichardBratby Accomplished this on a visit many moons ago. Remember getting back to London very very late!

Think of me tomorrow as I attempt the unprecedented: attending Glyndebourne and getting home the same day, using public transport, from somewhere north of London.

@LFairclo Oh this is so good. It’s now so clear he called that election when he did knowing the scams he wanted to accomplish & could only do so by hoodwinking the populace with an entirely unnecessary election.

1/ If Doug Ford hadn't called a self-serving snap election in February of 2025, today would have been Election Day in Ontario.

@AlexaCoghlan Kind of the norm now. Orgs either don’t think audiences have the attention span, don’t prioritize this kind of education, don’t have staff who can research & write this kind of thing or have given up caring.

No programme notes at all now at King’s Place. Is it just me or, given people have already bought tix, notes or texts/translations might be more helpful for the meagre 2 pages than long artist biogs?

@MarianSekerak One of the truly greatest operas of the last, and any, century! Lucky you to have experienced it twice so recently.

Seeing the performance of "Dialogues des Carmélites" by Francis Poulenc on stage is always a powerful emotional experience. Tonight, I experienced a lovely (and the last) performance of this masterpiece at the F.X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, 🇨🇿.

@RomaPete @MetOperaChorus @METOrchestra @MetOpera On the livestream the other night I thought I was listening to the best Violeta I’ve heard in a very long time. Would be interested though to hear your take on how well her probably lightish voice projects at the Met.

Tonight another singer I greatly esteem sings Violetta. I might have an issue with the programming, but I can’t fault the casting! 🥰 Tx3 to all @MetOperaChorus @METOrchestra @MetOpera

@EricDLombardi This is the most balanced reasonable discussion I’ve read about this ridiculous situation. Why did this not happen before the ‘big’ announcements?

Canada and Ontario are a democracy, but it often feels like we’ve lost *democratic culture*. You can see it in the debates we’re having (and lack there of). I’ll use the Toronto Island/Billy Bishop controversy as an example. 👇 First, what is the problem? - The island airport lease was set to expire in 2033, but has been extended to 2045 to figure out next steps. - The Q400 turboprop planes that fly out of the airport are no longer mass produced. - While maintenance works for the next decade or two, the island airport really has 2 options: Extend the runway to allow jets or shut down the airport. - - - The democratic approach to solving this problem would look like the following. 1) Establish a working group to evaluate future options, should be governed by clear stakeholders from all participants (Feds, Province, City, TPA etc). - Expand the airport - Maintain the airport - Shut the airport It should also propose a transparent mechanism for determining a path forward. This doesn’t mean every stakeholder gets what they want, but people understand how the decision is made and accept it. 2) Present clear futures to the public for scrutiny and debate. - Detailed proposals outlining cost/benefit/context/trade-offs/remediation. - Context of other potential infrastructure investments and developments (eg, HSR, Ontario Place, Port Lands) - Access and Local/regional transit upgrades to improve connections - Impacts on airline competition in the region, and remedying options (eg, upgrading Hamilton Airport) - The potential of working with De Havilland/Bombarier/Embraer on re-production of suitable planes for the existing or reduced runway expansion scope - Business/investment potential - Cultural and environmental impact 3) Period for public scrutiny. The reality is that reports and commissions get a lot wrong, because humans are fallible. Public advocacy (not NIMBYism) often improves outcomes and clarifies preferences. The public and civil society have a role here. 4) Decision by arms-length mechanism suggested in (1) and a clear/written justification for the approach. It should not be a partisan decision by the Ford government, which will be long gone before anything materializes. That’s how you ensure legitimacy going forward so a future gov doesn’t change course after spending billions of dollars. Not everyone will be happy, but at least people will know that fair consideration actually occurred. - - - The problem with the ham-fisted approach being pursued by Ford, TPA and the Conservatives (and from the shameless silence of the Federal Government) is that the public has very little information to go by. The city itself is completely in the dark. And yet, there is a rush to use eminent domain over the entire islands. It’s an authoritarian impulse to believe that opposition has no inherent legitimacy. I love democracy, debate, and ideas. Yet our leaders have been afraid to actually believe in it in their actions. Everyone is reacting pathologically. So, do I support the island airport expansion? I can’t possibly know. We literally don’t have the information to judge. And that’s the core democratic failure. All I can say is that we should demand better from @fordnation @PrabSarkaria @MarkJCarney cc @RunChiNguyenRun @WaterfrontAll @WaterfrontBIA @NoJetsTO

@Royal_Arse @__DatGuy__ @daviddoel Utter BS. Prices in private shops in AB, MB same or higher. Travel a bit further - UK, USA same thing. Was just in CA - wines from that state same or higher priced than they were when available in ON!

@__DatGuy__ @daviddoel it is LITERALLY a monopoly that price gouges consumers... It can charge whatever prices it wants since there is no competition, the product selection is limited, etc. If it was forced to compete it would go out of business almost immediately absent massive taxpayer subsidies.

Is there one example where privatizing a public asset has turned out to be beneficial for Canadians as a whole? Between Petro-Canada, Air Canada, Highway 407, Hydro One, all I see are regrets.

@RichardBratby @RegentsOpera @WelshNatOpera Thank you for laying out the tragic plight of these two companies with such honesty and clarity.

Reviews of The Flying Dutchman and @RegentsOpera Salome, with thoughts on the plight of @WelshNatOpera , the company that introduced me to great opera. spectator.com/article/the-ar…

@RomaPete You’re getting to hear some great Canadian sopranos on this jaunt!

Had only seen the Zemlinsky once before, in a small company production in Brooklyn last summer, which did not do it justice. Quite a fun piece and pairs well with the Bartok. Curtain call included Petersen, in the white dress, and her accompanist. She was also a Bluebeard wife.

@RM_Transit The fact that whoever is leading this thinks putting the main station for HSR outside of the main station in a Canadian city makes any sense…is just not getting this at all. Any HSR I’ve taken in Europe starts/ends centrally.

BUT .... if you suddenly don't put HSR downtown (Union, where the trains go, not some place that requires a separate trip from Union) you do suddenly make getting there quite a bit harder and put a time tax on almost every trip.

A silly criticism of HSR is that its not faster than flying because you need to get downtown, this is silly because A) downtown has the highest population density B) there are a network of fast trains there (good luck with both for the airport)

@Anticlamicus @jen_keesmaat So how tf did families ‘survive’ without these monstrous vehicles when I was a kid in the 70s? Please tell me!

@jen_keesmaat So, what's your solution to the "family problem"? Bigger the family the larger or more cars you need. If you have kids you MUST get a large vehicle; baby and booster seats take up more space than the average butt.

Here it is - the reason you don't see large vehicles dominating the roads in Asian and European cities: Cities like London, Stockholm, Milan charge drivers to enter central areas, and penalize larger vehicles with charges. They incentivize smaller vehicles through pricing. London also has Low Emissions Zones where only 'green' vehicles are permitted. Many Asian and European cities charge higher parking fees for larger vehicles. In Singapore, you must buy a Certificate of Entitlement to own a car. And yup, the larger the vehicle the more it costs. There is an existing (successful) recipe here for limiting large vehicles in cities. Make them more expensive Make them harder to park And limit where they can go