Chris Spoke

Building.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@PlannerSean @EricLDaugh It’s gross.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

Sounds great!

[Jonathan English @EnglishRail]

Ontario's Bill 98 on Transit integration is a huge opportunity. I completely understand people's apprehensiveness, but if done right, this can build on OneFare's success to make things better for both riders and agencies. 1/

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@Daphne7411 Sounds right.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

I travelled to Mexico City with my wife last week. It was our first time.

Like most first-timers, we spent most of our time in “el pollo,” the part of town that includes Roma, Condesa, Juárez, Polanco, Chapultepec, parts of Coyoacán, and parts of Centro.

Roma Norte and Condesa in particular were among the nicest neighbourhoods I’ve ever visited. Beautiful architecture, nice walkable streets, a tonne of greenery, and some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life.

It was a great trip.

It also made me think more about what Toronto should be doing to nail urban design.

I made a joke at the Missing Middle Summit (https://t.co/CDrf3J1M3b) that Toronto housing policy needs to be both more libertarian and more communist. More libertarian in the sense of being more permissive, less prescriptive, and less rule-bound. More communist in the sense of having a more communal understanding of how we handle amenity space, garbage pickup, bicycle infrastructure, and trees.

The tree point in particular really hit home in CDMX.

As with the nicer parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, which we also recently visited, the streets of Roma Norte are incredibly green, with world-class tree canopies, despite very few trees remaining on private property.

Developers cut those trees down to develop buildings. Then the city planted a bunch of new trees in the right-of-way.

In Toronto, one of our perpetual frustrations when underwriting sites for acquisition is the uncertainty around whether larger by-law protected trees can be removed. City staff have told me that they’re struggling with a dual mandate from Council to both increase housing options in neighbourhoods (missing middle housing) and increase the tree canopy.

But this conflict is mostly self-imposed.

The solution is very obviously to allow the removal of trees that interfere with development on private property as-of-right, while planting far more street trees in the public right-of-way.

We should be less precious about trees on private property, especially when they stand in the way of new housing, and much more serious about building a continuous, high-quality, publicly managed urban canopy.

Given that most of Toronto’s streets and rights-of-way are oversized, there is plenty of opportunity to expand sidewalk widths and plant more street trees, especially where doing so does not interfere with infill development. That is where the canopy should go: along the streets, where everyone benefits from it, where it improves the public realm, and where it can be planned, maintained, and replaced properly over time.

[YIMBYLAND @YIMBYLAND]

Street trees instantly give +10 aura points to literally any street. You could even have a commie block, but line it with trees and it comes alive!

Every street deserves to be adorned with beautiful shade trees!!

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@muhndod @fordnation I totally disagree. We should do smart things even if there's some transition involved.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

Smart / obvious. Let's do it, @fordnation.

[Danielle Smith @ABDanielleSmith]

One Card. That’s it.

Starting July 2, Albertans can get a new driver’s licence or ID card that includes their healthcare number and proof of citizenship, all on one secure card at no additional cost.

No more flimsy paper cards. No more carrying multiple pieces of ID. Just a common-sense change that makes life easier.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@sweatystartup @Austen >[AI] tools don't work
>I love AI. I use it daily

🤔

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@MYoungTO @Republic_Dev @buildingonfund Amazing, congrats.

[Matthew Lau @matlau10]

The social responsibility of Tim Hortons is to increase its profits....

Reducing youth unemployment is a worthy goal, but there is no reason to especially burden Tim Hortons with achieving it.

My column:

https://t.co/Aus6Ij3xBw

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@matlau10 Great piece. This would be a fun live debate topic with @alexbrown17.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@stephenseibel lol brutal.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

Canadian small business banking is brutal.

We're looking for a $300–500k LOC for our business, and the banks are not helpful at all at that size. Somehow both too big and too small.

Who should I be talking to?

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@drorpoleg OK yes, right.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

Take your life seriously.

[Sam Altman @sama]

one of the quotes i find most inspiring on a hard day:

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom"

Ecclesiastes 9:10

[Sean Speer @Sean_Speer]

This type of flawed analysis will invariably lead to poor policy outcomes.

It's the equivalent of saying: "Saskatchewan supplies roughly 85% of America's potash imports, far above its approximately one-third share of global potash production."

The new economic nationalists are seeking to replace comparative advantage with state-directed sovereignty economics that's bound to make us poorer and less competitive.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@drorpoleg Thanks. I don't see the big distinction between "with all your might" and "[to] all that your might enables", but I do think that we should all be trying to understand and do God's will.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@RM_Transit And to times that are less congested.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

@stephenseibel TD says that our business is "too complex" to underwrite (as a small business). The most standard, plain vanilla REPE structure you can imagine.

[Chris Spoke @ChrisSpoke]

You’re up, @oliviachow.

[Peter Bethlenfalvy @PBethlenfalvy]

Our government is taking action to reduce building costs and speed up the construction of new homes through the Development Charge Reduction Program: a new, shared program with the federal government that will deliver $8.8 billion in funding towards housing-enabling infrastructure projects for municipalities that cut development charges by 30% or more.

Along with the HST relief announced in Ontario’s 2026 budget, this program will help make homes across the province more affordable.

🔗https://t.co/AvtufhjWSm

@RobFlackEML