Son (30-ish): My dad sends me your articles. DAAAAD. Better Dwelling is here. He's running for mayor.
Me: Oh my name's Stephe...
Dad: Better Dwelling is running for Mayor? We have to help him! *grabs jacket* 1/2
Me: sorry sir. I didn't mean to disturb you, I'm just here to discuss your city concerns.
Him: My concern? They're all crooks! I'll get the whole neighborhood to vote for you! 😂
Loved that: 1) A senior was ready to run out the door & help
2) he calls me better dwelling 🤷♂️😂
Gonna hire Saul to be my comms manager if I ever run for office again. 😂
Dude's killing it with sign requests in one of the richest parts of town. Which says a lot about the current situation. Even people thriving in this environment think what's happening is not okay.
2/ What do Larry David, Alicia Keys, Tennessee Williams, Christian Slater, & Angela Lansbury have in common?
They lived at Manhattan Plaza, a no frills, low-income apartment building that required 70% of tenants to be practicing artists. We're reviving this idea with a twist.
3/ The number one issue we heard from early and mid-stage artists is the city is too expensive and they don't have space to practice their craft.
Any artist will tell you that without practice, they can't get to the next stage of their career.
The world is rapidly changing, and cities that don’t pass the torch to the next generation will fail to understand the needs of the next generation.
2/ some feedback I get from voters is they’ll vote for me, but they don’t think Toronto is ready for a mayor that’s “only” 40. I don’t think that’s the case.
Toronto’s young adults are fleeing in record volumes. It’s not a problem as simple as just more housing.
3/ btw most of my supporters are home owning Boomers, that have Millennial kids & see how hard their life is.
They often tell me they’re lucky enough to be able help, but hard working professionals shouldn’t need help from their parents. They also know it’s a privilege to help.
3/ This isn't due to a faster, better design. It's to cut costs.
We can avoid this by adopting better & more resilient transit funding by leveraging TTC lands for recurring & perpetual non-tax revenue, instead of selling it to developers for cheap.