Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
Subscribe to Brandon Donnelly
>4.2K subscribers
As you know, sixplexes are now permitted in certain parts of Toronto. We've spoken before about how it should be all of Toronto; but nevertheless, they are allowed in areas where they were not allowed before. That constitutes progress.
But it gets much better: This week, Mayor Chow announced that she will be bringing forward a motion to Council to eliminate development charges and parkland dedication cash-in-lieu requirements for new developments of up to six residential homes. This is a big deal and something that is necessary if we want to spur more rental housing.
To quote my friend Craig Race (of Craig Race Architecture), "this is the first thing [Olivia Chow has] done I'm happy about, and I hope to see more." Mayor Chow was criticized for standing around while sixplexes were being debated, and so this is perhaps her now trying to step up. Whatever it is, home builders will take it.
Globizen wasn't looking at this scale before, but I'm now going to adapt one of our screening models to see if the math works. If it does, then expect the industry to mobilize around it.
As you know, sixplexes are now permitted in certain parts of Toronto. We've spoken before about how it should be all of Toronto; but nevertheless, they are allowed in areas where they were not allowed before. That constitutes progress.
But it gets much better: This week, Mayor Chow announced that she will be bringing forward a motion to Council to eliminate development charges and parkland dedication cash-in-lieu requirements for new developments of up to six residential homes. This is a big deal and something that is necessary if we want to spur more rental housing.
To quote my friend Craig Race (of Craig Race Architecture), "this is the first thing [Olivia Chow has] done I'm happy about, and I hope to see more." Mayor Chow was criticized for standing around while sixplexes were being debated, and so this is perhaps her now trying to step up. Whatever it is, home builders will take it.
Globizen wasn't looking at this scale before, but I'm now going to adapt one of our screening models to see if the math works. If it does, then expect the industry to mobilize around it.
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Brandon DonnellyNo development charges and parkland dedication on sixplexes — hopefully
Support Brandon Donnelly
Brandon DonnellyNo development charges and parkland dedication on sixplexes — hopefully
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