Good morning, Etobicoke! I'm Bri, and it's the stretch of August where the patios are still full but the back to school ads have started. Grab your iced coffee, here's what's happening around the neighbourhood.

In this week’s newsletter:

🚲 Campaign Promise: Bloor's bike lanes are "coming out"
🔋 Four In A Day: Toronto's battery fires reach Etobicoke again
🏗️ Housing Money: 301 rentals coming to Bloor and Islington

Plus: Oakville's data centre pause, free movies at Bell Manor, and LUZIA's final weeks 🌟

🚲 Bloor's Bike Lanes Are A Campaign Promise Now 🚲
Mayoral candidate Brad Bradford said Tuesday that the Bloor Street West bike lanes between South Kingsway and Resurrection Road are "coming out, and the vehicle lanes are going back in" if he wins in October. He voted to approve them in 2023, part of a 21 to 1 council vote, and now says council "got this one wrong." Mayor Chow's office says he wants to spend millions reversing a decision he championed.

🔋 Etobicoke's Battery Problem Is Not Slowing Down 🔋
Toronto counted four lithium ion battery fires in just over 24 hours this week, and one of them was here. That follows the August 5 two alarm fire at the city run shelter highrise at 2180 Islington Ave., which started with batteries left charging on the seventh floor. Fire Chief Jim Jessop calls these the greatest evolving fire safety risk in the city, and notes the batteries sold here are not required to meet any standard.

🏗️ Three Hundred Rentals Coming To Bloor And Islington 🏗️
Buried in the $2.7 billion federal and city housing deal is one Etobicoke line item: 301 rental homes at Bloor and Islington, pitched as a transit oriented community tied to the future Islington TTC station. It is one of nine Build Canada Homes projects across the city, and the only one west of the Humber. No shovel date yet, but the money is attached now.

🖥️ Oakville Did What Etobicoke Residents Asked For 🖥️
Oakville council voted unanimously Tuesday for a one year pause on new data centres, the first Ontario municipality to actually pass one. Sound familiar? Etobicoke residents wanted the same over the proposed build at 48 Lowe's Place, and Toronto council never took a straight vote on it, going with a study and a request for a provincewide framework instead. Mississauga votes on its own freeze next month.

📌 Quick Hits
Nominations for the October 26 municipal election close August 21 at 2 p.m., so that's eight days if you have been thinking about it. Waterloo Region also voted this week to study data centre impacts, making it two municipalities in seven days. And Taste of the Kingsway is back September 11 to 13 on Bloor between Montgomery and Prince Edward.

Finding a good contractor in Etobicoke shouldn’t feel like a gamble. Meet Scoop Approved ↓

🎯 3 Truths and 1 Lie: Islington Edition

A) Islington station was the end of the Bloor line for 12 years before Kipling opened in 1980.
B) There are 28 murals painted along Dundas St. W. between Islington and Kipling.
C) Islington station has the deepest platform in the TTC system.
D) Islington used to be called Mimico, until a local hotel owner's wife renamed it after her hometown in England.

Answer: C is the lie. That title now belongs to Avenue station on Line 5, about 32 metres down, which took the record from Highway 407 when the Crosstown opened in February. Islington is nowhere close, and it has an unusual triple portal where a storage track runs partly out at surface level. As for D, the village needed a new name in the late 1850s because there was already a Mimico post office, so Elizabeth Smith put forward the English town she came from.

Like being in the know? Share the love! Forward this newsletter to friends and neighbors who’d enjoy staying up-to-date on all things Etobicoke. 📬

Thanks for reading! See you next week for more of what’s happening in Etobicoke.

-Bri