“NOTL is one of the few burgs in the nation allowing (and encouraging) the conversion of residential housing into ‘unhosted’ short-term rentals,” writes Garth Turner.

“Some people believe our little lovenest of a town is lurching toward surveillance, confinement and control. Look at the official, shiny new draft official plan, they say,” writes Garth Turner.

“As I write this there are six (seriously, just six) rentals listed with realtors in the Old Town. The average rent being asked is $3,000 a month,” writes Garth Turner.

“Urbanites may not get this, but in much of Canada, the post office is Canada. The sole, identifiable, enduring and working link to the federal government. Once that is shuttered, the bond dies,” writes Garth Turner.

“Now people who flock to see old, quaint, authentic and irreplaceable architecture are greeted by a fine example of the Mississauga Industrial school of design,” writes Garth Turner.

“What’s motivating the Second Sons and the Tamaras needs to be learned. Dissing them as lowlifes and bigots doesn’t work,” writes Garth Turner.

“A hole 23 feet deep is no backyard swimming pool. It will consume a good chunk of the Parliament Oak site, rising toward King Street as it transitions from parking garage to hotel foundation and car ramp,” writes Garth Turner.

“NOTL ain’t TN. This is paradise. Everybody wants to be here, right?” writes Garth Turner. “But wait. We also have a weird market. And some people are being clobbered by it.”

“Unhosted short-term rentals are a bad idea. Period. Most municipalities in Canada have banned them. Having an Airbnb unit in your house is far different from buying a property and operating a ghost hotel with nobody living there full-time,” writes Garth Turner.

The old Royal George may need to tumble and be rebuilt, but Old Towner and Tiktoker Sally Basmajian says, “there are right ways of doing things and just egregiously wrong ways of doing things.”

“This is the Niagara Warehouse of Hope. Mary and her squeeze, Ted, started in their garage almost 40 years ago. She now operates out of the big structure a crew of believers built in a single day and ships containers around the world with the help of at least 150 volunteers,” writes Garth Turner.

“The Royal George eruption has folks again asking that eternal question: is this a place to live or a theme park for the tourists?” writes Garth Turner.

“Over the years we felt that our dream was slipping away as the town and council seemed to become more and more focused on tourists, and less so on the residents that chose to call NOTL home,” says a former resident who wrote to Garth Turner this week.

“Shaw says it has worked and planned harmoniously with neighbours. They say phooey,” writes Garth Turner.

“Dear Shaw Festival, we want you to stay and prosper. But there’s a reason you’re here in paradise, and not in Brampton,” writes Garth Turner.

“In all, four heritage buildings will be offed. The iconic Queen streetscape will be forever altered, the 120-year-old Royal George erased, trees sacrificed and apparently you have nothing to say about it,” writes Garth Turner.

“It’s never a good thing when normally docile folks believe councillors are in the pockets of developers, that the town’s government is anti-family or that public matters are shielded from, well, the public. But here we are,” writes Garth Turner.

“So the town has launched a race for business survival. Not only do we risk displacing people and houses with hotels and tourists, but life is a whole lot tougher — and more expensive — for the guys already in the hospitality biz,” writes Garth Turner.

“Apartment units should be reserved for long-term tenants, not thrown into the online tourist pool. And no place with a pool or a hot tub should be granted a short-term rental licence, since that’s just a recipe for neighbourhood noise, disruption and mayhem,” writes Garth Turner.