“The next month will bring the collapse of the theatre, the erasure of the historic barber shop beside it … and geothermal drilling,” writes Garth Turner.

“This is a turning point for us,” veteran councillor and former mayor Gary Burroughs told Garth Turner, “and we’re not coming out of it well.”

“It turns out ‘heritage’ is, in fact, a hated word in the insurance biz, and that only a tiny sliver of companies (called “markets” by brokers) will even consider extending coverage,” writes Garth Turner.

“Old Town residents — on Victoria, Prideaux, Simcoe and Queen — can expect up to 50 trucks per day during various phases of the project. Dumps, flatbeds and tractor trailers,” writes Garth Turner.

“How will heavy construction be handled during the next three summers when Queen is shoulder-to-shoulder with tourists, cars are everywhere and festival season arrives?” writes Garth Turner.

“Soon the historic buildings behind the chain-link — some dating to the 1880s — will be razed. The excavators will move in. Then the erection of a 55,000-square foot complex with a six-storey height,” writes Garth Turner.

“NOTL may attract three million visitors a year, but at its heart are caring, decent people always finding time for a pet, a smile and a stroke of my incredibly handsome fur,” writes Cody the Chow, taking over for Garth Turner this week.

“People flock here (three million of them annually) because it’s authentic. It’s ancient. Historic. Quaint in a way Mississauga and Buffalo never will be. Not cute. Not fake,” writes Garth Turner.

“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.