while browsing through the flickr blog this afternoon, i came across a post about a fire that ripped through one of my favorite areas of toronto.

having lived in the city from the summer of 2006 until the fall of 2007, i was continually reading about the battle between citizens of the area and various city-side housing commissions over this beloved area (read: exploitable area for the city) on queen street. it was, and is (for who knows how long), known for its independent shops, high artist population, quirky nightlife and overall thriving culture.

as a conspiracy theorist (read: someone who's always trying to figure out what the government is up to, since they usually don't have our best interests in mind), i immediately thought back to this ongoing trouble between the people and the politicos upon reading of the fire and the inability to discover its nature. is this a ploy by government to oust the artist population and make way for the big box stores and condos that they'd like to see lining the streets? this article supports the theory, but i don't want to put much stock in anything yet.

as an artist (ha), amateur historian, and man who simply enjoys culture, i mourn for the loss of some of the city's architecture and for the homes of the residents.