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Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney drew a line in the sand about relations with America. The old relationship we had with the United States, based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over, he said during a speech on Parliament Hill. The same could be said for many Canadian property owners who haveor used to havesecond homes and winter escapes in the United States. Anger over the Trump administrations continued references to the country as the 51st state and the prime minister as a governor, in addition to the tariffs that have set off a trade war between allies, have led to the beginning of a property sell-off. This isnt a small issue for U.S. real estate. Canada has the largest number of distinct investments in U.S. property, representing 13% of foreign buyers. Canadas $5.9 billion in real estate assets is second only to China. There have been some sell-offs in the past year due to both the declining value of Canadian currency in relation to the U.S. dollar, as well as the increasing cost of U.S. homeownership, including rising insurance and HOA costs. Canadian sellers represented a quarter of foreign home sales in Florida between April 2023 and March 2024, according to the National Realtors Association. But U.S.-based brokers who specialize in selling to Canadians, especially in Sun Belt markets popular with snowbirds and second home owners, have seen a significant increase in Canadians selling their property. Anger over Trump’s actions, anxiety over immigrants and travelers being detained, and fear of future restrictions and economic regulations have been driving transactions. Sheri Dettman, who has been selling properties in Palm Springs, California, since 2007, and whose firm did $50 million in business last year, says typically, when it came to nice homes in the desert, buyers looked for an escape and didnt discuss politics. But since the Trump administrations talk of annexing Canada, sales and inquiries from Canadians looking to sell their homes have skyrocketed, and clients have been animated. She has had Canadians call to yell at her for being an American advertising in Canadian newspapers. Within the first two weeks of tariffs talks, I had sellers calling and saying, were out of here, Trump has irrevocably damaged the relationship between Canada and the United States, she said. They were very, very emotional. I had a couple this morning call and say they were afraid Trump would put some executive order on their property. Quebec-based real estate broker Alexandra DuPont told The Canadian Press shes extremely busy handling dozens of Canadians who want to sell off their U.S. homes. Laurie Levine, a dual Canadian-American citizen who sells homes in the Greater Phoenix area, typically handles two or three listings for sale at this time of year. Now hes juggling 18 Canadian sellers at once and getting calls every day from owners who have had enough. He said Canadians have already started heading home earlier in the season, leading to less crowded and less profitable local businesses. He thinks Canadians may start looking more toward Mexico and the Dominican Republic. It might take a long time for America to get its reputation back, Levine said. Investment analysts initially expected 2025 to be a bit of a rebound for foreign investment in U.S. real estate, including expansion into secondary markets like Phoenix, due to a widely shared sentiment that the U.S. economy was doing well and was still a safe haven for capital. But with increasing anxiety over travel, as well as tariffs and trade issues, these early-year predictions may not play out as planned. Sales figures havent shown the full extent of the demand to dump U.S. property, since it typically takes a few months to sell. With many Canadians owning in seasonal markets like Florida and Phoenix, sales will likely stop soon, take a break during the summer, and restart in the fall, so real figures wont show themselves until later in the year. But anecdotal evidence suggests a shift will take place. My clients are saying we might come back, but not in the next four years, or not, said Levine. It’s going to continue on for quite some time. Local businesses are going to be feeling the difference, especially next winter, when half the amount of Canadians come down here.
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E-Commerce
Gerardo Valerio had been looking for a bathroom in Los Angeles Little Tokyo neighborhood for 20 minutes when he stumbled across a blue and white trailer with FREE BATHROOM at the top. At first, he was hesitant to enter the bathroom, which had been installed by the Washington, D.C.-based portable toilet startup Throne. To get in, he had to scan a QR code which pre-loaded a text onto his phone. After sending the text, the door would automatically slide open. What do I text, I need to pee? he jokes. All in all, he says, it was a positive experience: It was pretty to look at but it definitely has a smell to it. It needs to be maintained a bit more. But overall, nice. In Little Tokyo, there are almost no public restroomsin most of the restaurants and shops, you have to buy something first. There should be more, Valerio says. After years of complaints from riders, LA Metro is rolling out more free public Throne bathrooms this year at transit stations across L.A. County. The portable, touchless trailers are self-contained, requiring no water or electric hookup. This allows the company to rapidly deploy restrooms wherever neededlike a busy train station. The new location at Little Tokyo station has been particularly popular, with 120 to 150 uses per day during the weekend. Thrones have also been deployed in the D.C. area, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Beverly Hills; and in the Bay area at two Caltrain stations. View this post on Instagram /div>A post shared by Throne Bathrooms (@thronebathrooms) Built on accountability Throne says its smart bathrooms use accountability to solve the age-old problem of unwanted bathroom activity. Accessing a Throne requires a unique user ID, usually a cell phone number. For those without access to a phone, Throne also distributes key cards through local service providers. [Its] just behavioral science, explains Throne cofounder and COO Jessica Heinzelman. If somebody knows that theyve used their phone to get into a bathroom, theyre treating it a little bit nicer, kind of the same mentality of if you have somebody in line behind you in a regular bathroom. Every user is asked to rate the cleanliness of the Throne and can report any issues via text. Throne uses this feedback to optimize the cleaning schedule which relies on gig laborand rapidly respond to any issues. As of March 1, there have been 425,900 uses nationally, with 168,600 in L.A., and a rating of 4.07 out of five stars. The biggest issue facing public bathrooms in Metro stations has been preventing inappropriate behavior, says Stephen Tu, deputy executive officer of station experience at Metro. Throne bathrooms are cheaper to clean and maintain because problem users can be banned from the system. So far, only 375 people out of 37,144 unique users across the national Throne network have been access-restricted, according to Heinzelman. Last year, after a six-month pilot at four locations, Metro approved a $22 million four-year contract with Throne to provide up to 64 bathrooms. Currently, there are 14 Thrones in the Metro system, with four more set to roll out in April. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Throne Bathrooms (@thronebathrooms) Tapping the gig workforce Some Throne features might be high-tech, but the bathrooms are still cleaned the old-fashioned way: by people, specifically gig workers who sign up to clean specific locations at specific times through an app. It allows us to respond really quickly, while also providing people flexible income opportunities, says Heinzelman. If we had a W-2 workforce, we would probably be able to accomplish a quarter of the cleans in twice the time. Correna T., a public transportation advocate with the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, believes that the bathrooms should be staffed by unionized Metro employees, not gig workers. We would much rather see those jobs go to union employees who have protections and benefits and are staffed publicly, she says. In July of last year, DSA-LA successfully mobilized to push LA Metro to conduct a feasibility study on bringing cleaning staff in-house. Over seven months later, the report is still not out. Next City reached out to Metro for a status update on the report but did not receive a response. Throne declined to provide details about how much a member of the cleaning network is paid per clean, but according to Thrones website, each clean is priced dynamically. There are all sorts of variables to how we are setting clean tasks including when we have two Thrones co-located next to each other (no transit time or transit cost) [plus] the ability to get bonuses for rapid response, says Heinzelman in an email. Workers can receive an extra $15 for extra tough jobs after submitting before-and-after photos that are then confirmed by the company. Thrones top earners are making up to $1,800 per week, says Heinzelman. Having bathrooms is an enormous social service support and health and safety strategy that we wholeheartedly support, says Alfonso Directo, Jr., advocacy director for the Alliance for Community Transit, a coalition of transportation and housing organizations. But ACT-LA would rather see Metro provide stable employment for local residents. Metro, as a public agency with public dollars, could be using those dollars to develop the infrastructure themselves, he says. A temporary fix? Correna T. was initially excited about the Throne bathroom program, but thinks it doesnt go far enough in providing a permanent solution. The bathrooms are portable, not permanent, she points out. Metro doesnt own themThrone does. The contract only extends to 2028the year that L.A. is hosting the summer Olympic games. To DSA-LA, this shows that the Throne partnership is primarily meant to serve tourists during the Olympics. If they dont expand this program past the Olympics, Throne could literally just come in and take them away, and they would no longer be an amenity for the city, she adds. Tu doesnt see the restrooms as necessarily temporary and says the agency has the option to renew the contract at the end of four years. The beauty of its portability allows us to scale very quickly, because to be able to do this with a more traditional approach would take many years to be able to get this at up to 64 locations, he says. LA Metro riders have been requesting bathrooms for decades with little success. The system has only three stations with permanent bathrooms in a system with 107 rail stations and about 12,000 bus stops (the city of Los Angeles has four bathrooms at Metro stations that it maintains separately). Tu says that the challenge with building and maintaining public bathrooms has been not just the capital costs of adding new bathrooms, but also the amount of money needed to staff them and keep them clean. During the pilot, Metro saw a 50% reduction in public urination and defecation incidents at locations where Thrones were deployed. When Next City asked if Metro could use the money saved on maintenance to build permanent bathrooms, Tu repeated that the partnership with Throne allows the agency to roll out multiple bathrooms in a short period of time. He stresses the high rating that Throne has received from users as evidence of the programs success, though he states that Metro is not opposed to exploring other options in the future. The only solution we see in the market right now is the Throne solution, he says. This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit news outlet covering solutions for equitable cities. 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E-Commerce
Amtrak has revealed a first look at its new Airo trains, and they come with panoramic windows, comfier chairs, and more accessibility features. The national rail service is currently constructing 83 of the new-and-improved Airo trains, which will operate on around 15 existing routes in the Eastern U.S. and Pacific Northwest. According to a spokesperson, the Airo manufacturing is currently underway at Siemenss Sacramento plant, with testing of the first trains expected to begin in the second half of this year. By modernizing its fleet with a variety of design improvements, Amtrak is making a play to attract more Americans to train travel instead of flighta step toward its ultimate goal to revitalize Americas passenger rail system and double ridership by 2040. [Image: Amtrak] Nicer seats, bigger views In an announcement released earlier this month, Amtrak revealed a first look at the specs and interiors of its Airo design, and theyre a marked improvement to the rail services existing models. On the inside, new seating offers moveable headrests, a cupholder, bigger and sturdier tray tables, and “plenty of legroom,” per the release. Panoramic windows have been added to let in plenty of light and allow travelers to take in the passing views. And, to make finding your seat simpler, each car will be color-coded based on its class, while each chair will be labeled with an individual number. [Image: Amtrak] More thought has also been given to the trains amenities. In the Airos cafe cars, riders will now have a self-service option rather than waiting in one long line to order from a single attendant. The cafe caras well as the bathrooms, walkways, and vestibuleshas also been modified to allow wheelchair users to navigate more easily. Aesthetically, the Airos staid gray and blue interiors are still lagging far behind the train designs one might find overseaslike in Frances high-speed TGV Inoui model, which looks like a 70s space age mood board. Still, the Airo represents a technological improvement on former Amtrak models in that it can travel up to 125 mph and produces 90% less particulate emissions in diesel operations. Fast Company reached out to Amtrak for more details on the Airos design and environmental impact, and the rail service declined to provide further information at this time. [Image: Amtrak] Its a good time for Amtrak to be investing in new trains, given that some of its old cars are going out of service: Just last week, the rail service announced that it would be suspending its entire Horizon fleet after inspectors uncovered potentially dangerous corrosion on several cars. [Image: Amtrak] Amtraks plan to revitalize Americas rail system The Airo trains, slated to hit tracks in 2026, are the first phase of Amtraks larger plans to refresh its existing fleet and expand its service across the U.S. Last February, former Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner told Fast Company that the U.S. is essentially still operating Victorian railways in the 21st century. Meanwhile countries like France, Japan, Switzerland, and China are moving light-years ahead in terms of their high-speed rail systems (the closest the U.S. has come to high-speed rail is Amtraks Acela route). Amtrak has been working to bring the countrys rail system into the modern era by epanding its routes, enticing younger customers, and, of course, upgrading its trains. So far, its efforts seem to be paying off. In 2024, Amtrak saw a record ridership of 32.8 million passengers, up from 28 million the year before. The rail services ultimate goal is to see 66 million riders by 2040. As Amtrak works to achieve that benchmark, some criticsincluding Elon Muskhave called for the service to be privatized. However, as Fast Company has previously written, such a move could derail the providers expansion plans by raising prices for consumers and even eliminating less profitable routes. In the meantime, if Amtrak is allowed to continue operating under its current structure, a spokesperson predicted that the service is on track to reach operational profitabilityfor the first time in historyduring this administration.
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E-Commerce
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