Sewell subsequently returned to city council as an alderman in a by-election, to replace Ward 6 alderman Dan Heap who had been elected to parliament, and won re-election in 1982. He retired from municipal politics in 1984 to accept a job as a columnist at "The Globe and Mail". He subsequently moved to "Now Magazine", then wrote a regular column in Toronto's "eye weekly" from 1999 to 2005. He has written a number of books and articles on Toronto urban issues.