July 20, 2006
Moscoe Survives TTC Vote, Bomb Scare Grounds Plane, U of T Gets Urban Think Tank,
Howard Moscoe is harder to kill than a vampire. The TTC chair survives yet another non-confidence motion and pissed off councillor Mark Grimes so much that he actually quit his comissioner spot on the committee. So not only did he pass the vote he also successfuly flabbergasted an opponent into quitting. Now that's what we call a skilled political operator.
In other TTC news, perimeter seating gets the thumbs down from Count Moscoe. He then proceeded to suck the blood of the city staff member that suggested the idea.
A flight from Rochester to Toronto was rerouted back to Rochester when two passengers on-board were mistakenly thought to be making a comment about a bomb. The passengers allegedly also carried fake Canadian passports.
The city is simplifying pet licensing so hopefully more people will register their pooch and feline companions. Now if they could only solve the eternal leash-no leash parks debate.
New plans have been unveiled for the Bay-Adelaide Centre. Construction was stalled in the '90s and left behind a multi-storey stump that many thought was an eyesore. The new development will have three towers and a courtyard. The beautiful "Cloud Garden" parkette will not be affected.
U of T finally gets an interdisciplinary urban studies think tank. It will be modelled on the very successful Munk Centre for International Studies. The university has agreed to sink $1.75 million into the think tank over the next five years.
Finally, a woman was struck by a car near Bloor and Lansdowne last night. The driver remained on the scene. Please be careful out there.
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What the hell is wrong with Howard Moscoe? Perimeter seating would allow for at least 8 people where the current scheme only allows for 4. That's an additional 4 people from each spot where the seats jut out, or another 24 people per car, which is 100 more per train. Why wouldn't he want that?
A) Forward/Backward seating is more comfortable since you don't get sloshed from side to side during stopping/starting.
B) Having only 2 or 3 seats in a row gives everyone more room (i.e., no need for everyone to sit squeezed in shoulder to shoulder).
C) Capacity wouldn't actually go up by much for perimeter seating. I'm not sure where you plan to fit those people, but the forward/backward seats are no bigger than perimeter seating.
D) If we allow perimeter seating, then the terrorists have won!
We posted about this a few days ago, too: http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2006/07/storm_hits_gta_1.php#comments
I'll repeat my comments from that thread:
"I...think that perimeter seating is allright, though I like being able to sit facing straight out of the car. It's a better seat (more stable, don't have to look at anybody if you don't want to). Then again, I went to New York, and if I remember correctly the MTA uses perimeter seating and I thought it was fine."
I think have the Bay-Adelaide Centre being constucted in toronto is a great addition to the already superb skyline!