Haydain Neale, 1970–2009
Transit City and Transit Cities
Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Making of a Medley
Rebuilding a Child's Paradise
City set to start issuing building permits again (Toronto Star): "Hundreds of building permits sitting in the pipeline will be issued as the City of Toronto seeks to restore services crippled by the four-week strike. Enough workers have returned to the job to allow building officials to resume their regular duties of issuing permits, Mayor David Miller announced yesterday."
Owner behind 1 Bloor finds partner to help buy out $46M defaulted loan (National Post): "The owner of 1 Bloor at the corner of Yonge and Bloor streets has found a partner who will help purchase the land and buy out a $46-million defaulted loan, according to a court order made public yesterday."
What’s Toronto Mayor David Miller doing with his garbage? (Maclean's): "David Miller’s garage stinks. It should—it’s full of trash... But the Miller family has held on to their trash, and plan to continue adding to the garbage heap until the strike ends. Hauling it to a temporary dump site isn’t an option. 'That’s sort of like giving in to the strikers,' says Miller."
VIA faces crippling strike ahead of Friday deadline (CTV): "Passenger train service across the country could be crippled if a brewing labour dispute between VIA Rail and 340 locomotive engineers isn't resolved by Friday."
One year after Kenk's arrest, no sign of trial for alleged bike thief (National Post): "A year after Igor Kenk’s notorious West Queen West bicycle repair shop was raided, there is no sign of a trial for the alleged bike thief, suggesting difficulties faced by the Crown in a case with substantial amounts of evidence to process." [Previous coverage from Torontoist: I Just Kenk Get You Out Of My Head.]
Toronto's Tamil community shaken by slayings (Globe and Mail): "As Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war raged to a bloody end a few months ago, thousands of Toronto-area Tamils took to the streets to decry the deaths of loved ones back home. Now, the same Tamil community is grappling with the violent deaths of two of its young men in Scarborough in less than two weeks, and some wonder if a new kind of war, much closer to home, has taken its place." [More from the CBC.]
Poisonous spider extends her web to GTA (Toronto Star): "One of nature's most notorious predators, the black widow spider is as indiscriminate about her partners as she is about her meals... And now this fabled doyenne of death may be hanging out in a garage or park near you as the 'northern' line of the species invades the Greater Toronto Area for the first time."
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The black widow spider story in the Toronto Star sounds a little overblown on Joseph Hall's part. If it was a serious problem, wouldn't we have more than two vials of anti-venom? (The director of the Ontario Poison Centre estimates that there are only two vials in Canada alone) Shouldn't we start stocking up if they expect an increase in the black widow population (and bites) in urban areas?
FTA:
"But I'm a mom. I have two children. So it doesn't hurt to be aware that there is a very small potential that they could be around (you)."
I understand the need for warning (especially for curious children) but the label of "Doyenne of Death" according to the reporter? Really? This is what drives people to believe spreading pesticides everywhere is a good thing. The truth is that black widows are not aggressive (to humans) and do not commonly bite us unless their webs are disturbed, they are cornered or pinched. They usually just run away when they encounter a large creature.
At least explain how to avoid bites and what to do when one encounters a black widow. (See WebMD.com for treatment information)