Newsstand: February 9, 2010
Bob Kinnear isn't Greg Kinnear
Newsstand: February 8, 2010
Scale Model City, Actual-Size Grime
The Original Fifteen Moves to Metro Hall
Queens Quay, "the spine of the waterfront," is getting a redesign design for urban liveability! Waterfront Toronto's board of directors just decided to go ahead with plans to dramatically reshape the stretch of congested roadway into a nice path for people, a welcome change from its current role as a nice place for idling tour buses to block traffic. Judging by this rendering of the project, it may also transform the quay road into a haven where cars turn translucent and streetcars magically hover over grass. In all seriousness, this project sounds long overdue. The situation for pedestrians in the area is alarmingly bad, with foot traffic accounting for half the area's users, who get one-fifth of the space—and this in (what is supposed to be) one of Toronto's civic centrepieces. Hopefully, this renewal project will find the funding it so badly needs.
Speaking of bad traffic, the province is appealing a judge's ruling that found Ontario's street-racing law unconstitutional. If that ripped-from-the-headlines phrase sounds suspicious, read on—it turns out the law is (perhaps) unconstitutional because its black-and-white definition of "racing" seems to include speeding up to pass a truck on the highway.
Armed police aren't fitting in so well at Toronto schools, but at least Futureshop is making friends there! The Toronto District School Board just opened two computer rooms...er, sorry, that's "Future Generation Tech Labs," sponsored by the corporation. The two labs are both located within seven kilometres of a Futureshop outlet, display a framed certificate thanking Futureshop, and are painted in the company's red and grey colours, all conditions attached to the retailer's one hundred thousand dollars in donations—at least, that's the word the Star used to describe the transaction.
And the CBC and Sun Media have won their bid to publicly name a member of the so-called Toronto 18 group who was underage when he and the other seventeen were arrested and charged with planning a terrorist bombing in Toronto. Nishanthan Yogakrishnan was 17 when he took part in the plot, but was tried and convicted as an adult. Nine other men are awaiting trial, and one has been convicted, while seven of the eighteen had their charges dropped.
And of further interest today: No matter how you look at it, one hundred thousand homes is a lot, and that's how many haven't had a yard waste pickup since the beginning of the six-week strike in June and July. According to Toronto's waste management department, the delays stem from their own efforts to minimize overtime. Sticks and stones, though, right? Hey, Toronto's new park designed by Douglas Coupland just opened near Bathurst and Front streets. While the Globe seems bound and determined to name the urban space after the big red canoe sculpture Coupland included, the park also sports a fake beaver dam and a Terry Fox memorial path. Corny as it sounds, Coupland might have what it takes to give the space a refreshing burst of public pride without succumbing to the sentimental weight of familiar Canadiana—Christopher Hume sure thinks so. Oh, and there's a good chance you don't like to leave the house without your cellphone. For those of you not reading this on your iPhones during a relaxing early stroll, we hope you get some time this Thursday to take in a bit of the city yourself. And that's your news this morning.
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If Waterfront Toronto hadn't already spent 14-million dollars on the waste of space they call the WaveDeck, they would have a good chunk of the funding they need for this worthwhile project.
Not sure if I want my car to be translucent though.
They should just rename the law from the "Sport Racing Law" to the "Driving Extremely Recklessly" law, since the fact remains that's what she was doing, grandmother or not.
I wonder if Future Shop will put one of these in the new NT. At least the colours (red & grey) would be right.
Where in Toronto are you MORE than 7km from a Future Shop? They're pretty darn ubiquitous.
The point with the racing law is that there shouldn't be absolute liability offenses that end up with you in jail. Huge breach of natural justice as well as the constitution. Glad to see it get slapped down.
That there's a Rev. aiding and abetting thugs in our schools trying to block Police is the real problem. It was nice that long ago people worked to support civilization and helped maintain order. Now stupid leftist ministers are actively hampering efforts to protect children and cut down on crime. Someone smoked too many bowls and listened too hard to the teach-in about the oppressive patriarchal power that Police represent, where a real just society would empathize sufficiently with the aggrieved that they wouldn't need to shoot people or sling rock. Just send in the SWAT team for a few weeks. It's almost as dumb as Community Housing not letting police into buildings.
I was wondering about the magical hovering streetcars. For a second, I thought that maybe the TTC had come up with a new type of streetcar, like the "magic buss" tv show.