Rocket Talk: Can Sunday Subway Service Start Sooner?
Gender Studies Coming to a High School Near You
Please Insert Station and Try Again
The Art of Not Knowing
If You Tweet It, He Will Come
Has anyone actually seen a TTC special constable hand out one of those newfangled citations this week? Apparently, they've been in effect since Monday. The bylaw changes include new fines for injustices like hogging more than one seat, but old offenses are getting a hefty increase as well. Adding a hundred bucks to the fine for smoking on TTC property? Fine. Throwing in a thirty-five-dollar victim surcharge? Do it. But charging $345 (plus a victim surcharge of $75) for drawing Sharpie dongs in the hands of respected Canadian authors on subway advertisements? Dude, that's just not cool. You should be paying us for that special brand of seventh-grade comedy gold.
A condo project has been approved in the downtown core. How is this news, you may ask? Well, you know that stretch of Victorian row houses on St. Nicholas Street, just west of Yonge and north of Wellesley? Well, there's one there, and this condo is apparently going to ruin the life of everyone who lives there because the idea of a high-rise building in Toronto is simply absurd. Okay, wait—let's back up here. Look, we here at Torontoist are all for the architecture and the preservation of the historical nonsense and whatever; it's just the tone of the Post's article about the whole thing. If you're going to paint the street's residents as "intellectuals and experts on architecture and planning" who illustrate their points through poetry and the savage slaying of Rice Krispies treats and then top it off with a photo of some guy in a scarf and beret looking smug and holier than all who deign to oppose him, you're not exactly pleading your case effectively. Unless you want people to support this monstrous blight on the city's landscape? Oh, very clever, Allison Hanes. Very clever, indeed.
Remember those novelty books on old, crazy laws that nobody ever enforces, like not being allowed to remove a Band-Aid in public or being banned from paying for a fifty-cent item with pennies? Well, have you heard about the one where, if you're in a group of twelve seniors walking in Humber Bay Park, you need to produce a permit or some d-bag officer is going to follow you to the Polish Hall with his camera? Apparently, it's not only a thing—it's an obscure bylaw that was egregiously broken in September by a bunch of renegade hooligans, and now David Miller is looking into the issue. Susan Eng, vice-president of advocacy with the Canadian Association of Retired Persons group, is less than pleased. "I have never heard of such a thing ever in Canada," she fumed. Hey, Suze, we're totally with you there. "Is someone sitting in a cubicle trying to find ways to upset people?" You tell 'em, gir—wait. You've been to Canada, right?
Before we let you get on with your day, let's throw a few more headlines your way (and yes, we know that rhymes; aren't we clever): the term "wash and blow" takes on a whole new meaning as hair salons are targeted for prostitution, a bomb threat clears Centennial College as a daycare gets the all-clear after a hazmat scare, and our city is giddy with anticipation to hear if we're fabulous enough to host World Pride. Oh, and some a-hole bilked an unemployed Torontonian out of nearly four thousand dollars with empty promises and a photo of former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. While this is an incredibly dick move, at least he didn't add insult to injury by using a pic of Gordie Howe and calling himself Woodrow.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
re: St. Nick condos
"Well, you know that stretch of Victorian row houses on St. Nicholas Street, just west of Yonge and north of Wellesley? "
Not really .... I double checked with Google Street View, and there are no houses at that intersection. Much further down St. Nicholas street, there is a row of Victorians on the east side, with a row of new "Victorian" townhouses on the west side. It is a very cute street, but the new condo will not have much effect on the residents, although they obviously feel differently.
At St. Mary & St. Nich, there are already apartment buildings on 3 out of 4 corners. It is a high density zone. From the article I imagined the street was like the north side of Dundonald, or the like.
Yeah, this came up earlier this year (think I saw it in NOW). I went to check out the street. There are the old row houses on the east side and newer ones that mimic the old ones across the street. I can't be totally sure, but it seemed that people were living in the new ones, but many of the old ones looked empty. In one is a French restaurant (which apparently is terrible). But what really struck me was that there are towers just north - lots of towers! I didn't seem to me that another on the corner would really make a big impact. I suppose we can all use Google's Street View to look at St. Nicholas between St. Mary and Irwin.
Kinda funny, too, if you think that these old houses were there when the saw mill was in operation. Seems like a tall-ish mixed-use building would be a better neighbour than a saw mill!
re. Group Walking Permits:
It's good that this happened so that the bylaw can be repealed. It's our good luck that seniors were targeted, because they seem to have a lot of free time to deal with this sort of thing.
"It's our good luck that seniors were targeted, because they seem to have a lot of free time to deal with this sort of thing."
More like - when seniors complain councillors pay attention because seniors still give a crap about that whole VOTING thing.
The by-law shouldn't be repealed but it should be applied sensibly. If someone wants to film a commercial in a city park, fine. But if they're making a buck off of it, it's only reasonable the city be compensated for it. And if your venue to hold an exercise class is actually a city park (as in taking over a lawn every week at the same time) then that should also be paid for, even if they're seniors. That is unless you want to get rid of all permit fees for all aspects of our park system (including baseball diamonds and soccer pitches) and instead put those costs onto property tax bills.
Of course, Downlingm is right in saying that the only reason this is getting attention is that seniors vote.
The only time I ever seen TTC Special Constables is when they're clustered in twos or threes, paying attention only to each other, en route to somewhere more important.
*I've*
I like what you had before better. I seen them, too. ;)
These are the rowhouses mentioned:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tapesonthefloor/3754224378/in/set-72157621691832521/
And here is the old Planing Mill they were going to demolish, though apparently the latest design incorporates its facade:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tapesonthefloor/3754225668/in/set-72157621691832521/
How the victim surcharge (aka the Police/Fire slush fund) is applicable to TTC offences is beyond me.
Although recent news headlines may lead one to conclude that the Victims' surcharge is at times used irresponsibly, please don't be so cynical. There are many victims of crime who would not be able to bury dead family members, get physiotherapy to learn to walk again, receive counselling to deal with trauma and shock, or have teeth replaced that were knocked out by hammers, because of it.
The legality of the surcharge being applied to, what on the face of it, are by-law infractions, I leave to others to discuss.
How can I not be a cynic when real victims have to fight the system for one, two or more years to receive a payment, while police officers receive money with no questions or delay? Just another bureaucracy that continues to grow with little to no oversight.
So, nobody's seen one of these special constables, then?
On the new fines...
It totally bugs me when I see people with their feet on the seats. Glad to hear there's a fine for it.