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Newsstand: November 11, 2009

Hipster artbags looking for more variety in their late-night omnomnoms may be in for a nasty surprise: Six months after council slapped a temporary kibosh on all restaurant developments on Ossington, it appears as though there are more restrictions to come. “If resolutions passed at a community council meeting Tuesday go ahead when city council meets at the end of the month,” reports the Globe, “second-floor restaurants are a no-go on the street. Same for rear patios; side patios more than half the size of the restaurant; large, open doors and windows; and any restaurant larger than 175 square metres.”
Remember when we mentioned that Owen Sound was all upset about the Toronto Port Authority’s decision to change the name of the City Centre Airport to the Billy Bishop Memorial Airport in honour of the famous Canadian fighter pilot because they already have an airport with the same name? No? Well, it doesn’t matter—because they’ve gone ahead and done it anyways. And even that doesn’t matter—because critics are calling for the airport’s closing. “Yesterday,” reports the Sun, “opponents of the controversial airport, which has been in operation since 1939 but has come under fire recently from nearby residents, again criticized the port authority, which owns and operates the airport, for ‘mismanagement’ and ‘corporate revisionism.’” Well, at least they didn’t do it today, because today is Remembrance Day, and that would just be disrespectful.
“Soldiers, veterans and members of the public will gather today at solemn ceremonies across the Greater Toronto Area to mark Remembrance Day and honour the country’s fallen military heroes,” CTV News reports before launching into a rather expansive look at events happening around the city today. Everyone knows that we pause for a moment (that being two minutes) of silence at 11 a.m., but did you also know that the TTC does, too? On purpose? And that veterans and peacekeepers can ride for free today? Or that mail service is halted all day, City Hall is closed today, and the LCBO isn’t open until noon? All good things to know if you’re planning to get drunk and loudly get on a bus at 11 to go and see if the mayor got your letter.
And finally, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is calling Toronto a failure. Thrice. “In its case-study report on Canada’s largest city,” reports the CBC, “the Geneva-based OECD says Toronto has a poorly integrated transportation system, suffers from a lack of productivity due to a shortfall in capital investment and is not taking full advantage of its cultural diversity.” On the plus side, however, we do have the largest proportion of foreign-born residents of all the OECD’s thirty participating countries. So…um…suck it, Slovak Republic?

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  • http://undefined atomeyes

    can someone please explain to me why the Ossington freeze (and its expansion) makes sense?
    its great that the area is growing. its the closest thing Toronto has to New York’s hip areas. so why stop it?

  • http://undefined Charlie Johnson

    I’m also baffled with the Ossington freeze.
    Joe Pantolone – the councillor pushing the freeze – seems like a draconian blowhard, straight out of the movie Footloose i.e. Curb innovation and organic growth (fun) because, well…bad things might happen.
    Ridiculous

  • http://undefined Misha

    atomeyes – it’s interesting that you make the comparison to New York city. In New York there are actually regulations about how many bars can open in a given area.
    Similar regulations apply in LA, Chigago, San Francisco, London, Berlin, and Montreal. In Toronto there are no such limits. (see http://bit.ly/3dzLxv for details on all this)
    I’m not a fan of the solution the city is imposing on Ossington. But lots of other big cities find regulations intended to encourage flourishing nighlife while also trying to contol some of the negative impact overconcentration of bars can have on residents.
    (I’m involved with the residents group at Queen/Beaconsfield. You can read about some of our thought on this at: http://bit.ly/2OuKZ4 )

  • http://undefined Vincent Clement

    Your examples have nothing to do with mitigating supposed adverse impacts of bars and restaurants and everything to do with limiting competition by giving incumbents an unfair advantage over newcomers.

  • http://undefined Misha

    Vicent – I see your point. It’s definitely true that it’s important to mitigate the negative impact of existing establishments – noise bylaws and other regulations are meant to do this, and bars can minimize their impact though crowd control, sound insulation, and other measures.
    But my experience is that there are also problems that arise simply because of the density of bars in an area. Around Queen/Beasonsfield, where I live, I’d say most of the bars do a pretty good job of controling their noise etc. But the cumulative impact of all their customers ends up creating a lot of problems for neighbour. That’s why, in additition to having regulations on things like noise control, the cities I mention also have limits on bar density. I guess that does create an advantage for existing bars.

  • http://undefined rek

    The only regulations of this sort that would benefit Toronto would apply to pawn shops and payday loan offices, not pubs and restaurants.