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Newsstand: February 7, 2012

It's the kind of Tuesday when you miss Electric Circus and nothing really makes sense to you anymore, isn't it? Well, hang in there, we've got some news for you: Metrolinx releases a report suggesting the mayor's transit plan isn't so bad, council moves to cut out the OMB, timing of cost-of-living debate to be debated, Buddy and Pedro may be parents soon, Facebook gets weird about boobs, and charges dropped against a deaf man arrested at the G20.

All aboard the bus to Confusion Town, as this transit situation gets even messier. As we all know, there’s going to be a special meeting of council on Wednesday that basically aims to reinstate the old transit plan, right? And when TTC Chair Karen Stintz made moves to call that meeting, she framed it as a necessary move so that council could respond to a letter from Metrolinx Chair Rob Prichard, asking what was up with the City’s transit plans. Ok, so now Metrolinx has released a report on the mayor’s plan to bury the whole Eglinton line, and the CEO of Metrolinx, Bruce McCuaig is pretty much saying, “No explanation needed, Rob’s plan looks fine.” Like sand on the streetcar tracks, so are the days of our transit troubles.

In slightly less contentious city council news, a majority of councillors voted to cut the Ontario Municipal Board out of zoning decisions. Currently the OMB has the power to override municipal governments and residents’ associations and is seen by many as a pro-developer body. If the OMB’s jurisdiction is removed, some other review process would crop up in its place. But, hey, at least it won’t be the OMB.

The final, and most confusing, bit of news from the clam shell: councillors voted yesterday to have a debate today about putting off the debate about a cost-of-living raise until after the City is done negotiating with the unions. At least, we think that’s what this means. We could be really wrong, though.

Toronto’s most progressive penguins, Buddy and Pedro, have done it again. First they were gay penguins. Now they are in a group-love living arrangement with new female partners and one other couple, and redefining parental paradigms as eggs have been laid in the penguin house. But rather than celebrating the blessed event, zoo staff are so far keeping quiet about the possible baby penguins that may hatch from those eggs.

In the latest chapter of the ongoing saga that is boobs, Facebook, and all things holy: A small group of mothers went to the Toronto offices of the social network to do a little protest over Facebook’s tendency to delete users who post pictures of themselves breastfeeding. By this one account, it seems Facebook handled the protest the way it handles breastfeeding: awkwardly.

And all charges against a deaf man who was arrested during the G20 have been dropped. That was probably the right decision, that one.

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  • http://twitter.com/myownbloordale paul

    Metrolinx should either start leading on transit planning, or shut up and get out of the way. Right now all it contributes is nakedly political interference. I’m glad to see Rob Prichard continues to fail upwards.

    • Anonymous

      ****

  • Anonymous

    One thing that seem to be lost in these discussions is, what is the purpose of transit? To move the greatest number of people a long distance? Or to provide localized service, to build people within their community? Both?

    Look into the future, lets’ say 2050, and think, why can’t the corner of Midland and Eglinton be like the corner of Queen and Spadina? The Transit City plan has the potential to turn the inner suburbs into core like communities. Subways, will continue moving people through communities sight unseen. Sure there will be development around subway stations, but the artieries between will never have the opportunity to become real communities. Transit City is still the best plan for real and positive change. Ford’s “get transit off the roads” might solve some traffic congestion for a while, but doesn’t address the real purpose of mass transit and its role in city building.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t see this mentioned anywhere. How far apart will the stations for an underground LRT or in the case of a subway will the stations be. Will they be close as they are on the Yonge/University downtown portion or far apart as they are north of Bloor. If the later would there still not be a need for buses sor people can easily access areas between the stations as with the Sheppard line and north of Bloor. What is more cost effective, buses or stations. If the former, transit will still need to use roads.

      • http://piorkowski.ca qviri

        Plan aimed for about 800 m apart I believe. In such cases local buses will run but normally a lot less frequently. The buses are far cheaper than more stations and also allow the trains to travel overall faster by not having as many stop/load people/accelerate cycles. Transit will need to continue using roads, but compare surface transit’s use of Sheppard between Yonge and Don Mills with central part of Eglinton right now – it will be a lot less vehicles.

  • http://twitter.com/quinkster Charles Melvin

    Well, to be honest, Buddy and Pedro were locked up with the lady penguins until they made some eggs. Zookeepers are calling it “The Reverse OZ.”

  • http://twitter.com/maharper82 Matthew Harper

    A relative of mine who is nearing the end of their career with the Ontario Public Service once told me that if Ontario evaluated every infrastructure project based on what would be of the most benefit to the greatest number of people for the cost of the project, every infrastructure dollar would be spent in the GTA. So, it seems to me that Metrolinx probably just exists to give the provinces excuses not to invest in Toronto, so they can try to buy votes elsewhere.