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Newsstand: July 20, 2012
We hope you like Fridays, because you’re stuck with one for the rest of the day. In the news: new bling for Toronto’s cyclists; be on the watch for coyotes; the head of the police board is sorry; Ford Nation reviews its citizenship and immigration policy; and big brother Google has returned.
If you like it (and it is a post) then you better put a ring on it. Toronto’s infamous post-and-ring bike stands will be getting a much-needed security improvement starting this summer. This month, 1,000 new, 10-pound-heavier rings went into production. The push for improvements to what might be Toronto’s most iconic street furniture comes six years after it became widely publicized that the rings could be taken off with a two by four. At one point, Astral Media was in the running to replace the old style of bike locking stations, but their designs did not pass security tests, probably because there was too much of a focus on “information.”
A yoga enthusiast in Riverdale Park was caught with his prana down last week when he received a visit from a coyote during his daily routine. According to Toronto Animal Services, there have already been over 100 recorded coyote sighting this year. If you happen across one, don’t run, be big and intimidating. Really, just start to bully it. The man did escape the ordeal unharmed, but still we won’t make the hilarious joke about how he’s not going to be doing downward-facing dog in the near future. That would be too easy.
Alok Mukherjee, the head of the Toronto Police Services Board, said he’s sorry for any part he may have had in the poor oversight at 2010’s G20 and the suffering that caused. He made the statement at yesterday’s board meeting after a review by retired judge John Morden firmly waved a finger at the board and its lack of oversight in the lead up to the contentious meeting of international leaders in downtown Toronto. Another area of lax oversight reviewed by the board was an upcoming meeting on the recent gun violence with the premier, mayor and police chief that they had been left out of.
Mayor Ford doesn’t care whether you are white, pink, purple or Canadian. If you are convicted of a gun crime, he wants to tell you where you can and cannot live. Ford called into NewssTalk 1010 last night to try and explain that he was in fact not singling out immigrants when he said on Wednesday that he would ask the prime minister to look at immigration laws as a way to kick people convicted of gun crimes out of the city. However, his plans for a fact-finding mission to the prime minister’s office was muddied when the talk radio hosts ask him whether or not he’s actually talking about revoking citizenship. Sounds like the King of Ford Nation could use a little less time on a high school football field and a little more time in a high school civics classroom. Listen to the recording here; it is well worth it.
Be on your best behaviour and start looking your spiffiest all the time (or do the exact opposite) because Google’s back with their Street View car, combing the streets for embarrassing photos of you.
