news
Newsstand: August 7, 2012
Ah, the Tuesday after a long weekend: when everyone at work gives off the faint odour of hot Lake Ontario goo, and that's okay. In the news: a cyclist dies in the west end and two brothers drown in the east, King Street West restaurant owners not happy about new condo proposal, no more poetry on the subway, and cabbies consider a protest.
A cyclist died on Monday evening after his tires got stuck in some old streetcar tracks in the Wychwood Avenue and St. Clair Avenue West area. The victim is believed to be a man in his forties. There were no other vehicles involved in the accident. Police say the man was not wearing a helmet, but the official cause of death has yet to be determined.
More sad news: two brothers drowned in Lake Ontario on Monday. Paramedics recovered the bodies of an 18-year-old and a 22-year-old in the water near the R.C. Harris filtration plant.
Imagine a day in Toronto that didn’t include a news item about condos and/or a quote from Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina). Nope! Don’t! Because that day will never come. Here we have some King Street West restaurateurs in a tizzy about a proposed new 47-storey tower between Peter and Widmer Streets. They say the influx of tall buildings creates so much wind that plates are blown from tables, and blocks so much sunlight that 75-year-old Ailanthus trees don’t get their fair share (yes, that is an actual complaint). Adam Vaughan says stuff about preserving heritage while forging ahead. And, scene.
Has your subway ride of late felt long-lasting and vicious? Per chance one could venture to label the labour pernicious? So much the so that some days you just might allow thoughts of wild rampage to the the clothed seats, so contrite. And when some of your thoughts wander off into the seditious, alas, look up at the lack of good wishes. For there above your head you no longer see, pacifying words formed into poetry. (Because funding for the Poetry on the Way program ended and no one has heard from the guy who was behind the program.)
Cabbies are getting tired of tickets and feel like protesting instead. Sajid Mughal, the president of the iTaxiworkers Association of Ontario, told the Sun that cabbies are fed up with getting tickets for a range of things, including waiting for fares in zones not designated as taxi stands. So Mughal made a call to the Municipal Licensing and Standards people, but if that doesn’t do anything he says “we’ll go for a protest.”
