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news

Newsstand: October 2, 2012

Good news, guys! It's Tuesday, which means that awfulness that was Monday is behind us. Blech, good riddance! Today: The City is examining ways to fund The Big Move; the zoo is up for sale or rent; the plastic bag ban is back on the table; and Our Lady Peace launches a new project.

By • Illustration by Brett Lamb

Well, well, well. It seems that we can’t have it both ways when it comes to cutting taxes and gaining new services. In order to meet the revenue requirements to fund The Big Move, Metrolinx’s $50-billion plan for transit expansion throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, new dedicated taxes and fees may have to be introduced. The City Manager has recommended public consultations on a variety of revenue tools including the infamous vehicle registration tax that Mayor Rob Ford swiftly scrapped once elected, as well as the land transfer tax, another item on the mayor’s hit-list. Eight other revenue options were discussed in the report, including a one per cent personal income tax increase.

The Toronto Zoo is up for sale. Or lease. Or, you can just run the damn thing. Really, whoever wants it can just take it. The City has issued a request for expressions of interest, and indicated that they are looking for “innovative, creative, and sustainable” options from those interested in buying, leasing, or operating the attraction. Proposals are due back at the end of November and will be reviewed by City staff, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, and Parks Canada. Maybe they should just go straight to the expert… Matt Damon, any suggestions?

It’s back to the chambers for city council, and the plastic bag debate may be back on the agenda as early as today. City solicitor Anna Kinastowski is expected to advise council about possible legal action against Toronto that could result from the plastic ban. The Ontario Convenience Stores Association has stated that the ban violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and has already announced plans to pursue legal action if the ban is implemented. If you can’t get enough bag-ban news, or need some bag-related fodder for your next dinner party, please check out this article we ran last month.

Turns out it’s not just our neighbourhoods being gentrified, it seems our rock stars are, too. Okay, fine, we know that’s not actually possible, but Our Lady Peace opening a “fitness boutique” in the trendy King West area is as close as it gets. The gym, which is equipped with spinning bikes, fitness classes, organic shampoo, and vegan juice-cleanse bottles, opened last month.

Comments

  • http://www.facebook.com/jpaterson1 James D Paterson

    I live in the city, but am primarily a driver. I don’t feel like I should have to pay more for a service I don’t use.

    Let’s say they introduce tolls on the 404 as a way to pay for the transit expansion. Why should I have to pay a toll, when none of that money will go to rebuilding driving infrastructure? Introduce a toll, sure, but use it to repair roads and other vehicle related activities. Don’t use money collected by drivers to pay for a transit system.

    Why not introduce some sort of tax when people buy a Metropass? Tax those who use the system daily, not those who rarely, if ever, do.

    It’s ridiculous what people want others to pay for.

    • vampchick21

      Or, you know, improved transit means more people using it, means less cars on the road, means you have less traffic headaches? Stop being selfish.

      • http://www.facebook.com/jpaterson1 James D Paterson

        Improved transit is no guarantee of more people using it; it’s simply more efficient for those already using it.

        • Winkee

          If it is more efficient doesn’t it stand to reason that more people would view it as a viable option?

        • Anonymous

          The Downs-Thomson Paradox: “The equilibrium speed of car traffic on the road network is determined by the average door-to-door speed of equivalent journeys by (rail-based or otherwise segregated) public transport.” So if you want your drive to go faster, build lots of grade-separated transit. It turns out road building makes no difference to driving speed.

        • vampchick21

          You miss the point entirely. Paying far too much in gas must be destroying your ability to figure things out.

        • Anonymous

          Improved transit, with increased capacity/frequency, routes, and speed, makes transit a viable alternative to those who don’t already take it because it doesn’t meet their needs. The more of those people it takes off the road, the smoother everything runs for everyone.

    • Steve in TO

      Part of living in a lovely society like our own means paying taxes for things you may not directly use. I don’t have children, but I still pay taxes that help schools because it’s in my interest to have a well educated populace. Just like it’s in your interest, everyone’s interest, to have a thriving transit system.

      Besides the points vampchick21 brought up, healthy transit means healthy businesses, less stress on roads/etc, more opportunities for people with lower incomes to work. It benefits everybody. Just because you don’t ride the bus, doesn’t mean having the bus there doesn’t benefit you.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t drive. Why should I be paying taxes for road repairs. For the common good? Using any form of transportation to move around within the city limits, aside from self propelled forms (walking, biking) should have user fees. Those fees should be used in a way which would move more people, more efficiently. And that way is public transit!

      • CaligulaJones

        “Why should I be paying taxes for road repairs.”

        Because everything you own, from your clothing to your furniture to most if not all of your food, etc, spends some of its life on a truck.

        And trucks use roads. Whatever fee you want to demand them to pay will cost you anyway when the cost is passed down to you.

        Do you get it NOW?

        • Michael DiFrancesco

          Those costs are supposed to get absorbed into prices. That’s how prices work.

          Or would work, if we actually properly charged trucking companies for all the damage they do to the roads along the north end. Either way, your argument doesn’t actually say a thing about @istoronto paying road repair taxes personally if they don’t actually use those roads themself.

          • CaligulaJones

            No problem, then: cut all our taxes, put tolls on everything. Works for me, as long as cyclists pay to ride as well.

            Of course, TTC costs will go up (buses use roads), and it will be fun when firetrucks and ambulances have to slow down and toss in a loonie to get to an emergency.

            Housing prices will ratchet up (can’t build a building without trucks, builders pay more, owners pay more, renters pay more). I like where this is going.

        • vampchick21

          Do you get sarcasm?

          • CaligulaJones

            Yes. Who is being sarcastic?

          • vampchick21

            istoronto, who you responded to as if they were stating something serious, not sarcasticly mocking another post.

      • Ranzy

        It’s called SOCIALISM / Fascism ……. bring Capitalism back

        • Anonymous

          You should look up what fascism means some time.

          • ranzy

            im educated enough to know we are living under a fascist regime.

          • OgtheDim

            And not wise enough to know you may not be correct.

          • Ranzy

            ya good one

          • vampchick21

            I’m sane enough to know a raving lunatic when I see one.

        • Anonymous

          Those words… they don’t mean what you think they mean.

    • Anonymous

      I can only surmise you are OK with other people paying for what you use. I do not use the roads but I pay for them, you use the roads you pay for them the same way I do, property taxes. You pay no extra to use city roads. Transit users do every time they use transit.
      You find that fair in your world?

    • Anonymous

      “Why not introduce some sort of tax when people buy a Metropass? Tax
      those who use the system daily, not those who rarely, if ever, do.”

      Why not introduce some sort of tax when people get sick, so nobody else has to pay for hospitals? Because it wouldn’t work and would bite us all in the ass, that’s why.

    • Slippery Pete

      Most of what you say idiotic, but using road tolls to fund road repairs is a great idea, and one I have suggested several times to city councillors. The roads are in such bad shape it makes me question whether or not we are a first world city.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t drive, but I sure pay for highway maintenance as do all transit riders. So how is THAT fair? It’s call not being anti-social. Take your pick.

    • Eric S. Smith

      Let’s pause to consider a map of Toronto.

      What part of this is not for cars? Moaning that you’re under-accommodated is ludicrous. Roads are subsidized beyond transit’s wildest dreams.

  • Ranzy

    Is there nothing more important to report on instead of regurgitating mainstream media news? Complain all you want. People will not stand up to fight for what they want.

    • Michael DiFrancesco

      …hunh?

      • ranzy

        you have these forums where people can rant to let off some steam but at the end of the day nothing is accomplished and all will be forgotten.

        • OgtheDim

          Then stop reading forums and let the rest of us learn from each other without you.

          • Ranzy

            learn? you people need to un-learn but thats probably too deep for you to understand.

          • vampchick21

            Terribly sorry that we hipster sheep aren’t nearly as smart as you.

  • Ranzy

    Is this like a hipster cp24 or city news regurgitation of news site? just saying!

    • Anonymous

      Are you stoned or stupid?