Torontoist and the Globe and Mail have liked each other so much, for so long, that we've decided to finally make it official. As of Friday night, the Globe now has a brand new Toronto section on their website, and as of Friday night, that hub will regularly and prominently feature selected Torontoist content, part of a content-sharing partnership between the two media organizations.
There's more than enough trash-talking to go with the tulips this spring on Parliament Hill, with some distinctly unflowery themes (Fiscal mismanagement! Attack ads! Election threats! Secret tapes!) echoing through the air.
Schools fear fallout of rugby verdict (Toronto Star): "The future of contact sports in Toronto-area high schools could be threatened in the wake of the manslaughter conviction of a Mississauga rugby player yesterday, according to some educators." [More coverage on CBC, and in the Globe.]
As part of each hand as they are called, her Luminato project celebrating the history of Jewish life in Kensington Market, artist Reena Katz was to organize a game of Mah Jongg between seniors from the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care and grade eight students from Ryerson Community Public School. (Mah Jongg is "a game that originated in China, migrated west, and was popularized with North American Jewish women during the 1920s.")
The City has chosen the winner for the Dufferin Jog public-art competition from the four candidates that we wrote about last week: Luis Jacob, whose unnerving tie-dyed mosaics will line the walls of the underpass and creep out local children as of around spring 2010.
On Tuesday, Torontoist was invited to the Harbour Gallery in Mississauga for the Canadian premiere of Sir Anthony Hopkins’s original art exhibit. Everything at the show was swanky, from the gentle music to the hors d'oeuvres to the wealthy socialites. The only thing missing was the man himself. (Jenna Bryant, the gallery’s associate director, hinted that he might make an appearance in the fall or late summer, schedule permitting.)
Why is the configuration of seats on the streetcar and subway the way it is? Couldn't more people be accommodated with bench seating running all along the sides?
Ont. health agency scrutinized for contract tendering practices (CBC): "An Ontario health agency has doled out nearly $5 million in contracts without any apparent attempt to open up the deals to outside bidders, documents obtained by CBC News show."
City Council is wrapping up its monthly meeting (extended to a third day to accommodate a full agenda and some election-laced rhetoric), one which has been particularly action packed. In addition to banning new bars and restaurants on Ossington for a one year "cooling off" period, and passing a precedent-setting green roof requirement (the first in North America), Council has considered several proposals for addressing the balance—or redressing the imbalance—between the different modes of transit on our city streets. The Jarvis lane reallocation grabbed Monday's headlines, and today Council has voted to install sidewalk, transit, and cycling improvements on Roncesvalles, and also passed a comprehensive Walking Strategy which will (among many other excellent measures that have garnered almost no press) introduce pilot no-right-turn-on-red restrictions on ten especially pedestrian-heavy intersections. Given that the city has approximately 2,100 signalized intersections, this represents the smallest foray, an experiment really, in redistributing roadway space.
Remember Igor Kenk? He's many things to many people. The world’s most prolific (suspected) bike thief? Check. Alleged drug trafficker? Affirmative. Raging hothead? Yup. Stellar recycler? Sure, that too. But movie star? Now there’s a new one.
Brilliant bit of news for a beleaguered biz: the Ontario government's giving young love—for fashion design—a chance with a new Youth Entrepreneurship Partnerships program in cohort with the Toronto Fashion Incubator. The $70,000 grant from the Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services will fund A Passion for Fashion, YES, and TFI's new project for maybe-someday design stars. The project will target youth and high school students in thirteen priority, underprivileged neighbourhoods in Toronto, said YES prez Nancy Schaefer in this morning's announcement. Of the expected one hundred–plus applicants, twenty-five will be chosen for a Dragon's Den–style competition; the winner gets expert mentorship, a monetary prize, and a year's membership and studio space at TFI. "It's such a nurturing place, and even the competition among designers is positive," said designer David Dixon, who "came from meagre beginnings" himself before launching his fashion career with the Incubator. "This is a great opportunity to network, and to work for yourself."
Montgomery’s Inn is usually a quiet place. Located in the west end at Islington Avenue and Dundas Street West, the historic house and museum barely receives more than a few dozen visitors each week. While the Inn didn’t receive a Don Jail–style turnout during Doors Open, it did manage to draw in 475 guests. We went behind the scenes to better understand the process and to see how the inn’s volunteers transform into "historic interpreters."
Federal deficit hits $50B as economy crumbles (Toronto Star): "Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's startling revelation that the federal budget deficit has skyrocketed beyond $50 billion has deepened opposition impatience over the Harper government's handling of the economy and the country's crumbling finances." [More from the Globe. Previous coverage on Torontoist: Once More, With Feeling.]
It takes a licking, but it comes back for more. In its seventh year, the “–liciouses” (Summer and Winter) have come under a lot of fire from both sides of the table. Customers complain of miniscule portions and hasty service; waiters groan about small tips and overcrowding. In the end, we’ll all jump in because diners want a deal, and restaurants want business—especially these days. Best of luck to everyone. This year’s Summerlicious runs from July 3–19 with three-course prix-fixe lunches coming in at $15, $20, and $30, and dinners at $25, $35, and $45. Participating restaurants, announced today, will begin taking reservations on June 18, but lucky American Express cardholders can jump the line and book starting June 16.
Toronto is getting the first of what are planned to be several new bicycle stations this morning, aimed at making cycling a more comfortable option for commuters. Nestled into the pedestrian underpass on York Street right by Union Station, the station provides secure, monitored storage for bicycles, as well as changing facilities, a repair stand, and a few other thoughtful amenities, like a vending machine that dispenses tubes and lights.
Miller's 'war on the car' will haunt him, foes vow (Globe and Mail): "[I]n in a daylong debate over the plan, which Mr. Miller's critics on council argue is part of a "war on the car," several councillors said the Jarvis plan, and other initiatives like it, would be a key campaign issue for whomever decides to challenge the mayor from the right." [Previous coverage on Torontoist: Four Wheels Good, Two Wheels Bad.]
Following a protracted day of heated debate over a plan that should really have been a no-brainer, City Council wisely passed the measure that would remove the reversible centre lane of traffic on Jarvis Street (one which should never have been added in the first place) in return for a four-kilometre stretch of curbside bike lane. Opponents complained that not many cyclists use Jarvis Street and it was therefore unfair to add a few minutes to Rosedale commuters' travel time; proponents say that the street operates like a downtown highway, and that the unusually narrow lanes are a deathtrap for cyclists—and therefore a deterrent. Drivers gripe that people on bikes are aggressive; cyclists answer that eighty kilos of pugnacity is no match for 2,000 kilograms of steel. And so on, and so on. The acrimony between cyclists and automobilists may have yet to be assuaged, but even kids in kindergarten learn the importance of sharing.
Wiggles the Pig is having both a bad and a good day—bad because she fell off a moving transport truck on the 401, but good because she's been saved from becoming someone's dinner.
It seems like just last week that we were watching the Globe's Editor-in-Chief, Edward Greenspon, excitedly introduce his paper's new website. Because it was just last week! And now he's out after twenty-three years of working on the paper (and editing it for seven), replaced as Editor by John Stackhouse, Report on Business' editor since 2004. In an email sent out to employees, publisher Phillip Crawley said Greenspon was "stepping down," but also wrote that "reimagination-inspired teamwork during the last four years has reinforced the value of a more collaborative way of managing our business....I have reviewed the composition of the Executive Team, and identified priority areas for improvement. New skills and different styles of leadership are needed."
On Friday, as part of Doors Open, the ROM hosted "The Bold Museum": an informal discussion between Kenton Vaughan (the director of The Museum, a documentary on the construction of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal) and Kelvin Browne (the author of Bold Visions: The Architecture of the Royal Ontario Museum). We had high hopes for the event, as the ROM’s transformation is beautifully explored in Browne and Vaughan’s work, but instead of sharing their knowledge, the two spent the night discussing the merits of their creations, rather than the substance of them.
Bryant welcomes switch to city job (National Post): "Michael Bryant, who quits his position today as Ontario Minister of Economic Development...is expected to formally announce, along with Mayor David Miller, that he will become president of Invest Toronto, a new economic development agency, just three days after he told Premier Dalton McGuinty that he was leaving politics." [More coverage in the Globe and Mail.]
Losing streaks happen in baseball. As fans, we tend to overreact when they do—but the reality is, during the course of a 162-game schedule, there’ll be times when our team falls into a slump. That’s what’s happening to the Toronto Blue Jays right now: after sweeping the Chicago White Sox out of Toronto, they went to Boston and were promptly swept by the Red Sox. Yesterday, despite yet another pitching gem from Roy Halladay, they lost 1-0 to the Atlanta Braves; it was the first time all year the Blue Jays had been shut out. Should we read too much into this four-game losing streak? In a word, no. The Jays are still leading the American League East, and outsiders are starting to clue in that the team might just be for real. Today, meanwhile, they welcome Casey Janssen back to the mound for the first time in over a year. There's a long way to go, still a lot of baseball yet to be played, but that's just another reason to put the team's current skid into context.
The Metro Central YMCA at Yonge and Grosvenor found itself with a problem, but one that led to a new opportunity: the roof is leaking and needs extensive repairs. Featuring a running track and not much else, the large concrete rooftop slab is more akin to the upper deck of a parking garage than a place to exercise or enjoy, but its barren configuration made it a premium site for a forthcoming downtown green roof.
In its cover story this past Sunday, the Toronto Sun took a hammer to City Hall's transportation plan, slamming it for waging a "war on cars" and for having an "anti-car strategy" that leaves the issue of traffic congestion by the wayside. Prioritizing public transit, cycling, and pedestrians ahead of autos, the Sun claimed, is leading to serious economic and social consequences for both drivers and Toronto as a whole. Has City Hall taken a wrong turn? Should the municipal government make the expansion of automobile infrastructure a priority?
Showdown over Jarvis lane change (Globe and Mail): "In what is shaping up as the tightest vote at city council so far this year, a proposal to narrow Jarvis Street by one lane has taken on added life as a wedge issue for those eager to topple Mayor David Miller in next year's municipal election." [Previous coverage on Torontoist: Four Wheels Good, Two Wheels Bad.]
Ever since the Art Gallery of Ontario reopened its doors in November, its free Wednesday nights have been a big hit. The cultural access initiative has been a popular smash (gallery users line up in droves for the evening and crowd the museum’s spaces with a palpable enthusiasm) and a media slam-dunk (Toronto’s other big renovated museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, did away with their free Fridays upon reopening and came off more elitist as a result).
Misinformation travels mighty fast these days. So when major news organizations around the city reported earlier today that there was word of one—or several—people with a gun in the Bickford Centre, a continuing education school on Bloor at Christie, and that police had swarmed the area, it was hard to separate what was really going on from what was alleged to be happening behind the building's walls.
Today's mini-celebration at the corner of Queen Street East and Lee Avenue was a historical event three years in the making. In early 2006, the Beaches BIA proposed the idea of branded street signs. Plans for new street signs citywide were put on hold while the city tried to secure a contract for street furniture, and they remained on hold until late 2008. Meanwhile, area residents were asked to vote on what name would appear on the signs: the Beaches or the Beach. Out of 2,113 eligible votes, 58% preferred "the Beach"—a somewhat surprising choice, since the neighbourhood seems to be most popularly known as "the Beaches." Glenn Cochrane, journalist and author of The Beach, spoke to this in his brief speech to the crowd today. "A few years ago, there would have been an uprising over the choosing of this new name over the other name, which I'm not going to mention because I don't want to start anything."
You'll have to battle through a few error pages to enjoy it, but the Globe and Mail's website has, as of this morning, a fancy (and quite nice) redesign. Editor-in-Chief Edward Greenspon talks all about it in a video, how it's "more colourful" and "more dynamic," and—teasingly—how it will feature a regional Toronto "hub" that seems to not yet exist but that we'll surely be keeping our eyes on.
"We Are Left With Hundreds Of Questions:" Police Reveal Little About Two Arrests In The Murder Of Victoria Stafford (City): "There are still a lot of unanswered questions, but the first degree murder charges police laid against a 28-year-old man on Wednesday in the Victoria 'Tori' Stafford case makes the fate of the little girl all too apparent." [More coverage in CBC, and the Globe.]
U of T's flat fee proposal for Arts and Science students—the one that would force new students to pay for 5.0 courses, regardless of how many courses, from 3.0–6.0, they actually took—has barreled over the final administrative hurdle at the University of Toronto, and was passed this evening by the university's Governing Council at a meeting held at the school's Mississauga campus.
Mulroney can't explain tax break on half of Schreiber cash (Globe and Mail): "Brian Mulroney was required to pay income tax on only half of the $225,000 in cash he accepted from lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber, thanks to a “pretty good deal” offered to the former prime minister by Canada Revenue Agency, a public inquiry heard Tuesday." [More coverage in CP24, and The Post.]
At long last, four of the eight food vendors who survived the City's rigorous multi-stage selection process for the pilot "Toronto a la Cart" project took to the streets on Victoria Day. Torontoist had the pleasure of visiting with all four proprietors who graciously spoke with us about their new businesses—even while in the middle of frantically setting up their stations for the very first time.
Metro grocery stores to charge for plastic bags (Toronto Star): "Another major grocery store chain will soon ask shoppers in Ontario and Quebec to spend a nickel for each throwaway plastic bag, a practice that environmentalists believe will soon become the norm at supermarkets nationwide." [Previous coverage on Torontoist: Picking Up After Yourself?]
What's open and closed on Victoria Day? (CityNews): "Here's a look at what's open and closed for the holiday."
As predicted by Spacing—and now confirmed by the National Post—the federal government is set to pump around $1 billion into the Sheppard light-rail transit line, described as the most "shovel-ready" of the TTC's Transit City LRT routes (the Star reports that construction is now expected to begin this fall). Today's announcement, made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Dalton McGuinty at the Transit Commission's Hillcrest Complex, follows last month's commitment by the provincial government of $9 billion for Transit City and other Toronto-area public transit initiatives. Still no word on funding for the city's coveted Bombardier Flexity streetcars, however—a fact sure to keep Mayor David Miller and TTC Chair Adam Giambrone grumbling, though they'll likely tone their complaints down a notch, at least for today.
Sheppard LRT likely to be funded today, maybe streetcars (Spacing): "Mayor David Miller announced on his Twitter feed [last night] that he and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be at the Hillcrest TTC compound at 11AM for a good news announcement. While Mayor Miller didn’t say which project would be funded, Spacing has learned that the project is likely Transit City’s Sheppard line." [More from the Globe and the Sun.]
Despite claims to the contrary by Canadian recording industry lobby groups like CRIA and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Canada is not the leading world source of digital media piracy. According to a new study by BayTSP—a U.S. firm which investigates file sharing for the movie and music industries—Canada doesn't lead the world in copyright infringement notices. As Michael Geist reports (the study hasn't been publicly released yet), Canada’s rank is declining; last year Canada ranked seventh, this year it only ranks tenth. In terms of both total numbers and on a per-capita basis, Canada isn't the worst offender—the real pirates are in Spain, Italy, and France, each of which garners five times as many infringement notices as Canada, but of those four countries, only Canada is on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's Priority Watch List for copyright infringement and media piracy.
A small crowd of approximately twenty people, including the very short person pictured above, gathered on Tuesday before Union Station's Front Street entrance to blow bubbles with soap, after being denied the right to do so inside the station. They did this because they're upset with Metrolinx, the GTA's newish regional transit authority, for its refusal to consider running electric trains on a pair of proposed regional rail expansions. The expansions, which as planned will accommodate only diesel-burning locomotives, would link Union Station to Pearson Airport and more than triple service on GO Transit's Georgetown corridor between Union Station and Malton on opening day.
12,000 March Through Downtown (National Post): "An estimated 12,000 Tamil protesters peacefully marched through the downtown streets yesterday, growing more comfortable with publicly embracing the Tamil Tigers." [More coverage in the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. Related coverage on Torontoist: Tamil Tiger Trashers Take to the Skies.]
As members of the Tamil community continue their demonstrations against the conflict in Sri Lanka, a high-flying counter-protest is underway, in the form of a small airplane circling around central Toronto with an anti–Tamil Tigers message in tow. Reader Mark Ostler first noticed the lofty banner, which reads "Protect Canada. Stop Tamil Tigers!", from his office window downtown. Shortly thereafter, Torontoist contributor Jonathan Goldsbie captured the above photo from Kensington Market (flipped here so that the message reads from left to right).
Like you didn't know this was coming: after a lengthy protest that shut down University Avenue for several days at the end of last month, and Sunday night's Gardiner takeover, Tamil protesters have once again forced the closure of University Avenue southbound from Dundas Street West to Queen Street West. According to Toronto Police, the stretch of street "will remain closed until further notice." It's almost as though some Tamils are passionate about not having their friends and relatives destroyed in a brutal civil war or something, to the point where they would deem it acceptable to add a few minutes to some drivers' commutes. Animals, the lot of them!
The TTC's newfound propensity for remodelling isn't limited to just their stations, shelters, routes, and vehicles: the transit organization is now in the midst of exploring how to open up the Metropass to local artists and arts institutions in time for the summer.
Be lawful or else, police tell Tamils (Toronto Star): "More than 10,000 pro-Tamil demonstrators are expected to converge on Queen's Park at noon today, and those who engage in unlawful activity should be prepared to "face the consequences," says Toronto police Chief William Blair." [Previous coverage on Torontoist: Tamils Take to the Gardiner.]
Bloorcourt residents, rejoice! Dufferin Station will be the next station to receive upgrades. Plans to revitalize Dufferin Station were presented yesterday at Dovercourt Baptist Church, where TTC representatives were on hand to discuss the plans and field questions from the community. The forty-one million dollar project, led by Project Manager David Grigg, is slated to start later this year, and will take two and a half years to complete.
This morning, at a press conference at the RBC branch at King Street West and Spadina Avenue, Heritage Toronto announced the release of its first iTour: a historic tour of Spadina Avenue. Funded in part by RBC, the iTours program provides free downloadable audio and visual walking tours that are designed to help people explore Toronto’s rich history in areas that are often too difficult to navigate with a tour group.
All signs pointed to ice cream. But for some strange reason, our invitation to the Barenaked Ladies' mysterious press conference (held at the top of the CN Tower, we might add) left us in the dark. The banner-dragging bird, the sky-blue background peppered with white clouds and bubble letters—everything about the e-vite seemed eerily familiar. But it took Ed Robertson's unveiling of a giant tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream—called "If I had 1,000,000 Flavours"—for us to finally clue in.
This year (June 17–21) marks the fifteenth run for the world-renowned North by Northeast Music, Film and Conference festival, and with that milestone comes...really late bar hours. Last night at the NXNE 2009 preview press conference, a swift-moving line-up of announcers, the most excited and audible being festival Managing Director Andy McLean, announced highlights from all parts of the five-day festival. Key conference guests will include GZA (yes, that GZA) and Jake Gold, and the film festival will host the Canadian premiere of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. The usual dizzying five hundred bands will be playing as well, with Montreal's Melissa Auf der Maur and Atlanta's Black Lips getting lots of special mention. And the seemingly most crowd-pleasing of all news is that, indeed, most venues will extend their serving hours to keep the bleary-eyed parties going until 4 a.m. Once again Yonge-Dundas Square, Pearson Airport, and a slew of public parks will also be used as alternative daytime music venues. Full lists and schedules will be available at the NXNE website soon (where pass and wristband info is already up). Torontoist will of course be providing planning assistance and extensive coverage leading up to and during NXNE, including tips for effective napping strategy in order to maximize your (and our) festival intake.
At the Royal Ontario Museum, the portraits of homeless or formerly-homeless people holding signs with self-scrawled messages on them start outside the main entrance on Bloor Street, one large-scale man and large-scale woman standing back-to-back, dwarfed by the Crystal. They continue life-sized just inside, one young woman hiding above the main entrance, an older man further inside off to the right. In total, there are eighteen portraits wheatpasted at spots on the Crystal's bare walls, part of a series called "The Unaddressed" created by Dan Bergeron—fauxreel. Like his spectacular Regent Park portraits from last year, Bergeron's focus in "The Unaddressed" is on uprooted subjects, which is why it makes sense that the portraits themselves refuse to rest in only one location: all eighteen portraits, in addition to being safely contained on the ROM's property and walls, are also mirrored on walls across Toronto.
Tamils urged to step back public protests (CTV): "Public officials have asked Tamil supporters to dial down their demonstrations amid growing impatience over a string of protests, which culminated Sunday evening in the shutdown of a major Toronto freeway." [More coverage in the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. Previous coverage on Torontoist: Tamils Take to the Gardiner and Torontoist vs. Torontoist in… Tamil Protests.]
Apparently we weren't the only ones at Hot Docs this year: the festival is boasting, in a press release, that attendance hit 122,000—"an astounding 42% increase over 2008." And that's with the same number of films being shown this year as last. The festival also announced the winner of their Audience Award—The Cove, which is unfortunately not a sequel to Leonardo DiCaprio's The Beach but is, instead, about dolphins.
Last night, several thousand Tamil protesters took over the Gardiner Expressway for several hours, the latest and most remarkable protest in a series of attention-grabbing moves by the Tamil community that included shutting down University Avenue for several days two weeks ago. The protesters' methods have, without a doubt, drawn an enormous amount of vitriol, but also a large amount of attention for their cause. Do the ends justify the means? And are the ends even justified at all?
Not long before dusk on Sunday night, several thousand Tamil protesters flowed onto the Gardiner Expressway, shutting it down shortly thereafter, to protest the ongoing violence in Sri Lanka. The Gardiner would remain shut down until about midnight, when the protest migrated off the roads and on to Queen's Park.
Tamils move to Queen's Park (Toronto Star): "Dozens of Tamil protesters calling for intervention in the Sri Lanka civil war remain at Queen's Park this morning after a demonstration that shut down the Gardiner Expressway for more than six hours yesterday. The protesters last night agreed to move from the freeway around midnight only after a representative in Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's office promised to bring up the demonstrators' cause in Parliament." [More from the Globe, the CBC, CP24, and CityNews. Previous coverage on Torontoist: Tamils Take to the Gardiner, Despite "Scuffles," Tamil Protest Continues, and "Canada, Help Us."]
1:05 a.m.—Here's hoping this one doesn't last a whole day, but it looks like power's out in a big block of the city's west end. Torontoist staffers first reported problems at about 12:30 a.m. near Dundas West Station and at Bloor and Ossington, and apparently we weren't alone: Twitter users, helpfully once again using the #darkTO tag, have been shouting out their locations, and power is currently being reported as off at Queen and Dufferin, Dundas Street West and Sorauren, Roncesvalles and Queen, Lansdowne and Bloor, Dupont and Bathurst, Dupont and Christie, and Harbord and Ossington.
"Stop messing in my ward or there will be problems. I generally ignore your actions, but I am going to start looking for ways to cause trouble for you, and when I start you're not going to appreciate it." That's, uh, the usually cool-headed Councillor (and TTC Chair) Adam Giambrone, in an email to Councillor Cesar Palacio, which Giambrone has since apologized for—but which will nonetheless still be investigated by the City's integrity commissioner. You can read a lot more about it in the Star and Post and watch a video from the Sun. Oh, yeah, and Giambrone's Facebook status tonight, updated at 7:52? "Adam Giambrone is walking home—no TTC—to clear his mind and to enjoy the nice weather."
Astral Media Outdoor uses Geotargeting Exclusive Solution—a proprietary GIS program mashing up consumer data from Generation5 and cartographic software from MapInfo—in order to allow "you to concentrate advertising faces exactly where your target customers are found. By combining socio-demographic data with the habits of the target group, it builds a consumer profile that is accurate to the postal code level. It then maps the data for precision market targeting." (Did you know that "The Toronto's Asian Community" feels that they are "too tolerant of products and services that do not meet [their] expectations"?)
Explicitly because the show's "American network wanted a little bit more American landscape," but probably because they are all so very jealous of former cast member Shenae Grimes, who is now a big deal on 90210, Degrassi: The Next Generation is going to Hollywood! For a two-hour movie! Called Degrassi Goes Hollywood! On American TV! According to its new trailer, "Manny wants to be an actress, Page wants to be a star, and Ellie—she just wants to get the guy." Haha! We will never tire of female archetypes. Perez Hilton is in it, which is all the confirmation we need that the movie will be horrible, but we will love it anyway.
Space city designed as an idealized Toronto (Toronto Star): "A democratic colony far above Earth that looks like a giant cylinder, has no violence and whose residents eat meat grown in a lab. This is Asten, a utopia designed by Toronto student Eric Yam, and it has won a NASA grand prize." [More coverage in the Sun, and the Globe.]
When it comes to holding customers in seething contempt, few corporate entities do it with more blatancy than the Canadian telcos. And they know customers hate them—that's why Koodo (a brand owned by Telus, though you'd never know it) mocks the industry's despicable practices in their advertising. But when three biggies control an entire market, forcing users into long-term contracts and deliberately muddying their fee structures, the notion of customer service is merely an insignificant byproduct of offering a service to customers.
Last night, according to the Star, two men, wearing Halloween masks, strolled into an adult video store on the Queensway (possibly Cinema X Adult Video), pepper-sprayed an employee (female) and a customer (male), left a backpack full of lit fireworks in the store, and, as the fireworks exploded and the store burned, "ran away giggling." This actually happened.
We've been at City Hall a fair number of times, but it wasn't until this week that we had the rather delightful experience of being met by a beatboxing duo at the front door or rocking out to OutKast in the Council Chamber. The occasion for this upending of formality? A town hall meeting, hosted by a network of organizations known collectively as the Beautiful City Alliance. The coalition is working to convince city council to direct revenue from the billboard tax it plans to introduce this summer towards art in the public sphere and is stepping up its campaign efforts as the vote on that tax approaches. The town hall, attended by some two or three hundred artists and activists, as well as several city councillors, was part informational meeting and part pep rally, with a bit of spontaneous art production thrown in for good measure.
Ruby Dhalla loses critic job as nanny storm grows (Toronto Star): "Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla has lost her job in Michael Ignatieff's shadow cabinet, announcing she has resigned as critic for youth and multiculturalism while she tries to repair the damage to her career over her nannies controversy." [More coverage in the Globe.]
Search Engine, the critically acclaimed and wildly popular CBC tech podcast, is moving to TVO. Since June 2008, when budget problems forced the CBC to cancel the Radio One version of the program and cut the show’s staff, the program has existed in a kind of uncertain limbo. But now, with the move to TVO, the show’s future has been secured.
There has been a huge kerfuffle across the blogosphere in the past week, and at the centre of it one can find none other than the Toronto Star's very own Antonia Zerbisias. We've called out the Zerb before (back when her blog kind of sucked, but we're glad to report it's gotten a lot better since then), but this time is special.
Score one for the cycling community. After an intense and late-breaking campaign, and with a crucial assist from Councillor Kyle Rae, bicycle advocates have successfully introduced bike lanes into a major redevelopment plan for Jarvis Street. Yesterday afternoon the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) voted to remove the centre, reversible-direction lane of traffic, and use the freed-up space to install bicycle lanes in both directions from Bloor to Queen.
Toronto to get more scrambled? (Toronto Sun): "After the 'scramble'—where pedestrians had 30 seconds of free rein to cross in every direction—premiered at Yonge and Dundas in August, the city is looking at other intersections where the right-of-way could work." [Previous coverage on Torontoist.]
Amid rabid speculation that the Phoenix Coyotes face an insurmountable debt load, the team filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier today. Following the announcement, Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie put in a US$212 million offer to buy the team, under the condition that it is relocated to Southern Ontario. (His previous bids for the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins were unsuccessful.) Chatter of moving or creating a team here has re-ignited in recent weeks, but the NHL refused to confirm any of the speculation until today. The Globe and Mail is reporting that the NHL's management, which has an acrimonious relationship with Balsillie, plans to fight the offer, but Balsillie hopes to avoid this battle (which hurt his previous bids) by building grassroots support for the team—he's encouraging all fans of the proposal to visit www.makeitseven.ca in order to voice their support.
At the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) meeting this morning, councillors debated the Roncesvalles revitalization project that has been under discussion in that community for the last while. (By some counts, the conversation has lasted at least five years.) The proposal calls for curb bump-outs and transit platforms, in the form of sidewalk extensions, at several points along the avenue. Though the environmental assessment of the streetscape plan has been a matter of some controversy within the community it was unanimously endorsed in today's vote, with all four members of PWIC present at the time (Councillors Carroll, Giambrone, Palacio, and Perks) speaking in its favour.
Tamil protest postponed as Oda visits Sri Lanka (Globe and Mail): "Organizers had planned to form a human chain [today]...to raise awareness about the escalating conflict and to encourage Canadian and U.S. leaders to press the government of Sri Lanka to stop the fighting. Their protests appear to have had some effect, as International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda visited the Sri Lankan capital, Columbo, Monday, pledging $3-million in human aid and calling for an end to the fighting. Satisfied that the Canadian government was paying more attention to the plight of Tamils caught amidst the fighting, Toronto's organizers called off their protest." [Previous coverage on Torontoist: "Canada, Help Us." and Despite "Scuffles," Tamil Protest Continues.]
The Liberal Party of Canada's national convention in Vancouver this past weekend produced few surprises, with delegates officially crowning Toronto Member of Parliament Michael Ignatieff as leader of the once-mighty red machine. One development that did catch our attention, however, was the unveiling on Saturday of the party's new logo, which replaces the maple-leaf-as-rising-sun insignia in use since 2004. According to the accompanying news release, the new logo "symbolizes a re-energized Liberal Party emerging from a process of renewal engaging all Liberal members." A fascinating claim, given that the new wordmark is nothing more than the word "Liberal" in Times New Roman, emblazoned with a maple leaf that appears to have been cribbed from the cover of Maclean's.
Liberals split on election question (Globe and Mail): "Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has emerged from this weekend's convention with a ringing endorsement of his leadership and some money in the party's coffers, but he also leaves Vancouver with a caucus split on one crucial question: when to call an election." [More coverage in the National Post and the Toronto Star.]
The Toronto Blue Jays responded to their first series loss of the year by sweeping the Baltimore Orioles—their first sweep of the young 2009 baseball season. Richard Griffin sounded a note of caution prior to the series beginning, arguing that this year’s team more closely resembles the disappointing 2001 Blue Jays than the 1992/93 World Series champs, but it’s worth noting that the Jays—arguably the fourth-best team in their division—are the winningest team in Major League Baseball since Cito Gaston took over last June. Need further evidence that the tides might be beginning to change? Today, a Toronto sports reporter praised general manager J.P. Ricciardi. Between that and the sweep of the Orioles, the feel-good vibes of April may yet spill over into the next month.
Apparently, Canada's "best and brightest young people" are all between the ages of thirty-two and thirty-nine. Or so today's issue of the Globe and Mail would have you believe. In their annual quest to name the "Top 40 under 40," Caldwell Partners International Inc. (or, rather, their independent advisory committee), has selected forty almost-forty-year-olds, and the Globe and Mail has, once again, devoted an entire section of the newspaper to these findings (see section "E" in today's print edition).
Tougher Ontario drunk-driving laws kick off today (Globe and Mail): "Ontario's tough new impaired driving laws take effect today. As of May 1, a driver caught with a blood alcohol level from 0.05 to 0.08—known as the 'warn range'—will have their licence suspended for three days."
Why You Should Never Take Kate Carraway to IKEA (43)
Haydain Neale, 1970–2009 (37)
The Lee's Palace Mural is Dead! Long Live the Lee's Palace Mural! (24)
Subway Suicide Statistics Released (24)
Transit City and Transit Cities (18)
Peeve Patrol (17)
Historicist: "The city that nobody loves" (16)
Polling Booth: "Kick a Ginger" Controversy (15)
The Making of a Medley (14)
Why You Should Never Take Kate Carraway to IKEA
Subway Suicide Statistics Released
The TTC is Experimenting at Bloor-Yonge Station Like It's 1984
Street Heart
Newsstand: November 27, 2009
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