Results tagged “adamgiambrone”

Among the progressive members of City Council, TTC Chair (and occasional Torontoist Rocket Talk contributor) Adam Giambrone is one of those most frequently cited as a potential mayoral successor to David Miller. In the aftermath of Miller's announcement this morning that he will not be running for re-election, we spoke with Giambrone about the mayor's statement, and about the speculation that has already begun to swirl about his own so-far hypothetical candidacy.

Politics stops for no man, and no retirement.

Earlier this morning at their head offices, the TTC announced changes to its Metropass fleet, with the aim of making counterfeiting, as Chief General Manager Gary Webster put it, a "tougher issue for the bad guys"—and with the not altogether unintended consequence of making the passes a little nicer to look at now, and a lot nicer to look at as of April next year.

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.

Did you know that boner means more than one thing? It's true! According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it can be both "a mistake, a blunder" or—the usage that has become far more common over the past few decades—"An erection of the penis" (or, figuratively, "a strong attraction to or state of excitement about something specified"). Did you also know that the latter half of Adam Giambrone's last name sounds sorta like "boner"? And that he made a pretty big mistake recently? And that, because the Sun has a boner for embarrassingly bad headlines, that the photo above is of the actual cover of today's paper?

"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."

You know what's hilarious? Ads that make fun of suicide. Why, they're right up there with the ones that make light of rape.

Businesses along Dundas Street West are channelling the visual language of the American president for a local protest poster campaign.

It wasn't long after Adenir DeOliveira, 47, (allegedly) pushed two teenage boys onto the Dufferin subway tracks last Friday when Toronto’s local media began whipping up public support for barriers on TTC subway platforms. CBCnews.ca wrote that the incident “spurr[ed] calls for the devices” without providing any attributive quotes. The Star felt it necessary to add the line “despite two frightening incidents in the past month” after reporting that TTC chairman Gary Webster believes Toronto’s subway stations are still safe. CityNews.ca chimed in as well, writing that Friday’s near-tragedy “has led to renewed calls for safety barriers in the subway” (the "renewed calls" being remarks made by city councilor Joe Mihevc and ordinary commuter Tony Wakelin).

It's been a little over two years since Adam Giambrone became Chair of the TTC, and a little less than one since Brad Ross joined him to become the organization's Director of Communications. Now, it's hard to imagine the TTC without them: Giambrone has ushered in improvement after improvement, as well as shepherded Transit City, a plan so ambitious it hardly seems Torontonian; and Ross has kept the public, the media, Twitter users, and Torontoist commenters all in the loop.

At 7:46 Monday morning, Torontoist received a release from press@ttc.ca, headed "TTC launches the 'WARM WELCOME' campaign":

     

When TTC spokesperson (and esteemed Torontoist commenter) Brad Ross contacted YouTube superstars Syrus and Randal, they figured they were about to be hit with a cease and desist for their parody music video "I Get On (the TTC)." Turns out he just wanted to invite the pair to today's public TTC meeting at City Hall to honour them and give them free January metropasses.

At a press conference late this morning at Spadina Station, the TTC rolled out the beginnings of their snappily named "next vehicle arrival notification pilot project" that will eventually see the new street furniture transit shelters outfitted with LED screens, new and old subway stations across the city outfitted with LCD and LED screens, still more stops updated with numbers that riders can text message to, and the TTC's new and much-improved website updated with a smart trip planner—all to get riders real-time transit information on where their ride is and when it's going to get to them.

Adam Giambrone's Facebook status—a surprisingly good source for transit news—just changed, which makes it just about official: the TTC will not be raising fares in 2009, period. Mayor Miller, who pushed for the move because of the "growing economic crisis," said today that in 2009 "many [TTC riders] will be people looking for work." Why, that's not disheartening at all!

City Council finally voted on the vexed question of Annette Street cycling infrastructure, and after a fairly easy-going discussion approved full bike lanes in a 20-11 vote. Councillor Saundercook's bid to delay implementation of the bike lanes in favour of the lower-impact (and less safe) sharrows for two years failed. Councillor Heaps, chair of the Cycling Committee, introduced the motion which restored city staffers' original recommendation for full bike lanes, and was strongly supported by Councillors Perks and Giambrone. The 209 citizens who wrote in to council, every single one of them in favour of bike lanes rather than sharrows, and the cycling advocates that have tirelessly made their case to the community, deserve equal billing for bringing this one home.

In a 23-22 vote City Council just defeated a motion that would have declared the TTC an essential service. Essential service designation would have, if approved by the province, prevented TTC members from striking legally. The declaration was originally considered and rejected at a meeting of the Executive Committee under the leadership of Mayor Miller despite widespread public support for the measure. Councillors Jenkins, Palacio, and Thompson have been spearheading a campaign to overturn that decision, collecting signatures and publishing editorials to build support. The major argument in favour: the impact of a TTC strike is economically and socially unsustainable and outweighs the union's reasonable right to strike. The major argument against: declaring the TTC essential is cost-prohibitive (contracts for essential service employees tend to be higher than others); moreover, wildcat strikes and work-to-rule actions would still be possible and have occurred in other jurisdictions where transit services have been declared essential, rendering the designation substantially ineffectual. Both TTC management and the union leadership opposed the declaration, as did Councillors Giambrone and Mihevc, chair and vice-chair of the TTC, respectively. Council did pass motions asking that the province designate the Wheel-Trans division of the TTC essential, and require that the union give 48 hours notice of any strike action.

Photo by Dylan Passmore from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

The TTC installed the first "Next Train Arrival" display at Dundas Station yesterday, with TTC Chair Adam Giambrone unveiling the addition to the OneStop screens. At the southbound platform, the text sat humbly along the bottom of the screen, as if it didn't dare disturb the advertisements above. While Giambrone fully admitted that the TTC is often "one step behind" other transit systems, he said that they make up for it by giving "one hundred and twenty percent" when they do get around to improvements. He especially emphasized new exciting areas of TTC-related "e-commerce, e-mail alerts," and other words beginning with "E."

Photo by calix.

Torontoist is following the TTC's strike, using our own reporting, other local news sources, and any other resources available to us to keep this article updated continually with the latest information. Use the TTC Strike tag to view Torontoist's other strike coverage, or view our list of online resources to see coverage, photos, videos, and ideas elsewhere.

Mayor David Miller, anxious to prove the civic value of his trade mission to China, announced yesterday that a major Chinese mining company would be opening an office in Toronto. Well, not necessarily an office. It could be one of those shared rental suites. Or a mailbox, definitely a mailbox, at least. Say, how 'bout that Great Wall?

Last week, undergraduate students at UTSC (University of Toronto Scarborough) rejected the U-Pass by a stunning margin, with full-time students voting against it 1674 to 622, and part-time students spurning it 53 to 16. Minus the abstentions and spoiled ballots, that worked out to 73% No for for full-timers and 77% No for part-timers. When last we wrote about the proposed offer—a compulsory $60-a-month transit pass for all students, with no potential to opt out—we proffered a qualified endorsement, believing that the goal of discouraging future car ownership was sufficiently noble for us to be able to overlook the scheme's inherent unfairness. But we later recanted "after reading all of the comments here and on the Spacing Wire....and after seeing that even Adam CF doesn't yet endorse it for St. George, AND after finding out that the passes won't be swipeable."

Sarah Lazarovic––curator of the garage-based Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada––is painting a portrait of a Torontonian (be they Mirvishes or Meashas) every day. Each Monday, we'll feature one of those portraits here.

"The Better Way Gets Better," yesterday's TTC press release proclaimed, teasing the media for today's big announcement of service changes. And, really, it'd be hard to disagree.

Left to right: TTC market research director Mike Anders, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone, irate civil engineering Engineering Science student Ryan Campbell, and Giambrone executive assistant Kevin Beaulieu.

Selected quotes from "Toronto's Type and Tile Heritage" by Edward Keenan, from the November 14th issue of Eye Weekly:

Per a suggestion by chairman Adam Giambrone, The TTC has voted to provide free service after midnight this New Year's, along with extended subway hours until 4 a.m. The free service—an attempt to deter people from drunk driving—hasn't been offered by the TTC since the late 70s, and you'd think it might be a costly venture. But it's not exactly setting them back that much; the free admission offer will only cost the TTC an...

When we interviewed TTC Chair Adam Giambrone in August––at the height of anxiety over potential cuts to his system––he told us that the TTC has "an acceptable level of advertising. Could it be less? Absolutely. At this point any reduction would be a budget reduction, and I'll tell you I'm not really prepared to reduce the budget of the TTC to reduce the advertising. At the same time, I think we certainly have enough...

They're in cabs, ATMs, and the Entertainment District, and they're about to be in all TTC vehicles. By next June, every one of the TTC's 1.5 million daily riders will be photographed multiple times over their journey.

After intense public backlash over a boneheaded plan to expropriate the storied Matador Club and obliterate it into a paved slab, the Toronto Parking Authority has backed down.