Results tagged “adamvaughan”

Politics stops for no man, and no retirement.

Walking down Spadina Avenue between College and Dundas streets, you might completely miss them, so well do they blend in with the street scene. But stop by one of Chinatown's many municipal trash bins, let your eyes wander up slightly, and you might see one, attached to a utility pole, doing its best imitation of a yellow-jacket. Chinatown has some new signage, and the gist seems to be that you really must drop that bag of miscellaneous rotting crud someplace else, no matter what language you speak.

Yup, it's that time again. With sun umbrellas spread wide open, customers in shorts and shades, and pitchers of the finest local brews waiting to be poured, Toronto's patio season is back in full swing―at least for most bars. But unfortunately for a few, and a few very near and dear to our hearts (and livers), some outdoor havens are left stuck in limbo.

Yesterday, there was no mistaking Councillor Adam Vaughan's undertone for anything but indignant pride. He couldn't quite manage to mask it, if indeed he was even trying; it was of the sort a proud uncle might exude when reintroducing to society a formerly wayward nephew who, with uncle's guidance, has finally managed to shake the old seedy dress and manners.

Last night's Pug Awards for the city's best and worst new architecture had it all: Big buildings! Big winners! Big ideas! Big plans! And—thanks to Councillor Adam Vaughan—big awkwardness!

Today doesn't mark any kind of numerically significant anniversary for the fire that destroyed six buildings near the intersection of Queen Street West and Bathurst Street on Feburary 20 of last year. There's no nice, round number of days, years, or months to occasion this post. The timing here might be inconvenient, but then so was the fire's. (5 a.m. on a Wednesday?) So we're not totally out of line.

No victors were declared last night in the ongoing struggle between the street and the man, between high and popular culture, between the alleyway and the gallery. In a panel discussion on the evolving nature of street art, the only consensus was that more conversations—open-ended, open-minded, open-hearted—are required.

                    

Last week, Adam Vaughan held a party. Its full title, according to the now-deleted Facebook event, was "SORRY! A fundraiser to celebrate Adam's apology from Rob." Rob, you see, is Rob Ford, who on the morning of Thursday, September 25, of last year, used his weekly spot on AM640's The John Oakley Show to accuse Vaughan of a rather serious conflict of interest.

Photo by Tom Podolec from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

City sells "the McDonald's site" on Bloor for a fairly low price. However, Adam Vaughan insists there are upsides to the deal, such as being able to limit the height of the condo development that will take its place, because who would want tall buildings in the downtown core?

Keri and Charity are two residents who lost everything on Wednesday morning. By that afternoon, a Facebook group (called Ker-ity) had already been set up with the sole purpose of helping them replace what was lost. Torontoist was alerted to the efforts by Erin Dermo, Managing Director of The Ten Spot (less than a block away from the blaze), who has been approaching local businesses to see if they can donate anything that might help. So far, aside from The Ten Spot’s own contributions, nearby businesses like Heel Boy (yes, they donated shoes), The Bier Markt, and Brazen Hussy have all been very generous with much-needed items and gift certificates. The coordinators of the drive (including Dermo and yoga instructor Caren Cooper of Jivita Yoga) are accepting clothing, shoes, and gift certificates at Essensuals Salon (678 Queen Street West). They're also asking for people who have any household items to offer to hang onto them until a storage space or apartment can be found. Don't have any stuff to give? Hey, money always helps—they're accepting Paypal donations at donations@kerity.ca and they'll also be opening a TD Canada Trust account in the next day or so. Check the Facebook group for further details.

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

If there is one thing Toronto is world-class in and world-renowned for, it is dance music. Toronto sees some of the world's most famous international music acts play its bars and clubs every weekend, and according to a recent article in Toronto Life, they bring with them at least $125 million in economic activity. Well, music enthusiasts, bartenders, club district employees, club owners, event promoters, and young people beware: a nightlife crackdown is coming to Toronto and the fight to save your scene (or your livelihood) will not be easy.

From mid-September through year-end, all City Community Centres will be closed on Mondays. Skating rinks won't open until January. Fewer potholes will be repaired. Snow won't be cleared unless there is at least 15 cm of it (the current minimum is 8 cm). New materials from Public Health will only be available in English.

Last night at City Hall, Councillor Adam Vaughan conceded defeat in the fight to keep the John Street Roundhouse from becoming a big box retail outlet. He withdrew his motion [PDF] calling for a temporary freeze on the redevelopment of the Roundhouse into a Leon's outlet. The news derails a movement against the proposed furniture store that had been gathering steam recently.

First incandescent light bulbs, now toilets: at the recommendation of David Miller, the Ontario government will consider banning conventional toilets to promote low-flush toilets. Low-flushies use only 6 litres of water per flush, while regular toilets will use anywhere from 13-25 litres to flush. Not only would the ban save Toronto 26 million litres of water per day, it would eliminate the need for $60 million in water and sewage-treatment capacity. Here's a ban everyone can feel good about, except Dave Barry.

Love or loathe the spindly structure on the OCAD grounds, you'll have a chance to speak to one of the minds behind the Alsop North America creation tomorrow evening courtesy of Salon Voltaire.

When we last tuned in, Adam Vaughan had just quit his job as CityTV's Political Reporter to run for City Council. He won and now represents Ward 20.

Torontonians are, to say the least, an opinionated bunch. So instead of a simple "Best Of" list to cap 2006 off, the Torontoist staffers have racked their brains about everything (books, songs, restaurants, people, places, stores, newspapers, politicians, musicians, and a lot more) to bring you their choices for the very best and the very worst of our city this past year. It's Torontoist Love/Hate 2006, and you can find a new one every day at noon from December 26th until January 1st.

These seats are empty now, but they won't be after today, as Mayor Miller and the 44 other city councillors take office. We found out recently that councillors are seated randomly, which explains why during the last council term loyal lefty Adam Giambrone sat right next to dogged mayoral critic Denzil Minnan-Wong.

The Toronto Public Space Committee's excellent new Municipal Elections website contains a veritable treasure trove of information about each candidate in the 2006 election (and a pretty sexy Google maps mashup). The site also features sometimes-hilarious quotations from and anecdotes about our to-be-elected officials in poster format. We have selected some gems from the site for your reading pleasure:

Yesterday, Torontoist attended a Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina candidates meeting at the University of Toronto. Present were Adam Vaughan, Desmond Cole, Chris Ouellette, and Doug Lowry.

A man was stabbed to death in North York at a party celebrating Ghana's victory over the USA at the World Cup. Apparently gang colours may have been a trigger for the tragic attack.

The last time a vote was this close the Supreme Court had to be called in. Last night's Downtown and East York final for City Idol went to three ballots and a run-off before Desmond Cole (shown here in between Boy Reporter and fellow finalist Karen Sun) was picked by a raucous crowd at Lula Lounge to be downtown Toronto's first City Idol.

Is this what the Annex could've looked like? The above rendering is what the vibrant corner of Bloor and Spadina would've looked like if the Spadina Expressway had been built and just one example of how close this city came to making one of its largest planning blunders. Tomorrow night Spacing Magazine pays tribute to the people who helped stop the highway, and just how Toronto has been shaped and continues to be shaped by their efforts.

The OPP report that 800 traffic tickets were given out on this province's busy highways. The worst offenders included a woman not wearing a seatbelt to be able to play with her chihuahua, and a driver in his underwear holding a bottle of vodka.

Adam Vaughan has put down his camera and picked up his political boxing gloves. He filed his nomination papers and is now an official candidate in Trinity-Spadina, the ward vacated by Olivia Chow when she was elected to Parliament earlier in the year. Long-time community activist Tam Goosens and former Olivia Chow assistant Helen Kennedy are also slated to run in the ward.

City Idol is gearing up for its first big event. This Friday at the Danforth Music Hall all 100 candidates will strut their stuff with one-minute speechlets introducing themselves to the crowd of potential Simon Cowells and Paula Abduls.

Torontoist was watching Hour Town, Adam Vaughan's local affairs show last night when the bespectacled host made an off-the-cuff remark about "the romance of the Red Rocket." He was apparently referring to a caller's comments about enjoying the lakeside view on the Harbourfront streetcar line. Which got us thinking are there any particular routes/parts of routes on the TTC that you dear Torontoist reader find especially romantic? Does your heart go aflutter when the streetcar or bus goes by a certain intersection? What about the subway, it goes above ground every once in a while, any romantic bells there?

While Torontoist was busy at the back of the uTOpia launch making marshmallow towers and Libeskind-inspired "crystals," great panellists were chatting about the city. The newly launched Rabble Book Lounge recorded one of the panels (Discussing Public Space with Darren O'Donnell, Dave Meslin, Heather MacLean and Adam Vaughan). You can get it here.