MUSIC: In case you were jonesing to go to another overpriced classic rock concert, Lynyrd Skynyrd can help you with that. They're playing at the Molson Amphitheatre this evening, joined by rocker and clever lyricist Kid Rock and one third of Run-D.M.C. Molson Amphitheatre (909 Lakeshore Boulevard West), 6:30 p.m., $25.50–$75. POLITICS: If you have U.S. citizenship and haven't yet registered to vote in the upcoming general election, never fear. Democrats Abroad is having......

While BikeShare struggles to re-open its popular program, city hall may beat them to the punch. Yesterday, the Star discussed a new bike rental program modeled after those which are ''tried and proven around the world.'' Programs such as Paris's Velib and Barcelona's Bicing have been successful, and many other cities from Denver to D.C. are implementing similar ones. However, Toronto's concerns about its tourism industry may be the driving force behind the move. "There's......

Mayor David Miller has already named deputy city manager Joe Pennachetti as the favoured replacement for city manager Shirley Hoy, who tendered her resignation yesterday. Torontoist can't find anything funny about this story and is actively soliciting suggestions for jokes. Any contributions which include the phrase "stop calling me Shirley" will be automatically disqualified. Workers at the soon-to-be-closed GM truck plant in Oshawa are being offered a variety of incentives to ease them towards......

Toronto's city councillors have voted to change the rules governing their office budgets, which includes the elimination of alcohol with meals with staff, mileage compensation to and from City Hall, and compensation for raffle tickets or silent auction bids. On the bright side, Torontoist's corporate booze budget is at an all-time high. Statistics Canada recently released data indicating that Canada's crime rate is at a 30-year low, with reductions in violent crimes such as......

With Toronto FC having sold out two straight seasons, the City is discussing expanding BMO Field. Bitter fans of the late Toronto Blizzard were heard muttering, "Where were all these so-called soccer fans fifteen years ago, huh?" The Liberal Party revealed their carbon tax plan yesterday. From an environmental standpoint, the plan is solid, but unfortunately, it has one fatal flaw: Stéphane Dion is the one trying to sell it to Canadians. Plans are......

On Monday morning, Astral Media unveiled prototypes of its new line of "street furniture" at City Hall. On Wednesday, we took a look at the garbage bins. On Thursday, the advertising pillars. Yesterday, the transit shelters. Today, everything else. (Also check out Karen von Hahn's disparagement of the street furniture in the Globe.) A lot of people who otherwise hate what the Coordinated Street Furniture Program has wrought like the idea of the multi-publication structures......

On Monday morning, Astral Media unveiled prototypes of its new line of "street furniture" at City Hall. On Wednesday, we took a look at the garbage bins. On Thursday, we looked at the advertising pillars. This morning, the transit shelters. (Be sure also to read Christopher Hume's review, which makes our less-than-kind assessments look like raves.) The "Basic" shelter. (The blue "Toronto" ribbon was present for ceremonial cutting purposes only and is not part of......

On Monday morning, Astral Media unveiled prototypes of its new line of "street furniture" at City Hall. Torontoist was going to review all of the items at once but decided that some merited their own posts. Yesterday, we took a look at the garbage bins. Today we look at the advertising pillars. Friday, the transit shelters, and on Saturday everything else. (Be sure to read Spacing's coverage, too.) "Isn't two dollars a bit high for......

In the opening voiceover for his Oscar-winning animated short Ryan, Chris Landreth explains, "I live in Toronto, a city in Canada where I see way too many shades of grey for my own good health." This line occurred to us as we attended the official unveiling of Toronto's new "street furniture" at City Hall Monday morning, a celebration of the all-new shades of grey about to trickle onto our streets. Courtesy of Jeremy Kramer......

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city. "It's okay, Mr. President. We'll make sure you're safe and then we'll get to the truck with the french fries." The......

One year ago today, City Council's Executive Committee approved [PDF] the awarding of the street furniture contract—for the purposes of designing, building, owning, and maintaining bus shelters, garbage bins, ad pillars, and more for a period of twenty years in exchange for advertising rights—to Astral Media Outdoor, despite the fact that the company had absolutely no experience with "street furniture" and maintains dozens of illegal billboards in defiance of City Council.......

The above video—not safe for work unless you're using headphones—was shot by the late Peter Walker and is a clip from Min Sook Lee's documentary Hogtown: The Politics of Policing (winner of the best Canadian feature prize at Hot Docs 2005). Uploaded to YouTube fewer than three weeks ago, it's been passed around online over the last few days, since being linked to by Toronto Life's Philip Preville in a Friday blog post. The......

Today's ad features your stereotypical 1950s architectural professional: trenchcoat, tie, hat (preferably a fedora), and a fistful of building plans. The building this dapper construction supervisor is depicted next to would quickly become one of St. Clair Avenue's architectural landmarks. Pigott Construction was based in Hamilton, where company president Joseph Pigott contributed heavily to the community as a president or board member of institutions such as McMaster University and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. UntitledBY COTROPITOR UntitledBY APARATGRAF mist walkingBY NICKEFKOZAK Front in InfraredBY METRIX X paffBY PROFESSIONAL.NERD factoryBY VTOGRAPHY UntitledBY LOUIS TAM snow stormBY MOONWIRE City Hall......

A demonstration at City Hall yesterday by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty forced the Speaker to halt proceedings after the protest spilled onto the chamber floor. The action by OCAP was called after the discovery of a homeless man frozen to death in a downtown stairwell February 27. A statement by OCAP called the death a "preventable tragedy." Members of the activist group handed out statements to councilors as others rebuked them for their......

In this occasional feature, two Torontoist staffers face off to debate an issue that is important to our city. We invite our readers to join in the debate in the comments section after the post. For the first time since amalgamation, City Council has been presented with a budget that doesn't require a new round of hand-outs from Queen's Park in order to balance. The price of this achievement is high. Along with new land-transfer......

The Flying Canucks perform in front of City Hall as part of the Wintercity festival.......

What kind of people don't like riding their bikes in a Toronto winter? People who have never tried it, that's who. Even as more and more people choose not to get off their bikes when November comes around, many non-cyclists still view winter cycling as unwise, dangerous, or impossible. So as part of its first Bike Winter campaign to raise awareness of cycling as year-round transportation, the City of Toronto is hosting the Coldest......

In case you were wondering, it's probably not a great idea to be hanging out in the entertainment district at 3:15 a.m. Especially if you're in a luxury SUV. And especially especially if you've got a ponytail. In February of 2006, Toronto police officers arrested Irshad Ahmed and Omar Betty for failure to stop, failure to comply, and obstructing police. Their trial is currently being conducted at Old City Hall, and some interesting evidence......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. Ray of LightBY DOSHA UntitledBY SHUTTERNEWBIE  Toronto Eaton CentreBY UNDOMESTIC Toronto at 7amBY DUCKTROLL Workingman's BluesBY MOVEMENT ON THE WIRE InspectingBY INVENTOR_77 Waiting......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. Walnut Hall was 2007's victim of demolition by neglect. The noble Georgian townhomes stood for over 150 years at......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. As the tenants who inhabited the warehouses of the Queen West Triangle were evicted to make way for demolition......

Contributor Tony Makepeace is taking us for some spins around our city with his fantastic VR panoramas. You can look up, down, side to side, in and out—pretty much every direction but back at yourself, which would be kind of creepy. Say hello to Panoramaist: the Toronto shoe-gazer's worst enemy. Click on the preview image above to launch the QuickTime VR panorama in a new window. Panoramaist is best viewed on a fast computer.......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. UntitledBY SQUEAKYRAT Ring Of FireBY DOSHA City Hall at NightBY ARIEHSINGER FrostyBY SWILTON 50%BY REBOOTYOURCOMPUTER hibernateBY jasfitz Harbord St., snowBY ANDYSCAMERA miniBY JORDANBOWER Creepy......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. How's the view up there?BY ~EVIDENCE~ Canadian Heat WaveBY SNIDERSCION North side glass bridgeBY UWAJEDI Toronto On a StickBY SWILTON Toronto Is... Ice. #2BY......

On July 27 of this year, 75-year-old Antonio Batista was found guilty of making death threats against his Mississauga city councillor for writing and distributing around his neighbourhood a poem which concluded with the following passage:We are going to dig a pothole about six feet and 3 feet wide and 5 feet deep to hide her body and God will take care of Her Soul, but we cannot forgive her for doing nothing. She......

There were 4 more murders in Toronto on the weekend, meaning we only need 11 more to tie the all-time record of 89 set back in 1991. A spokesman for City Hall said that sure, the numbers look bad now, but crime would drop once all the thugs had killed each other. Not only more violent, but poorer too––a United Way report says that the median family income in Toronto is $10,000 lower than......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. York StreetBY HENRY ROXAS Autumn LeavesBY MICGORMIT little-courtyardBY HESITATION head in the cloudsBY SYNCROS ChristineBY TORONTOGAL PHOTOS DialogueBY .STEFFIE C. Urban Shadow BoxerBY EYELINE-IMAGERY......

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Once a week, the editors of each site—from LAist to Londonist—compile some of their most interesting posts into a brief blurb. It's Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse, and it appears, across the network, every Sunday. Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without......

Are you concerned that the magic's gone out of City Hall? If so, then this Saturday, November 3 might be your perfect opportunity to make a little magic happen over at Nathan Phillips Square, as a multidimensional mystery unfolds between the hours of 2:20 and 3:20 p.m. Intrigued? So is Torontoist. Here's what we know so far: a "giant jigsaw puzzle based on a leaked character from an unreleased book" will be taking place......