The organizers of Nuit Blanche held a launch event at OCAD this morning to announce this year’s curators—Wayne Baerwaldt, Director and Curator of Exhibitions at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery at the Alberta College of Art and Design; Dave Dyment, Director of Programming at Mercer Union, Toronto; Gordon Hatt, a writer and curator who lives in Kitchener; and Haema Sivanesan, Executive Director of Toronto’s South Asian Visual Arts Centre—and allow them to outline their individual......

Mayor Miller was in Etobicoke yesterday, trying to convince the people who regularly vote in Ford, Holyday, Nunziata, et al. that new taxes are a necessity. It went about as well as you'd expect. In an effort to boost turnout, Elections Ontario has put some advance polls in supermarkets. We hoped to write something sarcastic, but upon further reflection, this is a really good idea. John Tory has essentially killed his public-funding-of-faith-based-schools proposal, promising......

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. Welcome to the new Toronto, where you get what you (and the provincial and federal governments) pay for—or won't get what......

Mayor Mel was there for the opening, and Mayor Miller was here this week when news broke about the possible closing of the Sheppard subway line. Even the thought that a subway line could be retired within six years of opening is crazy. Torontoist feels the need to visit the Sheppard line and see the cool art that exists in the stations, before it becomes a Leon's. Illustration by Kevin McBride.......

It seems that many people believe that the City of Toronto doesn't need to levy taxes in order to maintain a high level of City services. If only the City had its finances in order and cut back on spending, they say, then there would be no financial crunch. In response, Mayor Miller likes to point out how many cutbacks there indeed have been and how much contracting out is already taking place and,......

Exhibition Place has presented many new technologies since it was established in 1904, but a new pilot project outside the Automotive Building is using 40-year-old technology to lessen Toronto's energy impact: LED streetlights. Actually, the age of the technology is only partially true. It's only recently that LEDs have been able to display a full spectrum of colour, initially limited to a dull red or green glow from electronic devices or indicator lamps. Newish white......

Every time it gets too easy to hate Mayor Miller, he does something like this. Video taken at last night's Sunday Night Live! 3 Year Anniversary Show. Another one is here.......

Last month, we announced the finalists for the Nathan Phillips Square redesign competition, naming Plant Architect with Shore Tilbe Irwin as our pick. We liked the proposal's subtlety and forward-thinking environmental slant, as well as nods to elements of Revell's original plans that were never realized. Tonight, the competition jury committee agreed with us and revealed Plant/STI's entry as the winning proposal. Torontoist writer and Toronto Public Space Committee member Jonathan Goldsbie attended the......

Toronto's overwhelming reception of Al Gore yesterday prompted David Miller to toughen his stance on climate change. Mayor Miller promised an aggressive change in policy on pollution, transit and construction, which will be formally proposed in late March. The Ontario government may have come up with a way around the new U.S.-Canada passport rules. A new super-secure driver's license is in talks, which would feature "laser engraving, holograms, currency-like print quality and other security measures......

Photo of City Hall from Ride My Pony on Flickr. It’s about that time of year – the time when approximately 95.5 per cent of New Year’s resolutions have fallen by the wayside. To inspire you to keep going, and give you a hint of what your first four year term City Council has on deck, Torontoist presents the resolutions of some of your councillors. We asked all 44 councillors, plus Mayor Miller 1)......

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. We're curious where Adam Vaughan will be sitting; we hope it's right next to tree advocate and Front Street Extension booster Joe......

In case you missed last night's candidates debate, then come to tonight's debate at Hart House on U of T campus at 6:30 pm. The listing on the Hart House website calls it a "Mayoral Debate with David Miller" but we're sure that Pitfield and LeDrew will be there, too. The debate will focus on youth issues. We're sure that LeDrew will be wearing a bowtie, Pitfield will be reminded that it's a monday and......

Jane Pitfield got herself some media attention by calling Mayor Miller a liar. "He hasn't been truthful with the taxpayer, and there have been many people who unfortunately have been lied to by David Miller, and I'm one of them," she was quoted at a press conference. The Mayor's team calls the attack a desperate ploy. No word on whether pants were on fire. She also called the mayor "soft on crime." The OPP will......

Mayor Miller is announcing today that there will be a major competition to redesign Nathan Phillips Square. Olivia Chow wants her colleagues in Ottawa to stay away from Porter Air. The upstart airline is starting flights on October 23rd. A fire broke out in a Humane society foster home early this morning. A brave boyfriend saved many of the animals but sadly two cats died. Higher residential property taxes has 905ers pissed off at......

We bet few of you have been to the Toronto Archives. We didn’t even know where it was until last night, when we attended theToronto Book Awards. But stepping into the foyer to be greeted by a room covered in photos and maps of our city’s history, it struck us at just how fitting it is to hold the ceremony here -- books honoured for their fluent portraits of Toronto stories in a building that......

An audit of litter on Toronto's streets shows that Mayor Miller is on to something. The amount of litter on our streets is down 40% from 2002. The Mayor credits investment in city streets (ie. garbage cans, street cleaners) and you, dear citizen. High-profile lawyer Peter Shoniker is spending 15 months in jail for money laundering. Shoniker is well known among many of the city's powerful and during his court case received words of support......

If it's an election year it must be time to discuss the future of Toronto City Centre Airport. But you can't do that unless someone wants to build a bridge or, say, start a new airline to fly out of there - enter Porter Airlines. If you didn't catch the extensive article in The Star on the weekend, here's the deal: The commuter airline, set to start flying between here and Ottawa when they......

He'd put these things on notice. Sadly we can only dream. Yes Mayor Miller, you're on notice and you know why.......

City staff are hard at work looking for a place to dump our sludge. Fortunately Mayor Miller has said that the city is not considering dumping sludge into the lake. Like, we needed any more gunk in our lake. Those of you going away to the cottage better bring your candles and hand-cranked radios. Cottage country got battered by Wednesday night's storm and many areas might still be without power. A security breach grounded a......

Jane Pitfield is opening a campaign office in the Junction area, close to Mayor Miller's High Park home. Both campaigns are gearing up for the fall and raising money. Mayor Miller is going grassroots and offering anyone who puts up raises $100 for his campaign an "I Public housing around the GTA is falling apart. The Toronto Community Housing Corporation estimates that it needs $225 million in repairs. A Toronto man saved two others from......

This sounds like a potential teen flick, if it already hasn't been made. Four teenage girls case out and rob a west-end clothing boutique, the youngest of them is only 13. Hmmm, it seems that the city is only getting 14 days of public play out of the new lakefront stadium despite the huge amount of public funding going into the project. Seems like a rip-off to us. Jazz's announcement that it would restart service......

Police announced this morning that eight men have been arrested for the Boxing Day shooting of Jane Creba. Police have pointed their fingers at two west-end gangs. The Creba shooting was a huge priority for the police and at one point 20-full time investigators were working on the case. The province passed the new City of Toronto act yesterday. The new act doesn't fix everything but Mayor Miller feels it's a step in the right......

Things get worse for the TTC. In light of GM Rick Ducharme's resignation the TTC have decided to tell him to leave right away instead of waiting around till November. Ducharme is fighting this and threatening to call his lawyers. He also pins the blame for his resignation on interference by TTC Chair Howard Moscoe and even Mayor Miller . Many councillors are now calling for Moscoe to step down. Ducharme is the third TTC......

Who’s behind Mayor Miller’s MySpace page? We don't know but he's certainly scooping up friends and he has local bands (and George Stroumboulopoulos) on his Top 8. His profile features a blurb about great cities and a video entitled “Our City. Our Future.” Mayor Miller wants to be your cyberfriend.......

Spacing has apparently been getting calls from city staff about these "Keep Toronto Clean" posters. There are no stylized illustrations of brooms on them so it couldn't have come from Mayor Miller's office. We're thinking civically engaged hypnotists. Story from Spacing Wire......

Turns out that the union was actually ready to walkout again yesterday. Fortunately a few last minute desperate phone calls prevented what would've been a disastrous second wildcat strike in as many weeks. The TTC and the union are still in intense negotiations. Hopefully they can avoid any future job actions. Other than Bob Kinnear, most of the city's other major unions give Mayor Miller the thumbs up. The TSX was one of the......

Inquests have been ordered on the death of two patients in the care of Toronto mental health institutes. There are suspicions that these patients were neglected. Under the coroner's act, inquests aren't mandatory in the case of deaths under psychiatric care. These incidents might change that. The city's 25th homicide victim may have been killed by an angry ex-girlfriend. A 19-year old woman turned herself in near Danforth and Eglinton. There are others involved in......

The topic of HOT needs no further explanation. We all know that it’s hotter than hot. Yes, it’s a bazillion degrees with the humidex. Here are some tips to put a temporary hold on sweating your guts out: 1-Hop on the subway and ride it for hours. The TTC is in full swing and MOST subway cars (but not ALL subway cars) are kept cool. Spend your day listening to music and/or reading a book......

All the news outlets are talking about the TTC strike but lots of other things happened on the weekend. A couple was killed in a bad traffic accident on Saturday night. Police suspect street racing as a possible cause. Leslie Scrivener of the Star writes a nice synopsis of the city's cycling culture. The story includes decent photos of scantily clad cyclists.... HOT. Mayor Miller is pissed off at ads that the Port Authority is......

Union Station is getting a $100 million facelift. Commuters will not just be getting wider platforms but a whole new one when engineers and construction workers finish moving a sewer by 2008. In other transit news, ridership is up all over the country but especially in the GTA. GTA ridership increased by 4% despite rising prices and crumbling infrastructure. Council restricts garage sales to two a year. The reform was designed to take out those......