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Newsstand: November 25, 2009
From the requisite Simpsons allusions to the inevitable dated news references, everyone was all a-Twitter yesterday about the deer in downtown Toronto. You can see the video of the animal being subdued here (if that’s your bag), but the question on many Twits’ minds was whether or not it was actually necessary to use the Taser on the poor doe after tranquilizing her. “Obviously you want to do your best to protect the animal,” said Police Superintendent Hugh Ferguson to CTV News, “but the same time, you want to make sure members of the public suddenly didn’t become frightened and run out into traffic.” Oh, okay then…wait, whut?
Speaking of Twitter, one cop asked his followers, in 140 characters or less, to tell him what cheesed them off about other drivers a few weeks back. What resulted was multiple news outlets (perhaps it was a certain Torontoist article that alerted them? Or might it have been the press release?) basically reciting the results word for word. Toronto Police Traffic Sergeant Tim Burrows, on his oddly titled blog “reduce collisions, injury and death in toronto” (really), took the top ten pet peeves of his fans and either picked them apart (“# 10 – Slow drivers. I don’t agree but it is your list.”) or vehemently agreed (“# 8 – Late left turn signals. Argh!! Drives me nuts too.”), then seemingly discounted the entire exercise by replacing the suggestions with a list of his own. Hey, let’s do this: why don’t you tell us what you like about pancakes, and we’ll tell you you’re wrong because pancakes suck?
And speaking of cops, it’s a wonder how “police blocking bike lanes to get food” didn’t make it to anyone’s list. After the Sun spotted an 11 Division officer blocking the bike lane at Annette and Runnymede in order to pick up a snack from the Grillway Cafe on Sunday, surprisingly, people are of differing opinions on the incident. And guess who they are? Yep, our friends on city council are at it again! Councillor Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale), who is vice-chair of the police services board, feels that officers are held to a higher standard and, as a result, must follow the rules like everyone else. “There are no laws that are for the average citizen that are not for the officers. It is quite the opposite,” she said yesterday. “I think that it is a wake-up call for all of our division commanders to be talking to their officers about this (bike lane) priority of the board…and the importance of not only enforcing the law, but adhering to the law and modelling the law.” But Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre) disagrees. “I think police merit special consideration,” he replied. “Yes, he (the officer) shouldn’t have done that, and if it was a member of the public, I’d say yes, that member of the public should get a ticket, but I would make an exception for the police.” Oh…so that‘s why you were fighting for all those bike lanes a few years ago, Glenn. You wanted extra nosh parking for cops, amirite?
And finally, speaking of councillors, the kids in city council were told yesterday, says the National Post, about “imminent changes to the province’s election legislation that will leave them vulnerable to complaints about their election expenses, some of them potentially vexatious and politically motivated, for up to four years after the election. Toronto will ask Queen’s Park to narrow the time frame and also eliminate ‘double jeopardy’ for complainants, which allows them to use both independent audits and the courts to challenge expense claims.” Perhaps the most awesome response to this news was from Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth). “This is a Kafkaesque situation,” she quipped. “A Catch 22, but more Kafkaesque.” Your homework today: use this quote at least once in your daily life, and tell us about the response you get when you do.