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Newsstand: January 26, 2010
Illustration by Roxanne Ignatius/Torontoist.
Thirty-one pedestrians had been killed in traffic accidents in Toronto by the end of 2009. Now, only twenty-six days into the new year, eight pedestrians, or a quarter of last year’s death toll, have been killed in Toronto, part of fourteen total throughout the GTA. Yesterday, a thirty-eight-year-old woman was hit by an SUV while crossing at a green light at Davenport and Symington. That same day, a man died in hospital of injuries he suffered when he was hit by a streetcar near Queen and Broadview. Police say that it’s difficult to tell who’s at fault in accidents like these, and they warned drivers to drive responsibly and pedestrians not to let distractions or a “herd mentality” get them in harm’s way.
For those of us getting around without a car, a small measure of good news is that the TTC will be giving out refunds for unused temporary adult tickets. Those were the ones issued during that pre-fare-hike freeze on token sales, which you might remember. From their January 31 expiry date until the end of March, you can bring them to the Bloor-Yonge or Davisville stations to get your money back.
It looks like there could be one other development at the TTC: Are they installing card-swipe fare boxes on streetcars? A couple people have noticed these signs featuring the ugly-looking devices on Queen East, leaving us to wonder what the gadgets do, other than bleep when your Metropass is demagnetized or fake. Maybe, if they can give change for a fare, we could learn to live with the klunky things pictured on those mysterious signs.
A Toronto cab driver, Asafo Addai, plans to go before a human-rights tribunal to complain that the city’s Ambassador taxi program causes discrimination against immigrant and minority drivers. The program was the product of reforms led by Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East) in 1998. Under it, cabs can only be driven by their legal owner, and the license is not transferrable. This, Addai says, forces new cab drivers, most of them racialized minorities, into poverty, complete with twelve-hour shifts and no hope of sick leave. Older licenses with no such restrictions still exist, but they now sell on the open market for around $250,000.
And since we’re talking about ambassadors getting stiffed, consider Richard Colvin, the senior diplomat who put his career on the line to blow the whistle on the Harper administration for allegedly ignoring and suppressing reports that detainees in Afghanistan were being tortured by the Canadian military’s Afghan partners. Now, in keeping with a notable pattern of fuck-offs, the government is ignoring Colvin’s requests for the legal assistance they’re obliged to give him, which makes it hard for Colvin to testify against them. And even with nothing on their agenda for the next six weeks, they can’t seem to find time to acknowledge Colvin. Imagine that.
Last Tuesday at around 6 p.m. near Davenport and Lansdowne, police say a man dragged a thirteen-year-old girl into a laneway and sexually assaulted her. The girl reportedly “didn’t suffer any injuries.” On Friday, she reported the assault to police, who have now released a description of the suspected rapist.
Jim Hearst died last June, after he suffered a heart attack in his apartment building and paramedics took almost forty minutes to come to his aid. In fact, they were hunkered down around the block for half an hour with the belief that Hearst might be drunk and pose a threat to their safety. He wasn’t and he didn’t, but by the time this became clear it was too late to do him any good. Seven months later, Toronto’s Emergency Medical Service has announced a number of changes, including immediate new training and making paramedics meet strict standards when justifying any decision to delay emergency care.