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Newsstand: April 5, 2010
Illustration by Clayton Hanmer/Torontoist.
It seems Igor Kenk and his bizarre bicycle-theft ring, which stole far more bikes than it was capable of selling, managed to do some good in the end. Well, technically they didn’t do any good directly, but even Kenk would be forced to admit that those unclaimed bikes are going to a worthy cause. But once they’re handed over to community centres in town and around the province, will each of these charity cycles just get a fresh coat of paint and start life anew, like a baby in a basket? Or will these “Kenk Bikes” be haunted by their history, and roll around gathering gritty stories about some larger-than-life villain from whom, once upon a time, nothing on two wheels was ever safe?
For years now, teens in need of sexual health help have apparently done a good job finding it online, with a minimum of hassle and embarrassment. And that’s been great, as far as Toronto Public Health is concerned. But now that the information is out there, health workers are looking at the social context in which youths receive it and pass it on. “Teens are always texting, and we know from previous research that teens want to get information from their friends,” said one outreach worker talking up the city’s new text-messaging sexual health crisis service. The service connects users with resources ranging from emergency contraception, to STI testing, to shelters.
Another Toronto house was consumed by a fire sparked by a discarded cigarette yesterday, but fortunately there were no deaths. The fire started in a basement apartment and spread to the entire semi-detached house, destroying just about everything inside. This follows three fatal house fires last week, two of which were also started by a cigarette. Three people died in those fires.
George Smitherman wants everyone to know how shocked he is over the news that city councillors spend city money to travel to international conferences on city business. Smitherman has activated full-on Fury Mode over the expenditures of one Councillor Adam Giambrone (Ward 19, Davenport), who expensed eighteen thousand dollars in foreign travel in 2009. It’s unclear whether Smitherman takes the view that it’s unacceptable to try to learn from other cities’ transit systems, or if eighteen thousand dollars is just too vast a sum for him to contemplate. In defence of the latter theory, even relatively small expenses must jar the nerves of someone recovering from the horrors of presiding over a billion-dollar, five-year scandal. But, hey, at least no one’s accusing Smitherman of misusing a cab chit.
A restaurant owner in the Beaches lost several teeth as well as his wallet and the day’s earnings when he was attacked and robbed moments after leaving work at the Bow Thai restaurant near Queen and Woodbine. The victim was treated in hospital and released. Police are searching for two suspects, whom they describe as black men aged twenty-five to thirty, with a thin build and straight black hair.
Police are investigating two cases involving the discovery of a dead body in the city. On Saturday, a kayaker paddling through the Humber River came across the floating remains of a Toronto man who went missing late last year. The body was trapped in some vegetation by the riverbanks and was pulled from the water by police. The man’s identity has not yet been released, and an autopsy is expected soon. In a separate case police are treating as suspicious, a homeless man missing his left leg was found dead in an alleyway near Bloor and Dundas yesterday.
And continuing our long-running series detailing urban witchcrime, it is with much distress that Torontoist reports on another deadbeat sorcerer, who has allegedly failed to deliver at least five thousand dollars in fortune-tellery and general enchantment. Not that Torontoist readers need reminding, but if you’re in the market for wizards, avoid nasty surprises by insisting that your lawyer and their talking frog hammer out all the details well in advance.