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Newsstand: April 9, 2010
lllustration by Clayton Hanmer/Torontoist.
TGIF everyone, TGIF.
The area in front of City Hall won’t be so Square after over forty million dollars’ worth of renovations are completed. David Miller and Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) will kickstart the Nathan Phillips Square Revitalization, which began three years ago when Plant Architect and Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners won a design competition with their bid (Torontoist’s favourite) entitled “Agora Theatre.” Plans include a two-storey restaurant where the kiosk stand is now a permanent stage, a brand new Peace Garden and fountain, a new skating pavillion, and over a hundred new trees—quite a large undertaking when the whole project is supposed to be completed by 2012. But the first step has already been taken. The City Hall Podium Green Roof, located in between the two towers, will permanently open to the public on the weekend of Doors Open Toronto.
Toronto’s PATH system provides a vital service—it links the city together and provides some much needed shelter from our winter woes. And hey, you can do some shopping while you’re in it, and you’ll most likely have time for that since it’s so complicated it would bring even Indiana Jones to tears. Luckily, torontopath.com will help directionally challenged Torontonians when it is launched on Monday.
Police officers are taught not to lose their head in stressful situations, but one unlucky Toronto cop may lose his finger after an injury during an early-morning raid. But a damaged digit didn’t deter the mission, as Toronto police arrested two of three suspects in the February 26 robbery of a jewellery store that sent two elderly shop owners to hospital in critical condition. The third alleged robber of the Pump Bandits, named after their weapon of choice, will be extradited from the Caribbean once an arrest warrant is issued. More charges may follow as investigations of similar takeover-style robberies in the Toronto area continue.
Divorce is a struggle for any family, but it was one a former Toronto social worker couldn’t handle. Donald Sneyd originally told police his estranged wife Edyta Lewandowski killed herself during an altercation over the custody of their three-year-old son at their Danforth and Woodbine home, but yesterday he admitted to purposefully pulling the trigger himself. It was four months after the February 25 incident before Sneyd was arrested, and the confession comes days before his trial was set to begin. His lawyer’s defence? Sometimes “parties get carried away.”
“So-shul mee-dee-ya?” may be the response from some elderly traditional politicians when asked about Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, but not our mayoral candidates! Though all are not equal in the twitterverse (someone please get George Smitherman an editor), the true test of the effectiveness of a social media campaign is to see if a candidate is tweeting at this moment about how good the Star thinks their social media campaign is.
Well, Stephen Harper won’t legalize it and Toronto police are cracking down on it, so with 4/20 only a few weeks away, some are wondering how to get their paws on some pot. Hope may be found in the Beaches Mission of God, a Toronto church currently arguing for the right to smoke pot as part of their religion. The case may, but probably won’t, set a new precedent in marijuana laws.