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Newsstand: May 12, 2010
lllustration by Clayton Hanmer/Torontoist.
Animal lovers, and most people with a heart, were sickened about a Newmarket shelter’s decision to start euthanizing hundreds of cats, dogs, and smaller creatures yesterday. Hazmat suits and chain-link fences made the whole operation look like something out of a sci-fi film. No deadly alien virus here, though, just some ringworm, which has spread like wildfire throughout the shelter. The province has said it has no power to intervene in what Newmarket-Aurora MPP Frank Klees calls a “mass destruction.” Ironically, the shelter has its “Friends for Life” walk-a-thon scheduled for Sunday.
Build Toronto is set to announce its first major projects. As we speak, the agency’s chief executive, Lorne Braithwaite, is having breakfast with the Toronto Board of Trade to talk about plans, which include a massive res-office complex next to Downsview station and a potential new TTC headquarters at 4050 Yonge Street, among others. Build Toronto has thirty-one properties under its wing, valued at $200 million before improvements, so expect some changes to grace the Toronto landscape.
And keeping with city development, the bill has been rung up for Toronto’s “Mink Mile.” The shopping hub turned eyesore section of Bloor Street that has been under construction for the last one hundred years is not only long overdue for completion, but also $4.5 million over budget. Toronto Hydro, who can be seen tearing up what seems to be the same segment of street over and over, is said to be behind most of the extra cost. But don’t worry, those fab granite sidewalks and some greenery will be totally worth it when all this is concluded at the end of 2010…probably.
Bloor Street, then, should be done just in time for the roll-out of Bixi in the city. If you don’t own a bike or just don’t want to deal with it after the bar, come this time next year, there’ll be an easy answer. Following Montreal’s lead, Toronto has decided to bring the bicycle-taxi to its streets. City council gave the go-ahead for one thousand bikes to be parked at eighty docking stations. How much this will cost, you ask? Membership is expected to be $78 a year, $28 a month, or $5 day. We’ll have more for you on this very soon. In the meantime, check out some of our prior Bixi coverage.
And things got heated over homelessness yesterday, just in time for Habitat for Humanity to host an open mayoral debate on affordable housing. David Miller said that the number of those living on the street has been cut in half since initiatives like Streets to Homes were introduced in the city. Giorgio Mammoliti (York West, Ward 7) added to the praise, but managed to get in a dig at Rob Ford (Etobicoke North, Ward 2) who once opposed a shelter in his ward. Said Ford, “No one helps the homeless more than I do.” He added that there has been no improvement and that people lying on the streets are bad for business and tourism. Rocco Rossi also poo-pooed Toronto’s track record, and said, “Just having a soft heart is not enough. We have to have a hard nose as well.”