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Newsstand: May 13, 2010
lllustration by Clayton Hammer/Torontoist.
Let’s cut right to it: yesterday, councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth) pushed the wrong button and killed the University Avenue bike lane. That is neither exaggeration nor figure of speech. We repeat (for the second time, because it’s so hard to believe), the University Avenue bike lane was killed, at the same meeting that the Bixi bike share program was passed, because someone literally hit “Y” (or whatever) instead of “N” in what should have been a tie vote. Now, the no-takebacks rule serves a purpose when it stops councillors from abusively flipping their votes after the last minute, but an “Are you sure?” check would have fixed matters. Technically, it is possible to correct the error, but only if councillor Fletcher flies around the world backwards like Superman Toronto elects a cycling-conscious city council and mayor in October.
Whether or not one supports bike lanes, this ruined vote is a sorry reflection of City Hall’s ability to govern. Alright, councillors: win back our love.
Nope, this ain’t gonna do it. Councillor Rob Ford is grounded again, after possibly breaching the code of conduct for the fifth time in four years by releasing yet more confidential budget figures, which show that the city is on the hook for eight million dollars—and this is worth pondering—because of action Ford took against the city with the Canadian Revenue Agency. Roughly seventeen hundred city workers are already familiar with the results of this action. We’re beginning to understand why Doug Ford is the one handling the family business. What’s yet to be seen in this issue is whether or not the Integrity Commissioner has any teeth. Ford, of course, is already on double-secret probation for minor indiscretions like skunking a public real estate deal and falsely stating that a fellow councillor was peddling influence.
Anyway, now that City Council has given its official permission, maybe Ford’s supporters and his scattered high school football teams can drown their sorrows in booze at 10 a.m. every day for a whole month (courtesy of Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone).
In the meantime, George Smitherman toured the subway network in a wheelchair yesterday to highlight the importance of accessibility on the TTC. Smitherman, who told reporters that mobility-restricted people should have one hundred percent access to the transit system, was brought on board the event by the Canadian Paraplegic Association. CPA member Peter Athanasopoulos, who accompanied Smitherman on yesterday’s TTC tour, said, “You really have to be creative in figuring out where the wheelchair accessible stops are.” Just over forty percent of Toronto’s subway stations are equipped with elevators and accessible entryways, according to the TTC itself.
Listen, it’s not the World Cup, yet. Another TTC driver was charged with impaired driving yesterday, after police acting on an eyewitness tip pulled over a bus last night and administered a sobriety test. The identity of the driver hasn’t been released, nor has the type of intoxicant in his or her system. What we do know is that (s)he is forty-seven years old and is the second TTC DUI since March.
Now, let’s get through high school the way I didn’t—quickly. A music professor at uVic says that only sixty-seven percent of Canadian high school students know the words to “O Canada.” Maybe this hasn’t been your experience, but some of us firmly believe that the national anthem switches languages halfway through, something we suspect this study’s excessively picky methodology neglects. In more deserving news, this Grade nine kid is insanely fast. Potentially the most rapid person in the world who cannot vote or purchase certain fun things. Maybe we should give him some support. With the running.
This article originally suggested that “seventeen thousand city workers” were being back-taxed by the Canadian Revenue Agency; in fact, the number is seventeen hundred—1,700.