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Newsstand: May 19, 2010
lllustration by Clayton Hanmer/Torontoist.
Originally bowing out due to “daddy duty,” George Smitherman made it to last night’s mayoral debate after all. Usually attacking right-leaning candidates, this time Smitherman made a stink about Joe Pantalone and his handling of last summer’s garbage strike. “Torontonians were robbed of their summer,” Smitherman said. Meanwhile, other showdowns included Pantalone, Rob Ford, and Giorgio Mammoliti on affordable housing; Rocco Rossi and Ford on council votes; and Sarah Thomson talked subway. Who’s up for round two?
Earlier that day, Mammoliti promised to nix property taxes for seniors at a campaign speech. The cut would apply to those earning less than $65,000. Families caring for seniors at home would also receive $10,000 from the city. It wouldn’t just be the elderly catching a break, either, as Mayor Mammoliti also plans to cut property taxes by five percent for home and business owners.
And garbage stench or not, tourism in Toronto is doing splendidly. The convention center and visitor’s bureau have managed to grab the top spot out of forty-six North American cities ranked by an industry survey. Meetings and conventions got visitors to drop over $305 million last year.
Speaking of visitors, socialite supreme Gloria Vanderbilt, a.k.a. Anderson Cooper’s mom, was in Toronto on the weekend. She read from her Exile stories, had some gnocchi, and then a new Short Fiction Prize was announced in her name. The annual prize, worth two grand, will go to an up-and-coming Canadian writer and will be judged by Vanderbilt herself.
Ryerson and U of T students won’t have to worry about getting bowled over by cars come fall—at least not in campus areas cordoned off by pretty planter boxes. Because students need more opportunities to hang around and surf the internet, a few central campus streets will become car-free, as well as lounging- and Wi-Fi–friendly, as part of a city study on pedestrian-only zones. The plan is to have the blocked off sections of road ready by September, or “Frosh Week,” and observe the initiative over the school term.
Students might not want the likes of car-type machinery on campus, but robots are all the rage—likely because they’re cool. Fusing mind and metal, a team of engineering students from U of T snagged the gold medal at the RoboGames in California. Their robot, named TSA Inspected, entered the ring for a fight to the death and emerged victorious against the Mortician, which had cut every other robot down to size—literally, with its spinning plate. The TSA’s secret weapon: steel armour used for protection against IEDs in U.S. army vehicles. Unnecessary and rad.
Canadian band, The Trews, released a new song on iTunes to raise money for the Hero Fund, which gives out scholarships to families of fallen soldiers. “Highway of Heroes” is a song about the stretch on the 401, which shuttles along those that have died in Afghanistan. All the more fitting, due to the death of Oakville native Colonel Geoff Parker yesterday.