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Newsstand: July 13, 2010
Illustration by Matt Daley/Torontoist.
Today: homes stay standing, subways are dirty, tunnels are up-and-coming, and a kid gets crafty in an unlawful way.
Four homeowners on Strathmore Boulevard can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing their houses likely won’t be bulldozed any time soon. The TTC has decided to spend an extra 3.4 million dollars on new subway exits at Donlands and Greenwood stations to save the East York homes. Instead of routing the Greenwood exit through 245 and 247 Strathmore, the TTC now plans to run it through a vacant lot on Linsmore Avenue at 2.5 million additional bucks. The Donlands exit, which was to wipe out two other houses, is now proposed for the north curb lane of Dewhurst, for an extra nine hundred thousand dollars.
Speaking of the TTC, an audit of sixty-nine stations has found that none of them meet the “highest standard of cleanliness.” An audit probably wasn’t necessary to reveal this information, but anyway. Said audit uses scores of cleanliness such as “casual inattentiveness” and “unkempt neglect” in describing stations. Luckily, Toronto’s stations don’t fall into the latter category; still, the TTC is planning to increase its cleaning staff by seventy-eight positions by 2013. If you feel like dishing dirt, you can take part in a customer audit of the subway system between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Building up, not out. That’s the latest proposal for the Portlands sports plan, which will be unveiled tonight. Imagine four ice rinks stacked on top of one another. Architect Ken Greenberg resigned, and others threatened to do the same, over the original vision for the arena at the Lower Donlands, which included hundreds of above-ground parking spaces and all the rinks at ground level. The cost of the new design for the eight-storey, glass-paneled structure with a view of the water is still unknown.
When parents tell their kids to apply themselves, this probably isn’t what they mean. Police are on the look out for a teenager they believe robbed not one or two or even three, but four (!) banks within the span of an hour (!) in Oakville and Burlington. To make sure none of the big banks felt left out, the robber spread his thieving around to a TD, Bank of Nova Scotia, BMO, and RBC. Not surprisingly, the technique employed by the teen: passing notes. Instead of having to check off a yes, no, or maybe in response to “Do you like me?”, the tellers were informed he had a weapon, and handed out the cash. Kids these days.
The Toronto Island airport tunnel will start to become a reality. Construction on the forty-five million dollar, 123-metre pedestrian walkway to the Island will begin early next year. The Toronto Port Authority said they “hope to have thirty to forty percent of the plan’s design completed by the end of the year.” Talk of a public-private partnership made the rounds at yesterday’s annual general meeting. Yes, the tunnel will include user fees, but the airport’s twenty-dollar improvement charge won’t go up, the authority says.
And finally, news for Torontonians and Haligonians alike: 95.7 radio host Andrew Krystal is leaving Halifax to join Fan 590 in Toronto. Krystal helped launch Maritime Morning in 2005. His last broadcast will hit the airwaves on July 30.