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Newsstand: October 19, 2010
Illustration by Matt Daley/Torontoist.
Today in your city: labour reps box out Pantalone, target of Officer Bubbles’ YouTube suit comes forward, Bixi hits membership goal, and Adam Vaughan has a new foe (or superfan).
As the mayoral race enters its final leg, underdog and self-described “small wonder” Joe Pantalone has fallen even further behind. The Central Ontario Building Trades—a union representing tens of thousands of construction employees—has thrown its vote behind George Smitherman, despite Pantalone’s presumed foothold in the labour community, the Globe reports. “It’s a difficult choice: Joe Pantalone’s been a huge friend of labour for a long time,” union Business Manager James St. Johns told the paper. “But we felt at this point in time, George Smitherman is our candidate with the best chance of being elected mayor of Toronto.” Undaunted, Pantalone stated that he refused to drop out, preferring instead to stay in the race even if it’s only as a stand-in for other progressive politicians in Toronto. “I don’t want to be a kingmaker to Emperor Nero, frankly. Or anybody else,” he said.
Last week, we reported that Toronto police officer Adam Josephs (a.k.a. “Officer Bubbles,” he of the infamous YouTube video and unfunny comics detailing his lesser exploits) is suing the internet for defamation. More specifically, Josephs is suing YouTube and twenty-four YouTube users (listed as John Does) who mocked him to the tune of $1.2 million. (You can read the whole thirty-page legal document here.) Last evening, the Star reported that one of these John Does, who trolls the online video site under the anonymous handle “Pussymcfats,” has come forward in response to Josephs’ suit. And, regrettably, his real name is not Pussy McFats.
Todd Mara, a thirty-three-year-old Hamilton man, told the Star that he stands by his online comment, and finds it a bit silly that Josephs would proceed with legal action just as his once-prominent place in the local political consciousness had all but faded from memory. “I’m a compassionate person,” said Mara (who, again, operates on YouTube under the username “Pussymcfats”). “I don’t think he should be ridiculed forever because of this. I was done with this in June. I left my comment and never thought about it again.”
Bixi, the Montreal-based bike-sharing program hoping to establish a serious presence in Toronto, came all the closer to doing so last night as they hit the one thousand member milestone. As we reported last week, reaching the membership target was one of the prerequisites for ensuring the future of bike-sharing in Toronto. Just after 8 p.m. last night at a party held at the Steam Whistle Brewery, Bixi hit their goal of a thousand year-long membership pledges. The remaining obstacle to actually seeing Bixi bikes on Toronto streets come next May remains corporate sponsorship, which, as I Bike T.O. points out, will prove much easier now that the company has achieved their membership target.
And on the lighter side of local election coverage, 680News reports that a local man was arrested yesterday for stealing election signs in the Dundas and Huron area. Twenty-nine-year-old Devon Shane Scott is up against mischief charges after nicking forty-one election signs. Police will not disclose which candidate the signs endorsed, but councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) remains adamant that they were his. Maybe Scott just really likes you, Adam Vaughan, and wanted to redecorate his place with a little Adam Vaughan signage.