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Newsstand: November 10, 2010
Illustration by Jeremy Kai/Torontoist.
It’s Wednesday, and what better way to celebrate than opening a new bar on Ossington? The ban on bars appears to be over, new councillors get a tour of City Hall, a cure for election withdrawal, and how to carefully stash your stolen guns.
So, looks like the ban on new restaurants and bars on Ossington has been lifted. Initially introduced—to our shagrin—by Joe Pantalone (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) in May 2009, the ban aimed to tame the neighbourhood’s rapid growth and general noisiness. So no new food emporiums, no extensions or patios on existing restos, and no having too much fun for one year. But an outstanding challenge to the bylaw had kept it in play beyond the one year deadline—until now. The challenge was withdrawn almost a month ago. Pantalone personally called the Salt Wine Bar to tell them the moratorium was over. And so, EVERYONE, to Ossington!
All those buzz kills were so old council. Soon we’ll have a new council, a very new council. Fourteen first-time councillors got a tour and started to stake their claims at a City Hall orientation session yesterday. Councillors were provided with all the essentials: council “handbooks” and directions to the washrooms. But some of the newcomers were hoping for a bit more direction from their predecessors. Incoming councilor Mary Margaret McMahon (Ward 32, Beaches East-York) said the lack of communication from Sandra Bussin makes her new job “definitely harder.” Meanwhile, Josh Matlow (Ward 22, St. Paul’s) is sounding pretty comfy, already saying he’d like to serve on the economic development committee. No appointments are for sure yet, but one thing does seem certain: the new councillors really, really want to work hard, together.
For anyone dreading the start of council and hoping to return to the nutty old election days, we’ve got just the ticket: provincial election gossip! Looks like the Liberals may be courting “star candidates,” like mayoral hopeful Sarah Thomson and former Attorney General Michael Bryant, to run in next fall’s provincial election. They better get busy if they want to win this thing; the election is only eleven months away and we haven’t heard any good catchphrases yet.
Toronto Police have a “big happy story” to tell: they found a hoard of guns and ammunition stashed in a storage unit in Etobicoke. Police believe the twenty-four handguns, fourteen rifles and shotguns, and more than five thousand rounds of ammo would have ended up in the hands of “gangsters, drug dealers and to people who can’t obtain firearms through the legal course.” The guns were stolen last month from licensed owners who were later charged with unsafe storage. Eric Reid, the man accused of stealing and hoarding the guns, faces 260 firearm-related charges, including careless storage.
Any gun control news is good news, especially to nervous Torontonians in the wake of the the Pan family’s deadly home invasion Monday night. Apparently there have been ten home invasions in that same Markham police division this year, including an unrelated incident just last Sunday where a home was invaded and residents were beaten with sticks. Police say the victims of home invasions are most often involved in some sort of criminal activity. No evidence has been found to suggest the Pans were involved in any such thing, leaving terrified neighbours wondering why that house was targeted. Three unidentified suspects are still at large.