Newsstand: January 28, 2011

By Patrick Metzger

Illustration by Jeremy Kai/Torontoist.

Friday Newsstand, now in 3D: length, width, and mirth! What’s happening: more bad press for the TTC, SIU changes its mind in another G20 case, and togas may soon be a thing of the past in the Annex.

Torontonians’ favorite pastime of waxing indignant about the TTC has found a new mascot. A passenger—er, customer—on the 165 Weston Road bus has sent the Toronto Sun iPhone photos of a bus driver apparently texting on a mobile device while driving “at least” fifty kilometres an hour. The incident seems to go well beyond the passive-aggressive but largely benign behaviours that pissed us all off last year, with the picture-taker Mike Schmitz reporting that the driver “would alternate between holding the device with both hands and steering with his forearms, and driving with one hand while holding the device with the other and texting with his thumb.” Initial TTC response to the incident was “OMG r u srs? tht is so bad.”
In other public outrage-related news, City Hall has clarified that a recent bylaw change will not prevent residents of newly built homes from stuffing as many cars as possible onto their driveways. The zoning change had been interpreted by some to mean that those affected could only park as many cars outside garages as they had garage spaces, but city officials confirmed that you can Green P up your house all you want so long as everything can be squeezed onto your driveway. The war on the car is indeed over, and your driveway has been liberated.
Another case of alleged police brutality during the G20 protests has been reopened by the provincial Special Investigations Unit after new evidence was uncovered. The case of Joseph Thomson is the third one to be reopened since November. Unlike the earlier Dorian Barton and Adam Nobody cases, this re-examination wasn’t specifically motivated by the appearance of photos in the media of cops beating up the accuser, meaning that the SIU may not yet be ready to officially delegate all their investigative responsibilities to the Toronto Star.
The thirty-one-year-old Oakville man who was arrested for throwing a box of waffles on the ice during a Leafs game has had charges against him dropped in return for performing five hours of community service. Joe Robb said he threw waffles because when you take away the “w” it spells “affle.”
Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) wants the city to come down on fraternity houses which he says are “terrorizing” the Annex neighbourhood. Vaughan wants to use new city zoning rules as a way to inspect and regulate frats that have been the target ot noise and property maintenance complaints from other residents. It’s hoped that regulation will not only reduce loud obnoxious partying, but also help alleviate the traditional rivalry between different types of frats, including rich vs. poor, nerds vs. jocks, and werewolves vs. vampires.