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Newsstand: March 17, 2011
Illustration by Jeremy Kai/Torontoist.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Here’s hoping you’re drunk enough to find Newsstand funny for once. Here we go: Rookie councillor fights for her right to lie. The difference between a coke head and a G20 protester? And Ootes gets P-A-I-D while little boys gets C-O-L-D in TCHC. Sláinte to the lot o’ yous.
One of the men charged with arson for lighting a police cruiser on fire during the G20 has withdrawn his guilty plea. Nicodemo Catenacci says his lawyer goaded him to plead guilty initially despite his personal objections. The protester, as the CBC euphemistically labels Catenacci, wasn’t so much a protester as a guy with a coke hangover (and we’re assuming he doesn’t mean soda pop) who “was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just throw a piece of paper in that car.'” He claims he was singled out for charges because he wasn’t wearing a mask and already had a police record. Catenacci will appear in court with a brand new lawyer on the same old charges in April.
Case Ootes had some explaining to do when the compensation for his role as interim TCHC board was revealed yesterday. Ootes will take home twenty-five thousand dollars plus expenses for the three month gig. Former board chair David Mitchell got twenty thousand dollars a year, and the combined total salary for the entire board was just over one hundred thousand dollars. But remember, Ootes is boarding for thirteen, so really he’s not getting enough. And, no, of course that $99,619.52 he gets in severance pay from his days as a councillor doesn’t count either. Come on, you didn’t expect the guy to do it for free did you? One last thing: Póg mo thóin, Ootes!
All the while an eleven-year-old kid has to wear three sweaters or sleep on the couch because the window in his TCHC bedroom has been broken for two months. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (a.k.a. ACORN) is seizing on this moment of TCHC scrutiny to draw attention to the conditions tenants cope with in social housing.
In the grand tradition of trying to follow through on lofty campaign promises, a rookie Newmarket councillor blogged about her voting record and some made-up stuff ultimately inaccurate budget details from a library board meeting. But when the Town asked Maddie Di Muccio to refrain (she was violating board rules and kind of making false accusations), she lawyered up and vowed to fight for free expression. Ugh, when will municipal politicians make like their higher ups and accept campaign promises are just tantalizing lies? You don’t actually have to go through with them.
Job Posting: there’re three immediate vacancies at a bakery on Dundas West. Three really nice looking Polish guys/friends who’ve worked at the bakery for seventeen years are giving it a rest after winning fifty million dollars in last Friday’s Lotto Max draw.