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Newsstand: March 7, 2011
Illustration by Jeremy Kai/Torontoist.
Ah Monday, a return to showering and pant-wearing after weekend’s sweet respite. Also, a return to news: TTC union president warns drivers about cell phone enforcement blitz, disgraced city lobbyist might be back for more, some TCHC employees buy tickets to a speech (with their own money), and the Chilean miner rescue pod is in town.
So say you’re the TTC and you were super embarrassed a little while back because some some photos cropped up of your operators texting while driving. After firing those guys, how would you stem the flow of criticism and embarrassment and cell phone pictures? You build a dam of over-compensation and allegedly start firing drivers for “harmless” cell phone use, like making calls during their breaks. Bob Kinnear, president of the TTC employee union, sent a letter out Sunday morning saying a recent crackdown has resulted in forty to fifty cell phone-related sackings and warning workers they could be let go for “dialling 911, calling their spouse to say they have to work overtime or even to check up on their sick child.” Wading into the waters of controversy, TTC spokesman Brad Ross could neither confirm nor deny such an enforcement blitz was occurring, nor any of the particulars surrounding what disciplinary actions might be taken should such a blitz be imminent or occurring.
Now you’re a disgraced City Hall lobbyist who has spent the last five years sharpening his claws and is now ready to jump back into the snake pit. Jeff Lyons, or “Brother Jeff” if you want to call him that for some reason, was a sought-after lobbyist in the Mel Lastman days, but his involvement in the MFP scandal sidelined him. But now he’s back! Or maybe not. Apparently Lyons was “very active” during the election and might be looking to get back in the lobbying game, or he might not be at all, depending on who you ask. Ford’s people say Lyons did a bit of fundraising; Lyons says not exactly. Some east-end councillors say Lyons was poking around in their campaigns; Lyons says not so much. According to Lyons’ website, he’s teamed up with lobbyist Sean Hill, but according to Hill, they don’t work on any city-stuff files together. If there’s one lesson in all of this confusion, it’s probably: keep your eyes on Lyons.
In a desperate attempt to keep the fallout falling from the TCHC reports (and, understandably, employ a solid pun), the Sun tells us that two TCHC employees had tickets to the mayor’s lunch-hour speech at the Canadian Club, but since there’s “no free lunch” at the TCHC anymore (see! get it?), they paid for the tickets themselves. Gripping and hilarious stuff. Just like the Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel film, Life As We Know It.
Rookie councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22, St. Paul’s) doesn’t want to have any more uncomfortable moments at the City Hall water cooler, so he’s proposing an independent panel to decide councillors’ wages. Matlow called the cost-of-living wage increase debate awkward, saying, “(The debate) becomes not about a reasonable salary but how we want to end up looking in the Toronto Sun.” Perception solidified, Matlow.
And as if you needed another reason to go to the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s convention, the pod used to save the Chilean miners is on display there. The actual thing is there, sitting in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This visit marks the capsule’s first North American tour.
In other mighty machines news, the York police got a new toy with off-road capability and twelve gun ports.