news
Extra, Extra: Ticket Disputes Enter 21st Century and Eye Locks Into The Grid
Every weekday’s end, Extra, Extra collects just about everything you ought to care about or ought not miss.
Some parking tickets can now be contested via email or fax, which may decrease the number of in-person disputes. Photo by The Oldie from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
- Rather than having to schlep down to First Appearance Facilities (a.k.a. parking ticket payment counters), Torontonians who want to dispute parking tickets can now submit the relevant documentation by fax or email. The City says this new process for broken meter and Pay & Display parking ticket disputes will benefit 40,000 ticket-holders in Toronto each year.
- At the Toronto Reference Library on Friday night, MPP Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina) announced that the Ontario Trillium Foundation is giving a $62,000 grant to Diaspora Dialogues, an organization that works to support a diversity of voices in Toronto’s arts community. The money will be used to foster creative writing talents of young people through mentorship and encouragement.
- The emerald ash borer, while kind of pretty, is having a devastating effect on our city’s canopy. The Parks and Environment Committee has recommended that the City spend $1.139 million fighting the green menaces, but according to this OpenFile post, it may be too late for Toronto’s ash trees.
- Toronto writer Christopher Heard lived out a fantasy shared by many of this city’s residents when he lived in the Royal York Hotel for a year. He also wrote a book about it, and called it, punnily, The Suite Life. And, for those who don’t have the time, or motivation, to read the book, here is a Toronto Star article by Heard about living in the hotel and writing about living in the hotel.
- Beginning May 12, Eye Weekly will be rebranded as The Grid, announced Laas Turnbull, Eye‘s editor and publisher, today. The alt-weekly has been making changes to its content and masthead in preparation for the rebrand. In an interview with Marketing Magazine, Turnbull said their goal is to make The Grid “a younger, hipper, more provocative version of Toronto Life.”
- Finally, in other media-related news, Spacing‘s publisher Matthew Blackett announced via Facebook today that he has signed on to produce a pilot episode for a show on cities and urban issues for the CBC. Based on Blackett’s impressive work with Spacing, we’re excited to see the results.
Like Torontoist? Send us tips, get involved, or follow us through Twitter, Facebook, or RSS.