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Newsstand: May 12, 2011
Illustration by Sasha Plotnikova/Torontoist.
Thursday comes in like a breath of fresh air. In the news: the mayor’s special arts adviser is heading west, the meth lab bust was no ordinary meth lab bust, no more free rides for Adam Giambrone, way more free rides for gas thieves, and Joe Pantalone has popped up in a very interesting spot.
City Hall will soon be down one arts adviser, as Jeff Melanson is off to the mountains, where the hills are alive with the sound of music, or something. Melanson is leaving his post as special arts adviser to Rob Ford to become the CEO at The Banff Centre in Alberta. His new gig starts in January, and Melanson will reportedly stay on in his City role, as well as his day job—executive director at the National Ballet School—until October. No word on who might replace Melanson, if anyone, but we’re sure it’s nothing Doug Ford can’t handle.
Remember that meth lab that was busted yesterday? This was no ordinary, run-of-the-mill neighbourhood meth lab. It was a sexy meth lab. Police were called to the Queen and Bathurst loft by neighbours mistaking a “joyous” bout of love-making for a domestic assault. Though the man found inside did have a bloody nose, it was a sexy bloody nose. Sexy charges will be laid when police can determine the type and amount of chemicals that were found in the place.
A new angle on the gas price story: some people are being noble, cutting down on car trips, or buying electric lawn mowers, while others are all like, “fuck it,” and just stealing gas instead. Two out of three police officers mentioned in this Sun article agree, incidents of gas theft rises with the prices. Popular theft methods include siphoning fuel from parked cars and pumping and pedal-to-the-metaling at gas stations.
Speaking of free rides, Adam Giambrone may get his free Metropass privileges revoked if he doesn’t pay the City what he owes. All former TTC chairs and commissioners get free Metropasses for three years, but the transit commission voted to revoke Giambrone’s perk until he pays back the $3,344 he overspent in his time as chair.
And former mayoral candidate Joe Pantalone is back, and he’s sticking it to RoFo and Co. with an appointment to Waterfront Toronto. Pantalone applied for the position on the agency’s board of directors and got word that he secured the role last week. Though former deputy mayor under David Miller says second-guessing Rob Ford is not his role on the board, he also used to call the mayor “Ford the destroyer” while he was campaigning. So eyes to the water to see how that one plays out.