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Weekend Newsstand: June 18, 2011
Illustration by Sasha Plotnikova/Torontoist.
Yorkie played guitar, Torkie played bass. The name of the band is “Make sure you check out Men Without Hats’ free show at Dundas Square tonight.” We’re not even kidding. Also: work starts on the Vaughan subway extension, a new graffiti bylaw is coming, the city services review survey wasn’t very good, and the Star beats the CBC at finding a riot hero.
The City is working on a new graffiti bylaw aimed at easing the tension between the power-washer-happy licensing and standards committee and local artists. In the next few days, it plans to release a list of recommendations aimed at easing what has escalated into something of a war. Turns out Mayor Rob Ford didn’t realize that by getting all keen with the rarely used graffiti law, he was goading local artists into adding anti-Ford messages to their repertoires. The current bylaw targets “letters, symbols, figures, etchings, scratches, inscriptions, stains or other markings.” A new bylaw—which will try to strike a balance between vandalism and legitimate art—will be introduced June 29, according to the assistant of licensing and standards chair Cesar Palacio.
Remember that City services review survey we are all supposed to fill out to inform the gravy masters where they could cut? Turns out one in five people who started the clunky online survey didn’t finish it. Which is so not surprising. The pollster interviewed by the Star said the survey was too long and poorly drafted, and most people maxed out at about 15 minutes. The city chose Utah-based Qualtrics to create the survey because it was way cheaper than the other companies who bid on the project, and anyone who tried to complete it can likely see why.
It looks like there’s nothing good to be said about the boring project that hasn’t been tackled by the Globe or the Sun. In stories titled “Boring Project Excites Rob Ford” and “Boring Subway Project Titillates Ford” (our favourite), the papers explain the mayor is pumped for construction of the subway extension going to Vaughan. He loves subways, after all! The new stations will stretch from Downsview station at Toronto’s Downsview Park to the Vaughan Corporate Centre station, north of Highway 7 in York Region. Friday’s press conference was also a great reminder that the City recently held a bizarre naming contest for its boring machines. The winning monikers were Yorkie, Torkie, Holey, and Moley. Thank goodness for those names or it would have been such a drab affair! (We could have said “boring” there, but we didn’t.)
And, in another case of dueling headlines, CBC.ca asks “Vancouver’s beaten riot hero: Who is he?” while the Toronto Star, of all outlets (being not based in Vancouver and whatnot), seems to have the answer. “The man who fought Vancouver’s mob talks to the Star” shares the tale of Robert MacKay, who suffered broken ribs and got bear spray in the face trying to prevent looting after Wednesday’s hockey riot. Hat tip on this one to Bryan Borzykowski, who pointed out the headlines on Twitter.