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Newsstand: August 24, 2011
There had better be a smile included with this Wednesday. In the news: Toronto will get its bedbug nurses, Toronto Community Housing Corporation sues over malfunctioning elevators, and graffiti takes a new subway train out of service.
Looks like the City is going to get its bedbug nurses after all, as the budget committee has approved the McGuinty government’s offer of three provincially funded public health nurses to help deal with the evil critters in Toronto. And just to clarify, the nurses will be providing information to the public and assessing homes infested with bedbugs, not providing care for the bugs themselves. This of course came after the committee made absolutely certain the City will not have to pay anything for the nurses, seeking assurances that the positions will only exist as long as the provincial government pays for them, and even asking the province to spell the word “FREE” to ensure there will be no trickery or mischief.
While the typical Hollywood image of a person living in social housing involves them stepping past a pool of urine to get into the elevator, at least the elevators in the movies work most of the time. Toronto, on the other hand, has not been so lucky: the Toronto Community Housing Corporation has launched a class action lawsuit against Scarborough’s ThyssenKrupp Elevator for creating a faulty braking system in about 169 elevators installed in TCHC buildings, part of 2,000 installed in buildings across Ontario.
The TTC’s new subway train was briefly taken out of service yesterday after someone spray-painted an offensive message on its interior, but media outlets can’t seem to agree on what exactly that message was. According to the Toronto Sun, it was “F*** Rob Ford,” although the Toronto Star maintains it was “F— Rob Ford.” For what it’s worth, we at Torontoist are guessing it actually read “Fuck Rob Ford.” But why would a graffiti artist that uses the TTC want to target the mayor? Oh, right.
There’s at least a couple of weeks to go before we’re all sick of news stories involving Margaret Atwood (except, perhaps, in relation to a new book), so here’s another: the multi-award-winning author will be one of the prizes in an upcoming Toronto Public Library Workers Union essay and video contest in support of libraries. Winners will have the chance to accompany Atwood on a literary excursion, perhaps even a tour of a Hamilton library, if they’re lucky.