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Newsstand: November 10, 2011
Another Thursday and still no NBA basketball. At least there's always news! Today: Ottawa says truck side guards don't guarantee cyclist safety, City buyout plan falls far short of target, Dalton McGuinty makes boring jokes at Eglinton LRT site, youth shelter being evicted by the City, and cats.
A memorial was held yesterday for Jenna Morrison, the woman killed when her bike collided with a truck on Monday. Her death prompted an outpouring of grief from friends, family, and the cycling community at large, with many people calling for increased safety measures in the wake of the tragedy. Ottawa is rejecting that call. Specifically regarding the appeal for side guards on trucks, Transport Canada says there’s not enough evidence they would guarantee safety. A trust fund has been set up for Morrison’s five-year-old son.
The buyout plan proposed to City employees was announced from on high with a thunderous clap and projections of doom. About 17,000 employees were offered the plan to quit lest ye be fired, but at this point the fire and brimstone is looking more like a Bic lighter and a chunk of sulfury-smelling soap scum scraped from the drain in your bathroom sink. Only 230 employees were approved for buyout packages. In addition to the plan not being very enticing, only staff that didn’t have to be replaced were eligible for buyouts. And the plan was introduced way back in the summer, when the administration planned to gut a bunch of stuff which would’ve made a lot more jobs redundant. So the services and the employees that provide them have escaped the wrath. For now.
Hard hats and boring jokes were the order of the day as Premier McGuinty and Mayor Ford posed for photos and played with heavy equipment at the groundbreaking for Eglinton LRT yesterday. McGuinty was all smiles about transit construction getting underway; meanwhile, his new transportation minister was whacking another nail into the Sheppard subway’s coffin. Bob Chiarelli publicly turned down Ford’s request for a cash advance from the province to help fund the delusion plan.
Representatives from Build Toronto and Eva’s Phoenix will meet today to try to figure a whole lot of shit out in a really short amount of time, or else. On Wednesday the Government Management Committee gave the two parties a November 29 deadline—or else council will decide—to figure out how and where to relocate the youth shelter, which is essentially being evicted by the City to make way for a condo development that could net “a ton of money.” To be fair, though, those responsible have had, like, weeks to decide how to kick homeless kids out of the only home they know and uproot the mentorship and job placement services that Eva’s provides. So.
And this wouldn’t be the internet if we didn’t mention cats, now would it? According to this couple (and city bylaws), cats can get off scot-free for attacking dogs, whereas dog-owners may face big fines and jail time if their pet attacks. Of course, cats. Of course.