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Newsstand: February 16, 2012
It's time to slather on the ChapStick and get out into that big old world! It is Thursday, after all. In the news: Mayor continues to ignore convincing evidence of his wrongness on the Sheppard subway plan, Karen Stintz makes her reality TV debut, concern for municipal cleaning staff, trying to teach Doug Ford what money is, and Giorgio Mammoliti speaks.
If you’re having one of those days where you’re like, “If I never hear another expert opinion that says Mayor Ford’s Sheppard subway dream is untenable,” that’s too bad. See, there’s this report that the TTC wrote a year ago that said just that. It said the existing Sheppard line didn’t attract any more users or the mixed-use development as was predicted, and a new line doesn’t have the ridership to justify the cost. But the mayor just sort of pretended that report never happened. And when he was asked about it on Wednesday, the mayor said nothing. Actually nothing. He just waited for his press secretary to interject and keep the conversation on non-transit topics. One of those days.
On the flip side, for those that can’t get enough talk about transit or inside scoop on the inner workings of the TTC, be sure to tune into TTC Chair Karen Stintz’s episode of Undercover Boss tonight. Watch as the boss cleans busses, drives a subway, and shares really personal details about her childhood. That’s not part of being a TTC employee, that’s just part of what makes TV so TV.
A group of community leaders and academics are publishing an open letter to the mayor and city council urging them not to contract out cleaning jobs, because the loss of income and benefits to those workers can be devastating. The letter comes on the heels of a report on the city’s working poor that says more than 70,000 workers in Toronto earn poverty-level wages. It also comes on the heels of the Toronto Life article that details, in the magazine’s words, “why rich is never rich enough.” Yes, really.
Speaking of talking about money, councillor Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) doesn’t like to. On his last three expense reports, the councillor has claimed that he hasn’t spent any money to run his office. But it turns out, that’s not exactly true. Ford has spent money, $2,076.01 of his own money, to buy things like business cards and office supplies. And no, that is not taxpayer money he’s spending, but it is money, and as such the councillor is required to report it.
And here’s one for the ladies: Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West) wants union president Mark Ferguson to apologize to mothers for using the word “motherfucker” in an email. The missive was meant to be a private exchange between a union boss and his union colleague, but then it turned up in the papers and shocked probably no one. Even Mayor Rob “Fucking” Ford (the mayor of this city, you bitches) says he’s not bothered by the salty language. But Mammoliti insists on an apology, especially “to the woman and Mothers [sic] who [Mammoliti thinks] are most offended by that term.”