news
Newsstand: March 16, 2012
It's here—the day of the week that inspires catchy YouTube videos, ubiquitous acronyms, and the wearing of jeans and golf shirts—Friday! Today: Expert panel says LRT is the better way, mayor says, "Biased!"; Toronto loves us some librarians, but not other outside workers; Andy Byford rides the rails; getting to the bottom of racism (or not) among the police; and a whole lot of Jann Arden.
Mayor Rob Ford has taken the olive branch TTC Chair Karen Stintz (Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence) offered, and, by rejecting an as-of-yet-incomplete expert panel’s report that overwhelmingly supports light rail transit over subways on Sheppard Avenue East, has snapped it. The panel, which is all, “LRT! LRT! LRT!” has been labeled as biased by Ford. Given that all but one panel member (Gordon Chong) rejected Ford’s vision for subways, it may not be totally shocking that Ford’s a bit peeved. Meanwhile, as the final touches are being put on the report, the mayor’s office started distributing copies of a 23-page pro-subway appendix to some councillors that subway advocate Chong claims may be cut from the final report. Ah, democracy at its finest!
Toronto loves its librarians, but other indoor workers, such as daycare workers, clerks, court services staff, planners, social service workers and cleaners? Meh. More Torontonians say they would side with the City over front-line municipal workers during labour discussions, according to findings from a CUPE-sponsored poll. When asked “Whose side are you usually on?” 44 per cent of respondents said the City and 39 per cent said workers (the remaining 7 per cent declared themselves neutral). However, the news is not all bad for the union. Although people are (slightly) more likely to support the City, the majority of respondents do think a strike would be justified if negotiators demand weakened job security or benefit cuts. So, basically, everyone’s just saying, “Whatever!”
The new TTC head honcho, Andy “This Time It’s Different” Byford, is taking a hands-on approach to getting the Better Way running, well, better. He rode the rocket with the CBC and was less than impressed with his experience. This disappointment should come as no surprise to the millions of transit users who experience their own TTC woes on a daily basis. But not to worry, Toronto, in 3-to-5 years the TTC will be the transit system we’ve always dreamed of having. We believe that this is truly possible, right? Come on, it’s Friday, let’s share his optimism! Save the cynicism for Monday.
The chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, Alok Mukherje, is demanding an independent review in order to determine whether police are stopping substantially more people from ethnic and racial backgrounds. Prompted by a Toronto Star investigation that claims that black people are more likely to be stopped than white people in every patrol district in the city, Mukherje has asked Toronto’s auditor-general, Jeff Griffths, to collect and analyze race-based data from these stops. As for next steps, should the probe find that race-based stops are a reality, someone really needs to create a catchy viral video to get word out, and start a hashtag trending. If we’ve learned anything these past few weeks, it’s that together, with the help of Twitter, Facebook, and a few clicks of mouse, we can save the world. That was the takeaway message from that whole Kony thing, right?
If you haven’t already had enough of Jann Arden this week, here’s something that might interest you – Jann Arden in the nude! Well, almost. More accurately – Jann Arden’s arms, face and neck! Arden bared all (kinda? Sorta? Not really?) for Moses Znaimer’s Zoomer magazine, a publication aimed at those 50-plus. In another Canadian pop star–related twist, the photographer was none other than Bryan Adams! Here we were thinking that the CanCon rules only applied to TV and radio. By the way, if you find yourself asking, “Who is Bryan Adams?” don’t bother with Zoomer, you’ve probably got another few decades to go.