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Newsstand: June 26, 2012
Oh, look, Tuesday is trying to prove its worth again. Alright, Tuesday, we'll hear you out. In the news: another piece falls off the Gardiner, bath salts in Toronto, higher than expected TTC ridership, Toronto Water billing mistake, and the mayor misses Pride flag raising.
Another chip off the old block that is the Gardiner Expressway came crashing down on Monday morning. The small four- or five-inch piece of elevated highway landed on a Mercedes Benz being driven by a lawyer. The man wasn’t hurt, but he expressed concern for anyone driving a convertible. Ever selfless.
It’s time to hold your face and feel weird: that creepy bath salts drug may have hit Toronto. See this string of loosely related and thinly reported stories. First, a confused teenager tries to buy actual bath salts from a spa-supply store in the St. Lawrence Market, which is mostly funny but still a little worrisome. Then, police arrest a “strange acting” man at a condo building in Etobicoke on Sunday, but not before the man breaks some of the officers’ bones. And then police raided a house on Huron Street on Sunday, turning up lots of guns and drugs, including a bag marked “bath salts.” You’ve been warned. Sorta.
More people used the TTC than expected in 2011: 13 million more, to be exact. The higher ridership contributed to a $22 million surplus for the transit agency. So, naturally, a pay increase for management and other non-unionized employees is being talked about. Oh, and also the annual 10-cent fare hike. That’s still a thing.
What do you call a billing error that left Toronto Water $1.45 million short? Councillor Doug Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre ) is going with “awkward.” About 50,000 of the 500,000 customers didn’t see the 2011 rate increase on their bill, but now they will be tracked down and asked to pay. Pretty awkward.
And in expected but nonetheless shitty news, Mayor Rob Ford missed the Pride flag raising at City Hall that kicked off Pride Week yesterday.