events
Newsstand: February 28, 2013
We might be miserable today, but tomorrow we'll wake up and you'll be gone, February. So thanks for that much. In the news: Rob Ford is still asking lobbyists for money, a new federal riding tears up a neighbourhood, police charge a G20 vandal, and Leslieville gets a BIA.
For many of us, being nearly kicked out of our job for doing something that violates its code of conduct would be enough to make sure we never do that thing at our job again. Clearly, that’s why we don’t have what it takes to be mayor. Rob Ford, on the other hand, is continuing to send out letters to lobbyists asking for money on behalf of his football foundation, the same practice that led to the events that saw him nearly thrown out of office by the court months ago.
First, we complain about being horribly underrepresented in federal politics. Then, when a commission comes to town to figure out how to redistribute ridings, we complain about possibly being split up into different electoral districts. Now, after the boundaries have been redrawn and Toronto has a whopping one extra riding to show for it, we find a way to find fault with that too.
Police claim an American who was part of the “black bloc” at the 2010 G20 summit caused over $125,000 in damage as part of the vandalism that took place that weekend. The man was charged yesterday. Police are still looking for a few other Americans they say did even more damage.
Until recently, most people would be surprised to learn Leslieville doesn’t have a Business Improvement Area. “But it’s such a well-known neighbourhood!” they’d politely protest, temporarily forgetting it’s east of the Don Valley, and thus receives visits from no one ever if they can avoid it. Well, that’s all moot, because the Leslieville BIA has now officially come into existence. The BIA should help keep neighbourhood events going and, who knows, maybe it will even get a lamp post banner or two put up.
Doug Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre) isn’t letting the government management committee push a burger chain out of Nathan Phillips Square. The committee voted earlier this week to prevent a Hero Certified Burger shop from opening in front of City Hall, but the deputy mayor wants to take the matter before council, because this should clearly be a top priority for Toronto’s municipal government. It’s also worth making a rare trip down to the above-linked story’s comments section, if only to see Sun readers taking an anti-elitism stance in defence of $7 organic hamburgers.
Attention, nobody who reads Torontoist: this ought to get your blood boiling. The Yorkville Pusateri’s grocery store is in danger of losing its valet parking service to make way for a wider sidewalk, which will likely result in more unwashed, probably Whole Foods-shopping rubes, walking by the store, virtually ensuring the chance of accidental contact. First cockroaches think it’s OK to hang out in one of the stores and now this. It’s like the whole city is against them.