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Newsstand: March 12, 2014
More snow is on the way. There are not enough cute cat videos on the entire internet to make this okay. In the news: Toronto’s public transit ranks the best in Canada, there have been over 800 water main breaks in the city since January, more woes for the Toronto Police Services Board, Toronto Hydro wants your input on rate hikes, and Olivia Chow makes her mayoral bid official.
A new list that ranks Canadian cities based on public transit availability has Toronto beating out both Montreal and Vancouver for top honours, making it the most public transit–friendly city in the country. Suspend your disbelief for a moment in order to consider that the rankings take into account criteria such as the availability and variety of services, route frequency, and number of route stops. So whether or not your streetcar actually shows up when it is theoretically supposed to was not a factor in the ratings. Even with our relative love/hate relationship with public transit, Walk Score—the company behind the list—was quick to point out that Toronto’s ranking not only placed it at the top of the heap in Canada, but also meant it fared well against American cities. Only New York City and San Francisco bested it. Think about that the next time your bus is late!
It is a good thing our transit is so great, because our water mains are having a pretty craptastic year, with the frigidly cold winter causing the most water main breaks on record in 20 years. According to data from the City of Toronto, between January 1 and March 6, there were 874 water main breaks, compared to just 484 in the same timeframe last year. The only worse year in recent history was 1994, when 1,147 mains broke within the same period. Also, you might be surprised to learn that both North York and Etobicoke have a lot more water main breaks than the downtown core due to thinner pipes and more corrosive soil. The moral of this story is that everyone is ready for winter to hit the old dusty trail, even the pipes.
Internal disputes within the Toronto Police Services Board over Police Chief Bill Blair’s future intensified this week, as a legal dispute was launched over comments board vice-chair Michael Thompson (Ward 37, Scarborough Centre) made to the Toronto Star recently that openly opposed a future extension of Blair’s contract. Board members Dhun Noria and Marie Moliner took issue with the statements and in a closed door meeting, the board—without Thompson in attendance—voted that the comments may have been a potential breach of its code of conduct. Councillor Thompson has retained lawyer Clayton Ruby to have the courts quash that finding—both Noria and Moliner were permitted to vote in the process, and Ruby contends that was unjust. Sources reveal that internally, there are divisions in the ranks about what the future should hold for Blair, and that Thompson’s decision to air the board’s dirty laundry publicly has drawn some measure of ire from his fellow board members.
Toronto Hydro is seeking public input over proposed rate increases that will help pay for infrastructure upgrades on aging equipment. Before it goes to the Ontario Energy Board to seek approval for the rate increase, Toronto Hydro has launched an online survey that allows customers to indicate preferences on future electricity investments, which will have an impact on rates. How kind of them to ask so politely which way we would prefer that they gouge our wallets.
Finally, according to the The Canadian Press, Olivia Chow will resign her seat in Parliament in order to launch her mayoral campaign this Thursday.