4 Comments October 29, 2014 at 6:00 pm

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Extra, Extra: Hefty Fines for Illegal Signs, Toronto in Four Maps, and the City’s First “Street Store”

By Graeme Bayliss

Every weekday’s end, we collect just about everything you ought to care about or ought not to miss.

Photo by samuel bietenholz from the Torontoist Flickr pool.

It’s been a rough week for Doug Ford. First he lost the mayoral election. Now it looks as if he’s going to lose some money too. CP24 reports that Ford is facing an $11,950 fine over illegally placed mayoral campaign signs. Candidates are charged $25 for each election sign found to violate City rules—including any signs placed along the Don Valley Parkway or Gardiner Expressway, on civic buildings, and in parks. City staff removed 478 “Ford for Mayor” signs over the course of the campaign. Meanwhile, just 119 of John Tory’s signs were removed (he faces a $2,975 fine) and 96 of Olivia Chow’s (she’s on the hook for $2,400).

In a report published today in Spacing, J. David Hulchanski, a University of Toronto professor and member of the Neighbourhood Change Research Partnership, demonstrates the social and economic disparities that divide Toronto—and shows how those disparities played out in the recent mayoral election—in four maps. Hulchanski, perhaps best known as the author of The Three Cities Within Toronto [PDF], writes, “Over time, it is possible to incrementally reverse these trends, year after year. But this long-term goal can only occur if city council, and a mayor with a bully pulpit, are willing to not only advocate for change, but also take meaningful steps that will help create a city with fairer opportunities for all, thereby reducing the divide writ large on our electoral map.”
On November 1, a collective of Toronto artists known as HeART will set up a one-day pop-up shop at Parkdale United Church that will offer free clothing to homeless and underprivileged people in the city. Actor and former teacher Kate Drummond, who’s leading the initiative, told Inside Toronto the idea “started off as this little vision and it grew and grew and grew”—and it continues to grow. So far HeART has received thousands of clothing items donated by the local community. It’s Toronto’s first “Street Store“—a place where those living in poverty can get the clothes they need for free, but in something resembling a retail setting. The concept originates in Cape Town, where the first-ever Street Store appeared, and has since spread to cities around the world.