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Newsstand: January 26, 2015
It's Monday and it's cold, but doesn't the week feel like it has potential? Keep your chin up and hope for the best. In the news: don't leave your fishing gear for birds to eat, St. Lawrence Market cart vendors are being displaced this spring, Uniqlo is coming to Toronto, and the city begins its search for the next police chief.
If you like fishing near Bluffer’s Park, take care to dispose of your gear. All the city’s animals are at risk from human carelessness, but swans have lately born the brunt of fishers discarding their lines and hooks where the birds can accidentally become entangled or impaled. Toronto Wildlife Centre director Nathalie Karvonen said the problem is especially egregious because hooks don’t biodegrade in a short time span (like food or paper litter might). “So if you see fishing garbage, clean it up,” said Karvonen. “You might even be helping a wild animal 20 years down the road.”
The cart vendors who have sold their wares at St. Lawrence Market for 27 years will have to pack up and find new commercial accommodations after April 1 of this year. That’s when everyone is being evicted from the market’s north building to make way for construction of a larger building and courthouse. According to Nick Simos, the City’s manager of the St. Lawrence Market Complex, the eviction is temporary while the construction is underway. The work is not expected to be complete until the end of 2016. Meanwhile, many cart vendors are upset because they are being displaced in favour of farmers in the temporary lodgings. The farmers in question only show up to sell on Saturdays, while vendors show up anywhere from one to six days a week, and some make their entire livelihood off their cart.
Uniqlo, an affordable retailer of men’s, women’s, and children’s fashions based in Japan, has announced it will open two flagship stores in Toronto in 2016: one in the Eaton Centre, and one in Yorkdale Mall. The Eaton Centre location will be 28,000 square feet and will take up some of the space Sears left vacant last year, meaning it will be in direct competition with fellow fast fashion store H&M. Uniqlo has 1,500 stores worldwide and has a presence in the U.S. and Europe.
As Police Chief Bill Blair prepares for the end of his tenure at the helm of the city’s police force, there is only speculation about who will replace Blair in just a few short months. A job posting is ready to go, and while the board of directors is tasked with finding a suitable candidate, the police union’s message seems to be that only someone from within the ranks will be acceptable. However, Vancouver police chief Jim Chu caused speculation when he announced his retirement recently; that retirement will begin this spring, just when Blair’s replacement will need to start.