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Newsstand: February 19, 2015
Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Sheep… or Goat… or Ram. Either way, Happy Chinese New Year! In the news: Extreme cold weather is bad news for the grebe, almost 40 neglected animals rescued from a home in Milton, the police constable convicted of assault during the G20 summit is back at work, and the changing landscape of the Gardiner Expressway.
The extreme cold weather alert has returned to Toronto and is expected to last until Friday. We have seen many a pipe and water main in the city fall victim to these frigid temperatures, but the bigger problem posed by the icy cold for the Toronto Wildlife Centre is that it threatens the grebe population. Grebes are birds—related closely to the loon—who spend most of their lives on open water. With the TWC reporting that 83 per cent of the Great Lakes are frozen, this means that the birds have nowhere to live. The organization says that it is struggling to keep up with the number of grebes that are being admitted daily, and it is in need of supplies to keep caring for them.
Almost 40 neglected animals are recovering from being left out in the cold in Milton after the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals investigated an anonymous tip. After obtaining a search warrant, officials removed 39 animals from a home near Trafalgar Road and Highway 401, including 27 dogs and 10 rabbits. All were housed in conditions that did not provide enough shelter from the frigid weather. Most of the dogs were beagles who were taken for medical evaluation and then housed at the local Humane Society or in foster homes. No charges have been laid yet, though an investigation is ongoing.
The Toronto police officer who was found guilty on charges of assaulting a protester during the G20 summit that took place in June of 2010 has returned to work. Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani had his employment status reviewed during an appeal of his conviction in January, and while his conviction of assault with a weapon was upheld, it was ruled that he would not have to serve any jail time even though he had been previously sentenced to 45 days. Toronto police say that Andalib-Goortani has returned to administrative duty and will not be undertaking any front-line police work while he faces an internal disciplinary hearing, where he faces several charges: one count of discreditable conduct, two counts of insubordination, and one count of unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority.
Finally, the Gardiner may be an urban eyesore, but the Globe and Mail explores some interesting ways in which it is slowly beginning to change. With buildings being constructed on either side of the expressway, it has begun to fade away from many vantage points in the city. Meanwhile new ways of developing the space under it have given architects and developers creative licence to give use to some of the city’s most barren areas. Take the new Fort York visitor centre or the new glass footbridge that travels underneath the highway and connects to the PATH system. Both use locations right next to the highway to their advantage. Now developers are looking to take a historic warehouse near Bathurst and Lake Shore Boulevard and transform it into a Loblaws grocery store and office space with two residential towers that will extend 40 and 44 storeys, respectively, right beside the Gardiner. It is what architect Peter Clewes has dubbed “found space.” “The question is not, Is the Gardiner as a piece of infrastructure terrible for the city? The question is, What can we do with it? How can we inhabit it―beside it and underneath it?” Clewes says.