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Newsstand: March 10, 2015
Employees of a state agency in Florida claim they were directed to not use phrases such as "climate change" and "global warming" in official communications. Let that sink in for a second and then facepalm away. In the news: the uncertain future of the Metro Theatre, a TTC lobby group aims to join the commission's board, and spring road closures.
When the Metro Theatre was sold in August 2013, it looked like it would be the end of an era for one of the last porn theatres in the city. The buyers—who purchased the rundown location at Bloor and Christie streets for $2.9 million—told stories of transforming the location into a climbing gym or recreation facility. Minho Lee of the Koreatown BIA said that the new owners informed him of their plans to revamp the location in 2013, but since then little has happened to transform the space, save the removal of some old chairs by construction crews. Now the future of the theatre is unclear, with owners saying that they have “no real plans” for the future of the building at present. City Councillor Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) is still hoping that the theatre will transform into a new gym, saying that there is a stigma around the site if it remains a theatre because of its seedy past. He might not be wrong. In 2012 the building’s former owner brought in a creative consultant to revamp the programming at the theatre and clean it up, but the new venture failed for unspecified reasons.
TTCriders, a group that lobbies on behalf of Toronto Transit Commission customers for better service and lower fares, wants to obtain a seat on the transit commission’s board. TTCriders director Jessica Bell submitted an application to join the last week, and if selected she will become one of four members of the public who serve on the board. While the TTC says that it looks for members of the public with a mix of business and financial knowledge, Bell says that her goal as a board member would be to represent the voice of all transit riders, regardless of background. “We don’t need Bay Street people running our public services,” says Bell. “We need a mix of people who represent the community across Toronto.”
Because we cannot think about spring without imagining a flourish of road maintenance work for commuters to bypass, the City of Toronto has released its proposed list of weekend road closures for the spring of 2015. Plans include a closure of Allen Road from Sheppard Avenue to Eglinton Avenue between April 17 and April 21, and planned maintenance on both the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway between April 24 and April 26.