Newsstand: May 15, 2015

A messy apartment building seemingly caused by an absentee landlord, Legal Aid Ontario funding wrongful conviction cases, and the mayor fully supports the Gardiner: what more do you need on Friday morning?

By Tannara Yelland • Illustration by Matthew Daley

As part of an apartment-building audit underway right now, city officials found a high-rise on Kipling where trash was being thrown out of windows and was strewn across the ground and in the trees. A city crew is cleaning up the refuse right now and will send the bill to the building’s owner, who residents claim has provided substandard care of the building. Among their complaints was the state of the garbage room, which they said are cleaned infrequently and sometimes even have burnt-out lightbulbs. The building’s owner claimed his maintenance team is top-notch and was “just about to start cleaning [the building] up” when the city started doing it. He could not, however, name the last time he’d been to the building.

Legal Aid Ontario has struck a deal to provide funding to the Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted (AIDWYC). Legal Aid will give $100,000 this year to help with the costs of securing new forensic evidence testing and expert testimony, both of which are expensive but often integral to overturning a wrongful conviction.

This Globe and Mail story about Mayor John Tory’s support for rebuilding the Gardiner Expressway contains a telling detail: “The mayor has remained a champion for drivers.” That probably won’t come as much surprise to anyone who follows municipal politics closely, but it is worth pointing out where politicians’ allegiances lie. In any case, Tory has thrown his support behind a $1-billion plan to rebuild the Gardiner but not change it, and he says the areas underneath the road can be made more welcoming. It’s clear from his statements about the paramount need to keep traffic moving, though, that his first priority is to get those cars where they want to go.