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The Torontoist Week-in-Review: June 15-19
A lot happens in the course of a workweek. Here’s a look back at the top stories from the past five days that you might have missed, or might care to revisit.
Photo by Laurence Lui from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
Earlier this week, City Hall’s Public Works committee received a staff report that showed the separated cycle track along Richmond and Adelaide has been an overwhelming success so far. Since the pilot project began, cycling along the corridor has almost tripled, and Public Works unanimously approved a recommendation that would see the lanes extended to Parliament Street. Council will need to approve the committee recommendation for it to take effect.
From the article:
A recently released City staff report indicates that since the installation, cyclist ridership along the corridor has tripled. According to the report, the daily eight-hour cycling volumes on Richmond Street increased to 1,296 cyclists, up from 504 before the lanes were installed. On Adelaide, the eight-hour cycling volumes tripled to 1,573 cyclists, up from 554 before the installation.
We all have dreams. Some people want to grow up to be a firefighter, and others want to be an investment banker. But the real dreamers among us really want to be mermaids. With a new mermaid school in Toronto, they now have that chance. We sent journalist Kaitlin Wright to live that dream, and report on the experience.
From the article:
At first, swimming with a monofin feels anything but graceful. Binding your feet with flippers inside of a spandex casing, your mermaid tail will seem heavy, awkward, and terrifyingly anchor-like. Be patient and come to terms with that fact that, at first, you will look ridiculous and swallow a lot of pool water. Before long, you’ll be front, side, and back crawling, perhaps even moving on to more advanced moves like handstands, underwater spins, and tail flips. About a half hour into the lesson, the initial awkward laughter and panicked flailing finally pay off; the tail feels less foreign and more like a propeller. If not entirely fish-like, you are at least semi-amphibious
With four feature films that he has written, starred in and directed since 2013, apple juice magnate Frank D’Angelo is one of Toronto’s most curious entertainment moguls. Self-described D’Angelo obsessive Will Sloan dives into his oeuvre to make sense of the wonder that is the Frank D’Angelo Cinematic Universe.
From the article:
He has a huge, pear-shaped head, and his thinning, jet-black hair is coiffed into one of the more peculiar combovers in cinematic history. Real Gangsters!™, his debut as a leading man, came when he was 54, and he looked his age. But from his first scene on camera—shirt-unbuttoned, hairless dadbod resplendent—he has been the Marlene Dietrich to his own Josef von Sternberg.
Martin Reis places flowers on the ghost bike for Carla Maria Warrilow. Photo by Warren McPherson, from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
In the wake of three cyclist deaths in close succession, the organization responsible for the city’s bike memorials announced they were running out of bikes.
From the article:
To address the bike shortage, Bercarich has put out a public call on his Facebook page for donations of unusable bikes to convert into memorials for the cyclists Zhi Yong Kang, at Finch Avenue and Tobermory Drive, and an unnamed 26-year-old male by Avenue and Davenport roads. The two men were struck and killed, respectively, on Thursday and Saturday of last week.
Photo by Lori Whelan, from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
Residents in Riverside and Leslieville wanted to do something special for the iconic bridge that spans the Don River along Queen Street. They wanted to give the piece of infrastructure a chance to shine at night. So over the course of three years they raised $500,000 from various sources, including pin-up calendars.
From the article:
And on Friday, June 5, the Riverside Bridge was finally illuminated, with hundreds of Riverside and Leslieville residents taking to the streets in celebration. Attendees paraded from McCleary Park along Queen Street East toward Broadview led by a torchbearer and samba band, while elsewhere, local Italian restaurant Il Ponte held an award ceremony congratulating project donors and supporters for their diligence and hard work. At 8:45 p.m., the celebrators gathered at the foot of the former Queen Street East Bridge and watched, for the first time, as the lights to the bridge were switched on.