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Extra, Extra: Uber Users Warned of Fines, Ducks Are Rescued, and Harbord Village Porches Become Theatre Spaces
Every weekday’s end, we collect just about everything you ought to care about or ought not to miss.
Photo by St-even from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
- With Uber’s new carpool service launched yesterday in time for the Pan Am Games, Uber-hater Jim Karygiannis (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt) is warning visitors to the city of the steep fines they may face for arranging rides in unlicensed taxis. At a city hall press conference this morning, the councillor announced that those found guilty under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act will face fines “of not less than $300 and not greater than $20,000.” Last month, an Ontario superior court judge dismissed the City’s injunction against the company, arguing that UberX vehicles are not “taxicabs” and any charges against drivers are related to offences of operating illegal “limousines.” 72 charges have been filed against UberX drivers in Toronto.
- Dozens of ducks have been rescued from an oil spill in the city’s west end, fire and city officials said this morning on Twitter. The 8,000-litre spill, which happened Monday when a trucked rolled over at Highways 401 and 427, leaked into nearby Mimico Creek. City officials have since installed a boom across the mouth of the creek to further prevent the oil from spreading into Lake Ontario.
- A play about Canada’s first black mailman is set to hit the verandas of the Toronto porches where he once delivered the mail. The Postman, which follows the life of black runaway child slave Albert Jackson, will be playing on the front steps of 15 houses in Harbord Village, alternating daily between Brunswick Avenue, Major Street, and Palmerston Boulevard. The Postman will also be play at Margaret Fairley Park on Brunswick Avenue between July 18 and 26 to accommodate those with mobility issues.