Weekend Newsstand: October 3, 2015

Saturday morning! Crisp and lovely. in the news: James Forcillo pleads not guilty in the case of Sammy Yatim's murder, the Gardiner burial project is (probably) dead, and traffic data from GPS providers is helping the city.

By Tannara Yelland • Illustration by Matthew Daley

James Forcillo, the Toronto police officer charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder in the July 27, 2013 killing of Sammy Yatim, has pled not guilty to all charges. Yatim was on an empty Dundas streetcar, near Trinity Bellwoods park, and was holding a small knife when he was shot at eight times and then Tasered. Forcillo was charged on August 19 that year and has been out on $510,000 bail and suspended with pay since then. He works in an administrative role at Crimestoppers.

City Council has effectively put an end to the chance (at least for now) that the Gardiner will be buried underground in a tunnel. Council voted by a show of hands to “receive” a report from staff, meaning no further action will be taken on it. While putting the expressway underground would free up space near the lake, it would be incredibly costly (critics say it could cost $10 billion, though advocates say about half that) and has created huge problems for other cities that have attempted similar procedures. Anthony Perruzza, one of council’s few Gardiner burial advocates and councillor for Ward 8, York West, said he does not consider this a final defeat.

The city’s Transportation Services department is using data from GPS providers to get a more accurate picture of traffic trends throughout the city. There is no information from this year, but using data from part of 2011 through to 2014, the city is hosting a 48-hour “hackathon” at Evergreen Brickworks to have people use the data and extract useful information. So far, some trends have emerged: while expressways still show recognizable peak periods of traffic, arterial roads slowly lose traffic throughout the day.