City State

Signing off: City State’s top three unanswered questions

This is the end. City State is being discontinued as of this post. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by these pages, especially the regular readers and contributors. Perhaps we’ll find another meeting place somewhere in the blogosphere. In the meantime, here are three questions I’ve been pondering.   More


Gloria Lindsay Luby farts at Gardiner party

At city hall yesterday, the Supreme Soviet—beg pardon, the Executive Committee—voted 12–1 in favour of tearing down the Gardiner east of Jarvis (or, at least, to go ahead with an environmental assessment of its tear-down). The lone dissenter was Gloria Lindsay Luby, the Etobicoke councillor who, running counter to the urban zeitgeist that puts walking, cycling and transit ahead of driving, said that the city should be building infrastructure, not tearing it down. Why she may be right, after the jump.   More


Crime waves come and go, but hiring cops still makes good politics

A few days ago, a police force spokesperson said more patrols weren’t necessary to combat violent crime in the city. Queen’s Park disagrees and is handing over an extra $5 million to the Toronto Police Force for additional patrols. Thankfully, police chief Bill Blair declined to look his gift horse in the mouth. It’s the mouths of some of his existing officers that require examination.   More


Two more dead dogs in Toronto—is there a Canikiller on the loose?

The section of High Park known as Dog Hill has been cordoned off by police after two dogs died and a number of others fell ill from ingesting what appears to be liquid antifreeze. The incident comes four years after a series of dog poisonings in Withrow Park caused by pesticide-laced wieners. That crime was never solved, and the whole thing now has a certain Unabomber-esque intrigue to it. Toronto may have a Canikiller on its hands, striking without warning, then lying in wait for years before mounting another sneak attack. And if so, here is an appeal to the perpetrator: please feel free to forward your wacked-out, manifesto-ish screed of complaints and demands to the Toronto Life offices. City State will publish it in full, not because your cause is righteous—it’s heinous—but because we’re all curious.   More


Air Canada’s racket: This time, it’s baggage extortion

Last week, Air Canada announced it would cut 2,000 employees. Based upon my experience this past weekend, those that remain are busy shaking down passengers for extra money. My wife and I made a quick trip to Calgary to visit family and hike up a mountain. We packed a single, large piece of luggage and hopped on a plane at Pearson without hassle or questioning. But when I tried to check the same piece of luggage in Calgary for the return flight, I was redirected to what was, for me anyway, a new step in the check-in process: the weigh-scale extortion station.   More


What good could possibly come of a Rob Ford mayoral campaign?

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City Councillor Rob Ford would make a terrible mayor, but that doesn’t mean he’d make a terrible mayoral candidate. Here at City State, because we enjoy political spectacle, we are openly encouraging him to mount a campaign. One fellow hack in the city hall press gallery said a Ford candidacy would unleash a “public shit show.” The most likely result of such a campaign would be that we’d get to watch Ford hang himself. But there is some evidence that Ford can be a crafty politician at times, and he could make life uncomfortable for his opponents. To give you some idea, I dug up this clip of Ford debating Mayor David Miller last September, in which Ford manages to drive Miller bananas.   More


TTC driver charged with careless driving in Broadview rear-ender

The dog days of summer continue for the TTC—and it isn’t even June 21. Tuesday afternoon, a southbound streetcar on Broadview Avenue rear-ended a car near Tennis Crescent. According to TTC spokesperson Brad Ross, the driver of the car was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while the streetcar operator was charged with careless driving. For those of you keeping score, you can add this incident to the DUI bus driver, the bus driver who lost control in what appears to have been some sort of medical “event,” the 74-year-old man who died after being hit by a bus, and the streetcar driver who didn’t check a track switch and collided with another streetcar. Oh, and don’t forget the ticket-forging collector.   More


Will Metrolinx take over the TTC subway? A transit logo conspiracy theory

Metrolinx logo: Coming to a subway
near you?

A couple of weeks ago, City State posted a comparison of the TTC’s logo with transit logos from other cities around the world. The conclusion: the TTC’s art deco identifier, while distinctive, lacks simplicity and ease of recognition. Meanwhile, in an unrelated yet completely related development, Metrolinx—the regional transportation body that is poised to take over the GO system and implement road tolls and parking taxes everywhere and will soon run our frickin’ lives—recently unveiled a new logo of its own. As it happens, the new Metrolinx logo is everything the TTC’s is not. More conspiracy theorizing after the jump.   More


With open arms, police welcome this year’s summer of violence

What’s most striking about this past weekend of blood and violence in Toronto—five shootings and four stabbings—is the blasé reaction from police. The National Post reported that, according to Staff Sgt. Courtney Chambers, additional police patrols are not necessary. The CBC, meanwhile, quoted Det. Sgt. Steve Ryan saying the following: “Crime waves, you know, they come and they go. This is just one of those summer weekends.” Shucks, Det. Sgt. Ryan, I’m sure Dylan Ellis, Oliver Martin and everyone else who was shot or stabbed over the weekend are sorry to learn you had a bad couple days at the office.   More


Highway tolls are like fuel injection for Rob Ford’s mayoral candidacy

Our next mayor?
Photo by Andrew Wallace, Toronto Star

Road pricing in Toronto is now officially up for debate: at last Friday’s Metrolinx board meeting, staff put forward a proposal for a 10-cent-per-kilometre toll on all 400-series highways in the GTA, as well as on the Gardiner Expressway and the DVP. The first to wade into the fray, not surprisingly, is Rob Ford. He calls the idea “political suicide.” The issue undoubtedly gives a big boost to Ford’s mayoral prospects, as it rolls his two pet peeves into a single, politically explosive package: taxes and the persecution of drivers. The unthinkable campaign—Rob Ford for Mayor!—has taken a giant leap toward reality.   More