Toronto Star columnist Royson James writes the acrimonious transit spat the city is currently embroiled in is a mere squabble compared to a broader backroom plan to “emasculate” and “tame” the TTC. According to James—and his unnamed sources—Metrolinx, Queen’s Park, and the mayor’s office all want to oust TTC manager Gary Webster and to fire TTC chair Karen Stintz for failing to get rid of him (her recent campaign against Rob Ford’s transit proposal certainly couldn’t have helped her cause either). For some of the alleged co-conspirators, the end game is privatizing much of the transit commission, which they view as uncooperative, ineffective and generally impotent. James even offers that Metrolinx secretly prefers putting the Eglinton Crosstown underground, and that the regional agency is actually the one pushing that agenda forward behind the scenes. It seems, as James puts it, “while officials play nice in public, in private the knives come out.” Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
The discerning mediavore’s take on the news of the day, from city hall to Power Ball
While Toronto doctor Anthony Galea couldn’t help Tiger Woods keep that whole adultery thing under wraps, he did help the pro golfer recover from knee surgery—although his methods are the subject of serious legal controversy. Galea is known for a rather unorthodox approach to sports medicine, using techniques that include something known as blood spinning, where a person’s own blood is placed in a centrifuge and reinserted in their body, apparently with greater healing properties. Of course, Galea is also known for (allegedly) using human growth hormone in his treatments—which is both way less cool and way more illegal than blood spinning—and pleaded guilty last summer to smuggling the stuff into the U.S. The plea kept him out of prison, but now he’s facing a court date in Toronto on a variety of related charges. Read the entire story [ESPN] »
House of the Week: $4.5 million for a Parisian-inspired townhome in the heart of the Annex
ADDRESS: 138 Bedford Road
NEIGHBOURHOOD: The Annex
AGENT: Barry Smith, Chestnut Park Real Estate Limited, Brokerage
PRICE: $4,450,000
THE PLACE: Bringing a little of the 8th Arrondissement to the heart of the Annex, this Parisian-inspired townhome embodies European luxury with inlaid-pattern marble floors, traditional custom millwork, plaster cornice mouldings and fireplaces in nearly every principal room (many of them are even wood-burning).
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Karen Stintz calls for transit sanity; Giorgio Mammoliti calls for the opposite (i.e. a Finch subway)
Early reports from city hall suggest Rob Ford and the rest of council are in for a transit-themed slugfest at today’s special council meeting. Karen Stintz, who started the whole brouhaha when she said what everyone already knew about Ford’s grand vision to bury the Eglinton Crosstown, has already made her recommendations. In short, she wants council to reaffirm its support for LRT lines on Finch and Eglinton, convert the Scarborough RT to an LRT line with an extension to the Malvern Town Centre (as funds become available) and establish an expert advisory panel regarding transit on Sheppard Avenue. Meanwhile, Giorgio Mammoliti—and only Giorgio Mammoliti—wants a subway on Finch. Watch the proceedings live here »
(Images: Karen Stintz, Mike Beltzner; Giorgio Mammoliti, Christopher Drost)
Sue-Ann Levy scores an early BINGO on her Transit City scorecard
(Image: Matt Elliott)
Too bad Matt Elliott’s Transit City bingo card doesn’t include a cash prize—because Toronto Sun columnist Sue-Ann Levy would’ve claimed it before the game even really started. In the pages of the paper this morning, Levy’s recycling of Rob Ford’s tried-and-true talking points scored her an easy B-I-N-G-O along the top row, and council’s special session on the city’s transit plan hadn’t even yet begun. Of course, given the rancorous debate on the issue so far, we’re sure Levy won’t be the only winner today. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »
Buried under the talk of the city’s transit battle is news that city councillors asked the province to exempt Toronto from the Ontario Municipal Board’s jurisdiction (in case you aren’t familiar with the OMB, the Toronto Star describes it thusly: “a quasi-judicial board, which hears appeals of zoning decisions and frequently overturns council”). Because its members are appointed by the Ontario cabinet rather than elected by the people, criticism of the OMB often revolves around accusations that it’s anti-democratic and that its rulings typically favour large developers. Case in point: yesterday at council, Josh Matlow called the OMB “unaccountable” and Mary-Margaret McMahon said it “skewed toward the developer.” Naturally, the Building Industry and Land Development Association thinks otherwise. Read the entire story [National Post] »
B-I-N-G-O! Seriously, check out this awesome Transit City bingo card
(Image: Matt Elliott)
In their hasty attempts to defend Rob Ford’s transit plan despite mounting opposition, the mayor and his supporters have (rather dogmatically) relied on a trusty set of talking points to do their heavy lifting for them. In a bid to show just how tired Ford and Co.’s anti–Transit City arguments really are—that light rail will be a repeat of the St. Clair streetcar screw-up, that Ford was elected with a mandate to build subways and that Scarborough is getting shafted—city hall blogger Matt Elliott created “Transit City Opposition Bingo” (yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like). Tune in to tomorrow’s special council meeting—or just grab the nearest copy of the Toronto Sun—and see how long it takes to win! Read the entire story [Ford for Toronto] »
Will some councillors vote for Rob Ford’s transit plan at their own ward’s expense?
(Image: Christopher Drost)
Rob Ford will likely endure another public defeat at a special council meeting tomorrow, this time over his beloved Sheppard subway, the Eglinton LRT and the potential return to a transit plan much like supposedly dead-in-the-water Transit City. Of course, it’s not the least bit surprising that Ford is unwilling to make nice with TTC chair Karen Stintz, who’s leading the campaign against Ford’s own transit plan, on this. We know the mayor doesn’t like compromising, even if the alternative is losing a vote at council. What is rather surprising, though, is some councillors appear willing to support Ford’s plan at the expense of the wellbeing of their own wards. As municipal blogger Matt Elliott writes, Vincent Crisanti and Giorgio Mammoliti are poised to stand with the mayor even though that would be tantamount to robbing their constituents of expanded transit. Crisanti sides with Ford on almost every issue, while Mammoliti is big on subways and wants one for Finch Avenue. That means either he’s willing to sacrifice his own ward just to oppose Stintz, he’s uninformed of the financial and logistical considerations involved in building a subway, or Ford has made him a ridiculous offer to maintain his allegiance. Given that we’re talking about Hot Wheels here, we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all three. Read the entire story [Ford for Toronto] »
After enduring a crummy PowerPoint presentation from Metrolinx, apparently, city columnist Marcus Gee is a little cranky. In the pages of Globe and Mail, Gee argues that what the city needs to solve its transit problem is a nonpolitical agency to tell city council, the province and the citizenry what to do. Of course, such an agency exists: it’s Metrolinx. As Gee points out, Metrolinx was established to provide oversight and guidance—some might even say leadership—on regional transportation planning. Curiously, though, the organization has remained mostly on the sidelines while Rob Ford and Toronto council duke it out for transit supremacy (heck, even Nick Kouvalis is in on the action). Instead of choosing a side, or, you know, settling the dispute, Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig invited journalists to attend a presentation designed to “provide information” and “restate principles.” In other words, to bear witness as Metrolinx continues to waffle. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
City hall and CUPE come to an agreement, avoid a work stoppage and live happily ever after (only not really)
(Image: Christopher Drost)
Following months of public bickering, negotiating through the media and much sabre rattling, the discussions between CUPE Local 416 and the city, which everybody expected to result in a work stoppage, are over. The details of the agreement have yet to be released, but both Doug Holyday and Rob Ford are heralding the deal as a victory for the taxpayer. And given union president Mark Ferguson’s defeatist language in the wake of the all-night bargaining session, it seems that in the end the city did come out on top.
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Despite a series of recent political defeats, Rob Ford mans up and shows a pile of sand who’s boss
When Rob Ford isn’t tending to important city business like growing a moustache or making official proclamations (today is Bob Marley Day!), apparently he’s dealing with more important issues—like getting rid of a giant pile of sand from some guy’s backyard. The Toronto Star reports that the mayor recently ordered the offending heap to be removed from Garnett Pryce’s property following a dispute between Pryce and a neighbour. Then he actually showed up to supervise the removal of said offending heap. Of course, Ford is known across the land for this sort of grassroots constituency work—still, we think Pryce summed the whole episode up best. “I think that’s unbecoming of a mayor,” he told the Star. “I don’t think he should become involved in such a petty issue.” Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
(Images: Rob Ford, Christopher Drost; sand pile, Alan Levine)
Five pictures of the cutest thing to ever happen to the Toronto Zoo (seriously, this little guy is unbearably adorable)
Who can resist clicking through a photo gallery dedicated to the polar bear cub the Toronto Zoo unveiled last week? Nobody, that’s who. Check out five sweet, cuddly (and downright shameless) pics right now »
Karen Stintz calls for a special council meeting to kibosh Rob Ford’s transit plan
With the support of 23 fellow councillors, Karen Stintz boldly called for a special council meeting to confirm the city’s memorandum of agreement for light-rail transit on Eglinton, Sheppard and Finch. We’d say this sounds a lot like the resurrection of Transit City—but that name died with the David Miller administration, so we’d better not. Instead, we’ll just say this: Stintz’s petition will likely serve as the nail in the coffin for Rob Ford’s grand plan to bury the Eglinton Crosstown. And really, the mayor has nobody to blame but himself on this one. First, Stintz offered him a compromise, but he declined. Then, Gordon Chong, the man Ford asked to make his subway dreams come true, suggested the city fund the Sheppard extension by instituting road tolls, among other revenue-generating measures, but Doug Ford called those a “tax grab.” Yes, the mayor says he has a mandate to build subways, so building subways is what he’s going to do. But it appears council believes it has a mandate to build light rail, so building light rail is what it—and, more importantly, the city—is going to do. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
(Images: Rob Ford, Christopher Drost; Karen Stintz, Mike Beltzner)
Local experts blast Rob Ford’s transit plan, turning his government-as-business rhetoric against him
(Image: Christopher Drost)
Just in case the mayor is feeling a little too confident after city hall’s victory over CUPE 416 in the recent labour negotiations, a group of over 100 planning experts, academics and other civic leaders issued a letter denouncing the current state of transit planning in the city. The letter challenges Rob Ford’s steadfast commitment to burying the Eglinton LRT and calls for it to be built partially above ground, as well as for a form of “higher-order” transit on Finch West and Sheppard East and the conversion of the Scarborough RT line to light rail.
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Shrewd move by provincial Liberals puts John Tory in charge of Ontario Place revitalization
The Cinesphere is one of the facilities now shut down (Image: Loozrboy)
Earlier this week, the provincial government shut down Ontario Place to make way for a major redevelopment of the entertainment park in time for Canada’s sesquicentennial in 2017. More interesting that the redevelopment, though, is Dalton McGuinty’s government’s choice to have former Progressive Conservative leader John Tory captain it. By all accounts, it’s a deft political manoeuvre—one that effectively limits the scope of criticism for whatever plan the Liberals decide to implement. Still, Tory will be fighting a tough fight. Ontario Place’s attendance numbers are low, the space is expensive to keep open, and the draw has been largely uninspiring for years. While it’s tempting to celebrate revitalization plans, that’s probably not the Liberals’ real agenda. As the Toronto Star’s Martin Regg Cohn suggests, McGuinty is likely more concerned with shutting down a site that costs $20 million a year. In other words, the government is cutting costs and wrapping that in nice political packaging. Read the entire story [Torontoist] »
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