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Wait—street hockey is illegal in Toronto? No wonder our kids are fat

Outlaws (Image: doviende)

Spacing publisher Matthew Blackett was at Yonge and Dundas when Sidney Crosby scored the gold-medal goal for Canada back in February. He watched as an impromptu hockey game broke out on the street, thinking: too bad that’s illegal. According to Blackett, the by-law outlawing the most Canadian of pickup games came from the pre-amalgamation version of Toronto, and became the law of the megacity afterwards. Breaking the rule comes with a $55 fine—something most hockey-playing kids don’t typically have on hand—and certainly not the kind of punishment a doctor would order when 1/3 of young male Torontonians are overweight.

And that’s why if Blackett and his supporters get their way, street hockey and other ball-playing would be legalized once again.

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The Informer

Mayor May Not

June 7, 2010 | 4:41 pm

2 Comments

Rossi hits Smitherman where it hurts: the National Post

Rocco Rossi: special to the Post (Image: Rocco Rossi)

Readers of Monday’s National Post were greeted with what’s become a regular feature of this city’s newspapers: the increasingly acrimonious debate over the future of Toronto’s transit system. Except—and here’s the new part—this time, the byline is Rocco Rossi. The mayoral candidate is taking George Smitherman to task for the costly promises in his transit plan.

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The Informer

It's Miller Time

May 18, 2010 | 3:12 pm

1 Comment

David Miller: for whom the bell (and road) tolls

Lame duck or just lame? (Image: Shaun Merritt)

With the news that Metrolinx is going ahead with a scaled-down version of Transit City, Mayor David Miller says that what Toronto needs is a broad discussion about how to pay for transit—including tolls for roads.

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The Informer

Mayor May Not

April 14, 2010 | 1:17 pm

5 Comments

Mayoral candidates trip over each other to gripe about new bike lanes

(Image: IK's World Trip)

Reaction to the city’s announcement of a bunch of new bike lanes yesterday—including a separated one along a chunk of University between Wellesley and Richmond—was swift, immoderate and wildly political. Mr. Rossi, you were saying something to the Sun reporter?

Pulling two lanes of University Avenue out of commission, particularly right now with our transit funding in doubt, is sheer madness. And there is a larger issue of democratic fairness here, too. Bike lanes on arterial roads have emerged as a major issue in this election campaign. I am calling on the mayor to acknowledge the basic rights of the people of Toronto to choose their own future.

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The Informer

Streetcar Named Disaster

April 13, 2010 | 3:03 pm

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McGuinty to Toronto: no deal on TTC money this year

Dark clouds gather for the TTC (Image: Neil Ta, from the Toronto Life Flickr pool)

One of David Miller’s objectives in his last year in office is to hammer out a deal with Queen’s Park for the province to take back some of the responsibility for transit funding that was dumped on Toronto during the Harris years. (It’s so important that it’s already being written into future plans: when Miller announced his “unanticipated surplus” a month ago, it was partly in anticipation of cost-sharing.) So the mayor must have been smarting to hear Dalton McGuinty announce yesterday that there will be no deal before the end of this year, and even when a deal materializes, it’ll be small potatoes. Quotes the Sun:

“Were we able to come to some understanding, it would necessarily entail us taking on more over an extended period of time because we just don’t have the capacity to do it all at once,” McGuinty said.

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The Informer

Cityscape

April 10, 2010 | 9:59 am

1 Comment

Tobermory gets a gift, Toronto gets a loan

Pardon us while we look a borrowed horse in the mouth. Days after announcing almost $140 million in spending on roads, bridges and highways for parts of Ontario that aren’t Toronto, the federal government has seen fit to lend the city just a bit more than half that amount:

Diane Finley, minister of human resources and skills development, was scheduled to make an announcement Friday at Toronto city hall outlining details of 11 infrastructure loans, approved as part of Ottawa’s Economic Action Plan… Toronto will get more than $77.9 million in low-cost loans to improve roadways, sidewalks and upgrade bridges, as well as help pay for the Regent Park revitalization project already underway.

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The Informer

In Transit

April 7, 2010 | 4:18 pm

1 Comment

Harper and McGuinty pledge millions for Ontario roads—everywhere but Toronto

(Image: MPD01605)

Less than two weeks after announcing that $4 billion in funding for GTA public transit is being held back, Dalton McGuinty and Stephen Harper have unveiled plans to spend nearly $140 million on driver-oriented infrastructure upgrades throughout Ontario—that is, with the minor exception of Toronto.

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Urban Decoder

June 1, 2009 | 3:32 pm

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I read somewhere that the buttons at crosswalks in New York don’t do anything. Is the same true in Toronto?

The city’s stoplight buttons haven’t been neutered to the extent of their NYC equivalents, which have been purely placebos since the emergence of computer-controlled traffic in the late ’80s. Here, whether pressing the button is productive or pointless depends mostly on which part of the city you’re in. In outlying areas, impatient pedestrians can take comfort in knowing their button pushing does not go unanswered; the busier roads often get a permanent green until a car appears or someone hits the button. But in the downtown core—south of Bloor between Bathurst and Jarvis—foot traffic is steady enough that stoplight cycles are usually pre-set, so hitting that button once, twice or 15 times in quick succession won’t bring you any closer to a green. Depending on the distance from sidewalk to sidewalk and how well trodden the intersection, the walk signal lasts between 15 and 32 seconds. These cycles can be interrupted only by streetcars, which are equipped with devices that extend the green. But lest you label the buttons totally impotent, pushing them for three seconds triggers an audio aid for the blind—cuckoos for north-south crossings and chirps for east-west—making their presence on street corners not so birdbrained after all.

• Question from Ivan Tzembelikos in Brampton

Wondering about the waterfront? Curious about construction? Perplexed by politics? Ask the Urban Decoder a question here.

Urban Decoder

June 1, 2009 | 3:30 pm

1 Comment

I keep hearing that scooters are death traps, but I never read about accidents. Are they really that dangerous?

Photo by Tannis Toohey/Get Stock

Motorcycle accidents are a reliable source of organ donations in North America, and until recently, scooter smash-ups in Ontario were tracked in the same category. Still, there is much anecdotal evidence to suggest that scooters are not as life threatening as their burlier big brothers. For starters, the official hipster transport vehicles are a lot less powerful than your average hog. The fact that Vespas and the like are primarily used for zipping around town rather than letting loose on the open road also helps to curb scooter crash stats. That said, not all Toronto scoot stories are Roman Holiday–esque romps. In 2007, Haydain Neale, the lead singer of the Toronto R&B band Jacksoul, was knocked from his scooter by a car at Kennedy and Eglinton. He was wearing a helmet but still sustained near-fatal head injuries that led to a six-week coma and ongoing rehab. Collisions like this are rare. The majority of accidents (often due to slippery roads or snagging a streetcar track) lead to scrapes, bruises and wounded hipster pride.

• Question from Robyn Burke in Little Italy

Wondering about the waterfront? Curious about construction? Perplexed by politics? Ask the Urban Decoder a question here.

Urban Decoder

November 10, 2008 | 4:50 pm

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The snowy streets in Rosedale seem to get groomed faster than other areas

Photo by Oleksiy Maksymenko

Dear Urban Decoder: The snowy streets in Rosedale seem to get groomed faster than other areas. Do the rich get preferential treatment?—Scott Vox, Bloor West Village

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Urban Decoder

October 2, 2008 | 6:00 am

2 Comments

I don’t understand how the pedestrian scramble at Yonge and Dundas saves time

Photo by Sam Javanrough

Dear Urban Decoder: I don’t understand how the pedestrian scramble at Yonge and Dundas saves time. Can you explain?—Graham Vaughan, Willowdale

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