Morning Brew: Condos planned for King and Spadina are too tall, city's "snitch" line pays off, low-income private school proposed, Lottomax winners finally get their money and Versteeg is traded to the Flyers
Looks like the scuttlebutt about condos going up at King and Spadina is true. Developers are in the early-stages of planning a series of properties surrounding the LCBO outlet on the corner of King Street and Spadina Avenue that would turn what's now a suburban-style store into a 39-storey, 443-unit condo tower that would incorporate a brick heritage building and feature futuristic, solar-energy-harnessing windows and a green roof. You'd think by adding a heritage site and one of those green roofs would make the city happy, but oh no. Councillor Adam Vaughan says the building is "too tall," which is odd considering his love for tall buildings.
Sometimes it pays off to be a tattler. Sort of. The city's hotline for fraud and waste has exposed city employees who uploaded inappropriate videos of co-workers on to the Internet during corporate time, faked sick days and solicited donations for a non-existent Christmas party. The misconduct resulted in losses of more than $85,000 to the city, but only $2,200 has been recovered so far, according to the report, which will be discussed at an audit committee meeting February 22.
Plans to open a private school for kids from low-income families who would work to pay tuition is making headway in Toronto. Father Joseph Redican, president of St. Michael's College School, once ran a Cristo Rey school in inner city Detroit and wants to bring the model here. Students would work one day a week to pay their tuition and attend longer days the other four to make up. Redican says the placements do more than cover tuition costs -- students gain important job skills and experience. I'm sure it's a great idea, but it seems a little "Oliver Twist-y" to me.
This is why I don't do these work lottery pools. So winners of a $50-million Lotto Max jackpot are finally cashing in -- more than a month after the draw with the two groups fighting over the prize finally agreeing to split the pot. The lottery corporation will pay out $31.7 million today to a group of 19 Bell employees. They are the original winners who validated their New Year's Eve ticket back in January. The other group will have to wait for a court to decide if they're entitled to any cash.
IN BRIEF:
Photo by ronnie.yip in the blogTO Flickr pool.
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