In a slightly bizarre moment during yesterday's council meeting, deputy mayor Doug Holyday said he wouldn't want to raise his children downtown, suggesting that parents who do raise kids in the core were putting them at risk. "Where's little Ginny?," he said. "Well, she's downstairs playing in the traffic on her way to the park." Holyday's comments came during a discussion about whether to set a quota for family-sized condos in a building at King and John, which was adopted.

More downtown bashing from suburban councillors or justified debate? These downtown families interviewed by The Star don't seem to think so.

Apparently the higher the tolls on the 407 ETR the more people want to use it. Yesterday, 407 International announced $40.9-million in second quarter net income - an 83 per cent increase over the same period a year ago. The company raised fees by between 5 and 10 percent for usage at peak times earlier this year.

A mysterious brown powder that briefly shut down Danforth Avenue between Pape and Jones when it leaked from a package at a Canada Post sorting office yesterday was identified as sand by Toronto police's Chemical, Biological, Radiological Nuclear and Explosive unit. The material holding the sand was identified as cardboard.

Microsoft will open its own retail store similar to the popular Apple stores at Yorkdale Mall, the first in Canada, before the end of this summer. "It's going to be a very clean, uncorrupted and very fresh store environment," Microsoft Canada president Max Long told the Financial Post. The store will sell the company's Surface tablet and latest Windows operating system.

Several Bell telephone booths decorated as part of a city-wide art installation have been vandalized, and one even torched, proving that not all public displays of creativity are well received. Despite the setback, the artists behind the project feel the artwork was a success.

Finally, if you've ever wondered why, standing on a crowded subway platform waiting to cram into a crowded train, the TTC doesn't simply run more trains closer together then this Spacing post is for you. Turns out modern signal technology possibly coming to the Yonge-University-Spadina line would allow trains to safely run closer together and even in opposite directions on the same stretch of track, which is a little freaky if you ask me.

IN OTHER NEWS:

• Exploding glass not a clear cut issue for developers [The Star]
• Sports leagues using city fields will soon have to pay to play [National Post]
• Why Toronto West Detention Centre inmates can't read library books [The Star]
• Toronto city council: Proposal could mean mandatory air conditioning for renters [The Star]
• Company faces $1M fine for 2009 Christmas Eve accident [CBC]

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Photo: "Spray Pad Run - 180 / 365" by psychedelicmojo2001 in the blogTO Flickr pool.