Morning Brew: November 27, 2006

  • Posted by Sameer
  • Filed in City
  • November 27, 2006

Mayor Miller Considers Downtown Parking SurchargeYour morning news roundup for Monday, November 27, 2006:

You might have thought parking rates downtown are already horrendous, but Mayor Miller wants you to pay more in order to battle the smog problem in our city.

The Canadian Finance Minister is suggesting that the TTC should partner with the private sector if they want more funding.

A Scarborough man was shot in the chest this weekend. The investigation is still ongoing.

If it's not a gun, it's a brick: a young Toronto man home for US Thanksgiving weekend was attacked after leaving an ATM this weekend.

The Raptors win so rarely these days that any notch in the win column makes headlines.

A Malian village presented GG Michaelle Jean with a goat yesterday as a symbol of thanks for Canada's support in regional development.

You've seen the video of the grow-op bust, but the OPP is growing concerned that booby-trapped grow-ops are more of a danger to bystanders these days.

The new TTC tokens are now on sale, and you've got just over two months to use your stash of old ones sitting in your drawer. Start traveling in the city more.

The mobster take-down in Montreal means that T.O. may just be the next mafia hub in the region. Insert your Godfather-themed joke here.

Twenty cases of Hepatitis A have been reported Toronto.

Fantino is being accused of squashing a previous anti-corruption probe of Toronto's police a few years ago. Let's just hope Bill Blair doesn't do the same.

It may not be your civic duty, but go out and vote for round 2 of the Canadian Blog Awards. Especially since this little ol' blog here is in the running for Best Local Blog.

Speaking of voting, Spacing is looking for your funniest moments from the recent municipal elections. You know you have some to share...

(Image: Robert Guerra)

Reader Reviews and Comments

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If you think parking is too expensive, then by all means, don't park downtown! I would be honoured if nobody parked down here.

Posted by: Ben Wendt at November 27, 2006 8:37 AM

Except a parking lot charge won't hurt city councillors who park for free. All parking in downtown including in condos and commercial should be surcharged by the city and at the very least councillors should have to hand in their parking pass to be a TTC commissioner - they all get metropasses as it is.

Posted by: Mark Dowling at November 27, 2006 8:40 AM

Ben, I'm a happy metropass holder, but I will admit that when I walk by parking lots near work, I do shudder at the prices.

Mark, I had no clue that councillors get free parking and a free metropass. Seems like overkill to me.

Posted by: Sameer Vasta at November 27, 2006 9:59 AM

I hate it when I hear about politicians getting perks like that! They get paid pretty well... let them buy there own Metropasses and/or parking. That is unless they want to provide free Metropasses for everyone. That would be ok.

Posted by: Matts at November 27, 2006 12:09 PM

P3s for transit? Sheesh, York Region has dabbled in that and their system is profoundly unreliable. It's stupid.

Posted by: Dan at November 27, 2006 6:39 PM

Do you people get mad a executives that get free parking?

We all get perks from the jobs we work and a parking spot is one of them sometimes. I love the idea of a surcharge on parking downtown becuz the proporty value of that space is being wasted, potential tax revenue is being wasted. I think mark is correct to ask TTC commissioners to hand in their parking pass becuz it speaks to setting an example.

But on the flipside, councillors run all over the city, especially the inner-burbs' ones, and do deserve some preferential treatment for a few things.

I wish we'd get upset about the $10-million salary of the execs of BMO, TD-Canada, Coca-Cola, etc. who get cars, planes, and free parking spots. We pay their salaries too, which is worked into the price of the product. If the 20 director and 50 executive managers didn't have such excessive perks bottles of pop or user fees at ATMs wouldn't be so over priced.

But somehow a free Metropass is considered excessive for a city councillor. Maybe we should ask all TTC drivers and staff to pay their own fares since they make good money.

Before you get righteous put things in perspective.

Posted by: Matt at November 27, 2006 7:04 PM

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