Morning Brew: August 15th, 2007
Photo: "excavating the moon" by blogTO Flickr pooler Ned Lyttelton.
Your morning news roundup for Wednesday August 15th, 2007:
Schools in Ontario will be getting another big wad of cash from the province. This is great news for teachers, parents, and students.
The OPP is going to dedicate 55 new officers to fight speeding, and it looks like they'll be getting a plane to watch from above as well.
Is Queen West becoming more and more ghettoized?
Voting for the annual "worst roads" survey opens next week. Steeles Avenue is the reigning champ, but I can think of a few other roads that have a chance to be the best..er.. worst roads.
There are only 3 days to go until the CNE opens, but you can still line up and get yourself a temporary job working the festival. I've always wanted to be a clown, but my day job has always prevented me from applying.
Today's Crossroad Puzzle after the jump...
Recognize this part of the city? Post your answer in the comments, and check for the answer in tomorrow's blogTO Morning Brew.
Yesterday's answer: River St, near Riverdale West Park
Scroll down for today's comments...
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Comments (7)
About WQW, I don't think ghettoized is the right word to describe the situation, but I'm more inclined to believe the business owners sotries than Joe Pantalone saying "It's one of the safest neighbourhoods in the city of Toronto. It is now and is continuing to be." That just sounds like he's sticking his fingers in his ears. Also the police say the area has "a lot of vehicle and pedestrian traffic", implying that keeps it safe. Some parts do, especially on Fri/Sat, but weeknights are often dark and isolated in a lot of places.
I was crossing Spadina on Queen last night, and saw a pair of squeegee kids attack a car, they were on the hood "cleaning" the windshield.
Maria, that's nothing! I was walking home from The Simpsons Movie Sunday evening and a squeegee kid at Queen and Spadina gave me 'The Evil Eye.' He then skateboarded along parallel to me for about 3 blocks, eventually stopping at the Velvet Underground to ask some loiterers for a cigarette.
The neighbourhood seems to attract despondent teens who want to clean wind shields. I don't really know what the attraction is, other than the fact that the windshield angle is supposedly more lucrative than panhandling.
I think that the police are getting on their cases them more since the stabbing. I would say that the person was stabbed by a group of muggers, who happened to also be squeegee kids though.
According to today's Star, walking beside someone is counter to the Safe Streets Act, as is soliciting at a transit stop (like the guy who is always at the 504 King/Bay stop)
The City and homeless advocates have always opposed finding out where homeless people are from and the right wing have always maintained that many are not from Toronto and have migrated here, and now it turns out none of the four accused are from Toronto and three are from the US.
I cannot believe how bad it's become on Queen West. I've partied, shopped, and thoroughly enjoyed that area since my university days. What happened to the good vibes man?
It's terribly sad that a tragedy had to occur for police, councillors, etc to wake up. Too bad it takes glaring media attention to move some people.
But I'd also hate to see any backlash against decent folks that just happen to be less fortunate and homeless. That just wouldn't be fair.
Reposted from an earlier blog comment
"Funny. After writing that I went out to do some errands. Just yesterday I encountered TWO violent panhandlers.
After ignoring one's request for money I head into the 7-11 to grab a cool drink. I didn't see the panhandler as I left...because he was waiting around the corner for me. As soon as I left the store he jumped in front of me and started threatening me for ignoring his earlier request (With violence, then threatened to take my cell phone after still refusing to give him money).
Crossing the street I noticed he then started harassing other people at the intersection.
A block away I get asked by another individual. They block me as I'm walking to stop me from simply ignoring them after asking me for money. I tell them no, and the guy spits at me (missed, thankfully)
I'm tired of people giving sympathy for these thugs. They deserve to be in jail. (I'm not talking all homeless, just the ones that don't take no for an answer)"
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