City
Morning Brew: April 25th, 2008
Photo: "Ontario Sweet Carrots" by polka dot dress, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
Your Toronto morning news roundup for Friday April 25th, 2008:
As if losing everything in the devastating Queen St fire wasn't enough. Owners of the popular Duke's bicycle shop (that served Toronto for 90 years before being gutted in the blaze) are now struggling to cope with a staggering $64,000 bill from the city for resulting demolition work rendered. If everyone in Toronto pitched just $0.03 each, the problem would be taken care of.
Gas prices continue to rise and are predicted to be $2.25/L within just a few years. Couple this with grocery staples going up and the economy go down and we have issues. Bread is rising outside the oven, and meat is following in its heels (because it requires lots of grain and fuel to produce).
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About 20 shots were fired and four men and a black SUV are being sought after a gun fight near Sherbourne and Wellesley last night. Incidentally, now you can tip off police on crimes by sending text messages anonymously.
Toronto is not a bike-friendly city. Tell us something we didn't already know.
After a bungled Crown case resulted in staying of charges, it's unfortunate that the courts won't rule whether or not Toronto police officers beat up drug dealers, stole their money and drugs, and sold them back to high-level criminals (as detailed in a recent CBC report).
Discussion
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They are getting hit with a large demo bill because he had no insurance on the building?
I'd love to know who was responsible for such lunk-headed thinking.
When you try to be as snarky like Torontoist, maybe you should try doing it, ya know, well.
Toronto could create a zillion km of bike lanes to meet those criteria, but if those bike lanes are still unenforced lumpy, bumpy afterthoughts of go-nowhere sunken-sewer-grate trail, where's the progress except on paper?
@ Cyclist - Maybe Jerrold is being a bit snarky in his comments, but the statement is apt and not really a surprise to most cyclists. Toronto ranks 7th out of 10 cities for the number of km of on-street bikes lanes, but also ranks 9th out of 10 for km of on-street bikes lanes per km*2 based on the pdf chart linked to the Star article. These measure don't take into account continuity of bikes lanes over distances; safety of bike lanes (Montreal has some with curbs protecting cyclists from cars); and km of bike lanes in the core.
I also agree that quality is an issue but when we compare with the cities that prioritize cycling in the measurements I referenced above, connectivity will have to follow.
I'm not trying to be anything but the brewer of the morning news on blogTO, delivered in my own style.
Also, the owner of Duke's had a good point when he said his building burned to the ground - there was nothing left to demolish!