Morning Brew: May 12th, 2008
Photo: "Standby" by wu5mike, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
Your Toronto morning news roundup for Monday May12th, 2008:
Twenty years later, five familiar faces and voices will be returning to Toronto for a show at ACC on September 21st. Are Danny, Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, and Donnie still hangin' tough? Can they still make the teenaged girls scream the way they used to, or will this be a stadium full of 30 and 40-something screaming ladies? Tickets go on sale today.
A new report on tourism in Toronto suggests that the Big Smoke isn't a "must-see" amongst tourists because our sight-seeing is stale, service at attractions is poor, and roads and traffic are bad. When did Toronto earn the nick name "The Big Smoke" anyhow? I've lived here my whole life and only very recently has the use of this horrible name picked up steam.
Despite several years passing under laws preventing people from smoking cigarettes in public buildings, people are still lighting up in many of Toronto's night clubs. The Star went bar-hopping for an investigative story, and found that in some cases bar staff are clearly aware that this goes on.
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New, big recycling bins are a problem for residents living above retail shops. Carting a massive bin up and down stairs just isn't practical or possible for many Torontonians, and the city still doesn't have a solution to the problem. Bags may be the answer.
Is Yonge-Dundas Square for the people? Apparently not. In an incredible twist of irony, when the National Post attempted to photograph Toronto chief city planner Gary Wright (who was on the planning team for Y-D Square back in 1996), they were asked to stop because a multinational company was about to start giving away free pizzas in a corporate promotion.
A fender bender outside the Guvernment night club escalated to assault, abduction, and attempted extortion. One victim ended up in the suspects' car where he was roughed up and threatened, before being dumped on the side of the road way out near Pearson airport. Police are looking for 5 people and Torontonians are sure to blame 905'ers for polluting the downtown with their uncool, suburban, bad-ass behaviour.
Comments (21)
I smell B.S. in regards to that story about the abduction and beating.
Perhaps Parm and Coca crashed the benz drunk and it will be it will be found later on in a ditch somewhere.
But you never know
Big Smoke? Seriously? I've never heard of that before in my life.
I hope NKOTB likes their trip to the Big Smoke. I've already got someone buying tickets for me so I can relive my youth in September.
Maybe our nasty smog problem is to blame for a resurgence in the use of "The Big Smoke"? Apparently is was imported from London.
How to make Toronto a more popular destination?
The best plan is not to think of tourists at all. Build an engaging, interesting, beautiful city for ourselves.
Fix transit. Discourage street begging. Keep parks/trails open year round rather than closing them up in the winter. Stop building fake beaches, real parking lots and skyscraper condos on the waterfront.
Let's focus on getting the great city back on track. Bland yes, but people will come to see it if it's ALIVE.
Or, we could sink a billion or so into an aquarium that no local ever visits...
Toronto has been referred to derisively as the 'Big Smoke' by Maritimers for as long as I can remember. I'd guess its origins are from the movie (or at least that time period), "Goin' Down the Road'.
From the industrial age mindsets of parents/grandparents whose kids moved toward the more populous Toronto claiming 'greater opportunity'.
It's also the only place I've ever heard the term "Upper Canadians" used in everyday speech. Prior to that, I'd only known it from my grade 8 and high school Canadian history textbook.
I hate how strict Dundas Square is. Half the time if there's ever anything going on there they strip people of any priveledges on that space, and they are super strict about it.
All these papers are writing articles about these new big blue bins, yet I haven't seen one yet that includes a picture of the darn thing. I dont know what they are talking about.
Are people really that surprised that that Toronto isn't a tourist town? Think about it, it costs about $25 to go up the CN Tower, is the view really worth $25?? When I was living overseas I always told people that, Toronto is a great city to live in but a crap city to visit. It has no "wow" factor.
Since we've banned smoking, why not ban excessive perfumes .. they're bad for my health, not to mention severely unnatractive (like smoking) !
@Malcolm.... see here for a picture of my new blue bin after it's first pick-up.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3221/2485888043_1e5bb42c54_b.jpg
@ Jerrold.
Working in claims i have heard these stories before and more often then not the vehicle was not stolen and recovered later in a ditch.
@Diane
It's not illegal to take a photo on public property, but that doesn't stop those unaware of the law from believing it is. In this case, I don't think the staffer was suggesting it was illegal, but rather that professional recording required a permit. Nothing on the YDS website suggests that permits are required for news photography.
Some 'public' squares and parks aren't owned by the city. I thought Dundas was one of those, but some wikipedia'ing proved me wrong. Malls are obvious ones. The distillery district is an example of an outside one though.
My Dad has been calling Toronto the 'Big Smoke' for over 30 years, it's what i called the city before i got here... but i have no idea why.
Wiki says: The Big Smoke ? originally a nickname for London, England, presumably imported by British immigrants.
I don't mind the nickname 'The Big Smoke'...Hogtown, on the other hand, refers to the pig slaughterhouses that used to corrupt our downtown air. I've made my choice.
Looks like wiki was wrong. Turns out Dundas Square IS privately owned. Meaning they -can- forbid photography. Due to the nature of the square though, all they can really do is ask you to leave if you don't stop taking photos.
It'd be tough for them to win any legal battles over something like photography even though it's privated owned.
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