Morning Brew: June 19th, 2008
Photo: "nest" by usine de nuage, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
Your Toronto morning news roundup for Thursday June 19th, 2008:
1 in 3 Torontonians are overweight, and 1 in 9 are obese. A Statscan study looks at how we rank relative to national stats for body mass index, and level of physical activity and while the results aren't much of a surprise, they're sure to spawn yo' mama jokes and a surge in health food and diet pill sales.
Thousands of customers using several ATMs from over a dozen banks were duped by fraudsters with sophisticated technique and technology, and robbed of their account info, PIN numbers, and then cash. Eight people face charges, and the full extent to which they're believed to have pilfered is yet to be determined. It's getting harder and harder to detect these scams, and more people are going back to the old "wad of cash under the mattress" strategy.
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A report suggests that the St.Clair TTC streetcar Right-of-Way may be a serious hindrance to fire trucks responding to emergency calls. While falling short of saying that lives may be lost as a result, Fire Chief Bill Stewart notes that high curbs and obstructing poles could slow emergency crews down.
The development of a proposed and highly ambitious Berkeley Playing Fields, which were to see an eco-centric condo/retail/hotel/leisure building project engulf yet retain the old Berkeley Church has been nixed by the city.
A study suggests that more and more people are choosing to live in condos and townhomes over detached houses. I'm inclined to think that these numbers are skewed because many people don't actually have a choice, and end up in condos and townhomes because detached homes too so bloody expensive for people these days.
Comments (12)
thank Jah the city killed that Berkeley Fields idea....it's a hideous design.
re: condo living? I had to choose a semi in the 'burbs just to get one at the price I want. to go from that to an equivalently priced downtown condo of maybe 600 sq ft.? hell nope.
choosing? probably not. resigned to the fact is more like it.
RBeezy.
I would rather downsize to cut on commuting costs.
Re. Fire saftey on St Clair...
So you are trying to tell me that the Police, fire and EMS wouldn't have to sign off on the proposal for the street car tracks?
This sounds like a pile of shit to me
There were some arrests this morning related to drug and gun charges. One being on Belair in Yorkville.
Does anybody know if some of the businesses on that street have apartments on top of them? The only residential unit I can think of is the 10 Belair condo.
The units in that building range from about 500,000 for a 1 bedroom to 6 Million. If that's the case, it must have been a pretty successful drug dealer.
Well, if I don't have kids I need space for, I'd rather pay for a smaller condo downtown than live in a suburban house that's, ultimately, excessive for a single couple.
People need to tighten their belts and lose outdated dreams of houses, garages, and private yards. It isn't the norm anymore, financially or environmentally.
Benefit of a house being the added privacy, you know...if you wanted to do something illegal... like selling drugs.
Re. Top Photo: Kewl. I haven't seen one of those caterpillar nests in a long time. Used to be they were all over the place in springtime. Sigh, yet another sign of the times.
Next. It really surprises me that the TTC St. Clair street car lane has been up now for almost a year, and yet Fire Chief Stewart has only just now expressed his concerns, included along with a report, about fire safety? C'mon!!
We're not the only city in the world that uses this type of transit, and there are plenty of others that also use the elevated lane, so there has to have been plenty of documentation available already into some of the comparable issues all major cities share, including accessibily, security, FIRE SAFETY, etc...
So make what adjustments are necessary and get on with the new LRT projects!
Councillors, stop wasting the public's time and money for what is little more than NIMBY-ism
Timbo, I've lived in every part of the city, from Driftwood to The Beaches....and while the commute and the vibrancy of being in the city is exciting, at the end of another day of wage-slaving, I like being able to go in my backyard with a beer to relax under a clear sky and fresh(er) air.
that being said, give me a Tip Top loft for half the going rate and I'm there.
680News blew it. The study by the Sustainable Urban Development Association (SUDA) says no such thing.
What the study DOES say is that only slightly more than half of respondents said that living in a semidetached home was "acceptable" or "may be acceptable".
Fewer than half of respondents considered living in a 2-storey townhouse with a rear patio and common greenspaces to be "acceptable" or "may be acceptable".
By contrast, three quarters of respondents would accept or may accept living in a medium-value (typical suburban) single detached home.
The study is here:
Gloria: I, for one, won't lose the dream of a garage for my projects and a private garden -- free of dog poop, garbage, concrete and high-intensity lighting. King Street condoland is pretty close to my idea of purgatory.
I would like to thank Greg Pereira and anyone else in the city planning department that voted against the Berkeley Playing Fields for making the sensible choice to turn down the pre-application this development. I appreciate that Doug Wheler, the developer, has already done a lot to enhance the neighbourhood with the renovation of the Berkeley churh but the condo idea is too much. I think this "downtroden stretch of Queen"(National Post's editorializing again) might be in need of development but look at this thing, it's insane!
On a related note: I bought in to a new condo 2 years ago because it was the best way to get in to the housing game. I'm not against condos at all but with all the extra expenses I pay on top of my mortgage (taxes, insurance, maintenance fees, heater rental, etc, etc) at this point I'm ready to move to a handy man's dream house.
Yes, the EMS and Fire services had to sign off on the design. However, there is a big difference between measurements on paper showing that the trucks would technically fit, and the actual driving of said truck. As well, there was considerable behind-the-scenes political pressure to accept the plan if it could minimally work.
Now, with actual experience, we find that in practical terms, the ill-conceived St. Clair Right of Way is difficult for the Fire Service to navigate, especially dodging the streetcars, and the one-and-a-half driving lanes that are always congested with traffic, even at off-peak daytime hours, delay emergency services. Politicians, well-rehearsed at partisan, I-was-right-especially-if-I'm-wrong patronizing responses, dismiss this serious issue (hello Mihevc!).
The fact is that the original analysis was seriously flawed, the community concerns were largely ignored, local businesses in the areas that have already been converted to RoW are now empty storefronts, and businesses along the next-to-be done stretch west of Bathurst are closing their doors, rather than being forced into a slow death.
I am all for good transit planning, and promoting the use of transit (and bicycles, and walking) over private vehicles wherever possible. However, this RoW project became an ideological cause for many, without appropriate consideration being given to the realities of a local community, based on bogus research (eg. traffic studies to gauge impact were conducted during the lowest traffic week of the year) and an indifferent, cynical process, largely presided over by Councillor Joe Mihevc, and attended by transit activists who mostly lived in North York.
And now, thanks to all of this, those who live in the community find that our lives and properties are now at increased risk. Just fucking great.
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