City
Morning Brew: January 29th, 2009
Photo: "late lunch" by tanjatiziana, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Back-to-work legislation is expected to pass today at Queen's Park, forcing an end to the lengthy unionized employee strike at York University. Students are hoping to be back in the classroom on Monday, after the union reneged on their threat to pursue legal action to fight the emergency back-to-work legislation. The NDP continue to look like loonballs, and give their moderately left supporters another reason to start supporting the Libs and Greens.
Obama is coming to Canada on February 19th for a working visit; his first scheduled presidential visit to a foreign country. A 7th grader in Rexdale wants Obama to come to his community, and has penned a letter (along with 500 supporting signatures from his classmates). It would be awesome if the Whitehouse accepted the invitation, which was overnight couriered on a piece green bristol board.
Beware the red hatchback on city streets and in parking lots. There's a serial purse-snatcher on the loose, who has been using his vehicle to carry out drive-by muggings, sometimes even hitting his victim before grabbing their bag. Police are aware of three incidents in recent weeks.
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And in godless security relief line transit news...
Advertising for Atheism has been approved by the TTC, creating a heated debate that's sure to turn sour. But this could end up being a boon for the TTC if churches end up stepping up their advertising campaigns as a result. How cool would it be if a good chunk of cash required for service and infrastructure improvements came from a breakout believer/non-believer ad battle? People looking to God/no-God when the Scarborough RT sucks gonads (like yesterday) may have their prayers/non-prayers answered after all!
The freshly announced funding for 36 new transit police constables couldn't have come at a better time. With thefts occurring and gangster guns firing and the threat of a transit holy war on the horizon, these new recruits will likely come in handy and be kept busy.
And talk of a downtown relief subway line is back in the forefront. Imagine a subway route going from the Danforth, down to the Distillery, across the downtown core (along King or Queen) and then back up to Dufferin station or Dundas West station? That would be most excellent and extremely costly.
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Already going down the path of another failure, and there was so much hope. He starts by passing policy that won't permit lobbyists to work in his cabinet. A few days later he proceeds to write waiver so a major arms lobbyist can be his chief of defense. Ethics seem optional with Obama. At least we knew that Bush sucked, this guy will a lot more people down if he proceeds down this road. He already made 2 exceptions.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/01/obamas_lobbyist_problem_persis.asp
CNN is running that too, although this is not front page news last i looked. By actions he appears to be a dirtbag.
I am assuming this is because the economic downturn has hit advertising budgets.
Post some more links to right-wing blogs for me they are fascinating
CNN and NBC are considered left wing in the US, the other blog just had good sources linking.
Now I am a leftie myself, at lest on most issues.
This is a rightwing move and rather sad.
Here the Huffinton psot is running it too, a very left wing blog.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/09/obama-picks-defense-lobby_n_156536.html
I don't expect this kind of brain-dead writing in blogTO. The issue is complex and it takes two sides to create a situation like this. The management of York has obviously decided to play very hardball and recent comments by Premier McGuinty suggest that the majority portion of the blame belongs to the York President. Please don't let your own political bias ruin an otherwise interesting blog about life in TO.
it doesn't belong in the article in a news source
on the other hand it's ok in a personal blog where the material is more editorial and personal
it really depends on where blogTO wants to stand.
As for the issues comments is where it's a free for all.
I think this had more to do with Howard Hampton being on his way out than anything else. Yes, they did have some salient points about proper negotiating procedures being perhaps lost, but otherwise, when I see the NDP slogan anywhere, all I picture mentally is Jack Layton chasing a car a down a busy street, barking like a dog with no teeth.
Most of the street cars seem pretty empty by the time they get past Broadview, or maybe I'm just traveling at the wrong times (if so, please pardon my ignorance)
Religion AND non-religious ad's don't belong on our "public" transit. What next, ad's that question why people love the Habs instead of the Leafs? Give it a rest. Let's not ad fuel to the fire. Preach or don't preach what you want in your own home.
And i see one pro and one con argument for the DRL. PRO: These lines would serve as possible future N/W and N/E extentions(*AIRPORT??) CON: They don't really relieve congestion coming from the east or west if you think about it. Say i'm coming from Kipling and want to go to Union, what's the difference in taking the DRL instead of going to Yonge, then south?? Same distance right?
All in all, i'm for new subway lines. This city is getting to huge for just a two line system.
I was ready to punce Bush before he was president if that matters.
People need to realize that those hope blinders and faith in the god like Obama won't help. Hope is great, and I do hope he will change things, he may. But he already did multiple political maneuvers that should ring warning bells. HE implemented a policy upon entering office and broke that policy in the worst way 3 times within a week. Putting a VP and chief lobbyist of one of the biggest arms manufacturers in the world is a bit of a blatant and noticeable move. This positions holds major influence over purchasing decisions. It leaves me a bit shocked, comes attached with a sinking feeling.
Analogy time:
If you have a family of 7 and you go out looking to buy a new vehicle and all the minivans are slightly out of your price range, do you just say 'fuck it' and buy a 2 door coupe? It doesn't meet your needs, but you can afford it, so why not? Because eventually you'll have to deal with the reality you need a minivan and the more you spend on 'coupes', the longer it's going to take to save up enough to buy the van you desperately need.
Sheppard Line: $1 Billion
York University Extension: $2.6 Billion
Buses and Streetcars bought (or are planned to be bought) that won't be needed with the proposed Queen St subway: ? (At least a few million I imagine)
Giambrone is suggesting a relief line would cost around $2 Billion (yeah...right), but even still, that $3.6 Billion would certainly cover much of the costs.
The TTC needs to start up a 'future expansion fund' as part of their budget. Instead of spending their money on stuff they don't really need (relatively speaking), 10 years of savings can buy an awful lot of new subway lines.
Respectfully yours.
How does prolonging a strike against 50,000 students (well, I guess it'd be 45K) fix anything? And whilst the president of YorkU isn't perfect, he's Mahatma Gandhi/Mother Terese/Nelson Mandela all wrapped into one compared to Sid Ryan. Here's an awesome tip for everyone currently in possession of multiple brain cells: DON'T WORK AT A JOB THAT PAYS "POVERTY WAGES" AND THEN MOAN AND GROAN LATER. If it was such a bad job - don't take it as you should be able to get a better job elsewhere. Whilst there are one or two issues that need to be looked at (the contract faculty issue is dumb, but so is imposing tenures onto union members - that will make it impossible to get rid of bad instructors), this strike is the manifestation of a greedy, power hungry union who is comprised on ideologically driven employees who fail to realize that maybe there's a reason why the public, students, politicians, their employers and the police don't like them.
The NDP has produced a series of scathing radio ads lambasting the Liberals for propping up Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government.
The ads come one day after Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff announced that his party will allow Tuesdays budget to pass, provided that the government agrees to issue periodic progress reports on the budget's implementation and effectiveness.
Ignatieff said his ploy amounts to putting the Harper government on probation but the NDP ads assert that the Liberals are simply rubber stamping the budget.
The ads claim Ignatieff has failed his first test as leader and has thrown in his lot with Harper; they argue that the NDP's Jack Layton is the only leader strong enough to stand up to the prime minister.
Source
The Canadian Press