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Morning Brew: Late Night Power Chores, Tears for Silverado, High Park Dereliction

Posted by Jerrold Litwinenko / May 15, 2009

12 Comments

paddling the don riverPhoto: "Paddling the Don" by andyscamera, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

Come next month it'll make fiscal sense to save doing your laundry, dishwashing, and vacuuming for after 9pm. Toronto Hydro will be switching pricing models so that customers pay more for energy use during peak hours, and pay less during non-peak hours [CBC]. This could end up being a serious cash windfall for the city, because we all know how hard it is to get people to change their habits.

Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty will be in Toronto today, to make a transit-related announcement that has the media writing articles that say very little [City, G&M]. If it's not official word that the feds and the province will be kicking in cash for those new streetcars, then what it is? We'll find out at 11am, but if you want a hint, check out Spacing's insider juice (spoiler alert).

If it is cash for those new streetcars, will there be a red, white, and blue taxpayer funded "thank you Stephen Harper" notice/advertisement posted all over the TTC? I certainly hope not! That's already happened recently with McGuinty's Liberals, and people aren't happy [Star].

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There are a bunch of derelict, boarded up houses on Bloor St. facing High Park. It's prime real estate, but the owner's request for demolition was rejected by the city in 2006 due to a lack of redevelopment plans. Now there are plans for a condo, but a brewing battle over height limits (the developers want more than the prescribed 12-storeys) may delay construction [NP].

The loss of jobs and the impending impact it will have on the community's livelihood surely does suck. But having never needed or had any interest in buying a giant truck, I can't say that I'm shedding any tears over the last Chevy Silverado coming off the assembly line at Oshawa's GM plant [G&M].

Discussion

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Dave / May 15, 2009 at 08:41 am
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I think you're completely missing the reason for the tears in Oshawa. They're not crying because they love trucks. They're crying because they've lost their jobs.
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Trevor / May 15, 2009 at 08:48 am
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Um, the increase in hydro rates will not lead to a cash windfall for the city. The rates that are increasing are related to the energy charge, which is a pass through rate. Toronto Hydro pays this money out (in effect...it's a little more complex but not worth getting into here) to the IESO for the hydro consumed by customers. City of Toronto (Toronto Hydro's shareholder) doesn't see a dime
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DJ / May 15, 2009 at 08:58 am
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The time-of-use pricing is a huge cash grab for somebody. Last I checked all but the midnight rate was above market price for electricity. There is no way of saving money on the model.
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Mark Dowling / May 15, 2009 at 09:13 am
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Toronto Hydro customers with smartmeters can already see how time of use would affect them. I look at my smartmeter output every so often at torontohydro.com/TOU and it's been enlightening how much power stuff like clothes dryers use, and the baseline power use of stuff like cable boxes and phone chargers at 4am when nobody's awake.
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Jonathan / May 15, 2009 at 09:31 am
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They say it's not acceptable to demolish a building without a development plan. I say that's not enough either. You should have an APPROVED development plan and APPROVED FINANCING.

Look at 1 Bloor East. How long has this lot been vacant for now?
Look at ~50 Wellesley East. Plazacorp demolished the building a year ago and it's still just a pile of rubble. Recently they have applied to turn it into a "temporary" parking lot. We're going backwards in city planning now, knocking down buildings for more parking lots!
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Jonathan / May 15, 2009 at 09:32 am
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They say it's not acceptable to demolish a building without a development plan. I say that's not enough either. You should have an APPROVED development plan and APPROVED FINANCING.

Look at 1 Bloor East. How long has this lot been vacant for now?
Look at ~50 Wellesley East. Plazacorp demolished the building a year ago and it's still just a pile of rubble. Recently they have applied to turn it into a "temporary" parking lot. We're going backwards in city planning now, knocking down buildings for more parking lots!
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Amanda / May 15, 2009 at 09:52 am
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I walk past those derelict houses across from High Park all the time and have always wondered what was going on. You can tell some of the homes would have been gorgeous in their prime- how long have they been boarded up?? Their neighbours must be thrilled. Honestly how long can deadbeat owners just sit on prime property and do NOTHING with it? That entire block is incredibly creepy with a "Watcher in the Woods" vibe at night.
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Mark / May 15, 2009 at 10:58 am
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The Bloor-High Park houses have been boarded up for years now. It's a damn shame, because people could be living there. It is in fact very creepy. I've sauntered through some of the backyards before and if you forget about the giant, fully occupied apartment towers behind you, it's got a ghost town feel.
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graham / May 15, 2009 at 02:05 pm
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there are some lovely old houses around Howard and Glen (near Sherbourne and Bloor) that have apparently been boarded up for decades. it's such a disgrace. more info and photos (including an incredible then-and-now) here: http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=6379
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DJ / May 15, 2009 at 02:21 pm
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9 cents a kilowatt hour daytime... yeah, a bit much. Check out http://www.sygration.com/gendata/today.html

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Reality Check / May 15, 2009 at 04:09 pm
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"don't give out demolition permits" err because boarded up houses are so awesomely attractive. Without going fully totalitarian, its very hard to force owners to do what you want with property. Demolition by neglect and other strategies will always work and are dramatically worse than a parking lot.
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Mick / May 23, 2009 at 02:34 pm
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Actually, I like boarded up house MUCH MORE than a parking lot. A house can be fixed. A parking lots signals its all been ruined.
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