City
Morning Brew: Safe Injection Site, Wind Turbine Protest, Gun Crime, Neil Young, and Fruit Flies
Photo: "Chippy likes the beer cup... (LOMO)" by chewie2008~, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Should Toronto open a supervised safe injection site for the city's drug users (a la Vancouver)? Would doing so curb abuse and disease spread, or would it be akin to promoting hard drug use? Researchers are quietly looking at this as an option, and the issue is sure to emphasize strong divides along moral/political lines.
The proposed Lake Ontario wind turbine farm (which could include as many as 60 turbines and which could end up in Scarborough) is still pushing a small group of residents to protest and make demands for full environmental assessments. I suspect that a lengthy and costly environmental assessment will result in findings suggesting that wind turbine-generated energy is great for the environment and not more than a minor annoyance to nearby people.
While homicides in Toronto aren't generally on the rise, violent gun crime is. The National Post has an interview with deputy police chief Tony Warr, who is bothered by "gangsterism" and says that we should all be concerned about the rise in gun violence, but not yet in panic mode.
Neil Young and George Romero are amongst those who will be making appearances at free screenings at Yonge-Dundas Square during TIFF this year. These are certain to be hugely popular and well-attended. Getting there early and up close will be key, especially if you want to have a taste of Romero's brain and come a little bit closer to hear what Young has to say.
And if you're experiencing an all-too-common fruit fly infestation in your home (they're pesky little quick breeding buggers, aren't they!?), you may want to check out this piece on battling fruit (and drain) flies run by the Globe and Mail. Happy hunting!
Discussion
22 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
and effect my view from the toront0 islandsnnnnnnnggggggggggg
Someone had to do it :)
If there IS a site in Toronto, though, my money is on George Street, between Dundas and Gerrard.
Seems like a reasonable solution.
And yes, Vancouver is a mess, the police department in Vancouver that works that hood gets special counseling to deal with what they see.
Afterall it has to go somewhere
or DP if that is what they will call themselves
*snicker*
High-rise windows lit up at night are hazardous to bird safety as well.
An increase Toronto's dependence on coal-fired power plants and nuclear power would be hazardous to everyone's health from those same birds, to children to people in seemingly good health.
It should also be noted that over 5,000 people die every year(from the Ontario Medical Association data) in Ontario from smog related illnesses.
Does the writer know that the transmission grid that feeds power into the core from the East is already at capacity so to have this power serve Toronto residents the government would need to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade that first, or simply sell the power into the grid with no usage in Toronto?
Does the writer know that Dalton McGuinity stripped all environmental protection when he passed the Green Energy Act and took away the right of citizens to participate in decision making?
Does the writer know that Toronto Hydro violated the law over three hundred times in their application (a claim their lawyer does not deny) or that they failed to meet the basic requirements of the application process and lied repeatedly to residents while shutting down discussion at community meetings with bussed in, paid activists?
Thats why residents were protesting, they won't look small when they take out a handful of Liberal MPPS in Scarborough in the next provincial election which is exactly what is going to happen if this project isn't quashed.
Those nice men in suits who want to industrialize all our few remaining natural areas, they are the good guys! Aren't they?? They don't need no stinkin' environmental assessment!