City
Morning Brew: George Smitherman to Run for Mayor, New Generation Sushi Kitchen Murder, 407 ETR Billing Problems, King & Spadina LCBO too Short and Stout
Photo: "Mural - DSC 0926 ep" by ericparker, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
George Smitherman has declared that he will be resigning from his post as minister of energy and infrastructure in the provincial cabinet to prepare for his bid to be Toronto's next mayor in 2010. He's either banking on memories being short, forgiveness being widespread, or his own ability to convince the public that his performance through the eHealth spending scandal was acceptable.
Murder in a sushi restaurant kitchen has a particular B-movie-esque plot ring to it, but this weekend it actually happened at one of the most popular sushi joints in Toronto - New Generation in the Annex. A minor dispute turned violent, one chef is dead, and I'm sure some people will have a hard time shaking the visual and eating raw fish any time soon.
Does the 407 Express Toll Route have a billing problem? Is the problem worthy of official investigation? Hundreds of people have come forward to tell their stories to the Toronto Star, many involving massive, interest-accrued bills from disputable road use dating back several years. In some cases, the 407 has issued invoices to the deceased even though the license plate in question hasn't been on the road for some time.
A potential strike by contract teaching staff at the University of Toronto, who collectively do about 3% of the teaching, was averted this weekend and a ratification vote goes to the union on November 16th. Details of the tentative agreement haven't been released, but the core issues were job security and wages.
Urban architecture critic Christopher Hume doesn't like the new LCBO at the corner of King and Spadina, particularly because it's just one-storey at an intersection that should accommodate taller buildings. He writes that the LCBO "has its own way of doing things and fails to see beyond that," and I couldn't agree more on both the (urban sprawl-like) building and (million bottles all the same) product selection fronts.
And this weekend, while I was up in the nation's capital enjoying the 24th annual Ottawa Food and Wine Show, blogTO was busy in Toronto:
- Roger saw some of our lovely historical buildings in Corktown lit up for the first time.
- June Too had brunch at Lola's Commissary, where she was mesmerized and satiated by their indulgent French toast stuffed with cheesecake.
- Claire posted a review of Mount Pleasant's Mogette Bistro, and Orman ate at both My Place - A Canadian Pub and Glow Fresh Grill and Wine Bar.
- Tim filled us in on a number of recent business closures including: Get Real Cafe on Ossington, Blackstone Organic Meats on the Danforth, Six Shooter Records is Leslieville, and Left Feet in Kensington.
- Sarah chatted with Bruce Poon Tip, the founder of Gap Adventures, about Toronto and his adventure company.
- For the brides-to-be, Devon revealed the best bridal shops in the city.
- And Istoica took a look back at the models of Fashion Week 2009, in a Faces of Fashion Week photo essay.
Discussion
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Since that current stretch of King already has a number of projects in construction or about to break ground, this lot would have to wait a number of years before it was developed. Far better to have a retail outlet as a temporary location than to keep it as it was - a parking lot.
The idiotic thing is that Hume then goes to tear in to Shoppers for not going into large buildings. I know why Shoppers isn't in the Ryerson building: they have a location in 10 Dundas (fka Toronto Life Square) as well as in the Eaton's Centre. Since one is attached to Rye Biz and the other is kitty corner, there is of course no chance (nor a need) to put a Shoppers in the building. Shoppers has other stores on Bay street that further demonstrate their aversion to tall buildings - Lu Cliffe Place, TD Centre, Royal Bank Plaza, Brookfield Place (fka BCE Place), and 69 Yonge.
Hume is an idiot and spouts off without even trying to be logical or consistent, much like environmentalist density advocates who then rail at condo development in Toronto (i.e. everyone at Spacing). I'm rather sure he isn't a fan of surface lots and is aware of a minor depression in real estate as well as the large glut of units just on that stretch of King (never mind the huge projects going up just south on Front: Fly and 300). But don't let that get in the way of yet another communist rant. And then he'll bitch that no one builds modernist houses or buildings that ignore the needs and desires of residents but please architectural students and are intriguing theoretically if not practically.
Finally, we'll free ourselves from the ridiculous threats of a cosseted union that threatens a dry summer unless their wage demands are met.
My local BIA tried for years to get the LCBO to locate in the local shopping district. Didn't work because no location fit the LCBO's current template, which was designed for the suburbs, not for downtown. If you want wine, you gotta drive to get it. Is that good city-building?
Anyway, the King/Spadina building is a quick-slap booze stand on a major downtown corner. It's the kind of building that nobody could ever give a shit about, and it'll never capture anyone's imagination. Opportunity wasted.
But that's the Canadian way, isn't it? Aim low.
Whoever designed the LCBO template is a talentless hack and just doing what the market wants/expects and what the boss wants/expects, as opposed to doing his/her job to f*cking use his/her imagination.
Wouldn't it be awesome if we could trade all these hacks with Scandinavia and take all their architects? A year or two later, all the Scandinavians would still have jobs and we'd have an urban landscape that wasn't embarrassing. Meanwhile all the Canadian hacks would be unemployed (and probably run out of the country).
Bingo! That's the way the LCBO works. North Toronto is a good example. The store was evicted by development twice--Yonge and Blythwood, then again after it moved to St Germain and Avenue Road Look for a small condo to be built at Deloraine and Avenue Road in the next ten years.