City
Morning Brew: Winter Solstice, TTC Signaling Problems, Film Lounge Raided, Megabus Crashes, DriveTest Strike Over
Photo: "First Ice" by M_Ruth, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Happy winter solstice (aka the first day of winter)! It only gets better from here, as the days begin to get longer rather than shorter.
TTC subway service between Bloor and King on the Yonge-University line is down and shuttle buses are running (as of 7:57am) due to switching problems. It's Monday morning commuter headaches again. Is it just me, or does our subway system suffer from signaling and switching problems far too often? Maybe the Toronto Sun should do a piece on this phenomenon, rather than running yet another (holy shit, enough already!) piece on subway suicides. UPDATE: Signal problems have been solved, and it's all-clear on the Yonge line (8:44am).
Film Lounge, a club on Dundas near Spadina with a history of problems, was raided by police last night and 15 people were charged with drug possession and trafficking offenses (of coke, k, and jib - oh my!). The venue was allegedly running as an after-hours venue, and has been operating with undercover police watching for months. When the cops barged in and announced the raid, apparently most patrons tossed their narcotics onto the floor, making it a virtual labyrinth of GHB vials.
Pearson Airport is almost back to normal (i.e. on-time) flight service, after a massive Nor'easter storm threw off departure schedules from a whack of north-eastern U.S. airports this weekend. At least we escaped being pummeled by snow, right?
For the second time this month, a discount bus liner (Megabus) en route between New York City and Toronto crashed near Buffalo. In both cases, weather and road conditions may have been factors, but in this recent incident, it appears that a sleepy driver was to blame.
The unionized workers' strike at DriveTest Ontario is finally over, and most driver examination centres across the province will be re-opening in the New Year. With workers having been off the job since August, there's a corresponding massive backlog and a need to hire 100 new staffers as a result.
Because Ontario red wine is generally quite cloying and unsatisfying (and grapes highly susceptible to poor expression due to variations in our growing conditions), vino-scientists at Chateau des Charmes are actively experimenting with cross-breeding of varietals to produce hybrids that are more suited to our cold growing climate. I'm of the opinion that rather than trying to re-invent the wheel (with limited success), Ontario winemakers should be putting more emphasis on perfecting production of cold climate varietals that we already do well (i.e. whites, late harvests, and ice wine).
And between last-minute shopping and sips of rum- and nutmeg-spiked eggnog, here's what blogTO was up to this weekend:
- Tim reviewed Chris Bosh's short documentary DVD First Ink (which left him wanting more), filled us in on Dave Wireless (a mobile phone company preparing to launch in 2010), and relayed another rodent in a restaurant sighting (this time at a cafe in Warden Station).
- Chrissy compiled and presented a comprehensive list of charity holiday toy drives in Toronto.
- I polled the readership about their thoughts on the government of Ontario's "Join the Resistance" flu fighting ad campaign aimed at college and university students.
- Jessica profiled Black Dice, a new rockabilly bar in the Brockton triangle.
- Kelly chatted with CP24 morning show remote host Matte Babel, about all things Toronto.
Discussion
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The TTC, through e-alerts and twitter updates, is being as transparent and open as possible in letting its riders know that, not only is there a delay, but why. Communications technology has allowed us to more readily share the cause of delays... you may simply be hearing about them more often today.
Since you comment on TTC maintenance I have a problem with TTC that staff, engineers and area supers have spun and avoided for 10 years now.
When will TTC finally and continually grind the tracks and vehicle wheels on the Bloor Line to eliminate the corrugation?
The increasing noise and vibrations have been a real problem for 10 years. Your staff have been to my home and neighbors homes taking sound readings, promising all sorts of dates this work will be done only to delay it over and over with other problems needing repairs on the line first. Repairs they were unaware existed before committing to grind the tracks!
Frankly, as demonstrated by TTC I have very little confidence in TTC's ability to maintain the system and feel the lack of competence to do so appropriately and regularly is a key factor in many problems the system operations suffer as a whole.
Please respond with something other than more spin.
I have entirely given up the TTC's surface transit, and rarely head far enough from home/work to require the subway. Even last SATURDAY I saw shuttle-buses running on the Danforth.
As far as Film... they're rather focused on complying with the alcohol rules. You can only buy bottled water after 2, and it's rather expensive. Somehow the patrons remain satisfied and keep buying water till sunrise and beyond.
Good advice on Ontario wine - too many vintners are chasing fashion and are taunted by Oregon and Washington reds grown at similar latitudes. Alas we have a far more continental climate and need to emulate German and Alsace wine traditions.
The research project that we have been working on for the past 10 years at Château des Charmes is doing just that – looking for ways to accentuate the positives and mitigate the negatives of our particular wine region. It is essentially accellerated Natural Selection. A famous example of this is South Africa’s Pinotage, a cross between Cinsault and Pinot Noir. Another ubiqitous example is Cabernet Sauvignon, whose parents are Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon are not hybrids. They are vitis vinifera vines created by crossing two vinifera parents, whether deliberately or by Mother Nature. Examples of hybrids are Vidal and Baco Noir. South Africa was successful in their quest for a South African vinifera vine. We hope to be as successful in our quest to produce a uniquely Canadian vinifera vine that produces excellent wine and is well-suited to our growing conditions. Growing fine wine is as much science as it is art. This partciular research project is firmly rooted in the science of viticulture and when the time is right we look forward to sharing our results with you and our industry colleagues.
This is a safety issue and should be investigated NOW!