City
Morning Brew: Tax Hikes and Service Cuts, Smitherman and Husband to Adopt, Ajax Hockey Team Escapes Disaster, Ending the Reign of Fat Rich Kids, GPS Thieves Target Homes, CTV Olympic Coverage Complaints
Photo: "Lovers?" by neilta, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
It's budget day at the City of Toronto. What can we expect? It'll be tough to balance, and in tough times we're likely to see both tax hikes (boo!) and service cuts (boo!). As belt-tightening is expected across the board, both the TTC and Toronto Police Services (which combined account for 24% of our operating costs) are asking for more money. And a big bailout from the Province is not likely, given it's facing a $24.7-billion deficit.
Toronto mayoral hopeful George Smitherman and his husband Christopher Peloso have been given the green light by the Toronto Children's Aid Society (CAS) to begin the lengthy adoption process. According to some nutso commenters on Posted Toronto, this is not good news because the CAS steals babies from perfectly good parents and gives them to the gays.
Had a late game scoring chance been successful, they would have gone into overtime in Pittsburgh. And rather than being in the locker room at the time, an Ajax tykes hockey team would have been on the ice when the arena roof caved in. Luckily all escaped without injury, and lived to tell the tale in earthquake- and dinosaur-metaphor detail. See the CityNews video below.
Rich kids in the city are battling obesity while poor kids are lucky to be able to afford enough food to stay alive. It's the reality that is our urban food system, and the Toronto Board of Health is making lofty goals to improve food programs, create community gardens, and enhance communal food education. The problem is... are they achievable?
There was no love on highway 401 on Valentine's Day. A woman was somehow ejected from a moving car, but is expected to survive the ordeal. Police haven't revealed the relationship of the couple, or confirmed whether or not she fell from the car or was forced from it.
Thefts of GPS units from vehicles are up dramatically, and police are warning owners of the devices to be smart about how they record the "home" bookmark. Thieves who steal the GPS might also make off with keys or garage door openers (and a nice car must mean a nice house, which must mean more nice stuff to steal).
People aren't particularly happy about CTV's television coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games, and are pining for the CBC. It's a shame our national public broadcaster couldn't have won the bid to be the media host. Watching Lisa LaFlamme laugh at herself, listening to the commentators go on and on about a Ukrainian figure skating pair's shiny blue Avatar-like outfits, and missing the timely moment that Bilodeau stepped up onto the gold position of the podium (instead showing a random crowd shot) are just a few of the annoyances I experienced this weekend.
And for even more hyperlocal news, here's what the writers at blogTO were up to this busy long weekend:
- Christopher chatted with Come As You Are co-op sex shop co-owner Sarah Forbes-Roberts, about sexuality and Toronto.
- Briony profiled SHOPNYLA, purveyor of NY and LA fashions in a Miami-inspired storefront in Rosedale.
- Guest contributor Matthew Harris gave us a detailed status update on the Bohemian Embassy condo development in West Queen West.
- Roger checked out the newest from Lexus and Honda (and more) at the Toronto Autoshow, was teased and titillated at the Erotic Arts and Crafts Fair, reviewed the the Intimate Apparel theatre production, and slept with Adam Giambrone.
- Matthew posted a bunch of great photos from each and every night of the awesome Wavelength 500 concert series.
- Elizabeth checked out the wacky and wild bike races on ice at the Icycle event at Dufferin Grove.
- And I posted the teaser trailer for the forthcoming documentary film about Dimitri the Lover, watched Canada win gold and the CN Tower mark the win, tried to find a free copies of the Toronto Star, and stumbled upon a giant heart painted on the road in The Annex.
Discussion
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i'm actually happy about the coverage, aside from using some of the MTV hosts. also pretty hilarious hearing Brian Williams say "here on CBC..er.. CTV."
Also why does the Olympic theme song contain such bad grammar? Each time I hear it, it becomes more and more painful
also: the Olympic song and Nikki yanofsky need to go away...
also: rollerblading? at the opening ceremonies? wow. embarassing
also: serving underage teens champagne on live television...way to go.
of course a rogers-owned broadcaster "won" gig...
also: pretty sure the broadcaster broadcasts the opening ceremonies, not choreograph it as it's the Vancouver Olympics and not the CTY Olympics
also: it was a spur-of-the-moment celebratory gesture, not a chugging contest. relax.
also: rogers doesn't own ctv. not in the slightest.
We hear that so much in Toronto, it should be our city's motto..
Maybe if we started charging people who come into Toronto everyday and use our roads and services for free, that might cover some of the cost.
Yes yes, I'm talking about Tolls at the city's borders.
Everyday, on their way into Toronto and on their way out of Toronto, they should get hit with a $1 toll.
That would definitely help to solve our problems... (Not to mention create some jobs)
Torontonians are tired of paying for everyone else, especially when we can't even afford to pay for ourselves!
--jackandcokewithalime
PS: David Miller sucks! ;)
-cutting to team canada hockey PRACTICE while men's downhill skiing finale was on
-showing women's luge (1st run, not medal run) on ALL 3 channels (ctv,tsn,sportscenter) while figureskating pairs finales were on
-1st question they asked jen heil was 'how does it feel not to win the gold' just moment after she won the silver
only ctv win:
-brian williams
Are CTV announcers paid per word?
Also, the announcers (with the exception of one Mr. Brian Williams) are useless and often just annoying. Sigh, CBC, where art thou.. and Bell GlobeMedia, WHY DID YOU INFLICT THIS ON US!
These first few days of the olympics have brought out in so many Canadians the worst of our national character: self-loathing, armchair criticism of others actually trying to do something, and introspection so intense we're twisted in pretzels. I didn't love the Opening Ceremonies nor do I love CTV's work so far, but nor do I take the perverse delight that so many Canadians seem to do in attacking our own.
Apparently if you want to create the elusive Canadian unity you just need to find something we all can delight in hating together.
It's going to be a long two weeks.
- calling Olivier Jean "dreadlocks reggae man"
- explaining how snowboard cross works and calling the snowboarders skiers
It's funny one of them said we need a British accented commentator after showing a clip of women's snowboarding last olympics (where the commentator was English and really passionate), I think it's true. That way we won't have off topic conversations during runs.
Instead of watching the Olympics with a cynical eye, try lightening up and enjoying the rarity of watching so many countries coming together to do something positive (I am sure I'll get attacked for this comment...Bring it.)
Since people are also talking about the opening ceremony, I'll add my two cents: I thought it was great! The cauldron failure was a bit embarrassing, but it didn't really take anything away from the show. I thought it was a great change to have the athletes march early, since it meant they could watch the whole show, and very appropriate to have the host four first nations welcome them.
Sarah, KD, and Garou were all outstanding, and all of the visuals were magnificent. Really, I thought the mangled version of O Canada was the only misstep.
If you can, watch the Calgary '88 opening again some time. It was pretty cringeworthy.
And don't get me started with their "news".. fox comes to mind.
A bad opening ceremony is independent of it's country of origin, it's simply a shame it was ours.
*goes to women's snowboard cross* in the background you hear male ctv broadcaster say women's snowboarding
LOL
Also why exactly does CTV feel they need to post video of when the luge guy actually died... yeah I get that it was a live feed and they couldn't prevent it from showing up all over the web... but there's just something about it being posted on an official Olympics website where people are directed by a massive ad campaign if they want to see something Olympic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LkusicUL2s
The opening ceremonies were great, it was not overly packed with content but it was pleasing to the eye. It was also representing Canada well and what we are about. CTV coverage is nowhere near the level of their Lillehamer 94 coverage. CBC as a network has had its better days, but when they cover the Olympics, they do well and have this clear, familiar feel and identity. I think the reason why CTV's Olympic coverage is a little haywire, is simply because of the problem of having so many affiliated channels which is their CTVglobemedia farce. Too much going on, too many different hosts during the whole day at the same time, and yes, too much conversing between the on-air analysts/commentators. I thought that was only an american commentator trait (bad character)? Brian Williams makes things better, but he is only on for one session per day. Last but not least, too many commercials. Too many nonsense commercials while there clearly is action going on in at Olympic sporting sites.
As for Smitherman, good for him! I'm glad someone is adopting instead of being like those assholes protesting to get IVF paid for by the government.