Photo: "dancing at sunrise" by louise@toronto, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

Just how sketchy has the Annex become? It's certainly seen a shift toward being a destination for cheap eats and booze, and along with that has come dirtiness, drunkenness, and violence. In an interesting roundup of opinions, Adam Vaughan takes a jab at the 905 mentality, local shop owners talk about the rapid fall, and chicken wings take some of the blame.

Police in East York responding to an armed mugging of a fast food chicken delivery guy discovered a loaded gun that is believed to have been stolen from the Detroit Police some time ago.

Toronto-area drivers that suddenly get questionable 407 ETR bills (in the tune of hundreds or even thousands of dollars, mostly accrued interest) shouldn't rely on the provincial government to do much about it. According to Transportation Minister Jim Bradley, the 407 "is responsible for establishing its own business practices," and he's "not aware of anything" Queen's Park can do to change it. So what's to stop them from simply holding onto unpaid invoices, sending out notification after waiting for heaps interest to accrue, and then seeking payment?

Photo: "loss" by yourhandinmine, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

Both the Star and the Globe have prominent features on upcoming mayoral candidate George Smitherman. It's interesting to note the different approaches the writers take in alternately describing Smitherman as a "big bully" and a "tamer, gentler George." Despite these differences, they both paint the man as confident and hard working. It looks like it's going to be one hell of a battle between him and John Tory in next year's election.

University students might just get a break on their transportation costs. Of the proposals to be tabled at the TTC's next meeting, one that's getting some traction is the expansion of the student metropass to apply to university level students in addition to current high school users. Amen. I've thought they should do this for years. After all, it's really only by university that a large number of students are actually paying for their pass anyway.

The next phase of H1N1 vaccinations are set to go for Monday, as Toronto's top medical officer, Dr. Arlene King, reports that school-age children and Seniors are now on the priority list for the flu-shot. That's good news, but I wonder why it's only being made available at vaccination clinics and doctor's offices. Wouldn't it make sense to have nurses administer the vaccine at schools, thereby saving parents loads of time and hassle?

The City of Toronto launched a design competition yesterday for the St. Lawrence Market fallout shelter, er, I mean, North Building. The competition brief calls for architectural teams to design plans that will replace the ugly and underused brown box of a building currently standing at Jarvis and Front with a new four-storey, multi purpose facility. It's about time.

My love/hate relationship with super-sized industrial machinery likely began when I was about four years old. While visiting Cape Kennedy with my folks in Florida, they thought it would be a wonderful idea to surprise me with an up-close look at a NASA Space Crawler. After I had finished wetting myself and shielding my eyes, I began to peek through my fingers...

Skip ahead 22 years to this past weekend, when what began as a short-cut between between two abandoned buildings in Toronto's Junction turned into an auspicious detour that revealed some very impressive, very large construction equipment near the railway line.

Photo: "Underneath" by M_Ruth, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

A brave 84-year-old WWII Navy veteran and a 64-year-old volunteer foiled an armed robbery attempt at a Toronto-area Royal Canadian Legion. A man was looking to steal donations collected from Remembrance Day poppy sales, but the two got all Chuck Norris and lunged at him, scuffled with him, and saw him run off empty-handed. It's a great hero story, but I'm not convinced that it was the best way to deal with the problem - it could have easily gone the other way and the news headlines would have read quite different.

Back in 2003, Toronto's Jan Luedecke had non-consensual sex using a condom with a woman who woke up to him on top of her, in the act. After six years in the courts, he's finally been found to be not criminally responsible for sexual assault, deemed no threat to the public, and been granted an absolute discharge. He suffers from a rare condition called sexsomnia, over which he has no conscious control.

Despite an overall lack of density, Toronto is nevertheless a city of apartment buildings. Scattered throughout the city, these concrete slabs are a throwback to both the architecture and planning of the 1960s and 70s. Monumental, use-oriented, and almost invariably ugly, they don't tend to inspire aesthetic reflection.

But, strangely, I've always been fascinated by them. Perhaps it's the convergence of so many lives in one place, the grid-like patterns formed by the balconies, or the warm light that emanates from the many windows at dusk, but when looked at from a particular perspective, these structures often reveal a beauty that belies their Brutalist roots.