MB Toronto
Morning Brew: First mayoral debate heated, second Jordan Manners trial, fresh start for Toronto Humane Society, Toronto's gridlock the worst of 19 major cities, manhunt for 401 stabber
The mayoral debate held yesterday in Scarborough's Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School saw candidates George Smitherman and Rocco Rossi at each other's necks. Smitherman attacked Rossi on his idea to use downtown development fees in poorer areas of the city, and Rossi countered by calling him out on the eHealth scandal. But in Smitherman's opinion, a track record like that is better than none at all. Meanwhile, Giorgio Mammoliti sat feeling somewhat lonely facing his six supporters in a roomful of local residents, Joe Pantalone made his plea for LRT, Rob Ford proposed bringing back Julian Fantino as police chief, and Sarah Thomson appeared still not to have awoken from her subway platform fairytale.
After the mistrial declared on Friday in the Jordan Manners case due to deadlocked jury, the Crown announced its intent to proceed with a second trial for the two charged in the 15-year-old's 2007 shooting. Attorney General Chris Bentley had nothing to say on what is being considered an unusual move by Justice Ian Nordheimer. Nordheimer evidently told the court -- but not the jury -- that the two teenage witnesses had undermined the trial by changing their testimonies. The second trial is expected to occur on April 1.
The Toronto Humane Society is seeking court permission to shut its doors for the upheaval of its current less-than-virtuous animal-care practices. The six- to eight-week closure would involve a deep cleaning of the facility, staff retraining, a new computerized system to track animal intake, and other changes. It would end with the building's reopening in June, and is ultimately a promise by the THS to start again fresh. To begin, many of the 200 animals remaining in the shelter would probably be euthanized.
According to a new study by the Toronto Board of Trade, Toronto ranks dead last in a survey of 19 major cities' commute times. An average of 80 minutes per round-trip puts us 24 minutes behind Los Angeles, 12 minutes behind New York, and 32 minutes behind Barcelona. Gridlock is costing us over $5 billion in productivity losses a year, threatening the city's long-term viability, and probably isn't doing much for our long-term health and tempers. An 80-minute commute is just asking for road rage.
And speaking of road rage, police are now on the hunt for 28-year-old John Hoang, who is believed to have repeatedly stabbed a Scarborough driver during yesterday morning's rush hour on the 401. Hoang allegedly followed the victim off the highway, the two yelling at each other as they drove side by side. After they pulled over just north of Sheppard Ave. E., they continued to argue, resulting in the victim's stabbing. Police think it was caused by a small bump between the two cars. Or maybe we could all use a break from sitting behind that wheel.
Photo: "Con Fusion In Chinatown - 'I feel like I am in an alternate dimension and trying to find the way back'" by Metrix X, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
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How can we expect new candidates (with new ideas) to come forward and make a difference if all we are hung up on is a rather poor track record?
I'm not a Rossi fan but don't preclude him and Sarah Thompson because they don't have a political track record. They deserve the same opportunity to be heard and have their ideas explored.
This city, this election, should be one of new ideas and not the same old crap you get from the Smithermans, Pantalone, etc.
I work in the condo industry and my clients don't give a rat's ass about bicycle lanes: parking and downtown congestion are what concerns them. Stop using tax dollars on silly socialist causes du jour and let's get on with the infrastructure building in this city.
How are they going to start fresh if they just culled all the creatures?
It amazes me how myopic people are with respect to 'motorists' and 'commuters.' When the Gardiner is stopped on a Saturday afternoon, or Christmas Day, these are not commuters. With all the condo towers downtown, traffic is stopped in BOTH directions now. It doesn't matter which side of the 'transit versus motorist' debate you are on, Ford is bang on about the cyclists in this city -they are a tiny, tiny minority and they have been given far too much clout at City Hall. It is time for a regime change.
How is this statement not true? Bikes are a fairly new invention. The horse and buggy (the old time cars and trucks) have been around for centuries, roads were built for these vehicles.
I mean bikes didn't even start getting popular in North America until the 60s.
A much larger city will invariably take longer to get around. Add to that the relatively low density numbers (the fault of bad city plannnig and urban sprawl), what can you expect?
Total piece of sh*t study comparing apples to oranges.
P.S. F*ck bikes. They are for kids and riding off-road.
I don't believe that all these condo dwellers don't care about better transit and bike lanes. Most of them bought downtown so they could get to work easier and be in the middle of all the the action (and they paid a premium for it) so they wouldn't have to drive everywhere and so they could walk/cycle places.
Ridiculous. You can't call a horse and carriage an "old-time car or truck" just to fit your theory. If a horse and carriage is an "old-time car or truck" then a bicycle is an "old-time motorcycle or scooter" and then, by your reasoning, one of the vehicles the road was built for.
Here is a little education for you - the League of American Wheelman lobbied for better roads (they were mostly dirt or cobblestone) in 1880, predating the auto, and literally paving the road for the automobile.
Seriously though, bikes are anti-family (cant move your family around or go shopping) and ani-social. If tomorrow 100% of people turned to bicycles as their sole means of transportation, nothing would get done. Except maybe a lot of weed would get delivered.
Bike lanes are for single people who can arrive at their job (if they even have one) with dirty pants and smelling sweaty.
Classic! When the city paints a line on a street to make it slightly less terrifying to use a bike, it's a Commie Plot. When the city flattens a neighbourhood to build an expressway, it's Freedom.
I rode to work for 3 years solid and never smelled bad (believe me, I would have heard about it if I had) and there are showers in the building which are used by the people who workout at lunch in the gym. The people who cycle to work (and there are many here) don't find they need the shower since they aren't sweaty enough or smelly enough to require it.
It is so obvious that the anti-cycle crowd on here has nothing but tired, cliches that have been disproven over and over or arguments that lack any substance and are nothing more than knee-jerk reactions based on ignorance and fear (of what I have no idea). I have seen nothing that backs up what these jokers are saying, they just want to hate a group for whatever reason their little brains can conceive. Seriously, if there is only "a small minority" of cyclists as the anti-cycle crowd loves to spout, then how they be causing so many problems on the road for the motorists? If there are only a few people riding bikes in the city, the chances of you encountering one would be extremely small. SO either they are full of shit or there are many more cyclists than they care to admit.
I'm not saying charge as must as cars. But lets get something down on paper.
How would they avoid paying property tax? Unless they use the city's roads while living outside of its borders, but that's surely more in the purview of motorists.
You're telling me all those drivers sitting in their isolated vehicular capsules with the music turned-up loud are being social?
If anything, bikes are he social mode of transportation. You can smile and wave, and pull over and talk to someone without holding-up traffic.
Lets be honest, bikes are meant for kids and recreation. They are not a reliable source of transport for 99% of the population in the GTA.
I fully support licensing both bikes and riders. They have to be accountable if they are going to use the road. Mark my words: Someone will die sooner or later at the hands of a cyclist...and then what? I guarantee when that happens the licensing will come fast. I hope this topic comes up during the mayoral race (although the cry-baby media will make sure its political suicide for the proponents of it).
I have worked in various projects downtown in both the sales end and now the management end, and you can bet that I am mobilizing my colleagues (who are already bewildered and baffled by what the city is doing) to stop this madness. Things like the Front Street extension MUST go through before we reach a tipping point and the people of means say 'screw this city' and start moving out enmasse.
There's no point in debating this to the bicycle lobby. They feel that they should have a lane to themself, no matter how many people are inconvenienced behind them.
Every day that I travel along Jarvis, I wonder what would possess someone to willingly want to use a roadway that car (and much more dangerous trucks!) speed along, if not just to prove a point that this is MY road. These guys should be given a psyche exam! They are clearly suicidal - and stupid.
Let's remember the one important number from this study: SEVENTY PERCENT. Not a single majority government in history has been won with that degree of mandate.
You may prefer to dawdle along at 20 km/hr, with all the time in the world, but some people actually have places to go in life. Business cannot be conducted on a bicycle! If I have a meeting in Thornhill, then have to be at Evans/Kipling for a luncheon - can that be done by bike? Or even TTC? You're killing me, here.
And just to blow your top, I remember coming down to visit my great Aunt (who lived at Queen/Bathurst area) and seeing Toronto from the 427/QEW ramp for the first time - spectacular.
Fond memories from a bicycle - yeah, mine when I was a kid! But, hey, keep the chuckles coming.
So your claim is that roads were invented in 1880? You need to get off your bike and into a history book. I don't recall seeing bikes in the roman empire.
On the other hand, I find Harbord Street to be an excellent example of where a bike lane works well for both cars and bikes.
Its all about being selective. Too bad the city is run by fools.
But I do have to thank you. Your complete reading comprehension FAIL explains a heck of a lot of comments on this site.
But for your information, I get around on a bike downtown faster than a car and I have confirmed this in timed trials. All while obeying the laws of the road.
Your ridiculous examples are so laughable. Did I ever suggest someone who has to go across the city for meetings ride a bike? NO! We are talking about downtown and since you quickly realize you point is nonsense you expand it to include the entire GTA. I am surprised you didn't suggest a situation about someone going to a meeting in Montreal from Mississauga.
And business can be done a bike, some couriers do it all the time.
Oh, how is that stretch of Keele now since it has been widened to 4 lanes? Gridlocked now anyways, so what's the solution according to you? Widen to 8 lanes?
As for people "moving out en masse", if that were the likely outcome would people still be snapping up overpriced condos and houses in this city? You make a case about all the new units and people who bought them and then cry about people gearing up to leave in frustration. Which is it? I can't see all these people lining up to buy your condos if there was a chance of flight from the city. They would certainly stand to lose property value. What are the people with means going to do? Move further away from where they have to work and have more headache? C'mon, make sense.
And yes from reading the comments the only possible explanation I could up with for you was "ignorant" but I've been corrected. Apparently you were actually going for a thread theme of "bloody annoying troll".