MB Toronto
Morning Brew: Emery Village may get tallest flagpole in North America, big Casino Rama slots win, Presto falls short with the visually impaired, Ontario's worst roads, fugitive in disguise, a Toronto wish list
If approved, the North York community of Emery Village would be the new home of a public space featuring the tallest flagpole in North America. Former mayoral candidate and standing city councillor Giorgio Mammoliti has been working with the local B.I.A. and has high hopes that they'll become "the most patriotic community in the country." Some 2500 local business owners are expected to chip in to pay for the $3.5-million pole.
Imagine dropping $20 into a MegaBucks slot machine and winning really, really big? This kind of windfall doesn't happen very often, but after playing the machine for just the third time a Toronto-area man lit up the floor with a $1.7million win at Casino Rama yesterday. The house always wins, but once in a blue moon a gambler scores.
Disability rights activist David Lepofsky (the blind man who took the TTC to court, which resulted in the implementation of audible stop calls on buses and streetcars) is now pointing at flaws in the Presto transit payment system. Visually-impaired Presto users will not be able to read their card balances when they scan their way onto transit. An executive at Presto rebuts that from safety and privacy viewpoints, it doesn't make sense to have the card readers report balances audibly and any other option would create bottlenecks at gates.
CAA has posted the worst roads of 2009 and updates on what's being done to remedy them. It's also the time of year when they call for nominations for this year. As a new, positive, added twist, CAA is also asking for drivers to nominate the best roads in Ontario as well.
Police have been distributing reward posters in the Eglinton and Weston Road area, and seeking assistance in locating a murder suspect in a 2007 case in Windsor. Although not reported seen in Toronto since 2008, Mohamud Hagi is believed to be in the area and may also be disguising himself as a woman by donning hijabs and burkas.
And the Star ran a great piece yesterday, pointing out 25 ways to make Toronto "the city it wants to be." While many of the items making the list are clearly pipe dreams, a number of them are certainly doable, but would require a lot of directed effort, strong leadership, and money. I'm not sure we have that magical, winning combination now or any time in the foreseeable future.
Photo: "Canadian Sunset" by Lone Primate, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
Discussion
14 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
Of course all the other cities that use PRESTO have no problem with it but you can bet the human rights tribunal will take away everyone's fun in the name of social justice. There's no way PRESTO can be redesigned so we're all going to suffer over this one.
But what I don't understand is that I travel on a routes that are frequented by 4 different blind people and I've never seen them have to pay once. I always assumed the TTC was a free service to people with that disability. In which case, why does it even matter if the presto card machines aren't vision impaired friendly?
And if not, with all the obstacles the TTC has to people with disabilities, I think they deserve to ride it for free. There we go. Issue solved.
Steeles has undergone such a major transformation. It'll likely go from number 1 on the list to not even appearing next year.
I find it amusing that they have this nutty idea for a giant flagpole but can't muster the vision for an extra 9 meters to make it the tallest in the world, rather than just the tallest in North America. So very modest of them to stop just short.
Problem solved.
Next.
Lepofsky and others can use the TTC in the same manner they are right now until Presto can come up with a solution for the disabled.
brb gonna overpay some consultants
The TTC is pretty terrible when it comes to accessibility. Remember when they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to OPPOSE their employees calling out stop names?
The one subway stop I frequent has me descend one set of stairs from the subway platform to the main level...only to have to ascend a set of 5 or 6 steps to the bus area...to then descend another set of stairs down to where the buses are. At the top of the set of 5 or 6 steps are a row of doors (which are always closed). Basically, it's a huge obstacle course for people with vision and mobility problems. Why they didn't build the bus area at the same height as the collector booth area is beyond me. If you try to exit to the street you have to tackle another two sets of stairs. There's also no sort of textured tile in the bus area and being as wide open as it is, you have to be very capable to find your way to the right stairwell.