Sugar Beach might lose some of its luster if this goes down. Toronto-based Northland Power Inc. is proposing to build a $100-million gas-fired co-generation plant at the Redpath Sugar refinery at the bottom of Jarvis Street. The facility would generate enough power for 35,000 homes, or roughly 5 per cent of Toronto Hydro's customers. Besides selling the electricity to the grid, Redpath would use the generated steam to help process its sugar, which I guess is kind of cool. The company should know by October if the Ontario Power Authority has approved their proposal. Northland Power is also holding a public open house at the Novotel Toronto Centre on July 20th from noon to 8 p.m.

This one's pleasant. A TTC worker was spotted urinating outside Runnymede Station last week as passengers began their morning commute. "It was disgusting, it's 8 a.m. and it's rush hour, everybody is walking into the station," said Gary Pieters, who reported the incident to the TTC. "He was peeing on the wall, right in front by Runnymede Rd. where everybody walks into the station." TTC Chair Karen Stintz has apologized for the incident, but has not revealed what, if any disciplinary action has been taken.

Looks like Toronto kids are being left high and dry when it comes to Ontario's new water treatment guidelines that now require wading pools be drained and refilled every four hours instead of five. This means that facilities will probably have to close an hour earlier to do so. Councillor Paula Fletcher says she's "treading water" to get this all figured out so the pools can go back to the five hour routine and kids don't miss their hour of playtime.

Drivers beware: The OPP is kicking off their second "Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other, Distracted Driving Campaign" today. The name might be a mouthful, but the message is pretty clear: don't talk or text while driving. Officers will also be looking for careless drivers who are eating or applying make-up while they're driving, so be smart and do that stuff before you get in the car.

IN BRIEF:

• Mayor Ford might announce buyout for senior city managers
• Toronto councillors told not to kill all city-backed loans
• Bautista helps Jays beat Indians

Photo by vlade.me in the blogTO Flickr pool.