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Morning Brew: Public works committee to consider bike lanes and eliminating paid duty officers, thief steals poppy donation box, Rocco Rossi's Goodfella asked to be removed, Q & A with Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, and Leafs beat the Devils
The city's public works committee will discuss two controversial topics today: a pilot project for separated bike lanes on Richmond and Adelaide Streets and and the elimination of paid duty police officers at construction sites located near quiet intersections. Due to other road work in the area, City staff recommend skipping a pilot project and starting on an Environmental Assessment right away, which would mean that the infrastructure wouldn't be installed until 2013.
Now this is pretty pathetic. Toronto police are asking for the public's help after a poppy donation box was stolen from a Pizza Nova shop on the Queensway near Royal York late Monday night. The box was taken from the counter and the lowly thief fled the scene.
The City Hall press gallery has been asked to remove one of Rocco Rossi's campaign posters from the 2010 mayoral election following a complaint to the human rights office. The complaintent says the poster, which looks to depict Rossi as some sort of gangster with the word "Goodfella" beside his image, is a "degrading and derogatory to people of Italian descent." My question is: what's it still doing up there in the first place? Wasn't Rossi a fringe candidate by the time it was all said and done?
It seems that ever since Police Chief Bill Blair vouched for the mayor over his alleged expletives, all's been forgotten about that infamous 911 call last week and whether or not we'll hear the tapes. Chances are we won't. Ever. But was that even a possibility? OpenFile explains the tricky situation.
Kristyn Wong-Tam has been a bright spot in an otherwise turmoil-filled year on Toronto city council. The Grid caught up with the Ward 27 Councillor for a Q & A session that's worth a read. When asked what grade she'd give the mayor on his first year in office, she didn't hold any punches. "Depends on the category. I would give the mayor a D for listening. I don't think he's a very active listener. I would give him an F for environmental initiatives. He has no green strategy for the city." We spoke to Wong-Tam earlier this year. It might be interesting to compare her responses.
IN BRIEF:
Photo by Krustation in the blogTO Flickr pool
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While that guy is a scumbag, one wonders why The Sun isn't as worried about the $220 million the Feds are going to cut from Veteran's Affairs. Which is going to have a greater effect on vets, especially the new ones we are creating?
No point releasing the 911 tapes now. Since Ford never released them before it is obvious he was lying and he did swear at the operators, otherwise he would have released them right away to prove he didn't do it.
Cops are completely unnecessary at construction sites unless they're actually directing traffic, which they very rarely do. What they're really doing is called "safety watch", and in any other city would be done by any random construction worker in a reflective vest. Usually it's the job given to a summer student or someone who's on modified duty for medical reasons or whatever.
RE: Kristyn Wong-Tam: she has pretty big shoes to fill (and pants and shirts) so the more face time she gets with the press the better for her. Still waiting for her to actually do something.