What many thought would be a three day battle got wrapped up on day one, as the city council passed an amended version of the 2012 Toronto budget by a vote of 39-5. Needless to say, the reaction has been varied. The Sun headline we were all waiting for isn't quite as incendiary as some expected. It reads " Ford's budget gets 'middle' finger from council". The Star's Royson James, on the other hand, argues that the day's events "signaled [Ford] may have lost control of the city's agenda."

Well, it's one thing to tell someone to leave the room, but it's totally different and much ruder to tell someone to "leave Planet Earth." Those were the instructions given to a would-be customer of the Toronto dance studio, Shakers, when she questioned a sexist item on the studio's FAQs. The offense? Telling female dancers to wear "very little." The response: "PLEASE SEE A PSYCHIATRIST IMMEDIATELY OR LEAVE PLANT EARTH NOW," plus some other ridiculous stuff, including that they didn't care if the email was released to the media. Geez, this studio sucks at PR.

What's this? Could it be good news for the Toronto Public Library? Yup, Marilyn and Charles Baillie made a $1.5 million donation to the TPL to help fund renovations to the Toronto Reference Library. Although he thinks private donations are important to the well-being of the library, Baille did note that he "wouldn't want to see..the government decide that they can slack off on funding the libraries and replace it by the private sector."

Well, you knew this was coming. Wayne Gretzky's incorrigible, tweeting daughter, Paulina, is reportedly coming to Toronto to record songs for Universal Music in February. Though Universal declined to comment, Paulina, not surprisingly, tweeted that she was "counting down the days til im (sic) working in Toronto." Something tells me her work doesn't have to do with hockey, or grammar.

We've all walked by them - those stainless steel ramps in the middle of the Distillery District - but I bet few of us have walked on them, which is a shame because apparently, according to the artist, that's the whole point of their existence.

IN BRIEF:

• Nine new specialized schools set to open in September
• Leafs lose to Senators

Photo by krygene in the blogTO Flickr pool