MB Toronto
Morning Brew: A closer look at the Humber islands, Ford cleans up Amesbury Park, Toronto skyline GIFs, a texting TTC driver video, Jays win and Raptors lose
The Di Gironimo Archipelago, my name for the small group of islands proposed for the Humber Bay, were explored in more detail this weekend by the Globe and Mail. Lou Di Gironimo, the GM of Toronto Water and inventor of the idea, told the paper he "envisions a series of treed oases linked by bridges and laced with walkways." In addition to providing recreational land, the islands would protect Marie Curtis and Sunnyside beaches from Humber river pollution. Could we possibly organise such a nice, universally beneficial thing?
Rob Ford got down an dirty this weekend helping to clean up graffiti at Amesbury Park near Lawrence Avenue and Keele Street for Earth Day and the mayor's own clean-up program this weekend. Armed with a pressure washer, Ford blasted tags I suspect no-one had reported to 311 with an iPhone into oblivion. The Star reports more than 3,000 tons of litter have been removed from around the city as a result of people's efforts this weekend.
A new hydro transformer slated for Roundhouse Park - the converted train yard beside the CN Tower - could put the kibosh on a museum planned for the same site, reports the Globe and Mail. Currently, a small group of old steam trains and a miniature railway happily co-exist with the Steam Whistle Brewery on the site but the installation of the transformer in the museum space, which is already underway, could force the Toronto Railway Historical Association to cancel their plans.
This month might have been all cherry blossoms and beers on the patio, but batten down the hatches - it's supposed to get sloppy out there today. Forecasters are calling for a mix of rain and snow for later this morning, the afternoon and evening with strong winds.
Animated GIFs are pretty cool - especially when they show the Raptors mascot falling over - but animated GIFs of Toronto's skyline are even better, and strangely hypnotic, too. A pair of images uploaded to Reddit this weekend show Hogtown's lights and traffic in all their crazy glory. Check one, then the other.
The TTC is investigating after a YouTube video appearing to show a subway driver texting and driving began circulating online. The recording date isn't given in the description but the video was uploaded to the site Friday and apparently recorded on the open-air section between Eglinton and Bloor on the Yonge line. Surprisingly, some of the video's comments defend the driver's actions. How comfortable would you be with a driver using his or her phone during your ride?
IN OTHER NEWS:
- Blue Jays send Royals to 10th straight loss [Globe and Mail]
- Raptors fall to Pistons, improve draft lottery odds [National Post]
- Boy at centre of search reunited with dad [The Star]
- Missing Toronto teen makes contact with family [CBC]
- Still no Ont. budget vote deal between Liberals, NDP [CTV]
- Land transfer tax likely to stick around for now [National Post]
FROM THE WEEKEND:
- The Wooden Sky make triumphant return to Toronto
- The Neighbourhood Mixtape: Blues for Breakfast
- Toronto through the lens of Chris Young
- Dudes and doom convene at The Drake
- How dysfunction at City Hall impedes small business
- The top 10 garden centres in Toronto
- Toronto through the eyes of Andy Byford
- A brief history of Small's Pond, used then abused
- Chess in Toronto
- Get to know a Toronto startup: Tunezy
- This Week in Theatre: You Can't Take It With You, The Real World?, Oil And Water, and As I Lay Dying
- This Week In Comedy: John Hastings, Rick Currie, Geoff Mackay, Dante Nero, and John Pinette
Photo: "Passing By" by Greg David in the BlogTO Flickr pool.
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Also, that raptor gif is hilarious.
I grew up in Niagara and would regularly hang out at Dufferin Islands just upstream from the falls. Super great little hidden gem. If you're wondering how great this could be, do make the trip down on a beautiful spring/summer day.
Re: Distracted Subway Driving
Amazing how when cyclists are involved it's all, "the rules apply to everyone" but when it's a subway driver there's lots of excuses way the same rules don't apply. Either way, it's been made perfectly clear that even outside of the highway traffic act, TTC made this illegal for it's drivers. Case closed.
1 "Citizens should not be recording TTC employees - they should be putting concerns into writing and sending them to the TTC"
2 "The driver was texting his wife to meet him at the next station with his heart medication"
3 "The driver was texting for security as he felt threatened by an individual who was filming him, possibly for future terrorist plans"
4 "The driver was texting TTC control as normal TTC communication channels were inoperative at that time"
So what's all the hubbub about Blob and water sports? Somebody said he was giving Mammo an enema in the park in front of the kiddies. That's good news for tax payers. The 7 figure weekly bills for the mayor's proctology team might be reduced some if the mayor continues to "clean his own plate" before "eating".
How is this guy not a walking heart attack waiting to happen? We're talking a 5 alarm coronary event here. Just one thermonuclear clot of lard in the old aorta and presto chango...no more fart clouds in the mayor's orifice....just Mammo crying and Rug puffing his gut out like a bridesmaid at a trailer park wedding.
So one more missed weighin for the coward that beats his wife but is deathly afraid of plastic swords and middle aged faux warrior princesses. RIP moforofo.