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Morning Brew: New chief planner focuses on transit, more charges for Empress Hotel accused, a sewer crisis, a toilet victory, a weird t-shirt, and music on the GO
Toronto's new chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat says transit, the waterfront, and creating a walkable city will be top priorities in her new position. Keesmaat told the National Post that Rob Ford's firing of TTC chief executive officer Gary Webster "gave her pause," but says she accepted the position because of her love for Toronto. Here's Keesmaat talking about walking at a TEDx event earlier this year.
The man accused of lighting the fire that destroyed the former Empress Hotel at Yonge and Gould last year is facing 29 new charges related to several other arsons in the city. It's alleged Stewart Poirier burnt several dumpsters and lit two fires in homes, including one at the Sackville Street community housing residence he used to live in.
The shit could be about to hit the, err... Don. A gaping crack in a huge mainline sewer under the Don Valley is threatening to send raw sewage pouring into the river. Work to build a bypass tunnel around the damaged section near Coxwell and O'Connor recently hit a snag when groundwater prevented workers sealing the 2.6 metre diameter pipes together.
In a victory for the little guy, cabbies waiting at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport can now use the public washrooms in the mainland terminal instead of two portable outhouses. Airport management reportedly banned the cabbies for repeatedly leaving the public facilities in poor condition, but a media outcry seems to have forced a u-turn on the potty policy.
Feel like swimming across Lake Ontario? You're not alone, reports The Star. More and more people are attempting the roughly 45-50 kilometre crossing to the United States.
If you're in the market for a new summer clothes, consider this "three Ford moon" t-shirt. No guarantees about what wearing this will do for your street cred. (via Reddit)
And finally, here's Roz Green and Jim Seale, two members of Toronto folk band Borders, serenading GO passengers on a late-night, Union Station-bound train recently. If only all commuter trains came with live music.
IN OTHER NEWS:
- Mariners best Blue Jays at plate, on mound [CBC]
- Milos Raonic eliminated after longest tennis match in Olympic history [Globe and Mail]
- West Toronto's trash pickup goes private next week [CBC]
- Toronto storm causes flooding, downed power lines [CBC]
Photo: "Exposing Toronto Islands - 2" by Subjective Art in the blogTO Flickr pool.
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http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2012/08/torontos-mayor-barrier-good-planning/2785/
I know the Atlantic Cities blog is edited by Richard Florida, but still it's pretty bad when an American-based media company with a city planning/design blog starts noticing how horrible your mayor is. This excerpt alone is quite the indictment:
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Rollin Stanley, a former planning director in St. Louis and Montgomery County, Maryland, was under consideration for the job earlier this year. Originally from Canada, Stanley spent 21 years working for the city of Toronto before heading to the U.S. He says that there's always been what he calls a "we know best" attitude within Toronto government that has limited it from learning from other cities enacting more progressive urban policies, such as New York. He says that attitude persists.
"I read quotes from some of the council members and particularly the mayor, and I'm thinking, 'People, you need to get out more. You really need to see what's happening in other places and learn from those things,'" Stanley says.
He recently took a different top planning position in another Canadian city, Calgary. With a booming population, a growing economy and a popular new mayor in Naheed Nenshi, Calgary offered the opportunity to make a significant impact on a place, according to Stanley. The mayor's politics and ideas – seen widely as progressive – were big factors in Stanley's decision to take the job.
"It's always best to be in a room where the smartest guy in the room is the leader. And this guy is smart. When I say smart, I don't just mean the IQ kind of smart. He gets it," Stanley says. "He embraces ideas. That's what you want. I couldn't see that happening down in Toronto."
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