Morning Brew: Sam Sniderman dead at 92, The Rob Ford show rolls on, debating the TTC fare hike, David Chang on the Toronto culinary scene

Sam Sniderman, founder of the Sam the Record Man chain of stores — still so memorable for its flagship location near Yonge and Gould streets in Toronto — has died at the age of 92. Opened in 1959, the store with the massive neon records was a fixture on the street until 2007. An October memorial service will be announced shortly.

The Rob Ford sideshow just keeps giving — that is, if you haven't tuned it all about by now. In his latest NewsTalk 1010 show, he and his brother Doug addressed a whole slew of perceived injustices, which included a flurry of criticism directed at the radio station itself. It's tough to pick a "best quote" (they're all so delicious), so let's just go with this one from Rob: "We've done more in this administration than any other administration ever has, and the media just -- I don't know what, I don't know what they want. I guess they want bankruptcy. I guess they want a ghost town. I don't know."

Also in City Hall news, apparently the mayor and TTC Chair Karen Stintz are once again butting heads, this time over a possible TTC fare hike. The mayor would like to keep fares at their current rate, while Stintz's believes that in the absence of an increase in council subsidy, the Commission will be forced to implement a rate-of-inflation fare hike.

From this weekend's Globe and Mail, here's Momofuku's David Chang on the Toronto food scene. "I like the city - a lot," he says. "It's a lot of fun. It has an amazing urban infrastructure. You have extraordinarily high standards for education, for financial markets, for building quality, for the arts. You understand the concept of super-high standards. But everyone agrees that Toronto's culinary scene, while good, could be better. Why isn't it? Nobody can pinpoint why it is. Nobody wants to be critical. It's the taboo subject nobody wants to talk about. Toronto food is great, but to ask 'why isn't it better' and be reprimanded for it - that's foolish. Why can't we question the status quo?" Discuss.

If you're feeling down on humanity this morning, this group effort to rescue a nine year old boy pinned under a car is both sad and uplifting all at once. According the CBC, the boy's "injuries are serious but not life-threatening."

REMEMBERING SAM THE RECORD MAN

FROM THE WEEKEND

• Take your pick on who's going to win the 2012 Polaris Prize
• Is the Queen Richmond Centre West an eyesore?
• Five highlights from Toronto IIDEX 2012
• What to catch on Toronto stages this week.
• A brief history of crossing the Don River
• Restaurant review: Sansotei Ramen
• Restaurant review: Chococrepe
• David Byrne and St. Vincent get weird
• Goteye play more than one song at Molson Ampitheatre show

Photo by Richard Gottardo in the blogTO Flickr pool