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Morning Brew: Falling Rob Ford GIF gets remixed, Doug Ford takes aim at Olivia Chow, ARL to stick with diesel, new Danzig charges, and College Park to get makeover
The delightful animated GIF circulating online of Rob Ford falling while trying to hike a football in Nathan Phillps Square has spawned two spin-offs. There's now a Mario and Star Wars version. Elsewhere, the stumble has caught the attention of Toronto-born Cory Doctorow, co-editor of BoingBoing. More things like this, Internet.
Councillor Doug Ford believes Toronto wouldn't vote Olivia Chow if she were to run for mayor against his brother, saying the Trinity-Spadina MPP is "no Jack Layton." Ford thinks Chow represents "tax and spend" government and would fail to unseat the mayor, despite his mounting history of controversy. Is he right?
The Salvation Army says it was inundated with calls and donations yesterday after it announced an alleged $2 million theft from its Toronto warehouse. No charges have been laid in the case but why not call up and make a donation anyway?
It's official: the new air-rail link between Union Station and Pearson airport will use diesel trains. A last-ditch attempt by a group of concerned residents had hoped to initiate a judicial review of the decision by Metrolinx to buy Japanese, oil-powered cars.
Police are expected to announce new charges related to the Danzig Street shooting later today. 18-year-old Shaquan Mesquito was charged roughly two weeks ago with two counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and numerous assault and firearms-related crimes in the worst mass shooting in Toronto's history. It's not clear whether there have been any more arrests.
The skating rink in Barbara Ann Scott Park at Yonge and College is getting a $3 million renovation. The cost is expected to be higher than other park repairs because of its location on the roof of a parking garage. The rink, built in 1980s, needs a new pavilion and trees. The bill is covered by development fees from the Aura condo under construction next door.
You might remember we featured projected images of the Toronto skyline that took into account planned (red), in construction (blue), and in sales (yellow) a few months back. The creator of those images now has a video flyby of Toronto as it will likely look in a few years time. [via Reddit]
IN BRIEF:
- Santa Claus Fund: Elderly woman returns the favour decades later [The Star]
- TDSB won't sell schoolyards [CBC]
- New Jays' pitcher Mark Buehrle takes parting shot at Marlins [CBC]
Photo: "xxx" by rui felix from the blogTO Flickr pool.
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They diluted and derailed a discussion that should have focused on the real merits of electrification.
But no. Of fucking course not.
Where does the biodiesel come from?
The real problem is that diesel locomotives are less suitable if there are to be a few stops along the route -- which there should be if the line is to really work.
The reason they aren't going electric from the beginning is because the projected end of construction is already way too close to the opening of the 2015 games. Electric trains would require more infrastructure to power the trains to be built concurrently with the track, which means more $$$ and more time. The Ontario government has neither to spare.
Maybe if the province hadn't fumbled and effed around during the Harris / Eves and early McGuinty government, we could have an electric line by now. Instead, we end up with crappier technology. Thanks for nothing: Mike, Ernie and Dalton.
1. a premium express service direct from Union to Pearson, no stops, full price.
2. have a cheaper, non-direct service that has several stops along the way.
not everyone lives close to or needs to go through Union Station, for pretty much everybody in the west end this service is completely useless.
The London Heathrow Express train, for example, does this very thing. express for a high price, non-express with more local stops at a lower price.
not fucking rocket science, and serves more people. We can never get transit right.
The timeline for building an electrified line to the airport (on existing corridors) would be a long one: you have to build hydro sub-stations, get power to the stations, build the overhead wires and somehow generate additional power (see the Oakville plant issues).
The time to sue about electrification was 5 years ago, during the initial planning stages, not 2 years before before completion and with a lot of work already done.
The only reason the ARL is being built is because of the PAN-AM games, if the completion date was after the PAN-AM games, the gov't would have never moved ahead with the project and we'd be complaining about how we don't have a fixed link to the airport. What is being built right now is not the best solution, but is is a good start.
Woohoo!