MB Toronto
Morning Brew: Toronto casino looks less likely, Giorgio Mammoliti remains paranoid, Downsview development fears, we've got a butt problem
A Toronto casino could be dead now that Premier Kathleen Wynne has stipulated that the city will get no special deal (i.e. money) to host one. Mayor Rob Ford, of course, believes that such a deal should be given, but a hosting fee, which could be in the region of $100 million, seems less and less likely. Anything less than that would effectively kill the idea of a downtown casino, said coun. Michael Thompson. Wynne wants all municipalities treated equally. Should Toronto demand more money from casino developers?
Giorgio Mammoliti says he's got bona fide evidence of a conspiracy to discredit him. A letter postmarked December 2012 allegedly tells the councillor he's being followed and advises him to leave politics. Mammoliti thinks the plot is connected to the 2011 budget. Private investigatos also found evidence of tampering on Mammoliti personal computer, according to a press release. What do you make of the claims?
The future of Downsview Park is looking a little darker this morning. Executives in charge of turning the former military lands into a public park and residential neighbourhood have been let go, stoking fears the recently-landscaped area could be sold for development. A new plan for the land, which was recently transferred to a federal group responsible for selling unwanted assets, is due in the Spring. What should they do?
Toronto's got a butt problem, apparently. Cigarettes are among the most commonly dropped items on city streets, and things are particularly bad now the last of the winter snow is melting, according to the National Post. Coun. Mike Layton says some people are under the impression spent smokes are biodegradable. Toronto spends roughly $14 million a year cleaning up dropped garbage.
This riches to rags story about a Hamilton lottery winner would probably be more interesting if it wasn't written by someone at the Star. Never mind the one sentence paragraphs, the I-can't-believe-how-stupid-these-people-are tone is, quite frankly, predictable and boring.
It's a couple days old now, but we have to agree that Toronto isn't a shitty city just because you're a misogynist and have no game. Did we just thank, Vice? Wow.
So now that the Leafs have broken the losing streak, we should stop worrying that they'll make the playoffs, right?
Rapper Drake has contributed a verse about the Danzig Street shootings to a new Snoop Lion song. "No Guns Allowed" tells listeners to "pour something out for the lives that they stole" and describes the event as "one summer day that went horribly wrong." The song is expected to be the second single from Snoop Lion's upcoming Reincarnated record.
IN BRIEF:
- Bloody night in Toronto's west end with pair of shootings, three stabbings [National Post]
- Plane carrying 24 passengers lands safely after emergency [Toronto Star]
- Sutton Place tenants stand in way of plans to turn landmark hotel into condos [Toronto Star]
Image: Vik Pahwa/blogTO Flickr pool.
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I've yet to encounter a decent smoker. That's most likely due to them not being existent.
Instead of canabalizing their existing casinos, slots, and racetracks with more competition, why doesn't OLG just start online gambling sites to generate revenue? Open it up to an international market and instead of picking the pockets of Ontarians you're raking in cash from other countries. Since they've never done online gambling before too it doesn't take anything away from their existing revenue sources, it just takes some of the money people gambled on foreign sites and keeps it in the province. I've never understood their unwillingness to do online gambling, it's such a simple solution.
James every smoker is a bad guy? What cartoon are you living in? who hurt you?
That's some hard hitting criticism of the Star today, Steve. Tomorrow's continuation will delve into other low-hanging fruit, another day in the world of Steve.
I see you're using taxpayer dollars to shore up your existence there in the Mayor's Office again.
Um...don't you have a real job to do?? Or do you come fromt he Mayor's school of thought where your day should be spent on the phone with citizens, rather than doing anything?
Remember that the provincial government removed slots from horsetrack betting thereby decimating there revenue stream and resulting in recently announced bridge financing for the tracks. It would have been terrible PR to have then reinstalled the slots with a special deal in Toronto: basically the government telling Ontario to f off while giving $ sign bags to Toronto.
And the Premier managed to reign in an uber sleazy Toronto billionaire and give him a spanking his ilk collectively deserve.
Probably the Premier and crew saw the nefarious goings on in Toronto and city council, every garbage collector now a registered casino lobbyist, every councillor preoccupied with late night casino lobby drinking binges, and someone called the Premier and said one word "MFP".
Quite the little coup she pulled.
Politically, we live in interesting times.