Morning Brew: September 3rd, 2008

Photo: "DSC_7879" by Louis Tam, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Wednesday September 3rd, 2008:

There's plenty of transit news today:
- Details from Metrolinx' long-term traffic congestion correction proposals have been released to the media, and (of course) look like a totally Technicolour transit pipe dream.
- The TTC will install GPS-based vehicle tracking that will be accessible to riders, and allow us to know whether that bus is coming now or in 30 minutes.
- Three rider illnesses that affected service at Dupont station yesterday morning were all unrelated (despite reports of a suspicious smell in the area). Could it be that breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day, because it prevents fainting on the subway commute?

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Mayor Miller may end up seeing Joseph Pennachetti (the man he immediately endorsed as the replacement for Shirley Hoy, who recently bowed out) take up the position as City Manager. But it wasn't without a lot of debate within at the city council executive meeting about the merits of appointed vs. elected at least discussed amongst the exec first, dood.

According to numbers from Sick Kid's Hospital, the Toronto bike helmet law, which makes wearing one mandatory for kids under 18 years of age, has halved the number of fatalities amongst children. Not surprisingly, the number of too-cool-for-helmet adult deaths hasn't changed appreciably.

Retrofitting older high-rises in the city with greener, more efficient technologies such as geothermal installations and solar water heating is on the mayor's agenda, but the plan is being met with mixed reaction and it's not clear where the money to do this will come from. If a deadbeat landlord won't even fix a leaky faucet...

Speaking of leaky faucets, the Toronto Maple Leafs have dealt long-time "own goal" defenceman Brian McCabe (along with a 4th-round draft pick in 2010) to the Florida Panthers and in exchange will get injury-ridden blueliner Mike Van Ryn. Not exactly a blockbuster trade, but it should keep our goals against down a bit I suppose.