Photo: "Paddling the Don" by andyscamera, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

Come next month it'll make fiscal sense to save doing your laundry, dishwashing, and vacuuming for after 9pm. Toronto Hydro will be switching pricing models so that customers pay more for energy use during peak hours, and pay less during non-peak hours [CBC]. This could end up being a serious cash windfall for the city, because we all know how hard it is to get people to change their habits.

Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty will be in Toronto today, to make a transit-related announcement that has the media writing articles that say very little [City, G&M]. If it's not official word that the feds and the province will be kicking in cash for those new streetcars, then what it is? We'll find out at 11am, but if you want a hint, check out Spacing's insider juice (spoiler alert).

If it is cash for those new streetcars, will there be a red, white, and blue taxpayer funded "thank you Stephen Harper" notice/advertisement posted all over the TTC? I certainly hope not! That's already happened recently with McGuinty's Liberals, and people aren't happy [Star].

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There are a bunch of derelict, boarded up houses on Bloor St. facing High Park. It's prime real estate, but the owner's request for demolition was rejected by the city in 2006 due to a lack of redevelopment plans. Now there are plans for a condo, but a brewing battle over height limits (the developers want more than the prescribed 12-storeys) may delay construction [NP].

The loss of jobs and the impending impact it will have on the community's livelihood surely does suck. But having never needed or had any interest in buying a giant truck, I can't say that I'm shedding any tears over the last Chevy Silverado coming off the assembly line at Oshawa's GM plant [G&M].