Trinity College U of T

Saturday Brew: Plane Overshoots Runway, Restaurant to Remain Closed, Igor Kenk Stays Behind Bars, Maple Leafs Most Expensive, Main Station Bottlenecks

Photo: "Aisle" by tianxiaozhang, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

A pilot overshot the runway at the Toronto Island Airport last night, causing the marine unit of the Toronto police to rush to the scene at around 10pm. The six people on board the small plane did, however, manage to survive the incident unscathed. I have little doubt that this will further fuel the quest of CommunityAIR, a small but dedicated organization set on shutting down the Island airport. Amongst the criticisms on their website, they claim that the runways at the airport are too short and that the facility is dangerous in general. I'm not sure if this is necessarily true, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that extremely poor visibility played a role. I was driving on the Gardiner just before this happened, and can attest to the fact that the trio of high wind, fog and rain was nothing short of brutal.

Following up on yesterday's report about the problems at Ruby Chinese Restaurant, the latest news is that it will remain closed after failing another inspection. In the two days since being shut down, Ruby Chinese has yet to address a number of violations to the standards of health officials, including improperly refrigerated raw meat, and dirty cooking utensils and surfaces. The restaurant also has/had a cockroach infestation. As many as 37 cases of salmonella and a possible death have been reported in conjunction with food consumed at the restaurant.

Alleged bicycle thief Igor Kenk lost in his bid to have his bail reinstated yesterday. Although the proceedings were subject to a publication ban, his lawyer revealed that he plans on arguing the case in front of a Provincial judge in approximately two weeks. Along with the theft charges, Kenk faces more than 20 drug-related charges and one for assault (which is what put him back in jail after formerly receiving bail), making it unlikely that he and his lawyer will meet with success.

Surprise, surprise, the Toronto Maple Leafs are the most expensive ticket in hockey. Not only are their ticket prices double the NHL average, but according to Chicago-based Team Marketing Report's annual survey released this week, the team's "fan cost index" (a method of tabulating the total costs of game attendance including parking, food, beverage, and small souvenirs) is a whopping $628.29 Canadian. Ouch.

Commuters entering the TTC's Main Station have been forced to squeeze through a small doorway after larger sliding doors broke about six months ago. Ok, I suppose this isn't the biggest deal, but I can imagine it's extremely frustrating to have to wait while people file through slowly during peak hours. The TTC reports that the sliding doors will be fixed by the end of the year, but that still means that they will have been out of service for around eight months. Does it really take that long to fix such a small problem?


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