City Council voted 30-6 yesterday in favour of giving Emery Village "the largest pole in North America." The giant erection would fly a Canadian flag the size of a football field, and will cost between $8- and $10-million. Council also agreed that the Emery Village BIA should seek funds from "companies like Pfizer Inc. and Eli Lilly Canada," producers of Viagra and Cialis, to help bankroll the project. They just might have to: the original estimate for the project was only $3.5-million and without prior secured funding, the project could be left flaccid.

The Star asks retiring councillors for parting words and to predict who will win the mayoral race. Rob Ford's name is mentioned in a begrudging manner a couple of times, but according to another article current councillors are already currying favour with the current front-runner.

Peter Kuitenbrouwer at the Post writes about Toronto's new zoning bylaw, which replaces an unwieldy, inconsistent set of 43 bylaws stacked 1.3 metres tall with a new, Internet-searchable, 30 cm thick single bylaw. Changes include the adoption of new parking standards for the city and a ban on rear restaurant patios south of Bloor.

Two pedestrians were struck by oncoming traffic while crossing the street last night. The first, a woman in her twenties, died in hospital last night while only hours later an 86-year-old man was struck and seriously injured.

Toronto's rash of shooting deaths continues as two men were shot last night near Kensington Market at Grange and Augusta Avenues, marking the third shooting in the city in as many days.

The final two men convicted in the killing of Jane Creba have been sentenced. Tyshaun Barnett and Louis Woodcock received 12-year sentences, which the judge called "substantial", though both men have only three years and seven months left to serve with pretrial custody taken into account.

Toronto FC announced yesterday the signing of Doneil Henry, the first local player to graduate to the senior team from the TFC's youth academy.

Writing by Matthew Woolley.

Photo by Ian Muttoo of the blogTO Flickr pool.