This is refreshing. Partisan could be on its way out for some middle ground at city hall. Independent councillors, like newbie Josh Colle, are seeking a "Mighty Middle" amongst the ideological extremes to help the left and right compromise more often. "You look at the numbers on council and the way the votes are kind of shaking out, and a nice, middle, reasonable central voice could really make a difference," he said. Colle has been chatting informally with some of the other freshmen about how the middle-dwellers can use their sway to make council function better. He has his eye on a few veterans too, namely Etobicoke's Gloria Lindsay Luby and Scarborough's Chin Lee and Raymond Cho.

That's a whole lot of green. GO Transit is spending $125 million on 50 new bi-level railway coaches from Bombardier. The 162-passenger coaches will increase the system's capacity by 8,000 commuters per day. Production of the coaches is scheduled for June with a delivery date for sometime in the fall.

First the Freedom Festival, now the Afrofest has got the boot from Queen's Park. For the first time in its 23-year old history, the annual summer music festival will not be allowed to use Queen's Park as its venue, says the city of Toronto, amid concerns from officials that the park is getting badly damaged by the numerous festivals it hosts annually. Organizers of Afrofest say there is nowhere else downtown to accommodate their event. The city told Afrofest about several problems it had with last year's event, including an unauthorized Ferris wheel and roller coaster. I'm thinking if they got rid of the carnival rides, they could find the room.

Winning the lottery really can happen to you just like it did for Toronto resident, Christos Rados, who after playing the same numbers for 20 years finally hit the jackpot with his $7 million win from the 6/49 draw. Rados bought his winning ticket at Smoker's Dream at 45 Overlea Blvd.

Wow. An 85-storey condo is going up on Cherry Street. Or is it?

IN BRIEF:

• Leafs beat by Tampa Bay
• Bieber's shoes draw crowds at Bata museum
• Torontoist bought by St. Joseph Media

Photo by Richard Gottardo in the blogTO Flickr pool.