Morning Brew: Licensing cyclists back under discussion, city to review free parking passes for councillors, behind the scenes at Roy Thomson Hall and the Flatiron Building, SkyDome architect Rod Robbie is dead, and Raptors win
The possibility of licenses for cyclists took a baby-step forward yesterday as the public works committee voted to have city staff and Toronto Police to come up with more effective strategies to enforce disparate bylaws against sidewalk cycling. The committee will reconvene in June, but in addition to the licensing ideas, other strategies suggested at the meeting were aggressive ticketing by police and the creation of a tattle-tale-like online database, which would allow citizens to report pedestrian-cyclist collisions. Are any of these good ideas?
The city seems to want to clean up parking in this town. In addition to the increased fine for drivers who park/stop on main streets during rush hour, free parking passes given to city councillors might be on the chopping block. The Toronto Parking Authority will review the 10-year-old policy this week. Councillors can thank Doug Ford who set an example by cutting up his own pass and urged the agency to review the perk.
Both the Star and the Torontoist share rare behind-the-scene glimpses of two of the city's most popular and acclaimed sites: The Flatiron building and Roy Thomson Hall. The Flatiron was recently sold to Commercial Realty Group for $15.29-million and will be open to prospective tenants this month. Roy Thomson Hall, which first opened in 1982, underwent a major renovation ten years ago, though apparently the musicians' break room smells like old sandwiches.
There's been a whole lot of New Year's resolutions going around for the city and now The Grid's Edward Keenan offers up his own: focusing on the TTC. Suggesting that no other area was more boondoggled by Rob Ford's administration than public transit, Keenan believes Ford should revive Transit City, or at least revert back to the old above-and-below-ground Eglinton plan and free up $4-billion.
IN BRIEF:
Photo by Alexandre Minev in the blogTO Flickr pool
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