toronto rain

Morning Brew: Maple bacon jam caused cronut sickness, torrential rain leads to dramatic taxi rescue, city council wants you, noise complaints, and colourful signal boxes

The owners of Epic Burgers and Waffles can rest easy. The illness linked to their cronut burger stand at the CNE has been traced to the maple bacon jam the company bought and slathered on top of the buns, not the meat patties. The stand, closed since news of the illness broke, re-opened today minus their most famous menu item. The company says it has ended its relationship with the jam supplier.

A sudden torrential downpour yesterday evening caused local flooding and lead to a dramatic rescue in the Lower Simcoe St. underpass. Firefighters had to wade in to the murky water and pull the occupants of two stranded Beck taxis to safety. It's the same tunnel where a Ferrari was photographed semi-submerged during July's rainstorm.

Want to join Rob Ford, Doug Ford, and the rest of the gang at City Hall? Toronto is now accepting applications for the vacant seat in Ward 3. To be successful you must be a Canadian citizen, at least 18 years of age, resident of Toronto, and not prohibited from voting or holding office. Oh, it probably helps to be well connected enough to win the vote from a majority of city councillors, too.

A "large" rooster, countless dead pigeons, and cat feces all prompted complaints to Toronto's licensing and standards division in 2013, according to the Star. The newspaper has compiled an interactive gripe map that shows complaints by type and location.

Another source of trouble seems to be Play nightclub at Queen and Ossington. Neighbours say loud music from Wednesday to Saturday makes living close by "a nightmare." Play was the source of the second most number of noise complaints after Seven44 Restaurant & Lounge on Mt. Pleasant Road.

A tiny park tucked down a laneway of Spadina Ave. is named for a rock legend. The Jimi Hendrix Sculpture Garden, located between the Miles Nidal Jewish Community Centre at Spadina and Bloor and a condo to the south, contains a bronze statue of two clasping hands, entitled "People Helping People." When the chill city wind blows between the two buildings you can bet it cries Mary, or something like that.

Toronto's grey traffic signal boxes, a magnet for graffiti, posters, and vandalism, are about to become a good deal more festive. The city has commissioned a group of artists to hand paint 20 of the roughly 2,200 boxes in the hope of deterring future destruction. Another 100 will be covered in a stylish decal. Should the city expand this program?

IN BRIEF:

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: syfractal/blogTO Flickr pool.


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