February 28th, 2009
In defense of the urban coyote
by Matt Howatt
They have adapted to urban life and survived near the top of the urban food chain mostly out of sight and out of mind for decades. But all eyes are on urban coyotes this week after a chihuahua was plucked from the backyard of a home in the Beaches area of Toronto by an allegedly “brazen†coyote.
This weeks coverage of the attack on the Toronto Star’s website incited passionate debate and generated more comments than many other stories in the news with 60 to 70 per story. The coyote attack has served as a catalyst for debate over a myriad of issues from the rural-urban divide and gun control in cities to proper parenting skills and the need for domesticated pets. Pitbull owners question why their dogs are banned while coyotes roam freely and fence builders are proclaiming the qualities of a well-built fence.
The thought of mammalian carnivores such as the coyote living amongst us in the city is both thrilling and frightening for many. Coyotes resemble many of the domesticated dogs that chase tennis balls in local parks and excitedly greet guests at the front door, but they are not. They are not bound by familiar collars and leashes and they rely on instincts and refined skills to survive. Coyotes represent a wild side of the city that survives with a resilient and adaptive nature.
February 27th, 2009
So far on this blog, I have discussed where some of Toronto’s PCC streetcars have gone after serving here. Five ex-TTC streetcars are in active service in Kenosha, Wisconsin, one being reused as a seating area for a rural burger joint, and one sits rusting in a field between Hamilton and Guelph.
I got to visit another member of the Toronto PCC dispora, in Phoenix, Arizona. PCC 4607, rebuilt in the 1980s and retired in 1995, was one of two streetcars shipped down to the Grand Canyon State. One is in active storage in Tucson as part of that city’s heritage streetcar route (more on that in a later post), and one sits along side two old Phoenix city buses in front of the downtown bus terminal, protected from vandals by a metal fence.
Metro Light Rail
Phoenix is also the latest US city to build a new light rail system. There is a single, 32-kilometre long route that connects most of the region’s main trip generators - Uptown Phoenix, a secondary office cluster and the cultural district; Downtown Phoenix, Sky Harbor Airport (via a shuttle bus), Downtown Tempe and Arizona State University. It also barely enters Mesa, North America’s second largest suburban municipality (after first-place Mississauga and just larger than third-place Brampton). Further extensions may take the LRT to the large Metrocenter Mall to the northwest and Downtown Mesa to the east.
February 27th, 2009
WHAT: 5th annual birthday benefit for Toronto’s First Post Office
WHERE: St. Lawrence Hall, 157 King Street East
WHEN: Friday, March 6, 2009, 7:30PM
HOW: Tickets $25 & available at door. Reservations should be made @ 416-865-1833
No, not a …
February 27th, 2009
AMSTERDAM - Last summer an interesting debate got underway in Toronto. Electric scooters started appearing in the bike lane and some cyclists weren’t too happy about that (Note: I may have to recant my quote in this …
February 26th, 2009
Motor coach terminal, Bay and Edward streets, Toronto, December 19, 1931. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 9041.
When intercity bus travel arrived in Toronto during the 1920s, passengers had to make due with open air terminals that offered little in terms of comfort. The growth of the Toronto Transit Commission’s Gray Coach Lines division fuelled the need for a permanent structure to provide services to weary travellers. On December 19, 1931, local and provincial dignitaries gathered to officially open the Gray Coach Terminal (now the Toronto Coach Terminal) for passenger service, with a promise that the doors would be open at all hours of the day.
Dundas and Bay, Gray Lines Terminal, June 16, 1928. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 5943.
The terminal was built on the site of an existing open-air depot at the southwest corner of Bay and Edward. Construction appears to have been rapid—the preliminary layout of the building was made on site in April 1931, but pictures taken two months later revealed little progress. By December, the finishing touches were made and photographers were allowed to snap away before the first passengers arrived.
Acting Premier, Attorney-General Price, severing silk tape that officially dispatched the first coach from the Bay St motor coach terminal, December 19, 1931. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 9029.
The official ceremony was held at 12:30 p.m. Attorney-General W.H. Price, standing in for Premier George Stewart Henry, cut the ribbon. Mayor William James Stewart proceeded to buy the first ticket, a return trip from Hamilton. After half-an-hour of speeches, passengers boarded the first bus to the Steel City and were seen off by Price. “It must have been a surprise,” noted the Globe, “to see a gentleman poke his head into the coach and on behalf of the province of Ontario wish all and sundry a Merry Christmas and add that he hoped their lives would be a pleasant as the bus and last as long as the new terminal.”
February 25th, 2009
New things are afoot at Fort York. It sounds a bit strange to say that, but one of the oldest — that is, officially “historic” — parts of Toronto is also one of the most rapidly …
February 24th, 2009
Toronto City Council is in session today and you can watch the fireworks streamed live on Rogers website. If you don’t want to watch alone, and are a Twitter user, you can participate in the …
