Tuesday’s links

Rookies arrive in Hall of power [Toronto Star]: Beginning at 1 p.m. [Chin Lee] and the six others — Adam Vaughan, Anthony Perruzza, John Parker, Gord Perks, Adrian Heaps, and Ron Moeser — will get a one-hour overview on everything from office budgets, parking, phones, faxes, even how to get their offices repainted if they so desire, from Winnie Li, director of council and support services.

Councillor’s message sparks probe [Toronto Star]: Toronto’s integrity commissioner has “tentatively reached the conclusion” that Councillor Maria Augimeri committed discreditable conduct over voicemail comments she made about Councillor Peter Li Preti. Li Preti lost the riding of Ward 8, York West, by 597 votes to Anthony Perruzza, Augimeri’s long-time executive assistant, in the Nov. 13 municipal election. At a news conference yesterday, Li Preti played a tape of Augimeri’s Sept. 27 voicemail message to MP Judy Sgro’s office in which Augimeri expressed disappointment Sgro was helping Li Preti’s campaign.Augimeri said on the tape that Li Preti, first elected in 1985, was unsuitable to be a councillor and alleged he was “being actively investigated by police.”

LiPreti spitting mad [Toronto Sun]: ork West Councillor Peter Li Preti lost the election and his job last week, but he’s going down flailing. Li Preti launched an offensive yesterday against election improprieties and “filth” in Ward 8, highlighted by playing a voice mail from Ward 9 Councillor Maria Augimeri where she’s heard saying he’s “just not suitable to be a councillor” and he was “actively being investigated by the police.” The tape is clear, its impact is anything but clear.

Councillor fed up with TTC Chairman [National Post]: Councillor Karen Stintz yesterday called on Howard Moscoe to step down as chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission, saying his meddlesome methods are no way to run a railroad. “I think it would be appropriate for him to step aside,” said Ms. Stintz, re-elected to a second term as Eglinton-Lawrence councillor last week. “There is enough talent that we could find someone to replace Howard in that role.” Mr. Moscoe told reporters at City Hall yesterday he is the right man to continue at the helm of the TTC. Mr. Moscoe, a councillor for the past 29 years, was TTC chairman from 1997-2000 and from 2003 until now. He suggested before last week’s election that he would not seek the chairmanship again.

Reliving Pitfield’s awkward defeat over and over again [National Post]: Just over a week after the municipal election, it is reassuring — or is that depressing? — to know fellow Torontonians can relive the whole messy ordeal via the Internet’s new favourite water cooler device: YouTube. Besides forgotten campaign videos, the most popular video making Toronto’s blogosphere rounds is also the most cringe-inducing. As both Spacing Votes and BlogTO reported late last week, a Citytv clip, aired at 8:01 p.m. last Monday, showed one of the station’s reporters interviewing mayoral hopeful Jane Pitfield barely a minute after election officials started reporting in.

TTC introduces new tokens [Toronto Star]: It sounds like a mouthful, but TTC brass think “teeny toonie token” may find its place in commuters’ vocabulary when the new two-tone coin goes on sale Sunday. The size of a dime but vaguely resembling the gold- and silver-coloured toonie, the new token includes design features intended to thwart would-be counterfeiters.There’s no electronic component or RFID (transponder) tag inside the coin made by a Cincinnati, Ohio-based private mint. However, the swirl pattern on the face of the coin and ridged edges will make the new token expensive to fake, TTC officials say.

TTC hopes new tokens thwart fraudsters: [Globe and Mail]: They’re in a perpetual high-stakes game: those who play by the rules, versus those who cheat. And today more than ever, the victory — legit business owner or con, banker or fraudster — goes to the player with the technological edge. The Toronto Transit Commission made its move yesterday, unveiling a token that officials hope will foil fraudsters who are said to have bled the cash-strapped operation of millions in lost revenue. TTC chairman and councillor Howard Moscoe showed off the two-toned coin at a news conference at City Hall. “We want to get the counterfeit tokens out of the system,” he said.

Pedestrians, your seconds are numbered [Globe and Mail]: The austere walking man and firm red hand — long-standing icons of Toronto’s crosswalk culture — will soon have a companion in the form of a new “countdown” signal: an LED display that lets pedestrians know how many seconds they have to cross the street before the lights change. The city’s transportation services division has begun installing the countdown timers at some of Toronto’s busiest intersections — two are currently in place at the corner of Dundas and Bay Streets, and at Front and John Streets. The signals’ countdown kick in when the flashing red hand appears. The city expects to install more than 250 in the next two months, and about 1,500 signals will be converted in the next four to five years.

Bait bikes help U of T put gears to thieves [National Post]: A University of Toronto pilot program to nab bike thieves seems to be working, the co-ordinator of the program told 680 News yesterday. On Sept. 29 the school’s campus police department launched a project that saw them fasten global positioning system (GPS) beacons to expensive bikes, then leave the “bait bikes” scattered around campus. When the bikes are stolen, their GPS beacons go off, helping police catch the thieves. “The project is ongoing and successful,” Corporal Peter Franchi, co-ordinator of the bike bait program, told 680 News. “We have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of bike thefts since the program’s inception.” He said the program had resulted in several arrests, including four in one day.

City’s water mains showing their age [Toronto Star]: Dig up a water main in Toronto and chances are even that it’s more than 50 years old. In fact, chances are one in 12 that it’s a century old or more. Those odds caught up with motorists on Lake Shore Blvd. W. near York St. yesterday morning, when a water-main break spewed water and mud over the road, forcing the eastbound lanes to remain closed well into today. It’s a sign of things to come.Already, Toronto has one of the highest failure rates in Canada when it comes to water mains, according to one report.

The Way We Were [Toronto Sun]: On this day in 1891, the first stone of Old City Hall was hammered into place.

photo from Toronto Archives: fonds 1244, item 10089