G20
• U.S. issues G20 travel alert for Toronto [ Toronto Star ]
• Dogs sniff out bedbugs from G20 delegates rooms [ Toronto Star ]
• Gorrie: Dreaming of a G20 climate change to end run [ Toronto Star ]
• Police already provoked, two protesters arrested [ Globe & Mail ]
• Legal workers mobilizing to protect protesters’ rights [ Globe & Mail ]
Ford Phone Call
• Taped conversation leaked, Ford says he’s being’ set up’ [ Toronto Star ]
• Partial transcript of Rob Ford telephone call [ Globe & Mail ]
• Phone call raises questions about Ford’s judgment [ Globe & Mail ]
• Drug call a set up , Ford says [ National Post ]
• Man who frightened Ford is now scared [ Toronto Sun ]
Mayoral Race
• Hume: Candidates debate design, and it isn’t pretty [ Toronto Star ]
• Rob Ford faces off against Smitherman’s ‘Reality Checks’ [ National Post ]
City Building
• Peter Kuitenbrouwer: The triumph of a PUG winner [ National Post ]
• Toronto Eaton Centre unveils details of $120M facelift [ Toronto Star ]
• New Eaton Centre food will court will provide ‘urban dining experience’ [ National Post ]
• Hume: Looking up on Queen East [ Toronto Star ]
• Taxpayers to finance Hwy. 401 service centre makeovers [ Toronto Star ]
• Toronto’s field of dreams, er, weeds [ Toronto Sun ]
Other News
• Trillium ferry boat celebrates 100th birthday [ Toronto Star ]
• Housing agency admits errors in senior’s death [ Toronto Star ]
2 comments
Ontario municipalities treat small businesses like “cash cows”
http://www.exchangemagazine.com/morningpost/2010/week24/Friday/061802.htm
It is of remarkable coincidence that this report comes out so soon after Adam Vaughn’s work to get tax breaks for retail stores on Queen St. (destroyed by fire) was successful. Unfortunately Adam has not made any efforts for other stores/commercial properties in the area. Despite owning the land already and having insurance monies, owners of properties destroyed by fire on Queen West are going to receive hefty tax breaks so as to ‘viable’. This on one of the most vibrant retail streets in Toronto.
While Ford is being derided for his performance in the PUG debate, Toronto’s fiscal reality is the real ugly duckling.
PS. To Joe Pantalone, you might want to consult with Peter Tomlinson. Those 100 cranes you pointed to as a sign of success are just the opposite. The city does not fully recover development costs and ongoing operating expenses are not covered by property tax and other revenues.
Those comments from all of the candidates at the PUG event were an absolute embarrassment. This from the leadership of a supposedly sophisticated wealthy global city? They would have been laughed out of the room in London, San Francisco, Chicago, Melbourne or Berlin. Other that Rossi, who at least had the sense to copy New York, the statements on urban planning, architecture and design were inane, nonsensical or scary.
It’s really all quite sad.