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Thursday’s Headlines

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CITY COUNCIL
• First cut? Toronto residents get two garbage tags, not four [The Star]
• Chris Selley: Make them pay for their plastic bags [National Post]
• Ford changes budget priorities [The Sun]
• Where’s the integrity?: Levy [The Sun]
• Baggage check [Eye Weekly]
• The People’s Republic of Toronto [Eye Weekly]

YONGE & GOULD FIRE
• Arson suspected in Yonge St. fire [The Star]
• Hume: Heritage remains a burning issue in Toronto [The Star]
• Bravery, strength, quick thinking lead two firefighters to safety [The Star]
• Listen to the audio of dramatic Gould St. fire rescue [The Star]
• Toronto fire that razed heritage building being probed as arson [Globe & Mail]
• Yonge and Gould fire potential arson, say police [National Post]
• Five questions about the Gould Street fire [Now Weekly]

TRANSPORTATION
• Subways would cost more and serve fewer, think tank says [The Star]
• Ford’s condemnation of St. Clair streetcar is off-track [Globe & Mail]
• The TEA and Pembina transit reports, debunked [Globe & Mail]
• Light rail would produce ‘more winners’ than subway: environmentalists [National Post]
• TTC customer service plan being prepped [The Sun]
• New subway cars’ arrival still unscheduled [The Sun]
• Ford’s subway plan not cost efficient: Group [The Sun]
• Streetcar Apps to Make Your Ride a Little Smoother [Torontoist]
• Is the phrase the “war on the car” a Toronto thing? [BlogTO]
• How many schoolkids near diesel trains? Try 25,000 [OpenFile]

CRIME
• Chief Bill Blair says proposed 5% cut to force ‘impossible’ [The Star]
• Toronto 18 plotter should serve life in prison, Crown says [The Star]
• New police board faces ‘very interesting’ year [The Star]
• Police stop nearly 100,000 cars to decrease impaired driving [The Star]
• Police officers investigated in G20 brutality case face new allegations [Globe & Mail]
• Toronto police board defers vote on 3-per-cent hike for force [Globe & Mail]
• Toronto 18 conspirator shows little hope he will reform: Crown [National Post]

STREETSCAPE
• The Fixer: Bloor West sidewalk bricks about to take a walk [The Star]
• SeeClickFix aims to spare Toronto from urban nuisances [BlogTO]

OTHER NEWS
• For the love of gore: B movie industry flourishing in Toronto [The Star]
• Balancing Act: The Toronto Atmospheric Fund [Torontoist]
• The lost hotels of Toronto [BlogTO]

8 comments

  2. Interesting collection of headlines on streetcars and light rail. Could it really be? Might cracks be forming in the dense bubble of ignorance that surrounds Team Ford and its supporters? Might the rest of the world actually have been noticed by Torontonians visiting other cities while on brief sjourns from Rob Fordistan? Could a groundswell of intelligence now threaten to topple the mountain of bull-headedness on this topic?

    Hope springs eternal.

  3. I guess the “advocacy dressed as journalism” OpenFile regime isn’t going to change much under David Topping, then?

  4. I think Ford is an idiot but the TEA/Pembina report seems very shallow and oblivious to the fact that the most of those proposed LRT lines (with probably the exception of Eglinton) will do very little to attract any more ridership than those currently riding the buses (not to mention also doing little to lead to greater intensification/density in these areas). While I think parts of Transit City make sense, I also think BRT for some of the areas would represent better value. If the TEA is so concerned about TO’s transit infrastructure, they should be lobbying regarding rejigging the downtown to Pearson link which increasing looks like a wasted opportunity to significantly improve transit in the north-west portion of this city. Here is a link about the Pearson Link that was missed in today’s lineup. http://www.torontosun.com/comment/2011/01/05/16775696.html

  5. “most of those proposed LRT lines will do very little to attract any more ridership than those currently riding the buses (not to mention also doing little to lead to greater intensification/density in these areas)”

    I understand ridership has grown 40% on Spadina and there has been a great deal of intensification.

    One could argue that that might have happened anyway, but buses couldn’t have handled the ridership growth, just as buses can’t handle the ridership growth expected on the Transit City routes expected in the next couple of decades.

  7. Darwin,
    Spadina is right downtown..within walking distance of the Yonge/University subway line, university, business district, etc….which is why the area was ripe for intensification… I think it’s a bit of a stretch to attribute the growth (in ridership and density) solely (even primarily) to the Spadina ROW… BTW, I’m not anti LRT or anti-streetcar… I actually think the Spadina ROW makes a lot of sense…

  8. It is not possible to attribute ridership growth on Spadina solely to the LRT. Combining the ridership with the Harbour-front LRT, and taking into account the huge increase in residents served by that line, has made meaningful comparisons difficult. Most of the development on Spadina has taken place below Front.

    Now, if one thinks that steel wheels spurs development tell me when we can expect to see such stimulation on Dundas.