CITY HALL
• City budget meeting turns into screaming match [ Toronto Star ]
• Councillor confronts citizen who criticized city hall’s tax-and-spend ways [ National Post ]
• Committee paves way for city to charge utilities [ Toronto Sun ]
• George Smitherman backs selling off some city services [ Toronto Star ]
TTC
• All aboard to fix the TTC [ Toronto Star ]
• TTC unveils customer service panel [ Toronto Star ]
• TTC unveils customer service panel [ Globe & Mail ]
OTHER NEWS
• Protesters aim to save Bathurst Heights school [ Toronto Sun ]
• Coyote runs off with puppy [ National Post ]
• Police warning public of coyote threat after puppy snatched in Pickering [ Toronto Star ]
• U of T students to vote on new pool for Pan Am Games [ Globe & Mail ]
• Bank hopes small loans will yield big results [ Globe & Mail ]
• Students will be out to change the world [ National Post ]
• Fiorito: Canada Post upgrade is a community downer [ Toronto Star ]
• Art Eggleton: From mayor to anti-poverty crusader [ Toronto Star ]
4 comments
Re: George Smitherman backs selling off some city services
On the point that privatizing transit system “encourages private operators to cherry-pick lucrative routes and leave other areas underserviced”, sometimes I feel cherry-picking high-demand routes may not be a bad thing. By focusing on improving service on high-demand routes and leave out low-demand routes, you create an big incentive for population to gravitate around well-serviced areas of the city, making it easier to form high-density neighbourhoods, which not only save money by improving efficiency of city services, but also help to create more livable and vibrant neighbourhoods.
Along the same line of thinking, I fear that extending subway into far-suburb (say Vaughan) actually will accelerate sprawling.
Paula Fletcher is an embarrassment. Perhaps she has resumed her leadership of the communist party? Preventing honest dialogue on the cost of city services, hiding behind the shield of making them motherhood issues, clearly shows that she has little utility on council.
See Paula Fletcher and her amazing mad lady routine as she single-handedly deep-sixes any possibility of Shelley Carroll running as the progressive mayoral candidate. See George Smitherman knock the wind out of Rocco Rossi’s sails by saying the P word. See the TTC divert attention away from its more serious problems with its amazing “customer service” song and dance routine featuring a dazzling new lineup of fresh-faced chorus boys and girls (among them Spacing’s very own Mathew Blackett). Spills, Chills, Thrills… ohh..ahhh..Maybe not the greatest show on earth but certainly worth the price of admission.
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PS. On a more serious note, Yu, as much as I don’t like Smitherman (or Rossi) for mayor, his concerns about “cherry-picking” are well stated.
Sounds like Paula Fletcher has a bad case of “Bussinitis”. I’m glad my tax dollars are being well spent.