Hope all the plants and seedlings can deal with this weather. This weekend feels a touch crisp. Wintery maybe. No worries I suppose. I have to work another 7 day week and I’m inside…

Couldn’t enjoy the +20 degree awesomeness earlier this week either…

Maybe the long weekend will be better… C’mon Spring!!!

Now, I don’t usually repeat a post from my own blog, and I stick to Toronto-centric issues, but I’m really really peeved at what CTV is doing to the Junos. It was bad enough when they started squeezing it so that they could still air their “hot” American shows at their regular times, but this week, what they did, affects me as a Torontonian because like many Torontonians, I like to celebrate Canada and Canadian music, and, well, I’m ticked.
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Via Torontoist

So apparently Donald and Rosie have made up and are willing to kiss and tell. Or so says these billboards anyway. Click on image for more or click here.

This past weekend my wife and I headed down to La Maquette for some French cuisine. This place had been recommended to us by visiting French and Congolese relatives who seem to know their food so we had to check it out. Although it is not on the cheaper side it truly isn’t extravagantly priced either. The presentation of the dishes is fairly delightful and the atmosphere was very relaxed. (Especially with the guy playing Beatles, Lennon, Bach etc on the classical guitar) There was a lot of clinking glasses, laughter and conversation around us but we still felt like we had our privacy too. It was a nice place to go out for dinner so I thought I would recommend it!

ps. They do some great pasta as well as your foie gras, quail etc.

Located at: 111 King St E (King & Church)

Photo by Points North

I had intended to look at the last of Toronto’s flurry of plans, the Green Plan, this past week-end, but my days went in a completely different direction, and I never got the chance to read all about it. Still, I did hear that Toronto wants to increase its tree canopy, although as usual they plead poverty as a reason why they can’t.
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I started to wonder why the concourse was locked once I reached the Bay. Walking on to the street from the PATH at Queen and Bay I almost choked. The smell of burnt plastic filled the air. I guess the Police were well aware of what was going on. They had just finished taping off Bay to block off the street. I had to cross to the north side of Queen and walking past Old City Hall you could see the trail of smoke billowing through Bay Street.

It was bit of scare up the street as well. I later learned that the fire was electrical. Made perfect sense. Continuing my walk through the Eaton Centre was cut short when the power went out inside. Thankfully there was no pandemonium. The emergency power came on almost straight away and many stores closed up without any looting or chaos taking place.

Lots of credit due to the Police, Fire Department and People of the city. Everyone was cool and collected. Someone even picked up someone’s dropped bank card to return to them. Good news wins over bad…LoL

Besides recorded announcements of the next stop, another recent TTC innovation has been to install cameras inside buses. From memory I believe there are 5 or 6 per bus. Lately though I have noticed on some buses that the cameras have been covered up by 3cm wide red tape. Did I miss an announcement? Is the TTC deciding to pull back on their recording program or did something go horribly wrong from a maintenance standpoint?

Anyone know?

You have been holding it since you left the Yonge & Bloor subway station but now, at the end you decide that you can’t wait any longer. You climb up to the 2nd lowest level and walk away from the ticket collectors booth toward the Kennedy Station washrooms and this stench hits you from 10 meters away. Is this new? Some foul person hit the can just before you did? No, this is a normal part of having to go at Kennedy…

Maybe not the best early morning subject to write about but when it smells even in the morning you know there is an issue. Recently in the Toronto Star someone wrote about revamping Warden station but I think Kennedy is also due for something. The bathrooms (at least for men) are horrid, there is lots of empty space… not that I want it to turn into a shoppers paradise but why couldn’t they do something like at Warden or Eglinton station? (more vendors, shops, etc)

On the heels of the expected nada for the latest TTC plan in the federal budget — other than the previously announced subway extension — and to be fair, the nada is expected cause the federal government always says nada — the TTC and Toronto announce a partial car ban on parts of King Street in order to resolve the jammed up and slow streetcars. Yawn. Didn’t they announce this before? CBC News at Six was kind enough to tell me when: 2001. It was tossed back then because local businesses objected vociferously. Apparently in Toronto when an idea doesn’t succeed, wait a few years, try again, and hope your opponents are too high on spring warmth to notice. Don’t, for heaven’s sakes, upbraid the police and parking authority for not enforcing the no-parking rules, their neglect directly causing much of the jam. Don’t suggest a Queen subway as a way to get people through the core quickly and to hotspots like the Beach, while the King and Queen cars continue to act like milk runs for local trips. And don’t consult with the locals first.

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Today Provincial Finance Minister Greg Sorbara announces that it’s simply unfair for property tax payers in the 905 area to shoulder the costs of social services; hence he relieved them of that burden. But it is fair for people in the 416 area to do so, was what he implicitly stated, as he left that burden on our shoulders. Tory Blue for 416 anyone? Or perhaps Hampton Orange come October? Definitely not McGuinty Red, the colour of our bleeding downtown.

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Speaking of blood, we are guaranteed property tax raises this year, as there was no relief from either of the senior governments for such big-ticket items like TTC maintenance or operating costs, social services, and Mayor Miller’s office expansion. There is one bright spot: The city introduced property tax increase cancellation for low-income homeowners, and deferrals for those between low and middle-income. However, everyone who qualifies will still have to pay the increase in order to receive it back at the end of this year. You can’t pay. You don’t get it back. Kind of ironic, eh?

Nice. The TRANZAC club is host to I AM ROBOT + PROUD tonight.

March 21st
- I Am Robot and Proud
- Comedy by Holly & Inessa
Tranzac – 292 Brunswick Avenue – Toronto, Ontario – info@tranzac.org – (416) 923-8137

ooh… this starts at 8pm… I’m out of here….