Friday, December 14, 2007
Mega anti-car
Old, white, single, has probably rented all his life somewhere near Church and College - all me just guessing at the stereotype of Toronto’s #1 car hater.
Whatever the appeal of the car may be, mobility has little to do with it.
The odd thing is that most that take the TTC would never call it the better way.
Yes, I read this guy just to irritate myself.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Ghostly bike
I’m no fan of mixing bikes up with motorized traffic on major routes, but I had to pause when I saw the above memorial on Bayview Ave. the other day.
Here is the background on the story...I honestly don’t know why people risk their lives driving in traffic on a bike in Toronto. It can’t be worth it.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Streetcars must die!
There’s nothing in this article that convinces me that a streetcar is more efficient or cost effective than a bus.
A few letters tell the rest of the tale.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Worker killed, subway service curtailed
Another day, another closed rail line.
Stranded commuters struggled to get to work.
Tara Kubicki, 31, found her bus stop was so crowded she ended up walking north and catching a bus to Eglinton, which took her an hour.
Yet another example of how rail is only efficient if it’s working, because if it’s not, nothing moves.
It’s time to give up on the subway and streetcar pipe dream and switch to busways and widened roadways. Cheaper and far more flexible.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Time for a fence
What with the Prince Edward Viaduct now luminously veiled, perhaps the Don Mills overpass should be fenced from jumpers.
Police shut down the westbound Hwy. 401 express lanes at Victoria Park Ave. at around 6:30 a.m. after the woman leapt from the Don Mills Rd. overpass.
Potential jumpers should note, that before you go ahead and ruin an east end motorist’s life, the Don Mills bridge is only 50 feet up, not high enough to kill oneself.
Apparently this lady got up off the shoulder and ran in front of someone to finish the job.
How selfish.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
To Serve and be PC (politically correct)
I don’t know about you, but stuff like this disturbs me...and it should bother you too.
Recruiting Drive For Members Of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning Community
Clearly, changing the name from police force to service had a detrimental effect on a once proud unit. Now, it’s simply a reflection of the political whim of the day.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Fire night in Toronto
If you ever find yourself with not too much to do, check on Toronto Fire’s active calls website.
The following listed active incidents are dispatched from Toronto Fire Services Communication Centre. The contents are updated at five minute intervals from the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Let’s ditch anti-car policies
Not much chance of this happening with Miller in for four more years.
Make it so that no more than one road in an area can be dug up at a time. Repairs cannot be allowed to last for months or even years. There must be fines about not meeting a deadline. Simple repairs must be done at night.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Floating joke
It’s still ridiculous that we have a ferry instead of a bridge to Canada’s largest city’s airport, but to hear that the overpriced boat crashed into the dock is priceless.
Note all the spelling errors in the article. Good proofreading, Starboys!
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Nightmare on St. Clair
The anti-car movement of the socialists at city hall steps up a level in midtown.
Projections show that when the work’s finished, a streetcar user on the new elevated track will save only five minutes on a round trip between Yonge St. and Keele St.
The areas that stopped the Spadina Expressway will feel a new level of pain by 2008. Looks good on them.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Whiners win round 1
Amazing that 5 people managed to help unemploy 400 - Brian echoes my views perfectly.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Dumpy Toronto
Brian links to Peggy Wente on Toronto, the dump.
A Link and a Few Quotes from Peggy Wente at the Globe and Mail
Just one problem. This city is a dump.
What strikes the visitor ... It’s the trash.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Downing on Jacobs
Very few locals are brave enough to take on Jane, but Downing is.
I confess that for me, Jacobs was like that verse in Matthew about a prophet without honour. Much praise for her comes from activists who would follow a moose statue if it suited their ideology. Then there are those who admired her blunt talk but never puzzled their way through her books.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Gridlock queen dies
Odd I heard this news while stuck at the bottom of the Spadina Expressway stump.
Influential urban thinker and celebrated author Jane Jacobs has died at age 89. She would have been 90 next week.
I don’t celebrate people that essentially brought paralysis to a city. Christ, she didn’t even sound like she was from here.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Toronto gridlock
John Downing’s from the old school of traffic—one of the last left who knew Sam Cass, the man that started our system of efficient traffic movement in Toronto. Too bad his work was never fully completed.
There’s no good news from Toronto’s gridlock front to show that there will be an improvement to the dumb way the city mismanages traffic.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Competition to the TTC?
Perish the thought.
Is two-tier transit coming to Toronto?
Imagine, someone trying to offer a better service. Can the people of Toronto handle it? I doubt it.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Tap your past
Drawing upon seniors for sage advice is an age old idea - so doing it at the city government level shouldn’t be any different.
The good old days often weren’t, and good old politicians often were clay from the feet up. Yet I remember how surprised I was when I met Tony O to discover he wasn’t just a headline chaser but had a lively, quotable and informed view on every urban issue.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Dump the streetcar
Once more, Toronto is rising up against the streetcar. They make no sense, as this letter writer says.
However, no one has asked the fundamental question. Why does Toronto stubbornly stick with antiquated streetcars at all? There are reasons why virtually all other North American cities have stopped using streetcars.
It’s still up in the air whether the whole St. Clair project will ever go ahead.
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Put a sock in it
Blatchford has no time (click on google title) for the blubbering citycrat admitting her affair.
Mary, mother of God, hear my prayer: Make Pam Coburn shut up.
Don’t these idiots have any shame? Sure, people have affairs, but dragging your kids out to a press conference to parade your stupidity in front of the world borders on child abuse. What was she looking for, the child-sympathy factor?
Both should be fired: she for promoting someone clearly not entitled to the job, and he for being a cheating, lying deceptive bum who can’t maintain his marriage vows. Clearly we don’t need two cheaters playing with taxpayer dollars.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Honk if you hate humps
Downing says the humps are about to invade his neighborhood, and he doesn’t like it.
Did you know that some drivers retaliate by beeping their horn at every hump? That some drivers claim it’s easier to take humps at a higher speed? Did you realize humps affect the disabled and those in wheelchairs more than the rest of us? Did you know City Hall has never done a study into how much of our safety is compromised by these humps?
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
In the dumps
John Downing writes that our garbage woes could be easily solved by simple incineration or filling the huge abandonned mines around our province.
The future will peer back at Toronto and think today’s politicians dumb to the point of silliness in how they handle garbage. And they’ll be right. We’re as primitive as if we still lived in caves.
Goodbye Gardiner again?
Looks like another leg of the Gardiner is up for debate.
Toronto before the Gardiner Expressway featured gridlock on Lake Shore Blvd., and bumper-to-bumper action on King, Queen and Dundas Sts., Cass said.
The Gardiner does look ugly in some spots, but it’s no more a blight on the waterfront than the row of ugly condos completely obstructing the lake.
Friday, September 2, 2005
Meet Sheriff Joe
You’ve scene him on 60 minutes, Peter says we need him here.
The way murders are going in Toronto, we’re likely to average two a week by the end of the year.
I did see a chain gang, without the chains, cleaning up by the 401 past London the other day. Good to have one fond reminder of Harris.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Fires burning
Toronto is descending in to an American style city, and our gutless politicians can’t stop it.
Look, I’m no expert on crime. But to me that’s like trying to battle a four-alarm blaze with a fire extinguisher. The thugs don’t give a hoot about models or secretariats.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Goodbye, lamp post
Any newcomer from Jamaica hoping to get away from daylight, senseless, and brazen daily gun violence will be sad to see that there’s no escaping it in Toronto. Why come here when at least the weather’s warm down there all year round?
A well-known community figure approached by a group of four or five youths was shot to death in the courtyard of a Scarborough apartment complex last night, in an incident witnessed by as many as 20 adults and children.
The group-huggers would do well by going down to Kingston, like former chief Fantino, and getting some tips on how they keep the lid on their 5-a-day murders.