AXE KICKS
Giving a toss at Backyard Axe Throwing League’s tournament for beginners on Saturday, February 27. See photo gallery.
CITYSCAPE
The public got its first glimpse Tuesday night, March 3, of preliminary designs for the complex that could replace Honest Ed’s, Toronto’s most beloved discount department store. It’s big – four towers of 29, 16, five and four storeys – which means the proposal exceeds existing zoning bylaws and will probably be controversial. The big selling point: all of the roughly 1,000 units would be rental housing. See story.
SPOTTED
What Mining Injustice Solidarity Network action at the Prospectors and -Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual mining convention.
When Sunday, March 1, Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Why To deliver mock programs to delegates on PDAC’s stated commitments to corporate social responsibility. “It’s ridiculous that the same company that has been caught lying to communities and buying up land under false pretenses is leading a session on ‘proactive commu-nication,’” says MISN organizer Rachel Small. Indeed, MISN points out that some of the convention’s sponsors are among the worst human rights -offenders on the planet. In 2012, PDAC’s board of directors -approved a five-year strategic plan identifying “access to land [and] access to capi-tal” as priorities – along with “aboriginal affairs,” of course.
Jonathan Goldsbie
“YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?”
Alexander “Sandro” Lisi, the former driver for the former mayor, was in court this week to face the music on that extortion rap concerning his alleged efforts to obtain the (first) Rob Ford crack video. The hearing is covered by a publication ban, but we can report that Lisi’s lawyers have indicated that if the matter proceeds to trial, they’d prefer it be conducted by judge and jury. The case is already taking on the hallmarks of a circus. One of Lisi’s lawyers, Seth Weinstein, represented Justin Bieber when he was charged with assault in Toronto last year. The other is a former Crown attorney whom the OPP once called an “unindicted co-conspirator” in an alleged attempt to pervert justice. Meanwhile, Fabio Basso, the long-time Ford pal who lives at 15 Windsor, where the Ford video was recorded, briefly took a seat in the public gallery, bringing with him the strong smell of cigarette smoke.
NOT-SO-FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD TTC FARE INSPECTORS
“I really am very concerned at any proposal that says we should send these fare inspectors out without any personal protective equipment.”
TTC CEO Andy Byford bucks for batons for TTC fare inspectors after the TTC board approved changes last week that will see some of them carry batons and handcuffs. The board also voted to look into more “customer-friendly” clothing for the inspectors instead of the current police-style uniforms. Councillor Joe Mihevc says making inspectors appear less intimidating will lower the risk of violent confrontations with customers. But apparently Byford has done the cost-benefit analysis and determined that catching turnstile-jumpers amounts to a PR win even if a few heads are busted in the process.
QuAIA CALLS IT QUITS
After seven years of Palestine solidarity work in LGBTQ communities, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) has announced it’s disbanding. The group says the “deteriorating situation in the Middle East, Canada’s involvement in attempts to suppress the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, and other pressing issues have pulled activist energies in many directions… stretching the small group’s resources to continue in its current form.”
Mayor John Tory has threatened to cut city funding to Pride if it allowed QuAIA to march in the parade. Pride Toronto’s new executive director, Mathieu Chantelois, who was Tory’s French-language spokesperson during the municipal election, told NOW earlier this year that he was prepared to fight to allow QuAIA in the parade.
twitter.com/lucydecoutere
#IBELIEVELUCY
Jian Ghomeshi accuser Lucy -DeCoutere revealed in a Chatelaine interview last week that she’s been suffering from anxiety and nightmares but is nevertheless holding up as she prepares to testify in the sexual assault case against the former CBC Radio host. “I refuse to be intimidated by a process that is designed to get the truth about something. I cannot entertain that it’s more complicated than that. And the fact that people really build it up to be more is why more women are unable to share their experiences about violence.”
IS CLIMATE FINALLY ON CITY AGENDA?
Parks and Environment’s newly formed Subcommittee on Climate Change Miti-gation and Adaptation held its inaugural meeting in the council chamber on Monday, March 2, to hammer out its mandate. Yes, the leftish sub-group has only four members, but it was a full house anyway, thanks mostly to attendance by members of the People’s Climate Movement, who were there to deliver a 14,000-signature -petition to council demanding the city go 100 per cent green by 2050. Now, that would be something.
Compiled by NOW staff with files from Jonathan Goldsbie and Ben Spurr.
