Ward20 Trinity Spadina

With Mayor Rob Ford now in permanent campaign mode, Councillors Adam Vaughan and Shelley Carroll are among those seriously thinking about challenging him in 2014. But TTC chair Karen Stintz, perhaps the strongest rival after her big win over Ford on transit expansion, is standing as firm as one can 31 months before the actual vote: “I’m not running for mayor.” Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) puts the early talk of replacing Ford … [Read more...]

A Toronto lawyer is suing police for unlawfully arresting him during the G20 summit, a claim substantiated by Ontario’s police complaints watchdog. Nicholas Wright, 29, was riding his bicycle along Bloor St. on June 27, 2010, the summit’s final day, when he was allegedly stopped by police and handcuffed, searched and detained for about 20 minutes. Wright claims he was told he was being arrested for wearing a disguise — he had a … [Read more...]

A local lawyer is suing the Toronto Police Services Board for what he says was an unlawful arrest and a violation of his Charter rights during the city’s G20 summit – an incident the police say was simply an attempt to maintain public safety. Nicholas dePencier Wright is seeking $25,000 in damages, plus other fees, in small claims court for a run-in with police on June 27, 2010, the second day of G20 meetings at the Metro Toronto … [Read more...]

Kensington Market’s popular Pedestrian Sundays are going to be happening a lot more frequently this year, but neighbourhood residents and businesspeople are hoping they won’t be as raucous. The Kensington Market Business Improvement Area’s board of directors voted this week to close the Market to vehicular traffic on every Sunday from May to October 2012. In past years, the closures have occurred only on the last Sundays of each of those … [Read more...]

In a legal opinion made public this morning, a prominent Toronto lawyer argues that Rob Ford did not have the power to unilaterally cancel Transit City without receiving authorization to do so from city council. The opinion was solicited by Councillor Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul’s), a former vice-chair of the TTC, in an effort to put some research behind the sense he and several of his colleagues shared that proper procedure was ignored in … [Read more...]

The pedestrian tunnel linking Toronto to the Billy Bishop island airport is in its final design stages and construction will start next month, says the president of the Toronto Port Authority. Geoff Wilson confirmed Tuesday that a groundbreaking ceremony for the public-private partnership tunnel is set to take place sometime in February, with construction expected to take two years. Read more at: … [Read more...]

January 10, 2012 (Toronto Star) - Toronto’s budget committee has voted to cut an extra $7 million from the budget of the library system, a decision that will mean reducing some combination of branch hours, reading programs and book purchases if it’s approved by council next week. Defying Mayor Rob Ford’s demand for a 10 per cent cut, the library board voted in the fall to approve a cut of only 5.9 per cent, or $10 million. But council … [Read more...]

January 9, 2012 (Toronto Star) - A group of Toronto health professionals is warning that proposed cuts to a variety of city programs are actually health-care cuts in disguise. Axing or reducing funding to HIV and drug prevention programs, recreation centres, community health centres, shelter services and Wheel-Trans for some dialysis patients is going to create significant health consequences, said Russ Ford, the executive director of LAMP … [Read more...]