Pay-by-phone street-parking is a year away
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It will be 2016 before South Bayview motorists, as well as those on Mt. Pleasant and across Toronto, will be able to use their cellphones to pay for parking on Toronto streets. This word comes from Lorne Persiko, president of the Toronto Parking Authority. The TPA is currently preparing the roll-out of pay-by-phone in the City’s Green P lots. The process is staged, said Mr. Persiko, to be sure the TPA can make it work to everyone’s satisfaction. Pay-by-phone parking is popping up all over North America and has proven to be a major public service. It permits drivers to open a so-called “wallet” not too different from the accounts offered by retail businesses such as Starbucks. The convenience represented in paying for parking by phone however would seem to surpass anything now in use. With an account containing $20, for example, a motorist can park and by entering the car’s license plate and certain other information, pre-pay for as much parking as is needed. Critically, the system permits drivers who are delayed getting back to their vehicle to top-up the parking without penalty from wherever they are. It should be a boon to anyone delayed at the dentist or for old friends lingering over coffee. It will be hard to incur a ticket because the phone alerts drivers to the approaching end of their paid time. In addition, it will eliminate completely the abusive confiscation of money. At present, anyone wishing to top up time must go to the meter, buy a new ticket, forfeiting the amount left on the old one.
Scope of carbon tax is potentially breathtaking
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A carbon tax is an additional tax on people (you) for burning stuff. If you heat with gas, throw wood on the fire, drive a car, ride in a jetliner — you make nasty carbon. Carbon is said to make the environment warmer. That is why the Premier is now talking much more warmly about a carbon tax. She has not said she will do it, but — well — maybe she will. So on that happy day, you will pay for your gasoline (plus all the present taxes that are on it) and you will also pay a carbon tax for burning it. The rationale of the carbon tax is that it will be so painful that people will stop burning carbon. Of course, in the meantime, it would be another “tool” for Ontario to find money that might find its way against the province’s enormous deficit. The scope and breadth of the carbon tax is potentially breathtaking. We burn stuff for everything. The carbon tax comes close to a tax on oxygen. Is there any place you’d rather be? Explained in BC talk
Rollercoaster: Blackberry denies Samsung deal
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Sunnybrook Plaza has 2 or 3 years left say tenants
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Listening to the employees of two large tenants at Sunnybrook Plaza, the venerable shopping strip has perhaps two years of life left in its long history as the first strip mall to be built in Toronto after World War II. “We’ve been told by Rio.Can that in maybe two years they will start taking things down,” said one employee. It is a feeling felt throughout the mall and in Leaside too. People are talking more openly than ever about the condominium that will replace Sunnybrook Plaza. Rio.Can has proposed a zoning amendment to the property that would permit towers 19 and 13 storeys high and have retail at grade. There will be retail growth east of Laird Drive, but that’s not Bayview Ave. Will development on Eglinton lead to a re-birth of business on South Bayview? One property owner, Brown Group, wants to build a nine-storey retail-residential building on Bayview between Soudan and Hillsdale Aves.Urban Toronto
Import executives go to jail for death of worker
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Two Brampton company directors have been been sentenced to 25 days in jail after pleading guilty to safety violations in the death of an employee. The man fell off of what is called a high order-picker (inset). It is a form of forklift that permits the operator to access high shelves and then lower the order for delivery to a truck. The convicted men are Baldev Pura and Rajinder Saini — both are directors of New Mex Canada Inc. — an importer and retailer of furniture and accessories. A worker was moving merchandise in the Brampton facility when he fell from the high order-picker. The order-picker did not have a guard rail around the platform nor was the worker wearing a harness or safety shoes. He was found on the floor dead of a head injury. The sentence will be served on weekends. A Ministry of Labour investigation found multiple violations of Ontario law. New Mex Canada pleaded guilty to failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker regarding fall protection and/or working from a height. The company also pleaded guilty to failing as an employer to ensure the safety measures required by law were carried out. Tilley Endurables for sale says owner
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Hi neighbour! U.S. bunks with Russia in space
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Heather Hiscox and Bob McDonald review the possible ammonia leak on board space capsule which the Americans to move into the the Russian side of the capsule. More
Flying with the Pope — what’s it really like?
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Those who guessed “pretty nice” may receive forgiveness. Interesting aspect of life with this precedent setting pontiff. BBC
Going where no trendy editor has gone before
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Toronto Life chooses to go where few TL editors have gone — Thorncliffe Park. No really. It’s a well-intentioned profile complete with cute hashtags of well-known tenant leader Abbas Kolia. Mr. Kolia is a strong spokesmen for his members. He has, as he says, tangled with politicians (most notably former Councillor John Parker) about just where tenant responsibility for conditions should begin and end. It is a personal thing. The “comments” section of this story is worth a read in that regard. It is certainly a good insight into this important figure in Thorncliffe Park for his fellow Leasiders across the CP rails who may want to know more about their neighbors to the immediate east. Toronto Life
Mayor in early visit to apartment on Pharmacy
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Mayor Tory visited the 15-story apartment building on Pharmacy Ave. which is still without permanent power this morning. There is, apparently, a temporary generator providing some electricity but it appears things are quite cold. The mayor tweeted this picture which is moving and says many things. Residents were dispersed among the homes of friends and warming centres overnight as efforts continued to restore power to the building. It all started with a fire in the electrical room of the large building. about 12.30 p.m. Tuesday
MAN DIES IN SHACK FIRE
A man has died in a fire in a makeshift shelter on undeveloped land near McCowan Road and Nugget Ave. Police think the man was sheltering against the cold when the fire started.
It all worked out for the adventurous Elizabeth
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| Here we are in Germany |
The 23-year-old woman who picked up and went round the world with a man who she hardly knew says it all worked out okay. She is Elizabeth Gallagher and her ticket to this expensive tour was her name. As you may recall, she had to have the same legal name as the woman for whom the tickets had been purchased. The man is Jordan Axani, 28. He had broken up with the first Elizabeth and needed a replacement to keep from travelling alone The girl who made the trip, Elizabeth Quinn Gallagher, Cole Harbour, N.S., said she began to feel confident about things when she met Axani’s parents, before the trip began. “You can tell what someone’s going to be like based on where they come from, so it was really nice to meet his parents,” she told CTV Toronto on Tuesday. The pair of strangers left Toronto for New York City on Dec. 21, spent three weeks visiting destinations including Paris, Milan and Hong Kong, before they flew back to Toronto on Jan. 8. “It sort of brought out this brother-sister dynamic between us,” Axani told CTV Toronto on Tuesday. “When you spend three weeks with somebody, travelling around, you get to know anybody pretty well. I feel like I’ve known you for years after this,” he said to Gallagher. Prague was Gallagher’s favourite city on the trip, while Axani said he loved Hong Kong. They spent part of the trip together, but did some sight-seeing on their own. They said they were approached by people in almost every city who recognized them and knew their story. They also got invitations over social media from people who lived in the cities they visited. “We met some amazing people and it really made the trip,” Gallagher said, mentioning other tourists, tour guides and residents of the cities they visited. Axani said he thinks they’ll remain friends and will keep in touch, but there’s “no romance here.”