Bill row leaves Markham mom, child in dark: A dispute with PowerStream over her utility bill has left Sonia Chisholm and her 13-year-old daughter, Hamdia Zekeria, without power for more than a month. Full story here.
Bill row leaves Markham mom, child in dark: A dispute with PowerStream over her utility bill has left Sonia Chisholm and her 13-year-old daughter, Hamdia Zekeria, without power for more than a month. Full story here.
Downtown development can happen quick these days.
taken from the 12th floor of my new apartment,
I present to you, the super moon.
Traffic officers upset with quotas in Toronto’s 31 Division
Heads up to those driving in 31 Division because not only is there a new ticket quota imposed on Toronto Police traffic officers but a memo also states their careers may be on the line should they not meet them.It’s a shocking correspondence that has upset some officers in the northwestern Toronto division.
The problem is quotas are against Toronto Police policy.
While there is “a performance standard to ensure that parking folks” are “engaged in parking enforcement,” Dr. Alok Mukherjee, chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, states clearly “with respect to the issue of traffic ticket quota, I can tell you that there is no quota.”
Const. Tony Vella, of corporate communications, reiterates: “Toronto Police does not have a quota system, period.”
Somebody might want to tell Sgt. Wanda DeCoste.
“Being a TRU officer comes with its perks; however it also means there are expectations,” says the April 25 memo. “As of this date: the enforcement officers are expected to write a book a day. The accident car officers are expected to produce at least 10 tickets/day if they have no collisions.”
A book a day? That’s 25 tickets.
What about a police officer’s independent discretion?
And what does she mean by perks?
Could it mean the return of the “25 and home” bonus game?
As Toronto Sun crime reporter Alan Cairns wrote in 2006, the practice of writing 25 tickets and then being able to end the shift early was banned in 23 Division after now-retired Supt. Neale Tweedy ordered the practice off limits.
“I find it is an affront to the public interest and cannot be condoned as legitimate law enforcement behaviour, where quotas and personal benefit influence the day,” Tweedy wrote, calling it “unacceptable conduct” that was “undermining discipline, undermining unit cohesiveness and contributing to a compromised management and work environment.”
Why I Love Toronto Reason #248
Burwash Hall at U Of T
Now when Sanjana lived on residence at U of T I would usually always go over to her residence on a Friday night and chill. Now there was on particular night where she had to finish writing this pressure paper and therefore, starved herself all day. So when I got to her dorm she said something along the lines of “Oh Stevie! I’m so famished! I need some food! Oh Stevie Weevie can I have something to eat!” – something along those lines I know what she called me and I know her love for big words, so I would actually be surprised if I was not accurate with that quotation. Regardless, she took me to Burwash Hall to get some food and wow.
Now Burwash is the Victoria College Dining Hall named after Nathanael Burwash who was the president of Victoria College between 1887-1913. The building is an example of Neo-Gothic or some say Collegiate Gothic style and is noted for its windows, turrets, gargoyles – but of course what else would you expect from architect Henry Sproatt (Soldier’s Tower, College Park, Canada Permanent Trust Building/ CIBC Mellon, Fairmont Royal York and the Canada Life Building) and Rolph. The building was complete in 1913.. The hall was a gift from the estate of Hart Massey who attended the college in 1842 – 1845 (Vic was once located in Cobourg Ontario and that is where Massey attended). The hall was closed in 1988 for a year in order for restoration to take place.
But the building is just beautiful. Inside it has these high ceilings, amazing chandeliers, beautifully arched windows, massive and long tables to eat and study at and might I add when I first saw it I thought of Harry Potter! The outside is equally as stunning with the vines all over the building. You know what just look at the pictures of the exterior they are absolutely stunning and creepy at the same time.
This would be an amazing place to eat and study and even though I have only been in the building once, it has stayed in my memory for the last four years.
That Is Why I Love Toronto.
http://www.torontoplaques.com/Pages_ABC/Burwash_Hall_Victoria_University.html
thisriver: Renderings of the planned ICE Condos and the 120 Harbour Tridel Condo. The latter will sit wedged on a narrow triangle of land between the Gardiner Expressway, York and Harour Street. Part of their plans is to help form more links between the downtown core and the lakefront by opening new corridors for pedestrians and reclaiming unused unsightly land currently used by the Gardiner Ramps. Union Station is seen on the far left.
*Interestingly enough, 120 Harbour by Tridel is planned to be 75 storeys tall, ie. the former height of the Aura College Park Tower at Gerrard and Yonge which was slated to be “Canada’s tallest residential condominium”. The announcement of 120 Harbour’s equal floor levels was one of the factors that prompted the builders of the Aura to add another 3 storeys on their plans pushing the Aura to a planned whopping 78 storeys of residential units (the bottom 4 floors are slated though for retail).
Mardi Gras 2012: Carnivals around the globe, in pictures
The world is in carnival mood, it seems. Across the globe revelers donned costumes and danced away the winter blues on the north hemisphere, or partied the summer heat away if they happened to be south of the equator. The burst of color and good cheer was impossible to pass up. Above, some of the colorful scenes from the carnivals world wide.
