Results tagged “cityhall”

At a preview, on Monday afternoon, of City Hall's new green roof, Chris Pommer stood in council chambers and explained some of the thinking behind the multicoloured carpet of vegetation that will soon engulf the podium area underneath Nathan Phillips Square's iconic concave towers. Pommer is a partner at PLANT Architects, the firm that designed the new roof. The project was conceived as "an elaborate series of plantings," he said, gesturing at a large architectural illustration full of minute detail. Elaborate plans are one thing, but we had to wonder just who was doing all this planting.

Among the progressive members of City Council, TTC Chair (and occasional Torontoist Rocket Talk contributor) Adam Giambrone is one of those most frequently cited as a potential mayoral successor to David Miller. In the aftermath of Miller's announcement this morning that he will not be running for re-election, we spoke with Giambrone about the mayor's statement, and about the speculation that has already begun to swirl about his own so-far hypothetical candidacy.

Politics stops for no man, and no retirement.

David Miller will be issuing some kind of announcement about the 2010 municipal election at 10 a.m. this morning (Friday). Word that he would be doing so started to spread a few hours ago, though no official press release has yet been issued by City Hall.

       

A giant jigsaw puzzle was unveiled at the Rotunda in City Hall last week. It wasn’t much of a head-scratcher, since it had already been solved, but what it lacked in convolution it made up in sheer optical awesomeness. Commissioned for the Manifesto Festival of Culture and Community (which just wrapped up this weekend), the puzzle—entitled Toronto Artmap 2009—was created by artists representing each of Toronto’s forty-four wards. Ranging from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, each artist was given a slab of wood shaped like their particular ward, on which they were free to tinker as they so desired. Once the pieces were finalized, they were linked up Voltron-style to form a massive tessellated map of Toronto.

John Barber has been observing and commenting on City Hall for the Globe and Mail for thirteen years. Those with an interest in our municipal government will have noticed his recent absence from the paper's political pages, most acutely during the rather juicy, comment-worthy last few weeks.

The city has released its contingency plan in preparation for a possible walkout by municipal workers belonging to CUPE Local 79 and TCEU Local 416 at 12:01 a.m. Monday. If the strike happens, don’t plan on a ferry ride to Toronto Island, a visit to a city-operated museum, leaving your children at city-run daycares, or processing new applications for municipal permits. Unless you live in an apartment building or Etobicoke, there will be no garbage collection—the city will operate two transfer centres at all hours, with limited service at five others (please resist the temptation to dump your trash in a ravine or Rouge Park). With any luck, we won’t end up in a situation like the citizens of Windsor, where a municipal strike is now in its ninth week.

Toronto needs a song. Yes, there are plenty of tunes about Toronto, plenty of albums inspired by Toronto, plenty of lyrics that namedrop Toronto. But we lack an anthem. Songs that have this city as their explicit subject tend to be at least one of: a) ironic, b) mournful, c) novelties, or d) dated. Yet we suspect there are already some hymns-in-waiting that defy these categories; perhaps you've even written one yourself.

Earlier this afternoon, Torontoist was explaining to an American friend the quirks of the process by which Torontonians are supposed to dispose of our coffee cups: pop the plastic lid off the paper cup and throw them both into the recycling bin—but don't chuck the entire contraption while the two pieces are attached, because that screws everything up. (We love public works.) The City, we said, is currently spending tens of thousands of dollars on consultants to find a way to simplify this, which ideally will result in the development of a paper lid. Yes, it might be easier to create an educational campaign touting the virtues of removing the lid, but legislating that companies produce such PSAs on their own dime would likely be an even trickier proposition. Besides, the less plastic the better. That said, it's hard to describe all this without laughing and using the words "fuckin' crazy," before finally admitting that the process the City is undertaking is actually not all that unreasonable.

                    

Last week, Adam Vaughan held a party. Its full title, according to the now-deleted Facebook event, was "SORRY! A fundraiser to celebrate Adam's apology from Rob." Rob, you see, is Rob Ford, who on the morning of Thursday, September 25, of last year, used his weekly spot on AM640's The John Oakley Show to accuse Vaughan of a rather serious conflict of interest.

Civic officials have long been eager to greet any visitor to our fair city with the slightest whiff of fame. Opportunities to pose with celebrities and have them sign the official guest book or test out government furniture have long been attractive to our elected officials despite occasional hiccups—Mel Lastman's feud with the Spice Girls, anyone?

Do you think you know what items go into the blue bin, what items go into the green bin, and which things go into the garbage? You don't. Even if you've studied the charts in the collection calendar, attended several meetings of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, read all the municipal news all the time, you don't. Sorry.

Between exuberant public improv and hip-hop brimming with civic pride, we've had some pretty good luck with locally flavoured YouTube videos as of late. Case in point: the above clip from comedy legend Steve Martin's The Funnier Side of Eastern Canada, a travelogue-style jaunt through the exotic northern locales of Toronto and Montreal.

This is the third in a three-part series exploring the effects of the global economic downturn on Toronto. Two weeks ago, economist Walid Hejazi gave an overview of what we're in for as the slowdown worsens. Last week, community activist John Campey explained how Toronto's most vulnerable residents might fare in the crisis. Today, the view from City Hall.

Last weekend, Improv Toronto—the volunteer prank team that brought us such hits as Subway Dance Party, Dinosaur Protest, and Where's Waldo in the Eaton Centre—set out to bring the glamour and spirit of the finish line to downtown Toronto. Taking to the streets, twenty pranksters armed with noisemakers staked out intersections, Dundas Square, and even City Hall with a fake finish line banner and tried to get bystanders to race. Although many were confused at first—some people thought they had accidentally gotten mixed up in a marathon—most eventually realized that the cheers were for them. Over the course of the day, hundreds of Torontonians gleefully raced each other to the finish line and everyone who ran was given a first place certificate for their effort. "This just made my day," remarked one participant.

Currently wrapping up: day one of a fascinating two-day conference at City Hall on Web 2.0 and the internet’s potential to revolutionize civic engagement. The entire thing is being streamed, and anyone interested in the issues should really just start watching. The summit features a broad array of speakers and panellists, ranging from directors of various city departments to prominent web developers and activists to councillors and citizens relaying their day-to-day experiences to the city's existing sites and interfaces.

Original graphic by Dave Meslin for Who Runs This Town? recoloured by Jonathan Goldsbie.

"Uh, I'm gonna hold that one up," said Councillor Bill Saundercook, raising his hand to put a hold on item 21 at last Wednesday's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting. The report in question was "2008 Bikeway Network Program – Phase 5 Installation of Bicycle Lanes [PDF]," and it's likely that committee chair Glenn De Baeremaeker tensed up in the split-second before Saundercook, with perfect comic timing, dropped his punch line: "Just kidding."

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.

This is Jörg Cieslok. He runs Titan Outdoor Canada. He is six and a half feet tall and has a thick German accent. He has a low opinion of "grassroots groups" like residents associations. He regularly calls up Rami to yell at him. He is more responsible for illegal billboards in Toronto than almost any other individual. He claims, under oath, to have lost $1 million due to sign bylaw enforcement. He threatened to sue Rami and is currently suing the City. And last night I learned that he is also an amateur paparazzo.

Public consultations, as the City of Toronto currently conducts them, are at best formalities and at worst shams. The City has a Public Consultation Unit, and they tend to do a good job running consultations and then compiling the results into reports. The trouble is that the staff who run the projects on which consultations are being held already have a very clear idea how they'll be going ahead, having formed their opinions long before the initiative had come to the public consultation phase.

FESTIVAL: Ladyfest kicks off their highly anticipated music series tonight, as the week-long festival continues. Tonight, come out to the Boat for performances from electronic soul group Lal, alternative crooner Emma McKenna, and experimental pop band Miau Miau. Also starting today is "Ooh-La-La," the female-identifying art exhibit at Beaver Hall Gallery (rescheduled from Sunday), which will run until September 27. The Boat (158 Augusta Avenue), 9 p.m., $5–$10.

MUSIC: In case you were jonesing to go to another overpriced classic rock concert, Lynyrd Skynyrd can help you with that. They're playing at the Molson Amphitheatre this evening, joined by rocker and clever lyricist Kid Rock and one third of Run-D.M.C. Molson Amphitheatre (909 Lakeshore Boulevard West), 6:30 p.m., $25.50–$75.

While BikeShare struggles to re-open its popular program, city hall may beat them to the punch.

Toronto's city councillors have voted to change the rules governing their office budgets, which includes the elimination of alcohol with meals with staff, mileage compensation to and from City Hall, and compensation for raffle tickets or silent auction bids. On the bright side, Torontoist's corporate booze budget is at an all-time high.

On Monday morning, Astral Media unveiled prototypes of its new line of "street furniture" at City Hall. On Wednesday, we took a look at the garbage bins. On Thursday, the advertising pillars. Yesterday, the transit shelters. Today, everything else. (Also check out Karen von Hahn's disparagement of the street furniture in the Globe.)