By JOHN LORINC, Spacing Votes
In a lunchtime speech to the Empire Club at the Royal York today, mayoral hopeful Rocco Rossi laid out some of the key planks of his platform — promises that will likely set the tone and the dynamic of the race to come.
He vowed to cancel all future bike lanes on major arterial roads, including Jarvis Street, and complete the balance of the city’s cycling plan on residential or secondary streets. He also promised to review existing bike lanes on arterials.
As for Transit City, Rossi condemned …

By Tim, blogTO
Previously I’ve marked the end of the year by counting down the 50 most viewed posts from the past 12 months on this site. In a break with tradition I’ve shortened the list to 10. What’s clear at looking at this distilled selection is that readers of this site are obsessed about the weather, rat infestations, garbage and Google, not necessarily in that order. Here, in terms of page views, are the top 10 posts of the year:
10. Airbus A380 Lands in Toronto: …

By JUSTIN SKINNER, InsideToronto
With news that the dump at Moss Park will likely expand as soon as Monday, some local residents are doing what they can to divert waste away from the public space.
Moss Park’s basketball courts are currently piled high with trash, and with room running out in the enclosed space set aside as a temporary dump, the site will soon have to grow to encompass part of the soccer field, as well.
In hopes of minimizing the impact of waste in the park, some local residents have taken to …

By M. Monastyrsky, CampbellPark.ca, CELOS
On Thursday evening residents who live near Campbell Park protested against the City’s decision to use the site as a temporary garbage dump. It was a bit of a circus.
When I got there at 5:15 pm, police and media were already on the scene. There were TV trucks with high antennas parked on the grass next to the wading pool. There were handmade protest signs attached to the fence. There were also two wreaths by a sign that said McGuinty and Miller ‘have blood on your …

By MICHELE MANDEL and DON PEAT, The Toronto Sun, SUN MEDIA
It’s the pits alright.
As Toronto residents lined up to drop off their trash on the second-last day the Christie Pits dump was in operation, many people trying to enjoy the park were left steaming hotter than their new neighbourhood trash pile.
The gagging stench rising from the dump was too much for Maria Silva and her son Joseph yesterday, so they left the park and headed back home.
“It’s disgusting,” the mom said, as her disappointed seven-year-old pulled on her hand. “Doing …

From CP24
The City of Toronto has been permitted an injunction to spray garbage at temporary dump sites with pesticide despite opposition from residents.
Many residents around Christie Pits have been opposed to the park being used to store trash. They’re not happy about the garbage being sprayed with insecticide to treat a growing maggot problem.
The City had to go to court for an injunction to go ahead with the spraying after pest control crews were denied access by protesters and picketers.
Himy Syed with the Friends of Christie …

By DON PEAT, The Toronto Sun, SUN MEDIA
They’ve called the dump the pits, now they’re hoping the Ministry of the Environment will do something about it.
Friends of Christie Pits Park told the Sun they have lodged a complaint with the ministry this morning after days of dumping in their Bloor St. W. park.
Members of the group and local residents have held protests around the park’s outdoor rink since the City of Toronto began using it as a temporary dump site for the ongoing civic workers strike.
Group member Himy Syed says the …

By Brodie Fenlon, The Globe and Mail
It’s a provocative Twitter post, even for a union local that shut down curbside garbage collection across Toronto.
“Helping to ruin YOUR child’s summer by expanding designated dumps to neighbourhood playgrounds,” said the tweet, posted yesterday by “local416,” whose Twitter page links to the official site of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local representing 6,200 striking outdoor municipal workers.
Inflammatory? You bet. Real? Not a chance.
CUPE has filed complaints with Twitter and Facebook, and the union scrambled over the weekend to get online comments …

By DON PEAT, The Toronto Sun/ SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: June 25, 2009 5:22pm
Even before the city has announced locations of temporary dump sites, residents are threatening to boycott and set up pickets at the dump sites.
Christie Pits residents told the Sun that if the park is made into a temporary dump site, as is expected to be announced this afternoon, they’ll do whatever they can legally to keep the Pits from filling up with garbage.
“I think it’s a reasonable thing to voice our opposition in every possible legal …

By DON PEAT, The Toronto Sun, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 25th June 2009, 9:22am
Christie Pits residents are fuming at the thought their beloved park could be turned into a temporary dump.
While the city has yet to announce the location for its new temporary dump sites, residents see temporary fencing being set up and figure the park is about to get filled with garbage.
Friends of Christie Pits say the decision stinks, especially after watching the 2002 strike ruin the park with piles of garbage from the 16-day city strike.
The group is planning a protest for 11 a.m. today …

By DON PEAT, THE TORONTO SUN, SUN MEDIA
Mounds of trash that had started to grow in Christie Pits park are now gone.
City of Toronto managers descended on the park just after 9 a.m. to clear away trash leftover from a weekend festival and illegal dumping that started after city workers walked off the job early Monday.
The growing piles sparked protest by local residents just hours into the strike and has led to a growing petition urging the city not to use parks as temporary garbage dump sites as the labour disruption …

Photo: HiMY SYeD / photopia, on Flickr
By Corina, blogTO
If you were lucky enough to have missed the garbage strike in Toronto in 2002 (or any of the subsequent service disruptions since) don’t worry – in this city it’s becoming a regular tradition.
Only a few short years since the last strike, City workers have again walked off the job, shutting down services like summer camps and swimming pools, and suspending Toronto trash collection. Nothing says summer like a stinking city full of kids on summer vacation …

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Headshot photos by HiMY SYeD.