The lines are drawn. The meetings are done. If the various sides don`t reach an agreement before Jan. 20, parties will head to the Ontario Municipal Board for what could be a 40-day hearing to decide what should happen with the former Lafarge lands.
Here`s everything you need to understand the players and the issues.
Depsite some end-of-year dithering by the TTC, the Yonge subway extension is proceeding as planned. While Toronto`s executive committee approved plans for the new subway to York Region Monday, that decision came after Toronto`s transit commissioners debated whether ridership numbers justified a subway at their December meeting.
A metre-long tunnel dug to move marijuana between two west-end Toronto houses proved a comic failure this week as police swept in on both residences, busting two grow operations and seizing illegal plants worth $385,000.
However, the person who allegedly dug the short tunnel to shuffle illegal plants from one basement grow op to the other basement grow op remains on the loose.
A new report predicts a double-digit drop in global auto sales on a year-to-year basis will continue through the first half of 2009.
Scotia Economics says, however, that it expects purchases to stabilize in the second half, limiting the slump to an average of eight per cent for 2009.
The lingering bitterness from the battle over two tall condo towers at Yonge and Eglinton still echoes through Councillor Michael Walker`s office.
"Stop Minto skyscrapers," a poster hanging on the wall shouts. "It`s too big."
The pair of towers, 55 and 37 storeys, were built over the objections of the local community, and even after a years-long consultation process with local residents to salve the wounds, the Minto towers still cast a shadow.
Despite its toxin-laden harbour, Port Stanley isn`t included on a list of Great Lakes environmental hot spots the federal government has targeted for cleanup. That`s more proof , says port activist Dan McNeil, that the federal government is ignoring the port and might be why it tried to keep secret reports detailing the presence of compounds like arsenic, mercury, coal tar, polychlorinated biphenyls, toluene, selenium and heavy metals.
0109CATH Post-secondary educators prove to be solid employers
In a time of economic pain and layoffs by the thousands, there are two places in Niagara with solid job security: Brock University and Niagara College.
As other industries shrink, the economic downturn has the opposite effect on the region`s post-secondary institutions, which are not only hiring staff, but seeing more adults enrolled to re-train after losing jobs, officials say.
"Our staff has been growing with enrolment," Niagara College spokesman Gordon Hunchak said. "I can see us having hiring growth for the foreseeable future."
0109BTFD
County may purchase former Paris town hall
Aproposal to save the Paris old town hall from the wrecking ball is gaining support in Brant County.
About 50 people crammed into council chambers this week to show support for the concept of converting the Burwell Street building into a cultural centre, an idea recently proposed by local theatre and entertainment producer Deano Wilson Rouse.
During a presentation to council, Wilson Rouse asked that the county purchase the building, worth an estimated $800,000.
residents face increases in their water bills of as much as 15 per cent in the coming year thanks to changes in technology.
The county is about to embark on a program to replace meters in basements across town so they can be read by radio frequency, ending the need for readers to walk from house to house with a "gun" in hand.
Those meters are also 30 years old and as a result read "slow," recording less water than what is actually used, officials say.
0109OTWA North Gower residents getting look at wind farm proposal
People in the North Gower area will have a chance today to hear about the region`s first proposal to build two wind farms, with a combined 10 wind turbines, proposed by Prowind Canada of Kemptville.
The open house will explain the proposal and address questions from neighbours, some of whom feel that the sight and sounds of turbines will disturb them and could cause property values to slide.
The event runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Marlborough Community Centre at Pierces Corners, west of North Gower (3048 Pierce Rd.)
0109OTWA Cities find private road to public transit smooth
The costs are often lower, ridership increases, and even when there`s a transit strike most of the system continues to run. Those are the main benefits of privatizing transit, say cities that have chosen to go that route. Contracting the entire system out or going with a public/private partnership (P3) is still a new concept for public transportation in Canada, with York Region Transit being the most notable exception. But many cities in the U.S. made the transition successfully years ago.
0109HAMN Houses still being built without city permits
One out of six new houses being built in Hamilton over the first half of 2008 was under construction before a building permit was issued, according to the city`s own random survey.
That`s a modest improvement from the findings uncovered by a 2007 Spectator investigation of the city`s building department but still a long way from full compliance with Ontario`s Building Code Act.
In 2007, the local real estate market was sizzling as sales for the year hit record levels in Kitchener and Waterloo and near-record totals in Cambridge. Things cooled off dramatically in 2008.
According to figures released yesterday by both local real estate boards, sales for all properties dropped 10.8 per cent in Kitchener and Waterloo, and 18.1 per cent in Cambridge.
0109YGEO Highway. 404 construction to start in 2010
It has been a long road already, but the Hwy. 404 extension to Georgina is coming together.
Updates on engineering and construction were part of a report to be reviewed by the region`s transportation and works committee yesterday.
The Transportation Ministry is working with the region on the extension that takes the highway from its current terminus at Green Lane up to Woodbine Avenue/Ravenshoe Road by 2012.
AJAX -- A developer`s plan for a 15-storey condominium was received with less-than open arms during an information session on Tuesday. Dunbury Developments is proposing the building on land west of Harwood Avenue on the south side of Rossland Road, between a plaza and townhouses. The L-shaped lot is covered in trees, which neighbouring residents don`t want cut down.
PICKERING -- After a long discussion and resident presentations, the planning and development committee approved a draft plan of subdivision in the Rosebank neighbourhood Monday. Last February, Rosebank residents packed the Pickering City Council chambers to dispute the proposal for 23 detached homes. Concerns included increased traffic, the loss of wildlife and trees and reduced lot frontages.
0109TNTO Forget the talking, it`s time to improve walking
Pedestrianism is the new urbanism. Even in a winter like Toronto`s, car-free zones make sense. Despite all the talking, however, we have done little to improve the walking. Yet the city we hope to become will be one where proximity is preferable to parking. Access will be worth more than any number of two-car garages.
OTTAWA–The deepening recession took another bite out of Canada`s labour market in December as the country shed 34,400 jobs – 70,700 full-time losses partly offset by part-time gains – and the unemployment rate jumped three-tenths of a point to 6.6 per cent.
Ontario`s jobless rate stood at 7.2 per cent, up from 7.1 last month, while Toronto rose to 7.2 per cent. The city`s unemployment was 7 per cent in November.
Rooming house policy in Toronto is all over the map, literally.
Zoning bylaws dating back to before amalgamation in 1998 only allow rooming houses in the former city of Toronto, and parts of Etobicoke and York.
But a staff report to the city`s planning and growth management committee yesterday said zoning changes to allow rooming houses across the city are going to be examined.
That could mean legalizing illegal rooming houses in Scarborough, North York and East York -- a move that worries some at City Hall.
