[URBAN NOTE] Six links on Toronto, on mass transit and infrastructure generally

• This story of a TTC worker who took a day’s fares home with him, where they got confiscated by police, and then compensated by union pressure for having been suspended without pay … wow.
• Edward Keenan makes the point that cost overruns for city infrastructure need to be taken seriously. The quoted price for a park staircase is just off.
• Daily Xtra notes the sad state of repairs of the rainbow crosswalks of Toronto.
• CBC reports on Twyn Rivers Drive, a Scarborough route some say should be marked as off-limits for heavy vehicles.
• NOW Toronto reports on how Mississauga is starting to outshine Toronto in the department of bike lanes.
• Torontoist’s Tricia Wood writes about the almost impressive dysfunction at Metrolinx.

[URBAN NOTE] Three reports of crime and possible crimes in Toronto

• CBC reports on a Scarborough group trying to get the police to contact neighbourhood groups re: missing people.
• In the Toronto Star, Kristyn Wong-Tam reports Toronto police do not believe disappearances of men in Church and Wellesley are connected.
• VICE tells a shocking story of a man allegedly beaten by a policeman with a steel pipe, blinded in an eye. Coverup?

[PHOTO] Four photos of the Pride rainbow colours at Loblaws 60 Carlton

After seven years of vacancy, the Maple Leaf Gardens building on Church and Carlton that had once housed the home area of the Toronto Maple Leafs became a Loblaws grocery store in 2011. Because of its size and its storied location, Loblaws 60 Carlton is arguably one of the chain’s flagship stores. Because of its location on Church Street, Carlton Street in fact being one of several possible southern termini of Church and Wellesley, the store’s merchandise is also regularly tricked out in the rainbow colours of Pride when this season comes about.

[PHOTO] Pride selfie, with beads, even

I save my fineries for special occasions.

[URBAN NOTE] Four notes about the past and future of queer life in a dynamic Toronto

• In the Toronto Star, Emma Teitel wonders how long Church and Wellesley will last as a hub as the queer community develops and migrates away.
• Trevor Corkum, also in the Toronto Star, explores the important role of the Glad Day Bookshop in modern Toronto’s gay and literary scenes.
• Brian Bradley tells the story of Craig Russell, an early drag queen who became a star and started a still-living cultural tradition of drag performances in Toronto.
• In NOW Toronto, Vaughn Grey tells the story of how he successfully escaped Jamaica to claim refugee status in Toronto.

[PHOTO] Looking northeast, Church and Wellesley

Pride Toronto was still going strong at Church and Wellesley when I was there just a quarter-hour before midnight. I do not doubt it is going strong even now.

[PHOTO] Fourteen photos from Church Street during Pride Toronto (#pridetoronto)

I spent yesterday evening down with a friend taking in Pride Toronto down at Church and Wellesley, wandering up and down the streets dense with people and vendors and venturing over into Barbara Hall Park and the AIDS Memorial. It was a lovely evening, made all the more so by a late evening sky coloured in rainbow pastels.