Events in toronto: Morning Brew: Ford aide filmed damaging GO station, mayor tours TCHC property, Wynne forms transit panel, Medieval Times seeks new king, and a big ceramic head

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Morning Brew: Ford aide filmed damaging GO station, mayor tours TCHC property, Wynne forms transit panel, Medieval Times seeks new king, and a big ceramic head

toronto monopoly mural Metrolinx is investigating David Price, a senior aide to Rob Ford, over several incidents at a GO station, including one in which an employee was berated and a station door broken, the Star reports. The incidents date back to last November but the most recent one, on August 27, occurred when Price missed a morning train to Union Station. Price was recorded by a fellow passenger and caught on CCTV, the paper says.

Ford toured a Toronto Community Housing Corp. building yesterday, promising repairs and leaving magnets and business cards. The mayor heard about leaky fridges and cockroach infestations at the property on Weston Road while a throng of media followed him through the halls. Ford also took time to teach young staffers how to tuck business cards in doors.

Meanwhile, TCHC is investigating the possibility its for-profit wing falsified documents. Its alleged Housing Services Inc., which carried out maintenance and construction projects for community housing and other Ontario landlords, altered documents to appear as though work carried out in Ottawa took place in Toronto. A similar probe is looking into the company's hiring practices.

A new 13-member advisory panel will consult with the public about new ways to fund transit expansion in Toronto and the GTA, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced yesterday. The panel will report its findings in mid-December. Do you think they will find an appetite for new taxes or charges if the money is dedicated to transit? Should the province just get on with it?

The Toronto Star looks a little different this morning. The paper includes several augmented reality features that come to life when scanned with a cellphone. More about that here.

Wanted: a king to claim the Medieval Times' vacant crown. Applicants must be between 40 and 55, outgoing, and "comfortable around horses," according to the job description. The position as one of the rulers of the medieval dinner theatre kingdom is good work. One king has been in the job for more than 15 years.

Finally, the Gardiner ceramic museum at Queens Park and Bloor has unveiled a giant zebra-patterned head outside its main entrance. The clay piece is six feet tall, and "very heavy," and was created by a Japanese-American ceramic artist Jun Kaneko. The National Post has the skinny on the big head.

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