Events in toronto: Morning Brew: Toronto Zoo elephants get moving date, July storm cost $65M, Riocan to appeal Bathurst bylaw, noise data may delay Porter jets, and a food truck survey

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Morning Brew: Toronto Zoo elephants get moving date, July storm cost $65M, Riocan to appeal Bathurst bylaw, noise data may delay Porter jets, and a food truck survey

toronto skyline The three Toronto Zoo elephants scheduled to move to a sanctuary in California will finally be on the road after the Thanksgiving weekend, according to zoo staff. The three female African elephants - Toka, Thika and Iringa - were originally going to fly to the PAWS sanctuary in the U.S. but talks stalled with Department of National Defence. The trio will travel by air-conditioned vehicle instead.

This summer's epic rainstorm that caused widespread flooding and trapped a GO train in the Don Valley cost the city $65 million, a staff report calculates. The assessment is still ongoing, but city manager Joe Pennachetti notes the rain cost $10 million to manage and caused about $55 million in damage. City divisions will be able to draw on an emergency fund set up in 2009 if they cannot absorb the cost.

The development company planning to build a Walmart on Bathurst Street near Kensington Market is appealing an interim control bylaw enacted by the city that prohibits new businesses opening on the street for one year. RioCan filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board, a judicial body that has authority over city decisions, in an attempt to build its three-storey, 12,000 square metre retail complex on the site of old Kromer Radio lands.

A delay obtaining noise data for the new Bombarider CS-100 jets could delay Porter's plans to fly non-propellor planes out of the Island airport. Transport Canada told city staff it won't have the noise data for the planes until mid-2014, several months after a report is due to city council for consideration. Porter says it will have enough information to finish the report in time.

Rob Ford is promising faster food at this weekend's Ford Fest event. Long lines at the first of two events earlier this summer meant some people waited almost hours for a burger. Doug Ford says students from George Brown will help with catering at Centennial Park this Friday.

Speaking of food, the city wants your input on food trucks in Toronto. Municipal Licensing and Standards wants to know if the city should regulate the food truck industry and what changes could be made to enhance the street eats scene in Toronto. The information will be used to inform future policy.

Finally, here's graphic designer and letterer Ben Johnson painting a graphic mural at Project:Rhino, a co-working space at King and Bathurst. Inspired by Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Johnson created the font by himself and used only black paint and markers.