Despite not actually having a Toronto casino or permission to build one, MGM held a job fair Saturday ostensibly to recruit workers for its proposed gaming facility at the CNE grounds. Unsurprisingly, it seems the fair was more about selling the concept of a giant monument to the laws of chance rather than actually offering any advice to wannabe croupiers. Should MGM be hosting these sorts of events?
Speaking of casinos, the Toronto Star says the Ontario Municipal Board could play a decisive role in the decision making process regardless of what city council votes next month. Casino companies could appeal the results of the vote to the OMB who have the power to overrule council decisions. Should the decision stay local?
Toronto's Irish and Irish at heart turned out for the city's St. Patrick's Day parade yesterday. Rob Ford made an appearance too, riding in his standard Don Bosco sports in an open-top car. Thousands lined the route that included parts of Bloor, Yonge, and Queen and finished at City Hall. Photos here.
Renting out a private parking space is illegal in Toronto, apparently. People that sell driveway or other non-public space on sites like Craigslist or Kijiji are technically risking a $25,000 fine. The Toronto Star meets some people who say it's time for a change.
Just days after the first road test of its new streetcar, the TTC seems set to take delivery of another Bombardier-built machine. The latest new streetcar to roll off the production line was spotted by Reddit user sycho on a flatbed rail car at the Thunder Bay works ready for delivery.
The tale of the downtown relief line is now in e-book format. Transit historian Ed Levy has condensed the decades-long saga into an electronic story one can download and read on the jam-packed Yonge line. The cost of building the DRL, which is once again on the cards, is $7.4 billion.
Finally, the Air Canada Centre will cut its exterior lights and shut down its searchlights for Earth Hour next Saturday during the Leafs-Bruins game. The interior lights that aren't used to light the ice surface will also be dimmed during the match to save energy.
FROM THE WEEKEND:
- This Week In Comedy
- That time the subway was a nuclear fallout shelter
- This Week in Theatre
- My Son the Hurricane might be the best live band you've never heard of
- Sky Zone brings its trampoline park to Leaside
- Low are the perfect anti-St. Patrick's Day band
IN BRIEF:
- Toronto school board trustee has life-threatening injuries after house fire [National Post]
- John Nunziata, brother of pro-casino councillor Frances Nunziata, is lobbying for casino [Toronto Star]
- Fatal shooting at Keele and Wilson probed by SIU [CBC]
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Image: "Bad Boys: TTC Drivers" by Tony Wei-Han Chen/blogTO Flickr pool.