Odds n' Sods At City Council

Cab motion almost sent off course by muffins
April 26, 2007

Councillor Karen Stintz is still shaking her head after the raucous city council debate on taxicabs at Tuesday's meeting.

With angry cab and limo drivers forcing councillors to call in the cops, council members came up with the compromise idea of approving a new scheme. Taxis and limos not licensed in Toronto won't be allowed to pick up passengers in the city, but implementation will be deferred for a month.

Stintz (Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence) says she told Mayor David Miller she'd move the motion for him, but says Miller – no friend of Stintz – told her he'd rather give it to Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt).

Del Grande rose to speak but wandered off into a speech about monopolies and the price of muffins at Pearson airport and forgot to offer up the compromise.

Stintz says she was then asked to step in and make the motion. Observers say Del Grande then jumped out of his seat, apparently hoping to introduce the compromise. He was ruled out of order and Stintz ended up making the motion after all, which was approved.

"This place is nuts, absolutely," Stintz said yesterday. "On the other hand, if we can break up the muffin monopoly at the airport, the world will be a better place."

Lone wolf Augimeri put into the picture

Councillor Maria Augimeri (Ward 9, York Centre) was talking earlier this year about boycotting the group shot of city council members, explaining she didn't have any friends on council.

Augimeri got stuck in traffic prior to Tuesday's re-shoot and didn't get into the group photo, but Mayor David Miller made sure staff snapped a photo of her that can be digitally added to the shot, and he also posed with her for several photos.

Augimeri, who said she was going through a tough time in her personal life earlier this year, said she and Miller are on better terms these days. But she said she expects to be in the back of the council photo.

"I think I'm just not cabinet material," she said. Is that your choice or his, Augimeri was asked. "Both," she said. "I don't aspire to it. You're not as independent as I'd like to be."