Photo Credit: Flickr

Hot on the heels of the new Subway Sundays series at The Toronto Traveler is Media Mondays.  This series will take a weekly look at one news story from that week that I found relevant to tourists in the city, helpful to people that are new to Toronto or have not lived here for a long time or just plain interesting for one reason or another.  It’s my eventual hope that this continual look into current themes and goings on within the city of Toronto will help you connect with the city on a deeper level.

This week’s winner is a piece done by City News called How To Drive Safely Following A Flood.

What did I find interesting about the piece?  Well, essentially this is a type of reporting that you don’t see very often in the media.  Other news outlets such as CBC and The Toronto Star did cover the weather problems that have been going on in the city in recent times, but they also neglected to mention on a large scale what people visiting the city could do to help themselves.  City News has a way of covering the news that lends itself to this type of helpful article and that is one of the things that I like about that news organization.

All of the tips are good, but their main tip of “Don’t drive unless absolutely necessary” is definitely something to take notice of.  Stay away from flooded areas unless you absolutely have to go (and if you read this blog because you’re visiting the city, chances are you can cancel an event and just chill out at the hotel for awhile) and also take note of the last two tips which state what one and two feet of water can respectively do to most automobiles.  SUVs aren’t immune to this type of thing either, so be very wary if you need to go somewhere that is in a flooded area.

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1) Sports in Toronto had a good night last night as the Blue Jays beat the Rangers in baseball and the Raptors eliminated any chances the Nets had of making the playoffs.

2) Weather is still a problem in and around the City of Toronto.

3) If you were stalled driving on the 427 today, it was likely because of the major collision that occurred on the highway.

4) Fun times abound in Toronto as Canadian Idol is back in town.

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2) As the Government of Toronto begins to crack down on motorists running red lights, the prospect of a strike on behalf of the TTC workers is looming ever closer.  It’s not all bad news though, as the sounds of the subway debuted today at the Glen Gould Studio

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Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons, displayed under the GNUFDL

Well, the good news is that Toronto is starting to get a lot warmer as of late as Spring begins to fight its way back into the city after one of the worst winters on record.

The bad news however is that while this is certainly a good thing, that nasty winter still has one surprise left in store.  With temperatures going into the double digits Celcius and lots of snow still around the city, flooding has now become a distinct possibility.  It’s also expected to rain a lot over the next week or so, which doesn’t help matters that much.

So, the moral of the story is that if you’re going to be out and around bodies of water (i.e. Lake Ontario) in Toronto in the next few days, be extra careful as the flood potential will likely carry through for another week or two while the rest of the snow melts.

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Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons, published under the GNUFDL

Le Canadien was one of the first newspapers to be published in Canada on a regular basis.  It was published entirely in French and while that paper no longer exists, there are many sources that people can turn to today if they want news.  Reading about the area that you’re visiting is something that many tourists enjoy doing because it gives them a sense of connection with the city they’re visiting.  If you enjoy reading the local news wherever you travel, here are some places you might turn to for indulging that habit in Toronto:

1) The Globe & Mail Newspaper
2) The National Post Newspaper
3) The Toronto Star Newspaper
4) Share News
5) NOW Magazine
6) The Toronto Sun Newspaper
7) MacLean’s Magazine
CBC News Toronto
9) Canadian Living Magazine
10) EYE Weekly

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In the meantime, here’s what’s going on in the T-dot right now:

1) Apparently, a big storm is about to hit Toronto (I can see no evidence of it outside my window at the moment).  According to City News, the storm will be Godzilla like and is something that cops are already bracing themselves for.  According to CTV, the storm is expected to bring 15 cm of snow to Toronto.  And according to the CBC, Toronto is gearing up for an epic battle with nature!  Finally, the Toronto Star warns anyone in Southern Ontario to hold on.

2) Not really tourism related, but check out this interesting article regarding a digital bank robbery foiled at the last second.

3) With more than 10.6 million overnight visitors in 2007, the Toronto tourism industry has broken the previous record (which is definitely good news for this blog!).  This has been helped partially by the fact that the new security rules at the Canada-US borders do not appear to have slowed traffic down that much.

4) Finally, while the Toronto Maple Leafs still suck, a new deal that will see the Buffalo Bills play some football games up here in Toronto might be just the ticket (excuse the pun).  The sports sector of the tourism industry is perhaps the one I can be most critical of as someone that pays attention to such things, so seeing a bit of increased revenue courtesy of the Buffalo Bills is certainly a good thing.

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For now, here are the most recent happenings in the GTA that might be of interest to travelers.

1) Highrise sprinklers might be on the way in Toronto.

2) GO Transit back and much better after new engines were installed.

3) Hot shots lined up for Toronto International Documentary Festival.

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1) Hydro crews are still scrambling to try and fix much of the fallout that has come from damages caused by heavy winds.

2) Raptors destroy 76ers at the Air Canada Centre.

3) Leafs end up losing (again), but captain Mats Sundin vows to stay with the team.  Looks like ticket prices are going to stay right where they have been for awhile, unfortunately for travelers and probably some residents too.

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1) Waterfront skateboard park now open to anyone that wants a ride.

2) Founder of George Brown Theatre School in Toronto dead at 87.

3) Apparently, wind storms have the ability to knock out power and pull signs off buildings.

4) High-Speed trains to travel between Ontario and Quebec being considered.

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On that semi-bright note, here is this morning’s round-up of stories of interest to the travelers of Toronto

1) The Ontario thaw causes fog that in turn causes flight cancellations

2) The same thaw breaks a city temperature record

3) In the wake of the thaw, a few pedestrian deaths have sparked a safety warning

4) The Toronto Megacity is 10 years old! Does anybody care?

5) Parking ticket scams and how to tell the real thing

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