Photo: "Eggs benny" by Jen Chan, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Mayor Miller makes really good money ($160,000) for a really tough job, but in a mostly symbolic gesture, he will forgo the (yet to be determined) pay raise he's entitled to next year due to challenging economic times for Toronto. Hopefully the others at city hall will follow his lead, and the estimated $100,000 saved could be put to good use for those in much more dire need.

Monitoring and reporting of toxic heavy metals and other nasty industrial pollutants by small and medium businesses will soon be law in Toronto. Council passed new by-laws that take effect in early 2010, and I suspect will likely cause all kinds of red-tape/paperwork/enforcement problems for everyone. If it results in heightened pollution awareness and reduction, then it may be worth the effort.

Beer and popcorn works. I'm not sure about wine and popcorn, but I suppose some will find the combination enjoyable when exciting Hollywood explosions are added to the mix. Booze will soon be coming to a theatre near you, in segregated and monitored areas of the general auditoriums at Oakville SilverCity and the Varsity on Bloor. Cheers to a slight relaxing our archaic liquor control laws.

--

GTA house prices are predicted to continue to drop next year. Posted Toronto talked to a realtor who has offered some useful advice to those looking to buy/sell/flip in Toronto in the near future.

Weather permitting (for all we know it could be too warm), a number of public skating rinks in the city will remain open further into March in 2009. Adding an additional couple of weeks of skating rink fun will cost $172,000 (but is money better spent than giving city councillors a pay raise, right?).

And the residual effects of the great deli meat Listeriosis outbreak last summer are apparently profound. Respondents in a research survey conducted by the University of Guelph have indicated that they are eating less than they were before. What I'd like to know is what deli meat consumption has been replaced with.