The Metro published a story today about the Toronto Public Space Committee's Guerrilla Gardeners and I'm quoted in it as a first-timer (until last Friday, I'd never been on a plant). Naturally, when I came into the office (and before I knew about the story), Jenn had already cut out the article and left it on my desk, and Anne came over to read the whole story to me aloud.

What a nice way to start a birthday.

For those who are interested, the Guerrilla Gardeners work throughout the Spring and Summer digging up nasty-looking patches of grass (and sometimes gravel!) and replanting them with pretty flowers. It's really quite fun and rewarding, so if you have some time, check out the web page and contact the organiser in your area.

Update: 11:45:11

The guy who did the story works for the Canaidan Press, and so the story is national. Here's a longer version in a Montreal paper.

Chris Oullette, one of the members of our CCTV group int he TPSC wrote a letter to the editor as an op-ed piece and it got published. It's some really great writing and it hits on all the important points. Very nice work Chris.

Rami's hard work has paid off in the form of some real publicity with The Toronto Star:

"At least half the billboards in Toronto are illegal," he says. "In the entertainment district, almost all of them. It's visual pollution. We have to fight it."

Tabello's website, illegalsigns.ca, lists about 270 allegedly outlaw billboards. He calls them "bad boys" and estimates there are between 1,500 and 2,000 around the city.

"Far too big, too high, too close"
Bill Taylor, The Toronto Star, 2007.03.16

It's a detailed and informative article with some nice quotes from all sides involved. check it out if you have the time.

In related news, the asshats at ClearChannel want to sue the Toronto Public Space Committee (of which I'm an active member). IllegalSigns.ca has the details.

In my time at Rydium, I came to be known as the office environmental fascist, a mantle I wore with pride, and something that came in handy when Max needed someone to write an article for PCStats about what to do with your old computer hardware after you're done with it. The focus of the article was to be about new environmental standards in Europe, what they mean and what your options are when you're dealing with this stuff.

Anyway, if you're interested, the article was finally published a few days ago.

This time, I had way more than 2seconds of play too :-)

The CCTV cameras are going up whether we like it or not, and CityTV wanted to do a story on it and interview me. Unfortunately the TPSC position isn't mentioned at all in the text-copy, but my interview is in the video.

CityTV has the story here.