Category Archives: toronto

Run for the Cure

health, toronto

I just got this email from my brother. I knew the friend Alex mentions below. He was one of those genuinely nice and fun guys who no one could ever dislike. Anyway, I wanted to share it with you.

i’m participating in a fundraiser for breast cancer on october 1st where i will be running 5k, imagining that i’m stomping on cancer with each stride. you might already know that i lost a really amazing friend last month to cancer, and while it wasn’t breast cancer, a number of his friends are running together as a team called, ‘the palligators’ to support the canadian breast cancer foundation. it should also be noted that he is not the first person this group of friends has lost to cancer.the point of this run is to raise money to research treatment, early detection and prevention in addition to supporting communities and families affected by breast cancer. so, having said that, i need your help reaching my personal fundraising goal of $500, and my team’s fundraising goal of $3000. i’ve included a link in this e-mail which will take you to my donations page. you can do it online with your credit card and it’s super quick and easy. you even get a tax receipt for your charitable donation. plus, i’ll be eternally grateful.

Click here.

even if you can only donate $10, it will put me that much closer to my goal.

thanks in advance.

alex.

The First 2006 Toronto Mayoral Debate

toronto,

I arrived about thirty minutes early for last night’s debate, which was fortunate, since by the time things got going it was standing room only in the Innis College auditorium.

Of the currently thirty people running for Mayor of Toronto, only two were invited to participate in the debate: His Worship (we’ve got to get rid of that title) Mayor David Miller, and Councillor Jane Pitfield. I suppose the thinking was that they’re currently the only two “serious candidates” running. Well, Jane may have tested that assumption.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that everything Jane Pitfield says is crazy, nor do I agree with everything David Miller says or does. But good gosh, is she even listening to herself? Here are some of my personal highlights from last night:

  • Jane opposes the closing of streets for community events. She’d create a designated space in the city where all street fairs and community fairs are to take place. (I’m assuming we’d re-name “Taste of the Danforth” to “Taste of Designated Community Area 29.”)
  • Jane helped create Car-Free Kensington. (Wait…what? Doesn’t that involve closing streets?)
  • Jane knows homelessness is a big problem in this city because of “the look on tourists’ faces.” Also, we need to make homelessness illegal because it inconveniences business people. (Those honestly seemed to be her main concerns.)
  • New York fought homelessness AND was attacked on 9/11. So there.
  • Toronto should be creating local jobs. Also, we should buy our subway cars from China.
  • The city is spending too much money. Also, we need to spend more money.
  • Our surplus is way too high. Also, our debt is way too high.
  • Staff morale is very low and we need to do something about it. Also, staff are a waste of money and aren’t working hard enough.

You can see why, by the end, I had a very hard time following her arguments. The most useful thing she contributed were some ideas on waste management, though if that’s your issue, then Rod Muir is your candidate.

Where David disappointed was when he completely ignored a comment about the secret Gardiner Expressway report that he’s refusing to make public. If you’re going to be keeping reports a secret, the least you can do is explain why.

The highlight of the night, however, came after the debate, when three media outlets (CFRB 1010, 680 News, and The Toronto Star) interviewed me about what I thought of the candidates. “That’s funny,” I thought, “none of them ever interviewed me when I was a candidate.”

An Afternoon on the Toronto Islands

toronto

Claire and I spent this afternoon biking around the Toronto islands (specifically, Ward and Algonquin islands) taking part in CommunityAIR‘s Toronto Island House Tour. (CommunityAIR is a group that advocates against expansion of the Toronto Island Airport.)

Aside from being a fundraiser, the day was also meant to raise awareness that people who live on the island are, well, real people. We met extremely nice residents (thanks Baye, Doreen, Jennie, and Ken!) who welcomed us into their homes and offered us wine and food, ranging from brie to strawberries to lemon loaf to popcorn (pretty much my four favourite foods).

Houses on the island are only allowed to be two stories high, and can’t have basements. The result is a series of pleasant and modest cottage-like buildings. At least two had fewer square feet than a one-bedroom downtown condo.

One of funniest aspects of the day was how everyone kept asking us if we were “on the list.” As in, the list to get onto the island. (Hmmm…sounds like a movie, doesn’t it?)

See, houses on the island aren’t allowed to be sold at market rates, or to just anyone who wants them. There’s a list (and a lottery system to get on said list) which gives you the opportunity to, when a house goes on sale, buy it for the price that the building (excluding the land) was assessed at several years ago, indexed only to inflation. The first person on the list gets first dibs, and if they don’t want it the second person is asked, and so on. One house we saw was assessed at less than $90,000. Others couldn’t have been much higher.

Almost everyone we talked to encouraged us to get on the list so that we could come “join them.” There’s a very strong sense of community. Children run and bike around in groups, relatively unattended. It’s hard for them to escape I guess, and they seem to be the responsibility of everyone. Every Saturday morning a group of people bike over to the St. Lawrence Market together for groceries.

“You know what the secret is,” asked Jennie? “No cars.” That’s why you know who your neighbours are. That’s why children can play in the “street.” That’s why it’s so quiet and calm. That’s why the air is so clear. (The last two, of course, come with the exception of when planes are landing.)

Add that to reason number [I’ve–lost–count] why cities should be built around people and not cars. All the more reason to look forward to this Friday’s International Car Free Day.

Stolen Bike, Angry Boy

cycling, toronto

Claire’s and my bikes were stolen yesterday. They were locked together to the same ring-post with a cable lock, and a U-lock doubled up on Claire’s bike. We left them outside of the Toronto Reference Library for approximately three hours. The cable lock must have been cut, but the U-lock remained, attached to the ring-post and Claire’s bike’s abandoned quick-release wheel. (Learning #1: U-locks work better than cable locks, but shouldn’t be attached to things with the words “quick-release” in their name.)

I felt worse about Claire’s bike than mine. Aside from some money I’d just put into a tune-up and some new tires, my bike had more sentimental value than monetary (I’ve had it since I was 14 or younger). Claire’s was fancier and newer. I felt all the things people feel when they’ve been robbed, and had a hard time getting to sleep last night.

One particularly frustrating point is that the theft took place in daylight, in a high-traffic area, and would have been transparent to anyone in the area (picture 2 bikes being removed at once, bolt cutters, a wheel being left behind, someone either carrying a one-wheeled bike away or loading it into a vehicle).

But hey, let’s get past my emotions. Claire and I will get nice new bikes from craigslist (or, come to think of it, maybe somewhere else that’s less likely to sell us someone else’s stolen bikes). Instead, let’s look at some good ideas to cut-down on bike theft (aside from advanced locking techniques mentioned earlier).

One of the best ideas I’ve heard is to require bicycle shops that buy used bikes to record the identity of the seller, in the same way pawn shops do. This is relatively simple to implement, and would be both a deterrent to thieves and a tool for police.

And speaking of police, I know they’ve got a whole lot to do and that they’ll never be able to enforce all laws perfectly. But given the number of public complaints they receive about how they treat bike theft, I’d like to see it bumped up on their priorities list. Here’s one place they could free-up some resources. (As I write this I’m waiting for them to call back. They told me to keep the line free. That was over 2 hours ago.)

As for my pain and loss, maybe I’ll just resort to poetry.