Toronto Uncovered

Archive for the ‘Peeves’ Category

Hello, my name is G. Wander and I was asked to contribute my first guest editorial for Toronto Uncovered. The reason I am writing the post is because in a very selfish way, I like to have people read what I think. Yet in a very unselfish way, I never force anyone to read what I think or use any trickery to promote my agenda. The issue I have today is with the quick dismissal over the very responsible proposal regarding the Province of Toronto.

Why?

I’m neither arrogant nor ignorant enough to believe that I know the best course of action here, but I also know that you should never waste a good opportunity. In this case, we finally have a chance to address the unspoken angst that the province and the city of Toronto share towards each other. We’ve all witness the numerous battles over matters over jurisdiction and encroachment of each other’s powers. Yet, here we are almost three decades or so after the first words were even uttered on a possible secession for the city, and we have yet to properly research and debate the issue to see if it holds ground in today’s time. We have an opportunity like no other with the proposal put forward by Bill Murdoch (MPP – Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound).

You might have missed it. The most important part of that last paragraph was actually in parenthesis. You see, the reason this opportunity is worth exploring is because for the first time in a long while, this idea is being pitched by someone outside of Toronto and the GTA.

For the first time in a long while, we are being told by someone else in the province that, “Hey Toronto, we don’t want you around!” For those who have advocated for the secession, sometimes over a decade, this comes as welcome news.  Toronto will not be perceived as being selfish, self-centered and the centre of the Canadian universe as is almost always the case, especially when we ask that we be represented properly. Toronto is humble enough to be subservient to a larger provincial government that has repeatedly used the transfer payments to feed the rest of the country (except the resource-rich, AB, SK) and left us with a crumbling infrastructure and a public transportation system whose promises are made and broken due to provincial wrangling.

I think it’s time we stop begging the province to give us what is rightfully ours. At the very least I think it’s time we debate this openly and without any hurt feelings. The time for Toronto to show its true selfishness is now, Bill Murdoch has spoken up for the other side and has given us the out we need to explore the issue without being perceived as selfish.

In the end, that was the most unselfish thing Bill Murdoch could have done for the City of Toronto.

What do you think?

- G. Wander

*Thank you for reading and I hope you find a side of this issue that you can believe in, because in this case any decision is better than the status quo. You can find me debating issues on Twitter, Facebook and at Gwander.com

Photo via BlogTO

Last year I wrote a post reviewing different sports leagues in Toronto. The TCSSC (Toronto Central Sports and Social Club) is definitely the main league organizer and probably offers the widest variety of different sports, nights and times.  One would hope that the largest organizer would be organized themselves, setting good examples for other companies and delivering strong league services. Unfortunately, that is a hope that they continue to dash.  In the years I have played with them, I have never been overly amazed at their level of organization, communication or customer relations. They are often more expensive than other leagues, ranging in cost from $100 for an individual to upwards of $800-$900 for some teams. I continued to play with them because I was able to overlook their inadequacies and focus on the fun and good times of the games I was playing.  Until now..

This Winter season we signed up a team for our 4th season of Sunday night Ultimate Frisbee.  We are in the rec league, which is described by the TCSSC as

“almost no players will have experienced at an organized level of the sport, most having not played at all”.

This fit our description pretty well.  We were signing up to learn and have fun.  As the season got underway, we realized we were losing pretty badly each week against teams that had definitely played before, and were very well organized (ie. running drills during time outs).  Some skill differentiation between teams is to be expected,  but the real deal breaker for me was finding out that at least 2 of the teams are actually comprised  of TCSSC employees. They are literally doing somersault catches and boasting that they usually play at the intermediate or advanced level.  WTF?

Being a letter-writer by nature, I wrote the TCSSC a concerned and less than impressed email yesterday. The captain of the 1st place team responded saying,

“We happened to get a couple new players this season who have proved to be quite good, as well our team as a whole seems to be getting better at the game too.” and “We figured we would be good this season but we didn’t think we’d blow away all the teams (and we don’t have a perfect season, 1 tie and 1 loss)” out of a total of 9 games played.

The team in 2nd place is also comprised of TCSSC employees, winning 7 of their 9 games.

M point is this: People sign up to play because they are hoping to be competitive and to have some fun. From time to time its expected you will come up against a team that is probably out of your division. To face crushing defeats week after week is not so much fun and it is unacceptable that these dominant offenders are the organizers of the league itself. Surely they know the guidelines for each divisions, and surely they also know their skill set before they sign up. I honestly feel that our Sunday “games” are their practice. Why would we want to continue to pay hundreds of dollars to the TCSSC only to have them negate their own guidelines and rules and wipe the floor with us on a weekly basis? Where is the fun in that?

I am writing this because I am slightly outraged, and feel that anyone reading this post should be aware of the current situation. I am not sure if this has been happening in any other leagues but welcome feedback and discussion.

photo via BlogTO

The TTC has taken a pretty hard hit lately: workers sleeping on the job, their chairman caught in one sexually scandalous lie after the next, a Facebook group lashing out at TTC riders, videos of blatantly rude drivers; and all of this after a substantial and hotly contested fee hike.

TTC employees,  TTC management and the union are being called into question, and rightly so. I take the TTC to and from work everyday by way of the King streetcar.  I don’t expect perfection, but  I do expect to a) get where I am going and b) be treated with respect.  A is usually satisfied, although I still don’t understand how 15 streetcars can go by in one direction while you wait over 30 minutes for one in the opposite direction. But that’s a subject for another post.

TTC drivers are taking a brunt of the backlash as they are the featured “stars” of these videos and photos. My feelings on this are as follows: There are definitely times throughout the day when I might feel like curling up and taking a nap, or dropping the phone mid conference call and running to get a doughnut, but guess what? I have responsibilities and a job and I act accordingly. I also feel that if I have a question for a streetcar driver about an upcoming stop, I should be answered with respect, minus the attitude. At the end of the day, TTC employees are working and we, the riders, are their clients – it is fair that we expect to be treated as such.

All that said, there are also TTC employees that are amazing – funny, nice and even personable. These guys get the real shit end of the stick, branded with the same cloth as their less than stellar counterparts. Despite the bad rep the fact that they probably put up with way more shit than we could ever imagine, they are friendly and even manage to maintain a sense of humour. They deserve to be rewarded.

With the influx of mobile applications I would love to see a rewards system put in place which works to highlight impeccable service and point out employees not meeting expectations.  I would definitely input information via my smart phone on good vs bad experiences and drivers. People are already tweeting about it all the time – why not create a systemic solution using mobile communications? This would serve to reward those who truly do go above and beyond, penalize those who are taking their frustrations out unnecessarily and re-empower a public who feels they are currently paying for a service that doesn’t take into account their basic requirements.  Lets face it, a stern memo to workers about their recent behaviour isn’t going to cut it! We need something more compelling, that gets everyone involved.

What do you think??

I had originally intended to go with a different post for today’s Toronto Uncovered, however, the recent decision for Toronto’s city workers to go on strike deserves priority.

Starting today, many services and facilities in Toronto will come to a screeching halt. The most noticeable of these will be the garbage collection of all Toronto residents and businesses. For those who remember how horrible it was to be in Toronto during the last garbage strike 7 years ago (Toronto Garbage Strike 2002), you’ll agree it was NOT pretty. I lived in the Annex at the time and remember literally walking over mounds of garbage stock-piled on the streets, and watching mice and other vermin scurry about. The smell was nothing to gloss over either.  Friends living in China Town stayed with us to escape the filth of their neighbourhood. The strike eventually ended two weeks later when Ontario lawmakers forced workers back to their jobs due severe health concerns. The Pope’s scheduled pilgrimage to Toronto that summer also helped push legislation through, as the city needed to be cleaned for the arrival of the thousands of tourists.

From all the on and offline discussions I had this past weekend, I can tell you that the garbage strike was definitely on the minds of many Torontonians. Most people couldn’t understand how a city the magnitude of Toronto could allow this to happen again, especially in the wake of pandemics, epidemics, and other health concerns. I would hope that hygiene and disease control would be top priorities for all city officials as we enter into the hot summer months.

I am an avid user of Twitter and one of Mayor David Miller’s many followers.  One would hope that the looming strike would have been a top priority for him over the weekend.  I was really disappointed to see his weekend tweets updating followers about his fathers day gift, and his attendance at various TFC games, picnics, ribbon cuttings, and NXNE events. Sounds like he was having a pretty good little weekend while the rest of us were stressing about potential garbage strikes, park closures, day care and summer camp closures, and lack of transportation to and from Toronto Island (putting many businesses who depend on ferry traffic in the red).  I was surprised to read  this morning’s National Post where Miller was quoted saying, “While we will continue to negotiate with the union locals during a strike, I want residents and businesses to know that we are working in their interests to protect the future of services in our city”. I am still unclear when all this “work” was being done – he must be quite the multi-tasker.

I am not typically a supporter of unions. I feel that since the introduction of the Human Rights Act, most have become outdated and unnecessary in contemporary society.  I believe that if you are unhappy with your job, your earnings or allotted vacation time you should either negotiate with your current employer or start looking elsewhere – just like the rest of us un-unionized folk. If I have a problem with my workplace, I probably wouldn’t get very far by threatening not to come in. That said, it seems the city got themselves into this mess (again), and they will now need to get themselves (and the rest of us) out of it. A majority of other municipalities contract garbage services to private companies to eliminate the possibility of a strike and save money at the same time. Why didn’t Toronto learn from past mistakes and take necessary actions to ensure public health and safety was upheld? Negotiations have been on the table for six months without resolution. How can that be? In six months, the US can elect and swear in their first black president, Wall Street can crumble beneath its own feet and begin to rebuild, and the landscape of the global economy can change forever.  So, my question is: How “hard” were our city negotiators really working?

I understand that city politics are not always cut and dry, especially when unions are involved, but this is unacceptable and inexcusable. Bring on municipal elections!

Ever since I was about seven or eight years old I have had a very serious and very real fear of rodents. I track this back to the year  my family and I moved to Aurora. We built a house in an undeveloped area and were literally the first family on the block. Our house backed onto  large fields,  inhabited by mice of the same distinction.  For the first  year or two of living there we had a pretty serious mouse problem. This included, but was not limited to, mice in the garage, basement, closets, and garbage. The most cunning of their hiding places was our dishwasher. I absolutely hated putting dishes into the dishwasher because you never knew when one would spring out and attack you. I got into the habit of shaking the cupboard and dishwasher doors before opening them – as a warning to my little friends.

You might be wondering what this has to do with Toronto and what I am supposed to be uncovering.  I’m getting to that. My fear of rodents has not died out since my more formative years (although it is no longer aroused as frequently). There are two times of year in Toronto when my fear is most pronounced: Fall and Spring, also known as nut hiding and nut scavenging seasons.  During this time, the squirrels are out with a vengeance. Every park is completely covered with their dark masses and bushy tails. I would like to be able to say that it doesn’t really bother me, and that when I walk through the parks I don’t actually stop when I see one in my path, but since I promised not to lie when I started this blog, I cannot.  I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but I just can’t help it.

The only thing that I hate more than the actual squirrels themselves are the people who think that feeding them, and thus aiding their pestilent species, is not only acceptable but a fun and friendly pastime.  I find this disturbing on a few levels: First of all, have you seen these squirrels? They are not cute. They are black rats with bushy tails. Full stop. Second, they are pests, not pets. I know these two words sound the same, but they are quite different.  A couple years ago I was at Queens Park for the April 20th “parade”. Having just indulged myself, I sat back and relaxed with some friends under a tree. Soon after I noticed there was some excitement going on in the group next to us and looked over and realized (to my horror) that some genius had captured a baby squirrel and was treating it like a pet, letting it run over his shoulders and keeping it in the back of his hood. He was going from group to group showing off his new “friend”, letting people hold and pet it. Then he came to our group. Already feeling a little bit paranoid, this did not sit well with me. Observing my obvious discomfort he came closer trying to get me to reach out and touch it which led to a mini freak out on my part.

One of my major pet peeves is people who feed the pests of Toronto – this includes pigeons, squirrels, raccoons and any other species that have left (or been forced from) their natural habitat to pilfer in our own.  If you are one of these people, please recognize that you are doing anyone any favours. If these animals feel they can rely on humans to feed them, the pest problem will continue to multiply increasing the spread of germs and disease. While this post took on the form of my first rant on Toronto Uncovered, the pest problem is a serious one within Toronto – don’t believe me?  Search “pests” at www.toronto.com for stats and info.