City
Morning Brew: February 25th, 2009
Photo: "TO's AGO" by Pleuntje, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Canada's police associations really like tasers. And they want all officers to have them, claiming that there's no proof that tasers have killed anyone, and that the media is spinning the truth about their safety.
In light of recent violent crime, the TTC union wants to do away with the 103 "special constables" and have Toronto police replace them. I want the union boss to bugger off and someone more admirable and competent to replace him. Will either of us get our way? Doubtful.
While not quite Robin Hood in nature, it's alleged that a group of fraudsters has been stealing from the rich - to make themselves rich. Clients at a Yorkville spa have had their credit and debit card details stolen, while the suspected thieves went on lavish shopping sprees and possibly even opened up their own spa with the stolen funds.
Steven Page is leaving the Barenaked Ladies, which more or less kills the band. Without him, the band will be like partially naked ladies, which are clearly not as good as bare naked ladies.
Real estate agents don't like the idea of mandatory energy audits being performed and charged on homes being sold. Under the new Ontario Green Energy Act, all homes being sold will require an assessment that costs about $300. I think it's great - it gives both sellers and buyers incentive to make and choose homes with better energy efficiency.
Maple Leaf is back in the spotlight, with another recall... and Toronto's most notoriously sensational news crew writes: "This time, the product involves something that's probably been on your dinner table - hot dogs." ZOMGWTFBBQ! As long as "CityNews staff" continue to write this author-unattributed crap, I'll continue to point it out.
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Whaaa? The incentive to make and choose more efficient homes already exists -- it's called a utility bill. This mandatory audit is well-meaning, but it's just another silly fee that won't do anything.
Ontario has done this because it's an easy way to APPEAR as though they're doing something. Much like banning incandescent light bulbs (in favour of mercury lights).
It's more a reflection of the inhabitants habits, not the home's physical energy efficiency. If I'm buying a new home, I want to know if the walls and windows are insulated and tight, not that the previous owner liked doing laundry every day, taking 40minute showers, and keeping the place at a balmy 24oC in January.
Also, it's funny how somebody selling a wee townhouse in Toronto has to pay the same fee as somebody living in a 5000 square-foot Aurora McMansion with a hot-tub, pool, and two-story entrance hall.
They're doing this to give us the illusion that they're doing something important. We should question it.
Many of those beautiful old darlings are huge energy sucking harridans, and the buyer should be made aware before making a purchase.
This encourages people who are going to be putting a home up for sale to install better heating systems, windows and insulation, in order to ensure that the house sells quickly and at a decent price.
It's no longer a matter of just gussying up your kitchen and bathroom to increase sale value.
and Gets a report showing all of the things that should be done.
Home buyer says there's work to be done "lower your price"
Home owner/seller lowers thier price.
Buyer buys moves in and fixes nothing... CASH GRAB
Kinnear also stated in the same article that "most of their subway operators" don't believe the installation of barriers on platforms is "practical", despite the fact that the TTC regularly deals with track-jumpers, and two kids were randomly pushed onto the tracks last week.
While visiting London a few years ago, the Underground was in the process of installing safety barriers. They seemed to work very well, and were beautifully integrated into the stations. (But I guess that type of practicality and logic doesn't jive with Kinnear.)
Supporters will blindly embrace the fee as a bit of warm-fuzzy-David-Suzuki do-good-ness. Detractors will blindly label it a tax grab. Neither side will be correct.
I used to laugh when I took my (bio)diesel Golf in for its mandatory Drive Clean inspection. The test is not set up for compression-ignition motors, so the garage can only visually inspect the exhaust (look at it to see if it's black and sooty or clear). Then they charge me a government-mandated fee for doing so. Heart's in the right place, but the program is incredibly flawed. I suspect this home efficiency inspection will be the same.
And while I agree that it is not an end-all solution to environmental issues, it's not really a bad idea in itself.
It might not be a completely 'green' solution, but if it's a '10C 0M 25Y 0K' solution, that's certainly better than nothing.
Perhaps they are doing this in lieu of adressing larger problems, but that is merely hearsay. If people continue to put pressure on the government to make changes, then I don't see a problem with this plan. If anything, it will only help raise awareness of everybody's part in the problem.
We only use the "CityNews.ca Staff" byline for stories that are written from broadcast. If we don't come up with the idea and ask the questions why should we be forced to put our name on it? CBC, CTV, CP24 (plus many others) all do this as well. Why is it such a big deal that we do as well?
I don't often point out staff attributed pieces on other outlets because their web reports (also often prepared from TV reports) aren't written in such a ridiculous/sensationalist tone. The problem I have isn't so much the non-attribution... it is the crap written.
If I have no interest in going green and no money to go green even if I wanted to why should I be forced to get the assesment?
The issue is that its MANDATORY. Yes there are cash back grants that you can get by going green but it shoudl be a choice, or FREE manadory assesment
Is it mandatory for you to bring your own bag to the gorcery store or for you to bring your own cup to the coffee shop too? Is it madatory that stores sell only green toilet tissue?
They blockaded themselves using desks and other furniture, -demanding- that NYU remove any and all support for Israeli students and guaruntee admission for people applying from the Gaza strip area (who aren't Jewish of course). They refused to leave until University staff address their -demands-.
When police finally intervened (completely peacefully mind you. But it was fun to watch them yell 'brutality' the moment an officer came within 5 feet of them) the students decided that since they are living in a democratic society (off topic: ha. yeah right.) that university staff and police and security would have to do as they say. One particular rule, that students must provide identification on demand seemed to be one of the biggest issues. They told university staff and police that they'd have to wait until a 'democratic consensus' was reached amongst the group whether they were going to hand over their IDs.
At this point the group was separated. One in the cafeteria, one on a balcony. The group inside declared that their inability to talk to the other group to get their consensus was a violation of their rights and freedoms. One protester seemed only to be interested in starting a fight with the police while the guy with the camera kept going on about everybody's rights and freedoms and trying to engage in 'democratic process'
There were also people arguing that when security wouldn't allow protesters into the barricaded room, they were also infringing on their rights and freedoms.
My point is many people have a <b>severely</b> distorted view of their place in Canadian society. The right to choose is one of the issues that seems to arise. The right to choose whether to smoke in the car with kids. The right to choose whether to wear a seatbelt or take drugs, etc.
I'm afraid that isn't how our society works. We DO NOT live in a democracy. I repeat, we do NOT live in a democracy. We live in a system called a -representative- democracy. And its a good thing too, because collectively, we can be pretty goddamn stupid. We elect people to represent us and those people create/change/enforce laws and regulations that they view as best for the people they represent.
Sometimes this means we have to do things we don't want to for the better of society as a whole. I might want to go on a gun wielding rampage through downtown Toronto, but our representatives have decided that it would be better for everybody else if I didn't.
And to get back on topic, I might decide to not give a shit about the environment, but our elected representatives have decided that we'd all be better off if we did.
</end rant>
My condo has a meeting this moth regarding submetering, which means every one gets their own meter, I'm all for it, it encourages individuals to conserve.
And to run those mercury fluorescent lights, we'll have to rip out all of the dimmers, photocells and timers we bought to reduce electricity consumption.
"And to get back on topic, I might decide to not give a shit about the environment, but our elected representatives have decided that we'd all be better off if we did."
NO they decided they would be better of if we all did this.
Why can't we drive electric cars here yet?
There's so many things that have been in the works that we need to do before this. This is like the car emissions test that do nothing but get you to pay to say your cars good to go.
That's not an excuse to do nothing. I should really keep a handy text file for everytime arguments like this come up. Just because something worse exists, doesn't mean a lesser problem is okay.
Things should be analyzed and money and time spent for the best possible outcome. Greenwashing is a big problem. Just cause its "green" doesn't mean its good and doesn't mean we should jump all over it.
Your "we shouldn't do nothing" argument is about as strong as me saying think about all of the paper that is going to be used in these inspections not to mention all of the gas and polution, they won't be done in a ordered fashion house by house street by street, it'll be by appointment they'll be driving and burning gas all over the place.
I can't be bothered to type it up again so I'll just paste in the quotes (lets hope they work this time) and you can come up with your own conclusions.
http://www.atlantarealestateforum.com/home-remodels-are-key-to-an-energy-efficient-future-8662/
"The greatest energy savings can be achieved by making changes to existing housing, which is less energy efficient than today's new homes. "We obviously can't solve the problem by tearing down all our inefficient housing stock and replacing it with new. We need to make some significant improvements to our existing homes," Tonjes said."
"Seventy percent of the greenhouse gas emissions related to single-family envelope energy consumption can be attributed to homes built before 1983, the study found. Further, the study demonstrated that pending $10,000 retrofitting a 1960s home could save 8.5 tons of carbon"
But I can comprehend a world where people, with or without kids, eat hot dogs for dinner regularly enough for CityNews to pick that as their lead-in, though it does disturb me (joke again!).
I lose.
Automated subway systems and platform barriers are used along almost the entire Hong Kong subway system. This system is larger and used by proportionally more people per day then toronto could ever dream of (with roughly an 80/20 split between transit and car users). Oh...and its also the most profitable transit system in the world.
Just a though...