City
Morning Brew: Strike Summary, Strippers, Soakers, Safety, and a Slimeball
Photo: "traveling shadows" by picturenarrative, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
In strike news, inside workers at CUPE Local 79 have ratified. Here is s a summary of the deal. Giving in and allowing them to grandfather their full sick day banking privileges is what many people think will be the reason for Mayor Miller's demise. Outside workers at CUPE Local 416 are expected to ratify today and possibly be back to work tomorrow. Here's what to do with your garbage in the meantime.
A 62-year old customs official who was working at the US consulate here in Toronto was sentenced today, after being found guilty of accepting illegal gratuity. His gratuity for fast-tracking visa applications? He was given jewelry and a trip to Vegas with (not one, but three!) Brass Rail strippers. Awww yeah.
A water main break yesterday morning caused flooding and an estimated $25,000 in damage to the Flatiron & Firkin pub on Wellington Street. Who's responsible? Things out of our control do happen, and when they happen in the early morning hours, the response is expected to be slower than during the work day. But should it take the city a full hour to turn off the water when it's spewing onto the street?
The fences are already up, and people are already at odds on the issue. Should fences be erected along the Caribana parade route to keep parade participants and observers safely divided, or should their be no fences and a lot more interaction and spirit (and risk, I guess) to the event?
And we can forget about Phoenix. It's not going to happen. Apparently RIM CEO Jim Balsillie is short on one or more of these criteria outlined by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: "financial wherewithal, character, integrity, and the view as to whether or not the other owners would deem you to be a good partner."
Discussion
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I didnt even know it existed anymore.
No advertising?
Oh well...will give them CUPE jerks a way to practice their garbage cleaning skills they probably have forgotten over the past 6 weeks while sitting on a park bench "picketting".
Embarassing indeed! The whole experience with Caribana is being close to the floats and dancing along with the people. How boring to have to just stand there and watch.
The floats are big, people get crazy, i have a young child. the fences mean we can go and enjoy the parade. And we haven't had any trouble with dancing and being close with people.
1 million people + booze = trouble.
Black, white, etc. Doesnt matter.
There are idiots in every bunch and for whatever reason 1 or 2 idiots will have guns on them.
So fence people back as much as necessary to ensure safety.
To hell with the whole "parade experience". Thats a damn myth.
Any time you have 1 million+ people in one area, you're bound to have some static. That goes for gay people, straight, Mormons or Jah forbid, black people.
The fence issue is a non-issue that has surfaced time and again since the parade route was switched to the Lakeshore from University Ave. Why's it surfacing again? Slow end to the news week perhaps? *shrug*
>The floats are big, people get crazy
That's caribana in any other country too! The parade shouldn't change cause you have a kid, sorry. Don't bring your kid if you're so worried.
Jus sayin' is all...
They are more concerned with their Escalades and our high percentage beer than anything the parade stands for (i.e. culture).
So yes, we are better off keeping certain transients fenced off to help control any static.
Our Caribana here has its origins in the carnival traditions of the Caribbean, notably Trinidad and Tobago.
It's the last opportunity to celebrate and to use up special foods before Lent, in its origin. It also spans across several cultures, such as Italy, Portugal, Greece, Spain to name a few.
The reason why people drink and party at this parade is because during Lent, you give up these things.
Bring dryer sheets.
Bring dyer sheets
I've been to Carnival in London a few times and it's a million times better IMO. A lot of people from the neighborhood come out on the side streets and cook. On the lakeshore it just seems to have lost it's heart...
Outside of a couple nice costumes and steel drums its simply a way for those American kids to come up here and go to the clubs, drink the strong beer, and basically cause a weekends worth of mayhem.
Same thing happens there :P
educate yourself.
I said all this parade has become is a reason for young Americans to come up here drink, carouse, etc.
I dont see things in colors/orientations like you seem to.
It's a CELEBRATION... you ever heard of those? You ever been to one?
You seem to have a real problem with Caribana and I can only assume it's cause you're a racist. Why else would you care?
I could care less if its Pride (which wasnt the parade of topic here) Caribana, St Patricks Day, Santa Clause, etc.
What citizens dont like are the people who come here for all the wrong reasons. And in this parades case its quite a few young Americans coming not for the "celebration" in the least. Your family is coming for the right reasons thankfully. But there is a huge group who wont even come close to seeing one minutes worth of the parade.
You can assume everyone that comes up here is coming for the parada, sure. Thats a rosy outlook indeed.
Tourism dollars are sadly needed, so who cares WHY they come?
The sad truth is that there have been shootings at Caribana in the past, but not, during the parade, if I recall correctly.
People joining the parade from the spectators slows it down, and it's dangerous, and some people who pay to be in the parade find it irritating. (or so i have read)
these fences are not new, this conversation happens every year.
I pray for good weather, good energy, and an eventful, yet event free, Caribana Celebration.
I've gone down there for many a year and the same thing happens, year after year. Things start off well and controlled, but 3 hours into things, spectators decide that they belong on the parade route, instead of behind the crowd control barriers. Once that starts, it spreads to the point where the street gets completely jammed and the bands on trucks and those in costume can't even move. Things come to a standstill.
As a person that actually wants to see the costumes and see the bands jump up, I end up with nothing more than something similar to watching 40,000 people filing out of SkyDome in the Blue Jays heyday years. Yeah, that's loads of fun to watch.
I get the idea that people want to party and have fun and dance, but has anyone noticed the amount of space available between Lakeshore and the actual lake? Or on the other side of Lakeshore? It's not like the place is cramped, and it's not like the music is too soft that you can't hear it a mile away. So why the need to hop the fence? There's nothing more I hate than having people behind me asking me to open the fence in front of me so that they can go out on the road. And worse, when everyone on the road stand right in front of you so that you can't even see what's going on.
And the worst part is, there's a good chance that the people who complain the most about these new fences are the ones that probably helped contribute the conditions to which they are now becoming necessary. I don't like them as much as anyone else, because yes, it does take away from the spirit of the day, but could anyone not see this coming?
so BorderJumpers, if a world class parade with music, costumes, food, dancing and tourists isn't culture, then what's YOUR definition?
There are a shitload of people there. Tons. Asshole to elbow, cheek to jowl, whatever phrase you want to use. Packed in like sardines. And that's on days that have been very very hot, not ideal weather at all. If the weather is actually nice, I shudder to think how many people will be there.
I doubt the parade floats could move forward at all if the route wasn't fenced off.
http://www.thestar.com/article/245330
But by all means, have tens of thousands of people crowd around heavy moving machinery, what could possibly go wrong!