Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
If you were wondering why convenience stores seemed strangely barren this weekend, wonder no more: Ontario introduced Power Walls, a province-wide ban on the display of tobacco products. Now those sweet, sweet cancer sticks live behind grey flaps, pushing cigarettes one step further into the realm of contraband.
Rita Davies, Toronto's executive director of culture, announced that the Toronto Museum Project is back on the table. The museum, which will be housed in the Canada Malting Co. silos at the foot of Bathurst Street, has been in talks for nearly two decades.
The City is considering a fare hike for taxi cabs as drivers complain that rising gas prices are cutting into their profits.
And in sports, Toronto's Alexandra Martincek placed first all-around in the Canadian rhythmic gymnastics championships in Montreal this weekend. Judges said that her colourful ribbon swirling, hula hoop throwing, and stick-thingie flipping were particularly exceptional.
Photo by Marc Lostracco.
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Just for the record, I am a non-smoker and a ban on tobacco display does not effect my life, but I think the ban is pretty pointless.
Taxi's are driven a lot so they should be the most gas-efficient kind of cars. Its worth it to spend, say, an extra $5000 to get a car that's good with gas. Er, like a hybrid. Why should passengers pay for taxi owners bad decisions?
As an ex-smoker who started very young, I totally see the point of the ban. A big giant wall boasting nothing but DuMaurier and Player's logos really only serves to glorify the brands, making them some sort of holy grail.
Especially right after I quit, it drive me nuts to have to look at the big giant wall of temptation and know that a simple point of the finger was all I needed to do to get a fix. Step one of not thinking about them anymore is to not see them everywhere I go.
And on a complete tangent, in Winnipeg the cabbies drive hybrids. Mayyybe it's time that our cabbies think of doing the same?
Amanda: I see the point of the ban, but that doesn't make it right or necessary.
As to cabbies and hybrids, if fares were not regulated, maybe we would see more hybrids or more fuel efficient vehicles used as cabs since it would be up to the cabbies to justify their fares (or reduce their costs to offer lower fares).
Further, if we eliminated taxi licensing, maybe we would see alternative taxi cab company's sprout up, say one that is all hybrid based, uses the Smart car, or some other fuel efficient vehicle.
The taxi cab industry is an example where government interference in hindering not improving customer choice. The current rules and regulations maintain the status quo.
Taxi owners already have an incentive to put efficient cars on the road and they choose not to.
That's beside the point, fuel costs should be passed on to consumers in regard to transporting everything. The only exception should be public transit which should be free or a minimal cost.
It's chocolate bars that need to be hidden, I'm always tempted to buy one when making a purchase.
Wait, so how are cigarette walls necessary? Cigarettes aren't supposed to be advertised, and a giant brightly coloured wall is a form of advertising. How is getting rid of it not right or necessary?
I'm not meaning to sound snarky, I'm genuinely confused by your comment.
It's getting to the point where cigarettes are restricted by so many silly little laws that they might as well just ban them outright and save cigarette smokers the grief of temptation and vendors the frustration of having to comply with a new expensive restriction every few years.
Britain's already getting ready to outlaw cigarette companies' packaging -- only black and white boxes, no logos. What's next? Paying store owners to smack people upside the head every time they're asked for cigarettes?
I have no problem with hiding cigarettes, and frankly, it's about time and the stores knew this was coming for a long time. Personally, I find them repulsive to look at, so my heart isn't bleeding too profusely. And they're cigarettes—expect the laws to keep getting stricter. Stores are peeved mainly because they're the most lucrative product, which is sad.
However, I was talking to the proprietor of a store which is part of a well-known franchised chain of convenience stores, and he said that the head office got the new shelf doors for free, but then charged each franchisee $900 for them. That sucks.
@Svend "Taxi owners already have an incentive to put efficient cars on the road and they choose not to."
Not necessarily. Early hybrids like Prius don't conform to Toronto's standards for taxi licencing (not enough interior and/or trunk space) and therefore cab companies were not permitted to use them - it didn't help that Howard Moscoe didn't bend over backwards to find common ground because he was more worried about capital outlay on new hybrid cars. There was only a pilot programme because Toronto, like Google, loves perpetual beta programs.
They should just ban the damn things already. This bureaucratic wishy-washiness is so ridiculous. I personally don't smoke and have an intense dislike for the habit, but I feel for (considerate, polite) smokers. It's ridiculous to pressure smokers like this with countless, little restrictions and yet implicitly condone their habit by allowing legal sales.
I'd say that it's possible to argue that the sight of smokers in the street are equally effective at convincing others to pick up smoking. We don't allow paid ads or sponsorships by tobacco companies, and already consider smoking in films to be an undue influence on young children and youth. Maybe we should start putting smokers behind dark screens. I can see that happening some day.
Or just stop selling cigarettes and put these people out of this misery.
It sure is nice to have a leader like Comrade McGuinty tell us what we should and should not be able to look at/display.
I look forward to the day when they ban smoking in public. I can't stand being stuck behind someone on the sidewalk as their smoke blows back in my face.
Yeah, because we all know how effective bans on drugs are. There wasn't a drop of alcohol to be had during prohibition, and I don't ever recall seeing or smelling marijuana while walking around the streets.
There is a significant body of research in the States, mostly California, that has shown kids who grow up in communities that have no power walls are less likely to smoke than their peers who frequented establishments with power walls.
Frankly, if there's even a hint that getting rid of power walls saves a person from smoking then I'm for it. Forget that it's a disgusting habit to deal with when I walk down the street and inhale the fumes of smokers outside their offices, these cancer sticks cost taxpayers ridiculous sums of money to treat more illnesses than I can list.
And, Marc, I have no sympathy for people who complain about having a $900 expense foisted upon them as a result of government regulation. That's a tiny pittance compared to the amount of money they make on the backs of smokers who were lured, at least in part, by power walls.
Oh, here's an idea: let's establish some safe use sites for smokers like they did for herion addicts in Vancouver. Smokers can go to these select locations to use their drug of choice -- nicotine.
It wasn't a government or personal fee for installing the racks that was bugging the store owner, but the arbitrary $900 he had to pay the franchise's head office…when the head office got the things for free.
Ugh, sure, ban cigarettes. Open up yet another lucrative black market. Organized crime will love you.
If the TTC can have a fare increase twice since 2005, let the cabbies do so at least once. WHATEV.