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Newsstand: November 9, 2011
It's Wednesday morning, so sit back, have some coffee and enjoy the 10 minutes of daylight before the sun starts setting. In case you get bored, here's some news: Big trouble at little Occupy Toronto as the city may look to evict the camp and a man allegedly overdoses in the park, a new bargaining proposal makes a City employee work stoppage all the more likely, and councillors want to scrap the Ontario Municipal Board.
It’s been days since Occupy Toronto last occupied the Newsstand, so let’s remedy that situation right now with some drama. According to Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre), the city will be looking to evict the occupiers from their current home in St. James Park, but the protesters plan to fight back in any legal way they can, and they’re not above using Silly String and pointed caricatures to strengthen their arguments. But if worst comes to worst, a representative for the group says there are other places in the city it could set up camp, including the space in Mayor Rob Ford’s mouth usually reserved for his foot.
Meanwhile, an ugly side of Occupy Toronto came out yesterday as emergency services had to be called after a man probably overdosed on the site. And with that, the movement is being drawn into an age-old debate shared by all sorts of gatherings that aren’t Burning Man: what to do with the drug-using fringe. There’s one in every neighbourhood. The Occupy movement has a cute side too, and here it is.
The Toronto Sun has an idea as to what Occupy Toronto should do, and by now the answer to that should be so obvious you almost feel psychic for knowing it so immediately. The paper has its reasons. Not only might the protest cost the City $40,000 if City staff can’t get into St. James Park to winterize the pipes in the park’s sprinkler system, the protest is also already cutting down significantly on the business of local restaurants. In the occupiers’ defense, the local business owners haven’t been able to definitely prove they aren’t slick corporate fat cats who deserve to be brought down into the 99 per cent.
There are 48 articles in the collective agreement between the City and its employees, and almost all of them are being targeted in the City’s new bargaining proposal, making a work stoppage in January seem all the more likely. However, the effects of a stoppage might not be so drastic, according to CUPE Local 416 president Mark Ferguson, who has seen the City’s contingency plan. The plan allegedly includes curbside trash pickup, something that would almost certainly require hiring replacement workers. When asked about this, Mayor Ford maintained the City won’t be hiring scabs, but rather has found a magical trove of garbage gnomes ready to solve all our problems.
Goodbye, Ontario Municipal Board. We’ve enjoyed your company (except for those of us who wanted to build illegal decks), but we feel it’s time to go our separate ways. At least that’s what the City’s planning and growth management committee thinks. The committee wants the province to scrap the board, instead having council decide on big projects and a municipal panel handle minor variances. For the majority of you Torontoist readers, this is stuff you won’t have to worry about until you buy a house, or at least move out of the park.