Forgery League

Back on election day, 2003, I was delighted when Glenn De Baeremaeker won a seat on Toronto city council. An environmentalist who campaigned to save the Rouge Valley and the Oak Ridges Moraine, representing the heart of Scarborough — wonderful! Bit of a grandstander, but hey, that’s not always a bad thing.

It wasn’t quite so wondrous when I learned he’d voted against youth events being held at Scarborough City Centre after some kids had a bit of a scuffle there. But whatever. He was still on the right side most of the time. Right?

And then he became champion of the godawful ‘megabins’ - essentially six foot high billboards with a garbage and recycling bin squeezed awkwardly between them. Was he just so wowed by the fact that it had a slot for bottles and cans that he overlooked how annoying and poorly designed they are? Was there money involved, or what the heck?

Well, if we’re to believe the Spacing Wire kids, this latest news is one more nail in the coffin as far as I’m concerned. The man really really needs to be turfed this fall. I’d heard him referred to as the “class clown” before, but good flippin’ god. O.o

But I dunno. Maybe we do need a clown or two. Where would we be without Rob Ford to make fun of?

I also picked up a copy of the new book uTOpia: Towards a New Toronto, and the new Fembots CD, The City... and I can’t help but notice a certain similarity between their cover art (here and here), though they’re done using totally different techniques. I’m enjoying them both.