Forgery League

Municipal elections are on 13 November. I suppose it goes without saying who I’m voting for mayor - he ain’t perfect, but I trust him to do right, a hell of a lot more than Jane Pitfield… But what about locally?

A couple more candidates added to the register in our ward (29: Toronto-Danforth, North), according to the big candidates list at Who Runs This Town?

Case Ootes, of course, is the incumbent - an able enough deputy during Mel’s tenure as mayor, but among other things, he’s Mister No Bike Lanes In My Ward (he’s continuing to press for the removal of the new lanes on Cosburn). “People won’t get out of their cars,” he told the Town Crier. “It doesn’t happen. This isn’t that kind of city.”

Tammy Thorne of Spacing Votes asks: “What kind of city is it then? Perhaps the better question is: What kind of city will it become if we continue to let people who think this way run it?”

At the other end of the spectrum, stalwart cycling advocate Hamish Wilson is now on the ballot as well. But the challenger with the best chance would seem to be Diane Alexopoulos - at least, she’s got the nod from Jack Layton and Peter Tabuns (MP and MPP respectively), and is positioning herself as a supporter of David Miller’s. This is one to watch, as they say.

Which leaves us with a dilemma. As new arrivals on our street, do we dare get a sign and risk alienating our possibly Ootes-lovin’ neighbours? Hmmm…

Incensed enough at the headline in today’s Globe (about Stephen Harper’s government seeking easements to the Kyoto accord, because, you know, it’s just so dang tough!) that I wrote a letter. Took far too long, mostly because I kept second-guessing myself every step of the way - I think I have to do this more often so it comes more naturally. And I dunno that it’ll do anything, not with Harper in and an Ayn Rand fan as federal environment minister (Christ, she’s chairing the UN Convention on Climate Change meeting next week), but I said my piece, and got it out of my system for a bit.

Meanwhile, here’s a worthy climate-aware project: The Eat Local Challenge. I do my best to buy food from Ontario, but it’s not always easy, especially in winter. When it comes to vegetables, there’s not a whole lot of choice in our supermarkets, it seems - sometimes it’s Mexican imports or nothin’. Hmm… maybe I should be writing to Loblaws and IGA next. And going to farmers’ markets too.

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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.

My faith in this city has been restored. David Miller’s the new mayor. On balance, the changes to council look good: Glen de Baeremaeker is in in Scarborough (diss Scarberia all you like - I’ll take it over Etobicoke any day) and most of the other new faces are promising. And now we’ll have an actual leader at the helm - and not a vile embarrassment of a furniture salesman elected on name recognition and blabbermouthedness alone who knows jack about the city and no longer even gives a crap about his job.

Out in the 905, things aren’t quite so pretty: same old suburban developer-sponsored louts, for the most part. In Hamilton, the new mayor backs the Red Hill Valley Expressway. Construction is underway, so short of a minor miracle (say, new provincial premier Dalton McGuinty pulling a Bill Davis), things don’t look too good on that front.

Beyond that, a federal election is looming, and I think Chretien’s slow-motion retirement might have pissed off people in sufficient numbers that a right-wing landslide is conceivable (if the Conservatives and Alliance do indeed manage to unite).

But for now, I am optimistic and highly relieved.

Well, at least it’s only for one weekend a year.

The Molson Indy is on, and from our new place downtown we can hear the endless droning of engines circling the Exhibition grounds. Maybe next year we’ll join in the lighthearted neighbourhood protests against it… This year I am told they had a “Wholesome Undies” march, wherein people walked the race route sans outerwear. A couple years back, green mayoral candidate Tooker Gomberg and friends sat outside Mayor Mel Lastman’s house with a sound system, playing a recording of last year’s race. (Mel has since moved to a condo.)

In other news, Sean got me a POD (an all-in-one guitar effects unit and amp simulator) as an early birthday present. Yay! Then he got me to show him a couple of chords so he could see how it sounded, and spent about five minutes rockin’ out before he broke a string. :D

Ah well. It was about time to change strings anyway. Good thing I’ve got a set of electrics around to cannibalize, as every music store in town closes on Sunday.