The Proletariat Congress

Pigeons - nature’s cruel joke. These birds are nothing more than germ-ridden sewer feathered sewer rats with wings that plague major metropolitan centres. They are a menace to society and have contributed nothing to the diversity of the bird species. They take up space and give nothing in return. They don’t serve any purpose. They don’t keep the population of other pests down, as they are pests themselves.

One city however has decided that enough is enough and is taking unorthodox measures to keep the menace in check. Their methods are welcomed by animal rights groups. The city of Hollywood, which has an estimated pigeon population of 5,000+ has put birth control to use. Using rooftop feeders to attract the birds, the city has put OvoControl P into the feed. It is designed to obstruct the development of eggs, which should ideally help in reducing the overall population. The city hopes to have it reduced by 2012.

While only a pilot project, if successful, this could be easily implemented in many other cities plagued with the feathered menace.

US pigeons to get contraceptives

Until cities like Toronto get its act together to reduce and fully eliminate the problem, we the people need to take our own form of action.  Though this blogger prefers something more concrete like just killing the whole pigeon population.

Recently there has been an upswing in the number of condo developers taking over parts of Toronto where I live. They have knocked down old buildings which had been here for many years in order to make room for large high-rise condominium complexes in order to meet the demand for more housing in a city that is stretched to the limits, threatening to encroach on valuable farm land and sensitive ecological systems that surround the GTA. Some people embrace the change, some are indifferent and others find that this development is taking away precious land that could be used for other projects such as parks and schools.

Condo developers don’t see eye to eye with the people; they see only the profit and they ignore the cost to society in the pursuit of the all-mighty dollar in the name of free market exploitative capitalism. Developers such as Tridal, who had recently, took part of a high school’s property to build a sales building. The building may not be large but it encroaches on property that should otherwise be for the use of the school.

From the front, it doesn’t look out of place. It’s right on the street and at the front of the back end of the school, taking over part of the large field that could be used for various recreational activities. The same swath of land could have been used to build an extension for the school to facilitate higher learning. Not some condo retail office.

As if to add insult to injury, the same condo developer has decided that it doesn’t like some of the old trees in this area and wants to take down size very large, attractive silver maples in the name of “progress”. In an era where we have to worry about climate change, global warming and the eradication of trees, which supply us with shade and the much needed oxygen are we are overwhelmed by the noxious green house emissions from various buildings and cards that clog our streets, developers don’t see the need to be green. Being green gets in the way of progress. Or that is what most majority development industries would like you to think, that green initiatives will destroy our economy because they are costly.

What’s costly is taking down large trees that protect us from the sun.

In the city, there are many large trees providing canopy cover; many shading the sidewalks and properties that they’re near.

This area of the city has been around for many decades; longer than any of these upstart condo developers who think that they can just bring in their industrial machine and plough through the towering wooden beauties that provide a home to the birds and little critters that have every right to live in the city that humans do.

They can promise to replant trees but it won’t save the trees that are threatened now. These trees were around before my parents were born. This school is the same area that was lucky enough to see the first subway lines in Toronto in 1954; these trees were here when the allies defeated the Nazis in WWII. The developers were not around. The trees were here first and they will protect help to protect our planet.

Tridel can do the right thing and leave the trees and school property, thus respecting the neighbourhood as the other condo developers had the decency to at least build on a property already occupied by an older building, or they can do the corporate thing and destroy the planet and take away something that benefits all and replace it with something that benefits few.

But we can’t trust developers to do the right thing but we can pressure the people who have granted the permits.

The above is the sign posted on the school property and a thoughtful soul has taken the time to highlight a few elements on it, including that it would be a 4-floor condo built by Tridel, under the guise of building a new secondary school sports field and track.

We can put pressure on councillor Michael Walker and Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne. We cannot let them think they can’t be held accountable for this travesty. We need to put pressure on them. If you want to get in contact with either, you can reach Walker at 416-392-7906 and Wynne at 416-425-6777. Let them know how you really feel about a condo developer encroaching on a school property you pay taxes to maintain.

In an emergency, a police cruiser can speed through a red light when hot on the trail of a suspect, or while on their way to a crime scene.

An ambulance is given the right of way; they stand between life or death of the people of the city. Their efficiency can make the difference between how quickly a victim can get the treatment needed to keep them alive.

When the alarm sounds, the fire-fighters hop into their engine and flash the lights and sound the sirens as they veer in and out of snarled traffic that lines the streets as they rush to get to the fire.

But when there is no emergency, should the same rules that apply to the rest of the drivers on the road apply to these people as well? The cities of Dallas and Fort Worth seem to think that anyone on routine patrol should not have the same privileges they do when there is an emergency. And the city goes one step further and has decided that there needs to be someone out there to police the police.

The biggest abusers of street rules in the three areas of emergency workers is the police departments; they are out even when there is no emergency. They have routine patrols of the city streets and are the ones you see parking illegally to give tickets to someone whose paid parking expired two minutes ago.

This isn’t to say that all officers of the law break the rules of the street; there are those who follow the rules, but there are a few apples that can ruin it for the rest of them. However, they never get caught and they are never punished. There is no one policing the police.

They have the liberty to make illegal u-turns and park where they please and no one can question the use of the siren when they use them because they could either be used legitimately or abused so the officers can travel through the red light.

They need to be held accountable and they should not be allowed to break the law when there is no emergency. If they break the law, how do they expect citizens to respect the same law when there is no respect for the law from the very people in uniform whose very job is to uphold the law.

It doesn’t help that in cities like Toronto, there seems to be a demand from city hall for officers to meek parking ticket quotas so the city can have more money, despite taxing the people of the city to the teeth.  Maybe the officers would be less inclined to do if they were likely to get slapped with such a ticket.  They are worse than some parking offenders in the city…