Email letters@nowtoronto.com
Thomson trying to set Ford up for a fall
Re Sarah Thomson’s drug and groping allegations against Rob Ford (NOW, March 8 and 11): two Richmond Hill councillors say they overheard Thomson and her assistant discussing trying to set up a photo of the mayor touching her butt.
She was caught trying to set up the mayor and has gone all out in a lie to cover that up and use a bad photo to make that possible. Of course, the left will believe anything negative about Ford even if they know it’s a lie. (Remember the false claim about what was said by the mayor in a 911 call.)
Stan Joseph
From nowtoronto.com
Billy Bishop bullies should relocate
The Porter union’s workplace safety issues (NOW, March 7-13) are a serious concern that I hope get resolved, but the anti-airport crowd is way off.
I take TTC or walk to get to Billy Bishop, but Pearson means spending money on a bus ride or a taxi (not very green either). No rail to Pearson, because of other NIMBYs.
Why should everyone downtown spend more money and time and burn fuel to keep a small group around the Island Airport satisfied?
If you don’t like noise, don’t live near an airport!
Ed Langley
Toronto
Don’t pooh-pooh Pinder’s beautiful film
Norman Wilner’s review of Julian Pinder’s Trouble In The Peace (NOW, March 7-13) is unprofessional. What happened to constructive criticism and openness to new forms of expression?
I saw the film along with an admiring audience in Vancouver. It’s an extremely beautiful, heartfelt contemplation of the environmental tragedy in the Peace River and of our own role in the destruction of the planet. It is not dogmatic, but rather allows the audience to come to their own conclusions about the issues involved in gas extraction in northern Canada.
Your critic obviously didn’t get the film. The ending, which Wilner calls “laughably naive,” is actually representative of the helplessness felt in facing monolithic oil and gas companies.
Penelope Buitenhuis
Toronto
Casinos are the greatest thing ever – really
Not wanting to be a shill for the casino industry, but having read your anti-casino issue (NOW, February 28-March 6, 2013), I have to respond.
The issue of whether Toronto gets a casino is much like the debate over the Keystone pipeline – overwrought and way overblown.
One casino will not be the end of our city. Toronto will not turn into Atlantic City or Vegas. Lots of European cities, such as Amsterdam, have downtown casinos, and as far as I know they are still thriving cultural destinations.
Time to get some perspective.
Andrew van Velzen
Toronto
Gambling a workplace hazard
Re Jason Applebaum’s story of gambling addiction (NOW, February 28-March 6).
Here in Australia, casino workers make horribly low wages and rely on tips that might not be given.
Casino workers can still receive tips in most states Down Under, but why should casinos rely on tipping to pay workers a fair wage?
That’s a joke when we look at the sort of money that goes through casino tills!
Casino workers need much higher pay and protection from gambling addiction, which is a real and predictable workplace hazard!
Libby Mitchell
From nowtoronto.com
Coyote shouldn’t have been a casualty
The coyote that foolishly wandered around Cabbagetown last month (NOW, February 21-27) and got shot by Toronto police must have thought it had stumbled onto the set of a remake of Minority Report. Did the police use an infallible seer who knew for a fact that the coyote was bent on nabbing a poodle or biting someone? If police lack the ability to employ reasonable means of dealing with coyotes, then perhaps it’s time they learned instead of relying on an itchy trigger finger.
Geoff Rytell
Toronto
Kingyo is king
Last week I took my girlfriend to Kingyo (NOW, February 28-March 6) for her birthday, and we were treated like royalty.
The hospitality is tops (but not over the top), and similarly the food is treated with great care and detail. We mainly ordered from the chef’s special menu, but we also had the kimuchi udon, and I highly recommend it!
Adam Pod
From nowtoronto.com
Seeing red in the Red Chamber
Senators Pamela Wallin (NOW, February 28-March 6) and Mike Duffy should be arrested immediately for living off the avails of the Constitution.
Gary Brigden
Toronto
Bird’s-eye view of wind turbines
Your recent editions have downplayed the impacts of wind turbines on wildlife (NOW, February 7-13).
I live where an eagle’s nest was destroyed with a Ministry of Natural Resources permit so the wind project (NextEra, Summerhaven) could be built. The nest was one of only 58 known nests in southern Ontario.
NextEra, aka Florida Power & Light, continues to be responsible for golden eagle kills at the Altamont Pass wind project [in California] and has the unique distinction of having been fined for this by U.S. authorities in the past.
Sadly, to date not much has changed – just bigger turbines, which are known to be far deadlier to bats as well.
Habitat destruction and deaths of raptors, bats and songbirds in important flyways are occurring.
More than 200 wind turbines are being installed in Haldimand-Norfolk, just a few of the projects along the shoreline of Lake Erie. This is a pattern of industrialization being echoed on all the Great Lakes shorelines. Where will these creatures and others be able to go?
Linda J. Rogers
Selkirk
Optimism Avenue
Could we pave the road dedicated to late NDP leader Jack Layton (NOW, February 28-March 6) with good intentions? Why not?
Paul Rezler
Toronto
Tell the truth about shelter shortage
Re OCAP Sets Up “Homeless Shelter” At Metro Hall (NOW, March 7). The 25-year-old Out of the Cold program (over 800 bed nights per week) closes at the end of March, early April. Where will these men and women find a shelter bed?
In past years, media did investigative reporting to expose the truth, rather than simply “he said, she said.”
Few have been inside the Peter Street referral centre to examine how people get stuck there without access to a shelter bed.
Cathy Crowe
Toronto
Frothing Fordist way off base
Letter writer Drew Lynch’s (NOW, February 28-March 6) dirty talk about ass, pussies, snot-noses and invitations to eat dick in defence of Rob Ford was misdirected. It should have gone to Dan Savage, although judging by the contents of Lynch’s letter, his evident pathologies would most likely be beyond even the scope of Savage’s celebrated wisdom.
Alan Carlisle
Toronto
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