U.S.-style Jays security turning fans away
Good piece by Matt Mernagh (NOW, May 7-13) on the new security requirements at Blue Jays games. They will do nothing to encourage those of us who go to the occasional game to go more frequently. The new security measures will only make my visits more occasional.
Gerry Wood
Toronto
T.O.’s roads not paved with good intentions
It’s both baffling and enraging how the city decides what streets to pave and when (NOW, May 7-13). I’ve been fussing for at least a year about a really rough and hazardous section of Bloor just west of Spadina that is near-rubble where cyclists ride.
The freeze-thaw action of two cold winters has worsened it, so smoother riding is either in the dangerous car door zone or in the middle of traffic (always an issue on Bloor).
This isn’t the only example of gross disparity in repaving judgments: Queen’s Park Crescent was in quite okay shape, with one small area of ponding and damage, but it jumped forward to have smooth asphalt done last summer while Dundas West between Bathurst and Spadina remains atrocious, as does Queen further south.
Hamish Wilson
Toronto
“Bike watchers” eyeing sidewalk riders
Flouting the law, Adam Wetstein brags about riding his bike on underused sidewalks north of the 401 (NOW, May 7-13). Surely, after 20 years it’s high time he migrated (if he dares) south, perhaps to Bloor and Yonge, King and Bay, Dundas and Spadina, where we “bike watchers” await his debut, perhaps cycling and talking on the cellphone at the same time and competing with more than one “7-foot-wide pedestrian” for space, as many entitled cyclists do.
G. Lee
Toronto
Black men not community’s only victims
Re Enforcing Disorder (NOW, May 7-13). While I do not seek to [minimize] the frankly appalling treatment that Gary Freeman received at the hands of U.S. police forces, I feel the need to point out that violence against the black community is not limited to young black men, on whom Freeman’s piece focuses.
Levels of violence against black women and non-gender-conforming blacks are at epidemic levels, too, and we must remember this whenever we write about the ongoing cleansing of black bodies from white spaces.
Aidan Monis
Toronto
Peelian back layers of race-based policing
A wonderful quote in Gary Freeman’s article on the 9 Peelian Principles Of Policing By Consent: “The police are the public and the public are the police.” It’s about time a media outlet in Toronto recognized this. It’s the same for all public services – TTC, garbage, fire, City Hall and even politicians. We are all in this together. We are all fighting for decent quality of life: affordable housing, education, fair and just police, living wages, health and affordable energy. We need to look around and come up with solutions that increase quality of life for everyone.
Robert Croghan
Toronto
Give new chief his due on carding
Re Saunders’s Bad Start (NOW, May 7-13). Toronto’s new police chief became confrontational with black community. Clearly, he’s not media-savvy like his predecessor. He will trip himself up before he gets it right. For all his missteps, though, give Saunders his due. He has pledged to make carding less random, which from where I sit has been the real problem with the policy. There is something wrong with a policy that lets police stop people on the street and document them for no reason at all. This is Toronto in 2015, not East Berlin in 1950!
Dan Hamm
From nowtoronto.com
Armed Forces of contradictions
That the Canadian Armed Forces are not wholeheartedly embracing all the recommendations of the Deschamps report on sex abuse in the military is telling (NOW, May 7-13). The hyper-cautiousness of this national organization – glaciers and tortoises win hands down – is in stark contrast to the way its members are routinely gushed over as “Canada’s brave men and women in uniform” protecting us from the terrorist ISIL hordes. Leaders are supposed to lead, not gloss over the apparently commonplace and long-standing sexual transgressions of “brave men.” The chief of defence staff may be leaving, but he’s not hanging his head in shame as he should.
Geoff Rytell
Toronto
Patrick Brown: be very afraid
Re PCs’ Patrick Brown-out (NOW, May 11). New Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown has come out of the southern Republican cookie-cutter mould fully formed (see story). I suspect that Stephen Harper had more to do with this upset win than we’ll ever know. Brown is ambitious like Harper all those years ago. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Carole A. Zaza
From nowtoronto.com
Scientology says doc’s theory a “conspiracy”
NOW’s review of Alex Gibney’s documentary (NOW, May 7-13) contains a false claim that Shelly Miscavige, the wife of the Church’s ecclesiastical leader, David Miscavige, mysteriously “vanished.”
This is a knowingly false conspiracy theory from the unsavoury sources used in this article. In August 2013, the myth was put to rest when Leah Remini initiated an ill-fated publicity stunt and filed a bogus missing person report for Mrs. Miscavige. Within a matter of a few hours, the Los Angeles Police Department issued an unambiguous statement that the allegations were “unfounded” and closed the case.
Mrs. Miscavige’s whereabouts and well-being were confirmed. Our response to the film and the sources quoted in your article can be found at freedommag.org.
Karin Pouw
Director of Public Affairs, Church of Scientology International
Los Angeles
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