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Letters To The Editor News

A defense of Robbie Robertson


Robbie Robertson unjustly vilified 

Regarding Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson And The Band, which opened TIFF.

I have read extensively about The Band. From anything I can discern, Robbie Robertson saw The Band on a destructive path that only he was smart enough to jump off.  When they were ready to re-unite, he saw that nothing had changed except that the other guys were further down the path and in much more danger. In many respects, he was unjustly vilified for not wanting to jump back onto that path.

Albert Edmond, From nowtoronto.com

Charge developers for blocking lanes 

Regarding Toronto’s 10 Worst Bike Lanes by Sarah Lysecki (NOW, August 29-September 4)

“Never-ending construction zones that force abrupt (and dangerous) merges with traffic.” You said it!

Particularly irritating are zones that occupy 100 per cent of a roadway, such as on Bathurst south of Bloor (Westbank construction on the Honest Ed’s site). Forcing cyclists to merge into constricted, motorized traffic would be unnecessary if contractors left two or three feet for cyclists – which would still give them most of the lane. 

Why doesn’t the city negotiate cycle clearance when it approves construction? 

BTW, how much does the city charge developers to rent lanes?

Eric Mills, From nowtoronto.com

City having pothole fantasies

Toronto’s 10 Worst Bike Lanes quotes City of Toronto spokesperson Eric Holmes as saying that potholes on roads and cycling routes can usually be repaired within about four days once 311 is notified. What fantasy world is Holmes living in? The most recent pothole that I reported took 67 days to be repaired.

Mike Scott, From nowtoronto.com

A deposit system for cigarette butts

Letter-writer Andrew van Velzen is rightfully incensed about the eco harm of 4.5 trillion discarded cigarette butts strewn annually about the globe (NOW, August 29-September 4). However there is a simple, cheap and fair solution, at least at the city level. 

People discard cigarette butts because they are worthless. So let’s place a 10-cent deposit on each purchased cigarette. If smokers are responsible, this system would cost them nothing. We can charge cigarette manufacturers/wholesalers the money it would cost to run this system. Or they can pay for city crews to clean up the butts. We could also enjoin them to dispose of the butts in an eco-friendly fashion.

Moses Shuldiner, From nowtoronto.com

Gentrification effort in Bloordale

Campaign Launches To Save South Indian Dosa Mahal (NOW Online, August 30). The whole Bloordale neighbourhood is getting gentrified like crazy. Suspicious graffiti and fires in wealthy areas are often a sign of illegal schemes to drive tenants out. Another popular Indian place pretty close by also had a fire. Shifty evictions and rent spikes have also happened in many places close by, developers evicting good tenants by raising the rents unbelievably high and letting them just sit empty for months. It’s coordinated and exploitative.

RG, From nowtoronto.com

Uncritical thinking on anti-Semitism

Re Anti-Semitism Redefined (NOW August 15-21). My only bone of contention with Cynthia Levine-Rasky’s article is the reference to “American Christian fundamentalists.” 

Yes, to their shame they are cheerleading this change in the definition of anti-Semitism. But they are not the authors of it. Zionists are at the root of it and it is their influence, political and otherwise, that has conditioned the increasingly uncritical thinking on anti-Semitism. 

Ian Moone, From nowtoronto.com

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