City of Toronto CUPE 79 and 416 Strike – Day 25 – Moss Park Temporary Dump Site
Below is a video, photos and written commentary from my visit to Moss Park’s temporary dump site today. This is one of the closest dump sites to the downtown Toronto core, and one that in my opinion was probably the very worst idea. The City decided to turn two basketball courts into a dump, rendering them unusable by the tens of thousands of children who are without any summer programming. Through poor site selection, the City also made the use of a baseball diamond impossible, and provided for an angle that allows one to take a photo of the City’s skyline with a ten foot wall of garbage below.
‘A city within a park’ has become ‘dump sites within our parks’.
As you can tell – someone REALLY wasn’t thinking when they located this temporary dump site. What an image of our city – a ten foot tall mountain of garbage, surrounded by grass – and the skyline in the background.
This is not the image Toronto needs to be presenting to the world.
It’d be difficult to play a game of basketball when garbage is stacked in two eight foot tall walls from net to net. This was such an inappropriate decision for whomever made it.
This is such a waste of a viable youth activity that could have been enjoyed during a municipal strike. There was absolutely no justification to use a basketball court as a temporary dump site for household garbage. It deprives youth, who already are unable to use indoor municipal services the ability to use this outdoor equipment.
Especially when the Armoury right next door to the park has a paved, empty space that would be far better suited, if a temporary dump site was necessary in Moss Park.
It seems to me like using this location, especially with the armoury having another driveway entrance would have made far more sense, if a dump site was necessary at this park at all. Using this long, publicly owned, lightly used lane way would have had a far smaller impact on the host community, who it appears were not considered at all in site selection.
Tags: City of Toronto, City of Toronto Garbage Strike, City of Toronto Strike, City of Toronto Strike Update, CUPE 416, CUPE 79, Dumping Garbage in City Parks, Garbage Strike, Moss Park, Moss Park Arena, Moss Park Armoury, Moss Park Temporary Dump Site, Temporary Garbage Dump Locations, Temporary Garbage Dumps, Toronto Garbage Strike Pictures, Toronto Garbage Strike Videos, Toronto Strike Pictures, Toronto Strike Videos
July 18th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Good job John. Keep up the honourable fight. And I like the video and audio quality on your new camera.
July 18th, 2009 at 2:02 am
I’m not in toronto anymore, but I appreciate your coverage of this; it’s good.
But, you have to say it like it is:
Sure, you could say that no one right out said ‘hey, they’re poor, let’s put the garbage here-’ but this is a clear example of the systemic abuse of marginalized people that is present in canada.
This isn’t just ‘lack of consideration’ or someone not thinking when they decided a location, but rather, people in charge being aware of the social structure of the city and making a conscious decision to use it to their advantage.
July 18th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Ich wrde empfehlen, um schnell wie muslimische Sie im Laufe des Monats Ramadhan von Sonnenaufgang bis Sonnenuntergang
July 18th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Sarcastically writing, the young people could play a great game of garbage bag dodgeball.
If people have any complaints, take them to the Rathaus/city hall.
July 18th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
As a Toronto born and raised person I am disgusted with the Power play that McGuinty, Miller and Smitherman are pulling on the overtaxed and overworked Torontonians.
McGuinty will hold off on legislating these guys and gals back to work so that Toronto becomes a stinking miserable place to live and then he can ram all his laws through while the citizens are focusing on garbage. Green Energy Act, Harmonized Tax Act and Cap and Trade Act . Smitherman will be grovelling on all fours picking up garbage trying to look like a “real” Torontonian (even though he will always be a bad example), in his attempt to change from Provincial politics to Mayor of Toronto after he has destroyed the whole Province with his idiotic GEA. Don’t even mention Miller being a Torontonian! He is an nasty piece of work who wants to destroy Toronto so that taxpayers will be GLAD to pay more taxes to keep the city clean..a twisted way of raising taxes. These guys hate you and me and every other useless “eater” called citizens.
July 20th, 2009 at 2:18 am
Carl, while some of your assessments may have some pieces of truth in them I think the vitriol with which you express your dislike of McGuinty, Smitherman and Miller weakens your points.
Also, while this strike may be convenient for taking the eye off the legislation you mention, I’m not sure I buy into this conspiracy-thinking. Similarly, I doubt Miller is trying to actively destroy Toronto in order to raise taxes.
Say what you will about how they’re handling situations, and I may very well agree with you, but conspiracy theories often ring hollow as political arguments.