Introduction: Union Station

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"Toronto won all the marbles a long time ago, at least the ones that matter most. How you feel about that, and how you feel about us, is the least of our worries. We don't have the time to care. We have to go to work." (Fiorito 1).

So starts the book on Toronto I picked up.

Joe Fiorito starts off his book's introduction by dilly dallying about how Toronto has changed over the years yet still seems not grown up. He also takes brief looks at how others perceive Toronto to be. But perhaps the most striking thing he uncovers is that "Toronto is a work in progress..." (Fiorito 3). To help explain what the Fiorito means by this he uses the analogy of New York City of around 1900 when that particular city was trying to find its identity as well by taking in anyone or anything that was willing to venture to a newly developing city. New York City today, in case you have haven't noticed, is pretty well grown up and has its own identity as North America's, if not the world's, financial and entertainment capital. Unlike New York City, though, Toronto is not done yet growing up.

Finally, Fiorito notes he is not interested in examining the stories of the bankers or business leaders with mucho buckos. He is interested in everyone else as this is, what he calls, a "contemporary history."

Is all of Fiorito's belief true that Toronto has a lot of growing up to do? Is this the basis for his book? From my vantage point as a person who has resided just to the north of Toronto for most of my life and who has lived in New York City for a year, the answer is yes Fiorito is right.

Toronto has several things and is in also in the process of completing several things that it still needs to be one of the world's best cities.

Lets take a look from my own point of view what Toronto already has.

1. A definitive tower or building that helps defines the city like Paris' Eifle Tower, London's Big Ben or New York City's Empire State Building. Toronto has the CN Tower right on the waterfront that dominates the Toronto skyline from every angle. The CN Tower also provides views from it's observation deck just like the Eifle Tower and the Empire State building do.

2. Historic Sports facilities like Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium in New York City. Toronto, being a much younger city, has some catching up to do. Sure there was Maple Leaf Gardens and Exhibition Stadium which saw three of Toronto's sports teams emerge as expansion teams. But the Rogers Centre and Air Canada Centre are sure to become more dominant as our sports teams build up a little more history. Really only the Toronto Maple Leafs have the history to match that of the Yankees and the Rangers of New York City in comparison. Again, the closing of the Maple Leaf Gardens was big loss in city building in that regard.

3. Arts & Cultural centers like Carnegie Hall and the Gugenheim in New York City. Toronto is right up there again or is about to be in the very near future. Toronto posesses the awsome accoustics yet the intimate surroundings of Massey Hall for concerts that are apparently similar, but on a much smaller scale, than Carnegie Hall in New York. I will admit I have only seen the outside of Carnegie Hall. Toronto is also on the brink to matching the architecture of the Gugenheim and even the Metropolitan Musem of Modern Art of New York with the coming finishing of the renovations to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and Ontario Museum of Art.

What Toronto needs:

1. Transit systems that work like New York City's integrated subway, bus and train system that is quick and convenient. The worst thing in Toronto is perhaps the traffic and somewhat ineffective transit system. Toronto is way behind in developing a subway system and integrate itself with the suburban transit systems. For example of being behind, the Queen Street Subway in Toronto was planned for before the turn of the 20th century and still has yet to be built!

2. A developed watefront that showcases the city. Toronto has taken only symbolic steps by floating ideas and politicians patting themselves on the back after renouncing the development plans over and over and over and over....again. The time is to act now in order to get finish this step.

Fiorito is right. Toronto does have some work to do just like New York City has proven it has done. However, Toronto does have one advantage over New York City. Toronto has already observed what went right and what went wrong in New York's development. Obviously, New York didn't really have that advantage.

So, on I go reading Fiorito's book on Toronto's contemporary history of how Toronto is on its way to growing up.

Union Station

Books: Union Station

One of my favourite places to visit in Toronto is Union Station. Union Station is the main commuter centre in Toronto for transit encompassing both a TTC Subway line and GO Transit trains and buses that help connect Toronto's downtown with the immediate city of Toronto and its outer suberbs. Also, VIA Rail runs trains that help connect the rest of Canada with Canada's largest urban centre. Basically, Union Station is at Toronto's heart. If you want to know what is going on in Toronto, Union Station is usually the place to start.

Just by watching the people coming and going through the station you can see what sporting events are going on at the neighbouring Rogers Centre and Air Canada Centre. baseball caps, hockey sticks and basketball jerseys are usually good indications what is happening. Tourists are usually prevalent here as well because of both the visual aspects of Union Station's great hall and because of its many connections to transit.

That may be why Joe Fiorito, author of Union Station, chose to name his book the way he did. Fiorito's book, after reading the dust jacket and random pages inside, takes a look at why Toronto is a city to be loved and not hated. Sure Toronto may have its rough edges with the homeless on every corner and seemingly out of touch politicians at both the municipal and provincial levels who really don't seem to understand the city. But what Fiorito seems to argue in the book, according to the dust jacket and the very few pages I have read, is that the little guy has stories to tell that can be endearing and entertaining.

When I first picked up this book immediately put it down. I was merely browsing at a downtown Toronto Chapters book store. I read a couple of excerpts here and there of the book and wasn't really engaged. Perhaps I wasn't in the mindset of looking for a book to devour at that time as I didn't leave the store that day with anything. Also, I normally skip Fiorito's columns as sometimes they seem plodding and boring to me in context to the rest of the days news in the Toronto Star.

So I asked myself after going back to the same book store two weeks later and purchasing the book that I put down earlier? I'm not sure. Perhaps it was the sections I read that touched my heart. Perhaps, it was the page I read about the homeless situation in Toronto that I hear so much money is being poured into yet these people are still on the street. There are a lot of options.

After a quick flip through the book and reading a couple of first pages of chapters it appears as if each chapter of Fiorito's book deals with different topics about the city of Toronto. So over the next little while as I read the book I hope to reflect through blog entries my thoughts on the book. Consider this entry to be the first.

Riots at the World Cup?

I was reading with great interest this week a small article in the Toronto Star. The article was so short that I can't find it in the paper's online version.

The article noted that American brewer Budweiser is now the official beer of this year's World Cup of Soccer in Germany. The article interviewed some occupants of some German pubs for their take on the Budweiser sponsorship. Words that compared Budweiser to dish water were bandied about by the coneisseurs of beer found in these pubs.

I thought, at the time, that the riots may ensue over the poor beer quality compared to what they are used to. I remember my first days in New York City drinking Budweiser. After my first sip of Budweiser my taste buds were asking why I would give them water when they were expecting beer.

Germans, being the second largest beer consumers per capita in Europe (just behind the Czechs in case your wondering), I figured might be heavily upset at the thought of removing true German beers in favour of this "American swill."

To make matters worse for World Cup crowds, the offical food vendor for the World Cup events is McDonald's. So gone are the pretzels and other traditional World Cup fan favourites. I figured that this just might be the final straw for Soccer fans who might rebel by showing the American food and beverage companies some true European Soccer rioting. That didn't happen.

World Cup drunken riots are less likely to occur this year. Why? Because, as everyone knows, the alchohol concentration in American beer is so low it would take hours of straight drinking for the Germans and other Europeans to even feel a buzz. By the time the buzz just begins to hit, the soccer games are most likely over. Its a shame really..... It seems the Americanization of the food and beverage will also remove the traditional rioting and hooliganism that is associated with the World Cup events which is truly a European tradition.

Guns came by mail … and left by theft #2

Re: Guns came by mail ... and left by theft & Postal contractor charged after guns go missing.

The continuing saga of the missing guns in Oshawa continues courtesy of our friends at Canada Post and Durham Regional Police.

Here is the article from today's Toronto Star with my comments filling in the "unofficial" details of what really happen. I provide the comments as I am quite well versed in tracking packages with Canada Post using their "customer service" centre (the reason for the quotes around the "customer service" words in this sentence will become evident further on...I promise! ):

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A former contractor working for Canada Post has been charged with the theft of two firearms that were supposed to have been delivered to an Oshawa home last March.

The guns, a Remington Super Mag Combo 12-gauge shotgun and a Ruger Deluxe .22-calibre rifle, were shipped fully assembled from a Calgary sporting goods store, in the original manufacturer's boxes and wrapped in brown paper, Durham police said. There was no label on the package identifying the parcel as containing firearms. The shipper is not required to do so unless the guns are crossing the border.

Canada Post said at the time that its couriers will drop off a parcel even if there is no one home, but only on instructions from the receiver. The store shipping the guns had advised Canada Post to obtain a signature on delivery, but that was not done in this case, police said.

He finally went to police after Canada Post notified him that its records indicated the guns had arrived at the Oshawa depot on March 17 and were delivered to his home that afternoon. But according to police, the guns, along with ammunition assembling equipment, were never delivered. 

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Hmmm.....the guns were not delivered in March, the person complained in April, the original newspaper article (in the Toronto Star) appeared in May. So why did it take so long to complete the investigation once the customer complained?

Well lets see, when I call the Canada Post "customer service centre" I run the gauntlet of trying to get an answer on where my package is via the automated phone system. After mashing several numbers on my phone and totally confusing the posties automated phone hell system, I am put on hold until an operator is able to take my call. Sometimes I wait for five minutes in order to speak to an actual operator.

This operator tells me I should hear back in five days from an searching agent. Hmmm....ok...wouldn't it be easier if a search agent were to engage a search for the missing package right away? Wouldn't there be a better chance of the package being found the sooner the search be done? Might the delivery person who dropped the package off at the wrong address be able to remember a little better the sooner he/she is inquired to as to where the package is? With Fedex I seem to have had two packages saved from miss delivery because the driver was contacted within a day in order to ensure proper delivery to the right address. But I guess with Canada Post that makes to much sense.

After five days, and not hearing back from Canada Post, I call the "customer service centre" again and go through the same automated phone system hell as mentioned in the paragraph directly above. This time I speak to a manager who says I need to wait fifteen days before a search agent to be done. Please note, I am now taking notes of who I spoke with, date and time, length of time I spent on hold in order to speak to a live human person, and what each person said. Why do I do this? So the person who answers the phone know what I go through and what the instances I have run into.

After ten days, and not not hearing back from Canada Post, I call the "customer service centre" again and go through the same automated phone system hell as mentioned in the paragraph above and explaining what I have been through in the above two paragraphs (using my extensive notes described above). This time I am told by the customer service representative that fifteen days is when I should hear back. I inquired with this poor sap how a customer service manager could be wrong about the days required to hear from a search. I then ask about the Canada Post Ombudsman's phone number.

He said the Ombudsman wouldn't be able to help several times before this Canada Post "customer service centre representative" gives me the number. So with this in mind, lets finish up the newspaper story....

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 He finally went to police after Canada Post notified him that its records indicated the guns had arrived at the Oshawa depot on March 17 and were delivered to his home that afternoon. But according to police, the guns, along with ammunition assembling equipment, were never delivered. 

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So let me fill in the missing information that the newspaper reporter left out using my example from above as a guideline:

It only took about a month for Canada Post to figure this one out and probably several phone calls through the automate phone system hell by police to the Canada Post "customer service centre representative" who pulls a number of days as to when the police detective might be able to receive a phone call back as to the whereabouts of the guns and what went wrong.

The cops finally probably threatened to go to the Canada Post Ombudsman. However, the police probably got the run around with by the Canada Post "customer service reps" by refusing to give the Canada Post Ombudsman's phone number. The police probably had to threaten charges against the reps in order to extricate that number. The rep then handed the over the phone number to the police.

The Canada Post "customer service representative" probably hit the alarm bell that the Ombudsman's phone number had been requested. This alarm bell probably finally got the attention of the Canada Post search department to start an investigation into this package. Then this happens.... 

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 John Ryan Margach, 24, of Oshawa is charged with theft of mail, theft of mail containers and theft under $5,000. He no longer works for Canada Post. The guns have not been recovered. 

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Hmmmm....so Canada Post dilly dallies in giving an answer as to the whereabouts of the guns (based on my experience above) and charges are laid. However, in this case (as in the case of my own packages that have gone missing on more than 6 times since January) the original package goes missing for good never to be found again. Considering the contents of the package in the newspaper article, I would be very worried.

The question is, why is Canada Post so incompetent at trying to find these packages? What takes so long to even begin to find the packages that have gone missing in both the case of the guns and in my own experience? I am still trying to find this answer out from Canada Post.

If anyone finds out...PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

Works Cited

Brazao, Dale. "Postal contractor charged after guns go missing." Toronto Star. 14 June 2006: A14.

Suddard, Michael. "May 2006: Guns came by mail...and left by theft." Michael Suddard's Homepage. On-line. Internet. 12 December 2010 Available: https://www.michaelsuddard.com/2006/05/guns-came-by-mailand-left-by-theft.html

Memo to readers

If you are reading this post....the world did not come to an end on 6/6/6

Please continue on with other more important worries....

Gothamist: 101 Deli

Gothamist: 101 Deli

The things I miss of New York City.....

going to the 101 deli for a turkey sandwich just walking distance from the school I was working at....

The things I miss.....

The World's Longest Street Sale on the World's Longest Street!

I was out and about today with my digital camera in Aurora, Ontario. This weekend is the annual street sale in Aurora. When it started way back when this particular street sale was aiming to become the world's longest street sale ever! That particular street sale did in fact make the record book. So Aurora's claim to fame (among other things) is it has held the World's Longest Street Sale on the World's Longest Street.

World's Longest Street? That would be Yonge Street which starts at Lake Ontario in Toronto and goes north and then west to Rainy River, Ontario.

So here are a couple of pictures I took of Aurora's annual street sale:

Looking north from near Yonge & Mosely Streets

Looking south from Yonge & Mosley Streets

Looking South from Yonge & Wellington Streets.

For more photos of Aurora and this street sale click here.