Monthly Archives: August 2011

Political commentary

Victory Over the Sun

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This post was originally published on the Forget the Box news collective website on August 14th 2011.

Zaum (Russian: заумь) is a word used to describe the linguistic experiments in sound symbolism and language creation of Russian Futurist poets such as Velimir Khlebnikov and Aleksei Kruchenykh.
Coined by Kruchenykh in 1913, the word zaum is made up of the Russian prefix за “beyond, behind” and noun ум “the mind, nous” and has been translated as “transreason” or “beyonsense” (Paul Schmidt). According to scholar Gerald Janecek, zaum can be defined as experimental poetic language characterized by indeterminacy in meaning.

Have you considered the Tory Omnibus Crime Bill?

It’s not exactly light bedtime reading, but it’s worth knowing about. It is above and beyond all else a testament to absurdity. It is absurd yet delivered in such a fashion so as to seem sensible. It is irrational, illogical and yet is designed to seem appropriate. It succeeds because the intended audience is often so incredibly uncritical, of their actions inasmuch as those of government, that they will believe known falsehoods simply because it takes less mental effort than to formulate even a basic critical response. There are almost no catchphrases associated with stereotypical ‘tough-on-crime’ legislation that aren’t also extremely voter-friendly. There is a language that feeds on base emotions and propels mass-delusion because we fail to be critical of what makes us feel good. And it feels good to ‘go with your gut’ – it’s easier, it’s less painful than using your head and thinking things through, forming a cohesive independent opinion and then acting on it.

There is a cancer eating away at the foundations of my nation. It is commonly referred to as Conservatism. Some distinguish it as neo-Conservatism. I can only describe it as discouraging, designed to deceive and dissuade me. I find it despicable – even the name is a lie.

I had a pleasant email exchange recently with a lawyer and one-time president of a Progressive Conservative riding association. He had written an editorial criticizing Stephen Harper’s ‘tough-on-crime’ legislation as idiotic to the point of absurdity. When you look at the details of Harper’s plan and compare them to the statistics and expert opinions of the crime, corrections and rehabilitation establishment, frankly, you begin to get suspicious and ask yourself just exactly what is so conservative about spending inordinate sums on new prisons? Unfortunately, Harper seems to be planning on filling them with non-violent drug offenders. Great. The complete and total opposite of what we were so successfully doing before. A nation once well respected for its innovative rehabilitation techniques and extremely low general crime rate and suddenly, the Tories are trying to scare up a Willie Horton poltergeist in every suburban bungalow’s backyard. It’s sickening.

This is our political reality. There’s nothing conservative about Conservatism anymore – the entire morally bankrupt ideology is based on nothing more than fraud. Perpetrating it, covering it up, arguing against it while lobbying in its favour. The masters of deceit work tirelessly, carefully manipulating the electorate into voting for their own bondage. It’s sickening.

An unencumbered buffoon, a madman in everyman’s clothing, Rob “a-tumor-in-his-own-right” Ford, has taken the reigns of Toronto City Hall and hosts elaborate dinners behind Bridal Path gates for the new oligarchs. Harper makes a ‘guest-appearance’, an old fishing buddy stopping by to wish him well. This saccharine display was a brilliantly devised piece of corporate theatre right out of a Mulroney-era playbook. It’s sickening.

They talked about legacy. They’re gearing up for the Ontario provincial election, which may end-up going in favour of the Tories, giving them what they’ve been dreaming about for some time. In their eyes they have visions of Tory Blue in the most populous city and province, streamlined with the centre of the nation. We’ll be governed by a vertically integrated Conservative/Corporatist oligarchy. We’re fucked, and it’s sickening.

And it’s not over yet. The man who made me believe once again that Canada was still a truly progressive nation at heart doesn’t look like he’s going to make it to see 2012. The last time I saw him he was fine. Now you can see it in his face – he’s very sick.

I’m starting to feel sick myself. I’m sick of the noise; sick of the fact that I’m constantly being lied to and manipulated by forces beyond my control. I’m sick of seeing the criminal-elites walking free in the streets while the poor and the damned are worked to death on factory floors and chain gangs. And the powers-at-be have no problem waging their war against the poor. They’re winning and they know it.

So then what are the People to do? And from where do we start?

***

I think it is time for a new Republic, as Plato described it. And for efficiency’s sake, why not start this Republic in Montreal. I am not advocating for any political separation, nor the creation of any new territories nor flags, I am suggesting, however, on a new frame of mind. A republic of mind and spirit; a republic of knowledge and facts. How we choose to conduct ourselves here in Montreal, how we organize our city and society may one day shake the very core of the Canadian Consciousness. And we are already so much further ahead then the rest of the major cities ion this country, you may ask yourself if we’re not already republican in social demeanor and political disposition.

We know full well we conduct ourselves differently here. Whether Francophone, Anglophone or Allophone, your worldview as a Montrealer is very different from elsewhere in Canada – we look out and beyond, we are international. And everyone knows we live in a perfect little bubble here, where individuals live lifestyles of excessive freedom. Mind you, it didn’t seem excessive a decade ago, but such is life – in cities around the world right now, citizens are fighting and dying in the streets as chaos descends all around. We don’t have to deal with this, partially because we’ve already dealt with it and have found a kind of social equilibrium, one that seems to permit a relative degree of individual sovereignty for our citizens. We need to ensure this doesn’t change – Montreal must be the bastion of social-democracy in Canada.

If we choose to do so, we will position ourselves against a growing tide of fraudulent conservatism. And if we are determined enough we can successfully build a bulwark against this tide, and demonstrate our abilities to our cousins at home and brothers abroad.

The idea of the Cosmopolitan Metropolis can be the reality of living in our city, and in many ways I think we know it already is. But moving forward, with this mentality established, how will we further our progressive agenda? A city such as ours is an important microcosm of the global power, whether a country or corporation, cities are large enough to compete, large enough to lead. If we declare ourselves to be this bastion, if we declare our intent to lead with reason and decide with logic, will we not grow by attracting citizens from near and far to join us in achieving our goal? Just how exactly are great cities made anyways?

***

I’ll end on a point about a conversation, had yesterday with a good friend. He had told me about a recent comment made by that insufferable idiot John Boehner. Boehner said he wanted to “go to DC and clean-up the alphabet soup…” referring to the Tea Party plan to scrap a multitude of government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Securities and exchange Commission (SEC). Now, aside from the fact that the statement was absurd and a god-awful attempt at a metaphor, the point remains that it is exactly the kind of corporate newspeak drivel that the voters eat up – the statement sounds good. It doesn’t make sense, but it sounds like the kind of catchphrase a seasoned insider might use. This corruption of language, so intractably Conservative in nature, is spreading like an epidemic. If all political discourse is locked into this dialect, then the Great Conversation is dead. We owe it to ourselves to ensure this demise never occurs, and thus we must start on the small end of the big-league spectrum. Consider a city run by reason, immune to the corruption of the mind that has overtaken our civilization; our society’s survival depends on a newly awakened citizenry.

History and Culture, Montréal Landmarks, Montréal on Film, Perspectives on the City, Scenes from the City

A pleasant trip down memory lane – Expo Express

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I have no idea who put this together, but good job anyways. The Expo Express was a surface rapid transit system developed for use at Expo 67, connecting the Centre d’Acceuil at the Cité du Havre with a line connecting to all points at the fairgrounds. Curiously, it was never connected to the Métro station on Ile-Ste-Helene, though this perhaps indicates that the line was never meant to be a part of the larger traffic system.

It ran between 1967 and 1972 then was dismantled. You can still see the bridge which runs from Ile-Notre-Dame towards La Ronde, and Place des Nations would have once been directly connected to the system.

Consider, during Expo there was a fully-operational Métro, elevated rail, mini rail, tethered gondola and ferries – not to mention bridge and road access to the Expo site from effectively all directions. It makes me wonder if this wasn’t supposed to be an indication of the way to come – total shared public transit saturation.

Arts & the City, Montréal Architecture, Montréal Landmarks, Montréal on Film, Perspectives on the City, Scenes from the City

Unknown photograph – anyone know who took this?

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Ola amigos –

In transferring files a little while back I stumbled upon this gem of a picture. I can’t remember who sent it to me, but I’d love to know so I can blow this up into a poster!

Neat eh?

Political commentary

Toronto G-20 Exposed – an important documentary/ worth the time

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Before we get going a few key points to take care of up-front.

First – it’s not a great documentary from the point of view of an artistic or creative documentarian, in my opinion. This is very far away from the world of Errol Morris or Werner Hertzog. That being said it remains a valuable academic and political tool, because it achieves in one domain in particular, which is that it is a serious effort at documenting a massive quantity of raw footage which more than speaks for itself. In this respect the film is excellent. If the viewer can ignore some of the more cliched aesthetic choices and watch this documentary for raw footage, in my eyes it proves its value. What we choose to do with this information is another issue altogether.

I walk away from this documentary (it’s a doozy – about 2 and a quarter hours long) in complete and total disgust. I’m with Steve Paikin of TVO in the absolute revulsion at police tactics during last Summer’s G-20 meeting. Police used illegal tactics and enforced non-existent breaches of individual sovereignty. When a small group of ‘anarchists’ (and let’s be real, they’re thugs and vandals, and not anarchists in any real sense) tore through the city smashing everything on their path, police failed to act – failed at the one job they were suppose to use extra security measures to accomplish. And the next day they employ those measures against peaceful demonstrators.

Frankly I’d can the entire TPS for this massively royal fuck-up. After watching the footage it’s hard not to believe the TPS, RCMP, OPP and other police forces conspired to allow the so-called Black Bloc to riot so as to use extra-judicial measures to intimidate peaceful protestors.

Those responsible do not deserve to work as police officers in Canada any more – perhaps we should offer them one-way tickets to Pyeong-yang or Tehran, where they’d be more at home?

The progressive left should use this footage to prosecute any offending officers captured on film in civil court. God, I really hope there’s a class-action suit in place. Unfortunately, the city and province and police unions have probably set aside tax payer money for precisely these cases. The offending gestapo wannabes will keep their jobs and your taxes will go up. Christ it’s maddening.

Don’t try watching this before going to bed – your blood will boil and I doubt you’ll be counting much sheep as much as dreaming of revenge. Not for the faint of heart.

A modest proposal, Let's make this an election issue, Montréal Landmarks, Perspectives on the City, Political commentary, Urban Redevelopment, Worth reconsidering

Creating a New Urban Community in Montréal

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Prior to the Place du Centre development, this is what "uptown" Montréal looked like - not the work of the author.

There’s a desert in Downtown Montréal. In this plain there are many students, but no public schools. There are many residents, but almost no identifiable community. There are many businesses, but they all seem to close once the commuters go home. There are plenty of places to go amuse yourself, but no major cultural or creative centres. This desert faces inward from 9-5, and is largely faceless the rest of the time.

Most of this desert is bounded by Boul. de la Montagne to the West, Rue de Bleury in the East and sits between Sherbrooke and Boul. René-Lévesque – largely conterminous with the Place du Centre development of the late-1970s and early 1980s. This is one of the few areas of the City in which there seems to be no sense of community, no community presence or establishments. It seems at times to be the absolute centre of the City, and in many ways it is. And yet, stroll down McGill College Avenue at 2 in the morning on an August Tuesday and you’d think Montréal had been evacuated. Or for that matter Peel at Boul. de Maisonneuve on January 2nd at 8am – I’ve often been struck with just how empty this part of the City can feel.

Peel and Boul. de Maisonneuve, two days after this past New Year's - work of the author.

Part of the problem is that we got so used to this area being filled with parking lots back in the 60s and 70s we forgot their used to be houses, schools, community centres, parks, synagogues etc in this area. Much of that was razed during the construction of the Métro, which as I pointed out in a previous article on the demolition of much of the pre-War construction in this area. Another part of the problem is that many of the new office towers built here in the 70s and 80s were designed with services facing inwards towards the Underground City instead of outwards towards the streets. There are large segments of President Kennedy and De Maisonneuve, not to mention Union, University, Aylmer, Mansfield, Metcalfe etc, in which there are almost no outward facing commerces, no residents and no community/cultural centres; ergo, it’s a bit of a wasteland.

Ste-Catherine's looking West from Union, early 1970s - not the work of the author.

As recently as the 1970s Ste-Catherine’s Street in this sector was the principle entertainment hub of the City, boasting a multitude of theatres and cinemas, lounges and clubs, restaurants bars and discotheques. Moreover, the area also contained what was once the grandest hotel in the City, the Mount Royal Hotel, in addition to many fine apartments, duplexes and triplexes. But what really defines this sector prior to the major urban redevelopment which took place thirty years ago was its human scale; in other words, the way it looked before was more in line with what the rest of Montreal looks like. And it just so happens that this human scale has a community focus – none of this remains today. What remains can be salvaged and worked into a viable community. There are many people who live here, though I imagine very few families as the housing is unsuitable for families and there is a general dearth of family services (which is odd given that there’s a concentration of daycare centres here, though they’re largely for the people who work in the towers). Not all the residents here live in condos, though those who do generally have nearly direct access to the Réso. There are many hotels, almost all of which face away from the centre and have lacklustre entrances. There are very few 24-hour eateries here, despite the fact that its the only legitimately 24-hour part of the City.

Canderel proposal for 1215 Place Phillips - not the work of the author.

What remains is fascinating. For one, there are an inordinate number of empty lots in this central portion of the City, and residential densification here ought to take priority so as to re-establish a community in this sector. Medium-cost high-density condos designed for families, alongside low-density triplexes and medium-density apartments should be mandated to fill these lots, such as the one at the corner of De Maisonneuve and De la Montagne, or on Drummond between Ste-Catherine’s and René-Lévesque. Then there’s the large lot behind the Paramount. Given that the 900 Boul. de Maisonneuve West project is on indefinite hiatus and they’ve already built the Hotel St-Michel, why not fill the rest of the lot with a new school, city gym and subsidized apartment tower? Or consider the massive parking lot behind the Phillips Square Hotel, where the stalled 1215 Place Phillips was supposed to go up – it’s even larger than the Paramount lot!

Then there are the above-ground lots; specifically the Tour Union and the Avis Parking Garage adjacent to the Sun Life Building. Can we please get rid of these eyesores? Can’t parking be placed underground? Imagine what else could be put here? A medium-sized boutique hotel on the site Avis lot could once again offer visitors a view onto Dorchester Square, while a larger capacity hotel on the Tour Union site could bring some much needed nightlife to an otherwise dull part of town.

An earlier view of Ste-Catherine's facing West from Union - not the work of the author.

Speaking of nightlife, it would be nice to see some of that come back to this part of the City. What’s fascinating to me is how this area bridges several creative and cultural zones within the greater downtown, yet seems to lacking in having its own facilities. Keep in mind, to the Northwest is the Quartier des Musées, to the West we have Concordia and Shaughnessy Village and to the East the Quartier-des-Spectacles and Place des Arts. To the North and Northeast, McGill and UQAM. To the South and Southeast, the International Quarter and Old Port respectively. It’s as if our centre faces outwards.

I would like to see this area with the all day hustle and bustle of Midtown NYC and perhaps we need to redefine the area as our Uptown – we can’t leave the branding of this area to the people who the Eaton’s Centre now can we? And let’s face it, Ste-Catherine’s Street hasn’t quite been the same since all the theatres closed down – we were left with a dismal city centre almost entirely devoted to big box retailers and shopping malls. I think it’s time for a change.

Here’s something to consider – the number of potential cultural venues, community centres and other performance & creative spaces in this area (it’s far from an exhaustive list):

The Belgo
The Imperial Theatre
The Loews Theatre (currently the Mansfield Athletic Association gym)
The Palace Theatre (currently used as office space – do we not have enough space in the towers?)
The Eaton’s 9th Floor
St-James United Church
The Gesu
Christ Church Cathedral
Maison Astral
The Victoria Arena (currently a parking garage – sigh…)
The Salvation Army Citadel

When I got to thinking about this article, it occurred to me that this area is in need of a population development scheme more than a facelift, and it seems that if this area were a more cohesive, stable community, that it would have a positive effect in developing a more citizen-friendly urban master plan. We would also be wise to not repeat the densification plan used for the Faubourg des Récollets, which while admirably recycling a lot of old buildings and populating a de-populated urban area, didn’t score as high when it came to establishing an actual bonafide community. Thirty years after we filled this sector with medium height office towers, the time has come to bring the people back and redevelop a sustainable neighbourhood.

A modest proposal, Let's make this an election issue, Perspectives on the City, Urban Redevelopment, What were they thinking?, Worth reconsidering

Let’s make this an election issue no. 2 – Street Vendors

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A Toronto hot-dog stand - not the work of the author.

There’s something missing from Montréal city streets, and no I’m not referring to the snow. That can wait.

In fact, if there’s any time of year to go out and see the mysterious street vendor, now’s about as close as we get to having this species in our midst. They can be located in their preferred habitat, our city streets and public spaces.

It’s factually inaccurate to say that Montréal is any way anti-vendor, it’s just that vendors are over regulated and mandated to be seasonal, in some cases by very old laws that have never been, in my mind, seriously considered nor critiqued. It all goes back to Mayor Drapeau, who got rid of the vendors by over-prosecuting them on a variety of oddball laws and regulations. Among many other things (see this great Montreal Mirror article from 2002) it was thought vendors impeded traffic, were generally unhygienic and were competing unfairly with sit-down restaurants. I fail to understand this last point – if you’re in line at a hot dog stand its because a sit-down restaurant is impractical, d’uh.

A few months back the Mayor was apparently considering lifting the general ban and allowing vendors this summer. Didn’t happen.

Vendor kiosk at Phillips' Square, Montréal - not the work of the author.

Now, you can find vendors in specific places. Some have licenses to run restaurants/bistros from a few well-maintained Vespasiennes (such as those at Carré St-Louis and Dorchester Square) or otherwise have small kiosks (like the 24-hr florist at Square Victoria). You can find artisanal vendors hawking their wears on most downtown and Old Port streets in the Summer, in addition to the oddball vendors lined up at the Tam-Tams on Sundays. Selling food is otherwise limited, as are myriad other services once common to our city and present in many other global cities. But on the whole, Montréal is severely handicapped in terms of its curb-side, small-scale and very public micro economy.

And in turn, this handicaps our city and citizens. What if the City established its own ‘crown corporation’ to oversee the establishment of a local micro economy based on small-scale enterprises, such as street-side food and artisanal vendors. The City would establish strict health, labour and pricing regulations and hire agents to ensure the highest standards of quality were met in this regard. This same City-run corporation could then fund additional projects to develop new ‘Vespasiennes’ in various public spaces, and ensure they can be run year-round.

Tavern on the Green, Central Park NYC, not the work of the author.

I mean, imagine if every park in the city had its own ‘Tavern on the Green’ – a restaurant or bistro operating year round, and in some cases, all day. It would guarantee a safe place in every public space, and further add to improving the social traffic of the city by guaranteeing the use of public spaces. You can imagine, just in terms of food services alone, many new enterprises could be created; some will be successful enough to support many part-time workers (which will be ideal for students) while others could be ideal ‘start-ups’ for recent immigrants.

But let’s take this a step further. This city is in dire need of public rest facilities, such as those you might find in Paris. I like the Parisian examples I saw, since they were generally clean and attended. I discovered that in some cases maintaining a public rest facility was a small-scale enterprise in and of itself (of course, the City of Paris built the facility) and could support a family. The attendant kept the place spic and span and usage was tip based. He also provided traveller size grooming accessories, cologne and perfume, gum, smokes etc. In one such facility I saw, you could rent a towel and locker and go have a shower. In another, the attendant was also a seamstress and could do rapid alterations, clean up stains etc. I was amazed at the convenience, and the fact that these businesses thrive on convenience and are thus not a direct threat to established ‘store-front’ businesses. Moreover, the overhead for many of the vendors I saw and spoke with was exceptionally low given that the biggest cost (i.e. – the Kiosk or Vespasienne) was taken care of by the City. They never expected to get rich off these businesses, but then again, they didn’t want to. These are jobs and enterprises that provide.

Think of all the different possibilities. What will the News Stand of the future look like? Fewer newspapers is certain, but magazine sales are up. People will want to download content onto their tablets and smartphones, perhaps as much as they’ll need to recharge their devices. And the News Stand may become new sources for dissemination of small-scale publications that can’t get distributed otherwise.

A Montréal Vespasienne - locally, a Camilienne - not the work of the author.

There’s no two ways about it, the City would have to invest in this, to build the infrastructure and ensure high-quality services can be maintained. There may even be an initial loss, but I’m certain that by providing the initial start-up capital, the City would gain in the long term by establishing an entirely new service economy. More businesses, more business being done – the indirect economic stimulation would likely be larger than the direct benefits. New jobs and new opportunities for our citizens, and that’s not all. In addition to providing myriad services, these same businesses also ensure the safety of the citizens and cleanliness of the city, since it is in the proprietors best interest to do so.

So what can I say? I think this is a winner and ought to be an election issue in 2013. What do you think? What are your thoughts on the vendors we currently have? What would you like to see, and what do you think of street side vendors in other major cities? Have I painted an overly rosy picture? Any old timers actually remember what it was like to have vendors in the city?

Let me know,