Hurray! The protesters in St. James Park have been granted a stay of execution until Friday!
Let’s see an aerial shot of how they’re slowly eroding this Toronto landmark…
So Gordon Lightfoot is supporting the Occupy Toronto movement, is he?
How nice for him!
He took the time to leave his Rosedale mansion and come down to St. James Park to have his photo taken by media outlets.
His daughter, Meredith, dreadlocked with piercings, fit in very well with “the movement” as she pulled her smiling father to-and-fro throughout the encampment.
It must be nice for her to have the option of heading home to Rosedale for a nice home-cooked meal, perhaps by the butler; sleeping off a long day of protesting in a king-sized bed with 800-thread-count sheets, and then returning back to the swamp the next morning to protest “the cause.”
Hypocrisy?
Nay!
Just a prime example of what this protest is about, if you subtract the 1% (ironic use of that number…) of protestors that actually do have a cause and actually do understand what’s going on.
I’d like to tell you a story. It’s a fictional one that I made up…..right now!
A young man named Trent lives in Sault St. Marie, Ontario and is 19-years-old.
Trent has only been out of The Soo a couple of times in his life – once when he went to Algonquin Park with a few friends, and another time when his family travelled to Manitoba.
Trent was a bit of a social outcast in high school, but had the ability to anonymously connect with people online as the social media revolution took over in the late 2000’s. Trent finished high school but didn’t go to post-secondary school because his parents couldn’t afford to help him with the cost, and because he didn’t have any desire to do so himself. Trent worked part-time at a series of joe-jobs in The Soo, and returned home every night to visit chatrooms, read Twitter feeds, and scour Facebook for even funnier photos of people planking.
Trent has always wanted to get out of The Soo, but never had a reason to do so.
Then one day, Trent read about the “Occupy Toronto” movement on a Facebook group, and became enlightened.
Trent took his old canvas back-pack, and the only $70 he had to his name, bought a bus ticket, and journeyed to Toronto.
Trent arrived at the Dundas bus terminal and hoofed it the five city blocks down to St. James Park. With a bandana on his head, muddied Vans shoes on his feet, and that old canvas sack on his back, he was officially “welcomed” to the park.
“Hey, how ya doing?” inquired the rebel-leader at the front entrance to the park. “Welcome! Let us know if you have any questions. Washrooms are back there, and I think some peeps are brewing up some hot tea.”
Trent immediately felt welcome. All his life, he never felt like he had a purpose – back home in The Soo. Now he was a part of something here in Toronto. These people were so welcoming! They were so kind!
And within a few days, Trent had taken up “the cause” as his own. He identified with the other 17 – 25 year old people in the park that were frustrated with their upbringings and their current positions in society – which for many, was on the outside looking in.
The “movement” was so full of passion! Everybody was so proud and bold! It meant something to all of them and they weren’t going to stop until the world was changed! Trent felt at home with these people. He hated working at his crappy job back home and he too felt like the government and the social elite were to blame for everything from high banking fees to Orca whales that have depression.
Trent made so many friends, and had never felt so “alive” in his entire life.
And this, ladies and gentleman, is who I believe is occupying our park.
Yes, some of these people have three university degrees and could slam-dunk me in a debate, but they were the ones that STARTED this protest.
The ones that are FINISHING it are people like my fictional Trent. Well, them, and much of the city’s homeless, vagrant population who see an opportunity to get free food and bathrooms.
Once again, I am aware that I am going to take heat for this post.
The last time I wrote about the protest, I had somebody comment, “When will you realize that comments, views, and ideologies such as these have no place on your real estate blog and will not help your real estate business?”
As I wrote on the comment section of my blog, if you call me out along those lines, it’s lose-lose for me. I either say nothing at all, and look defeated, or tout my flourishing business that is derived from this very blog – looking cocky and arrogant in the process.
There will never be any single cause, idea, movement, or debate that 100.00% of society will agree on. I’m not afraid to make my feelings known, and I would think that most people who read a real estate blog written by a capitalist who believes in democracy and a free-economy, would tend to agree with my sentiments.
For those that don’t, I’m always curious to hear their thoughts as well.
I will never be the type of person, or Realtor, who will sit on the fence and refuse to take sides.
I love the City of Toronto, and my blog is about real estate in the city I call ‘home,’ as well as all the politics, economics, sports, arts, and other happenings we witness on a day-to-day basis.
If you truly care about the city of Toronto, you have an opinion on the Occupy movement. Love the movement or hate it, you should make your thoughts known…
Tammy
at 7:26 am
You forgot to mention that “Trent” gets belligerent after a long day of drinking PBR and shouts and spits and the people who actually live in this neighbourhood and have the audacity to walk through “his” park. I love these clowns so much that I’ll be spending my morning with the City lawyers preparing an affadavit for them to use in the hearing on Friday.
Here’s to the champagne drinking on the rooftop at Vu on Saturday night when we gather to celebrate the court ruling upholding the eviction.
George
at 9:45 am
You described the smell from the park perfectly. This place is an eyesore, earsore, and nosesore. From the inane ramblings on the extremely loud microphone to the collection of portable toilets, all this group of losers is succeeding in doing is disturbing a neighbourhood.
I would support a forceable eviction. The “you can’t evict an idea” theory is garbage because they would not be evicting an idea. They would be evicting squatters.
Ralph Cramdown
at 10:15 am
Where were your opinions when you blogged on your area of expertise, e.g. discussing high condo maintenance fees? You could have broken down the NPV of an extra $0.20/sqft/month, approximated the opportunity cost of living in a low price/high fees building versus a high price/low fees one and given us some numbers to chew on.
That’s where I’d expect the extra insight afforded by a commerce degree and industry experience to come in handy. But here we are discussing the Gini Index and NIMBYism.
Clara
at 10:25 am
Orca whales having depression is a serious issue that should not be spoken about so lightly, David Fleming.
LRT
at 11:16 am
I coudln’t have said it better myself! More and more people are coming into the city every day to join the party. Many of these people have no clue what is going on and dont care. They just want to be there for the sake fo being there.
Daniel
at 11:28 am
I’m curious to know how you think this affects the resale value at VU and King George Square. If you have clients looking in those buildings they’re going to notice the tent city next door. Do you think people will be turned off by it?
d
at 12:16 pm
I agree with you. And I even support some of the idealogy of Occupy Toronto and disagree with some of your polticial opinions 🙂
But I dont see how being squatters is making an impact on changing the world or ideas. It seems to have become home to many people who just need a place to stay. Someone was quoted as saying if they were forceably evicted all their worldly possessions would be gone.
I thought that was werid that you would bring all your worldly possessions to a protest!??? really as when I go to a protest I usually bring as little as possible.
In addition, I got a job in the “system” or one of the “systems” and am trying to make changes from within which I think is the smarter and better way.
Usually with a protest – there is a specific message, a specific action, that is requested – and I don’t see that happening. In fact, Occupy Toronto would be better off being at question period in the legislature, or doing daily information pickets on wall street,or bike riding across the province raising money for the 1%, or running for office, orwhatever.I think the smoke from the pot is getting in the way of their organizational skills.
It’s out of control. I agree – get them out, by whatever means are necessary.
Moonbeam!
at 12:45 pm
I’m very disappointed in Gordon Lightfoot… also Joan Baez in New York… and other rich old folkies who are high on nostalgia for the ’60s.
Will they pay for the clean-up?
Jonathan
at 10:02 pm
Moonbeam you’re totally right. The washed up celebs are trying to relive their glory years from the 60’s and then they go back to their posh lifestyles after spending an afternoon with the little people. The 60’s brought some of the most crucial issues of the century to the forefront: rampant racial discrimination in the southern US, the Vietnam war, and equal rights for women. Those protests can’t be compared to the legion of unmotivated young people that don’t want to work for a living and blame the government, big business, and successful individuals for all their woes.
WEB
at 10:22 pm
In my view, if you want things to change you should vote for the candidate that best represents your views. We just had a Federal election and the Conservatives won a majority. Pretty much everyone who voted conservative will disagree with the occupy Toronto protestors. And a large portion who voted Liberal will also disagree. The people have spoken! It’s called DEMOCRACY! And again in my view, if you are part of occupy Toronto you are basically saying ‘to hell with what the voters want’ and thus ‘to hell with democracy.’
If it was up to me, I would have used ANY kind of force necessary to drive out the protestors on day 1.
Captain Capitalist
at 10:33 pm
I have an idea.
Since the protesters have trampled the park and ruined the hundred thousand dollars worth of landscaping, plants, trees, flowers, etc, the city of Toronto will need somebody to spend tax dollars on re-planting, re-seeding, re-landscaping.
Why not hire the protesters to do this?
They clearly need jobs, so they would be quick to take the gig, no?
Or would they scoff at the idea of:
a) working to repair the park they ruined
b) working in general
c) working at all
Devore
at 8:26 pm
Hire? How about those nutbars should, when they wake up and come to their senses, volunteer to clean up and replant after the mess they have created, out of their own shame and civic responsibility to fellow men. After the Vancouver riots, plenty of rioters and onlookers came back to clean up the streets, and to apologize to the business owners and residents they vandalized.
lui
at 10:50 am
Actually they said half of the tents are empty..its seems some of the call protesters go back to their warm home when night falls…most of the tents were put up by unions and their OCAP allies so those who wanted to camp out can….
Brent
at 3:21 pm
Front cover of the Toronto Sun today shows infared camera pictures of empty tents. Lui is right: those die-hard, hard-ass protesters are going home at night to their warm beds and then returning back to the park the next day.
What a bunch of bullshit. Their protest is a big fake. This is very, very telling.
Krupo
at 11:15 pm
“PBR should sponsor this” – awesome!
Krupo
at 10:39 pm
Also, congratulations on the presumed liberation of your park from the … hippie liberators. 😉
How about some after photos?