ANDREW CASH
Just another WordPress weblog

Blowing us off?

August 20th, 2008 Andrew Cash

Mayor Miller’s vacation stopover was cold comfort when the city needed a hug

Like many, including T.O.’s pols, I’m on holiday with my family when Sunrise Propane blows. Heading back into town later that day, all the while scanning the car radio dial for any syllable of information, we finally stumble on an interview with David Miller.
It’s a conference call with reporters from Vancouver, where, the radio interviewer explains, the mayor is on vacation. Fair enough, I guess.
As I veer off the 401 onto Highway 2 to duck the traffic snarl heading into the city, I’m expecting the mayor to tell reporters he raced to the airport the minute he heard about the explosion and demanded a seat on the next available flight home.
What he says, however, in his almost aloof syntax, is that he’s returning to Toronto on an “early flight.” WTF? Early afternoon? Early morning, after a good night’s sleep and a jog around Stanley Park?

Read the rest of this entry »

A Class Act, Finally

January 31st, 2008 Andrew Cash
A Class act, finally
Board does the right thing and votes for black-focused school

When the “s word,” segregation, gets uttered again, there’s an audible groan from those sitting around me.

I’ve ducked out to the overflow section at TDSB headquarters on north Yonge Tuesday night, and am watching the debate leading up to the board’s historic vote on creating the first Africentric school in Toronto on closed-circuit TV.

About 70 others are here, too, and the main chamber’s jammed to the rafters. They’re all black. I’m the only white, and I find myself wondering how many of those whacking this issue with the “s’’ word ever actually mix with those not of their own kind.

The folks here – young parents with little kids, students, elders, professionals, punks – have been waiting for three hours. They’re good at waiting. I’ve seen many of them before at different public meetings in the north end. Waiting. Waiting for the city, the province or in this case the school board to finally listen.

Their patience is humbling. What many (not all, for sure, but many) have been saying is that an Africentric school is part of what they desperately need if they have any hope of rescuing their mostly male at-risk youth.

Read the rest of this entry »

Matter of Trust

January 17th, 2008 Andrew Cash

Matter of trust
School safety tome shockingly calls for a narrowing of trustees’ role
By Andrew Cash

If you’re a mandarin at the Toronto District School Board, the temperature may be a bit too hot this week. Julian Falconer’s exhaustive report on school safety, dropped January 10, left no stone unturned. But among all the details about sexual harassment and intimidation, the tome goes somewhat silent on one striking fact: if you’re a concerned parent and want to talk to your elected school board rep, good luck.

Fact is, our harried and elusive crew of trustees are busy doing something else a lot of the time. Why wouldn’t they be? They’re earning a poverty-line wage to oversee a multi-billion-dollar public institution – one critical to your child’s future.

Read the rest of this entry »

Build It, They Will Come

December 12th, 2007 Andrew Cash

Build it, they will come
That the board now has to ponder Africentric school is an indictment of its complacency
By ANDREW CASH

If faith-based funding is the third rail of Ontario politics, then this isn’t a good time for anyone to be planning a publicly funded separate school.

So perhaps it isn’t surprising that the Toronto District School Board’s ruminations on creating an Africentric alternative school are kicking up so much dust.

But here we are. Between 40 and 50 per cent of Caribbean-born students (most of them males) are in danger of not finishing school or have already dropped out.

Read the rest of this entry »

Portlands Power Play

July 19th, 2007 Andrew Cash

PORTLANDS power play
Residents walk out of consulting committee charging Energy Centre kept them in the dark
By Andrew Cash

Laundry isn’t the only thing being hung out to dry this summer in Smogtown. Take Toronto’s east-end neighbourhoods, which have always been our industrial ashtray.

In the bad old 80s, residential backyards in south Riverdale had to have their lead-laced soil removed, and the Commissioner Street incinerator was blithely burning garbage.

And while we can’t be sure that the dust on Riverdalian stereo speakers isn’t still laced with lead, locals also have to deal with the Ashbridges Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant to the southeast, a grand contributor to the generally crappy local air quality.

Read the rest of this entry »

In Knots Over Ribbons

July 5th, 2007 Andrew Cash

In knots over ribbons
Mayor’s decal flip-flop shows contempt for his backers
By Andrew Cash

Who knew the broom David Miller famously held aloft in 2003 as a symbol of his mayoral mission, would be made not of sturdy wood but of something much more pliable.

It’s an issue that urgently needs addressing, given the mayor’s shocking flip-flop June 20 in which he defended support-our-troops decals on emergency vehicles only 24 hours after urging their removal in September.

If Miller can crack so publicly on a symbolic issue like this, what kind of stuff does he bend to in the back rooms?

Read the rest of this entry »

Seeing Red Over Ribbon

May 3rd, 2007 Andrew Cash

Seeing red over ribbon
Should our public vehicles flaunt Support Our Troops stickers?
By Andrew Cash

The Harper government may be running for cover from the storm of controversy, but most of our troops in Afghanistan don’t have a duck-and-hide option.

The fact is, the Afghan mission is a mess, and Joe and Jane Soldier are bearing the brunt. Who among us isn’t deeply saddened by the news of ever increasing numbers of uniformed Canadians killed or seriously injured in the war.

But having said that, what does a Support Our Troops bumper sticker actually mean?

It’s a question that arises courtesy of Toronto’s fire and emergency services, which have decided to put yellow-ribbon Support Our Troops stickers on every ambulance, emergency service vehicle and fire truck in the city. On one level, there’s always been an affinity between between emergency workers and Canadian Forces.

Read the rest of this entry »

A Smog Alert On Earth Day

April 26th, 2007 Andrew Cash

A smog alert on Earth Day?
By Andrew Cash

When Earth Day meets smog, does anybody hear? Apparently not.

Even as I order my first pint of the patio season and celebrate a glorious day, I try to ignore the evidence: itchy eyes, sore throat.

Winter is finally over, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let minor health concerns ruin the party. But the Danforth’s perpetual weekend bumper-to-bumper car rally is giving me and my two-year-old the season’s first dose of sun-baked exhaust.

So when a friend e-mails me later to let me know that at the exact hour I was one with my urban environment, smog readings in T.O. were bad enough to issue an air advisory, it makes sense. What doesn’t is that the province’s air quality watchdog took a pass on letting citizens know.

Read the rest of this entry »