Ted Leo has a beautiful beautiful voice, Filipino dude facing me must be listening to some funny podcast, that kind of smile on his face, black girl to my right must be texting her boy, that kind of smile on her face, white kid to my left listening to heavy metal, got nothing to do with his smile it’s just so loud I can hear it.
I don’t know what the fuck he’s smiling about.

A girl w/ a tiny violin/ukulele case is reading Mario Puzzo’s The Godfther on the bus. I read that book about 5 years ago, I was on the last few pages waiting for my dad to cash out at a Staples on Lawrence and Dufferin, when a middle aged Indian man approached me saying “really good story”, I nodded, then he shook his head sideways and added “but a very violent movie”. Oh I couldn’t agree more brother. He’d watched the two movies in theatre but prefers the book. I went on to read Omerta. I remember both books to be a good read, but can’t recall any of the passages in them. Except one line from the scene where Vito hides the evidence of the gun that he used to kill the Black Hand; Puzzo writes in reference to Vito’s concern w/ being caught: “he could see movement in the windows, but he knew they did not see him because he cannot see their eyes.” I remember that quote because I posted it on my blogspot (RIP). That line from the acclaimed writer reinforces my first discovery: when I was 8 or 9, walking back home from a game of hide and seek I pondered and experimented the whole way, and concluded as I sat on the floor in front of the living room couch staring at the chipped white ceiling, that if you cannot see someone’s iris then they cannot see yours. But more important and as a consequence of this discovery I realized that just because my eyes are closed, doesn’t mean others can’t see me.
My conclusion here is that writing things down, even if you lose the written piece, is one way to make sure thoughts, ideas and events are better remembered. Sorry another tangent; we had a teacher in middle school who always repeated, “I don’t mind if you write cheat sheets, in fact I am in favour of them, because they are a certain way for you to memorize the lesson” this is before the days of copy paste when cheat sheets were written down by hand; and my sister tells me that he updated and augmented his line with “if you photocopy someone else’s cheat sheet; it’ll be of no use for you during exams, as you’ll have no idea where to look for the answer” granted he always ended his remark with a menacing smirk “you better not get caught using it.”
Write down as many notes as you wish, but during the test you better not get caught using them.

A man with back pain just sat down in the subway train. Back pain hurts.

johnnydib:

I’m interested to know why Jane and Finch got completely ignored by the Provincial Government and the City, after being promised 2 much needed streetcar lines? The 35 Jane and the 36 Finch routes are a source of revenue for the TTC, they are THAT busy. Yet Jane and Finch gets treated as though it’s not worth a subsidy or a capital investment, instead it’s faced with service cuts. Mayor Ford is very clear in two things: he wants to shift the burden of operations onto the shoulders of the working poor, as evidenced by his favouring of user fees over increased taxes, he is also not interested in serving better, those who already use transit, but rather he is interested in making transit an attractive excursion for those who don’t necessarily have to take public transit. Well I’m sorry but this is a clear war on the working poor of the city.

Street-level low floor wide bodied trams are the most accessible and the most reliable form of transit for those who live or work in high density neighbourhoods outside of the downtown core. It is not something we ask of the government, it is something we DEMAND that streetcars run in Jane and Finch, because we’ve earned them it’s been a while now. We keep the TTC afloat and yet we’re treated with less consideration than Vaughan by the City of Toronto.

All that said I want to emphasis that I oppose the idea that transit should be funded at the fare-box (which is actually the case in Jane and Finch). I believe the funding for transit should come MAINLY from subsidy, and that the subsidy should come mainly from a progressive tax, not from the regressive property tax (the working poor pay a far larger portion of their income (not to speak of their nonexistent disposable income) in property taxes than upper middle class families, yet it is only the latter I hear complaining about high property taxes!). So I think it is only realistic that the province should subsidize at least two-thirds of the operating budget for municipal transit, and the federal government should subsidize close to 100% of capital spending on transit in Canada, all through the personal income tax. And for those who will say “Oh no, we cannot take anymore taxes” I say to you, you are paying more if you stick to the status-quo, maybe not to the government but the exorbitant cost of living is a real tax. A basic necessity, like transportation for a working person, is a real tax that has to be paid under the pain of hunger. Middle class Canadians should stop whining about taxes and instead look holistically at their spending to see what it is they cannot take anymore (tuition fees, mortgage interest, car insurance etc…) and stop demanding spending cuts that hurt the poor, and will inevitably hurt them too.

I am a Tramway proponent myself but not because it’s European, not because it looks good, not because it’s the latest technology (which it isn’t and the conservatives are right on this one: it’s a fucking streetcar, like back in the 1890s) and no not because it’s great for local businesses: I couldn’t give a shit (about the businesses themselves, I do give a shit if it indeed makes a neighbourhood a nicer place to live). But most of all I’m not a Tramway proponent because it costs less than subways.

So there’s a crowd of LRT (Light Rail Transit) supporters who say “hey, we’d love a subway line but we just can’t afford it”. Sorry wrong answer. This is like saying I’m all for war and occupation it just costs too much, or yeah it would be great if we can teach everyone for free but it’s too costly and there isn’t enough space in classes anyway, or yeah it’d be great if we can abolish slavery but who’s gonna do all the work? Okay maybe I’m exaggerating calling these petty liberals: pro-war and pro-slavery. But the point is this: Conservatives from before Thatcher and to this day have succeeded at convincing everyone that every time there’s talk about public policy the talk must start and end with the discussion of the spending budget, notice there’s rarely any talk about government revenues, only government spending. Okay that’s something you should keep in mind when you hear someone say “we don’t have the money for it” forget the money let’s see if it’s a good idea in the first place.

I don’t think the debate should be about what we can afford. The issue here is how can we serve the needs of people better. In many instances LRTs, Streetcars, tramways whatever you wanna call them serve people better than subways. Subways are fast, yes, but the reason for that is that they don’t make local stops. And it’s specifically this issue that results in the vast majority of daily Subway users rely on a different mode of transportation to get to the station (bus, streetcar, bike, car) 

Buses are in fact the backbone of transit in Toronto, not Subways, as Ford claims. Streetcar serve the same function as buses only at a higher capacity, a higher efficiency and for a lower cost, but again the cost is the least of my worries. Right now there’s an accessibility issue with streetcars, it’s time we get the new low-floor ones already. But once we get the low-floors they are more accessible, more reliable, and faster (granted they have a right-of-way) than buses. Of course they become less accessible once they are no longer on street level (eg.skytrains, underground, off on a trail or a parkway etc…). The subway is not even an option when you put it like that. To build an underground subway line with local stops within walking distance of everyone’s doorstep, even if you had the money to do it, is still a stupid idea because it kills the whole point of subways: speed. And this is what the Rob Ford crowd don’t get: transit users don’t want faster transit vehicles and line, they want if anything shorter travel times (which is in most cases different from fast vehicles, and has a lot more to do with the efficiency of connections than with travel speeds) but most of all, transit users want more frequent, less crowded, more pleasant rides within a walking distance from their homes and their workplaces/schools. Subways can only deliver this to a tiny minority, streetcars and buses can deliver this to the vast majority of transit users. I’m all for the Subways Ford is proposing, but he’s saying I’ll give you the subways and in return I will cancel other capital projects as well as cut services on existing routes. Not only is he saying that but he’s actually done it already.

But hey that talk about transit users, it’s not like Rob Ford gives a shit about them, what he gives a shit about is developers making huge profits on their condominiums, and to a lesser extent (and this is something a lot of LRT proponents agree with him on) he’s interested in providing transit service that drivers may find convenient every once in a while. I’ve read opinion columns in Toronto newspapers, signed with the authors’ real names and without any shame, saying that “folk don’t care if the fare goes up as long as the service justifies it. For you Mr. Opinion column, transit costs 6 times less than owning and operating a car, but to transit users it costs an arm and a leg. It’s a tax they have to pay under the pain of hunger and death, not a service they choose to use.

Public Transit should cater as a priority to people who use it, not to drivers who would potentially use it, or to drivers who would like more lanes on the road. If Ford is really doing any long-term planning by preferring subways, what kind of long-term vision does he have for Jane? Under Transit City Jane was promised a streetcar by 2018 in anticipation of an even more increased crowding, under Ford Jane got service cuts!!! One of the main reasons the Finch LRT was a priority and was scheduled to be up and running 2012-13, is because of the imminent subway station on Keele and Finch. Where are all the commuters getting off at this station going? Well most of them wanna go west on Finch, that’s why it was urgent to increase capacity west of Keele on Finch. As I said before, Vaughan is being treated with more consideration by the City of Toronto than the residents in the West End.

This is what Rob Ford says: “Proponents will argue that Transit City is an effective way to get around Toronto. I argue, however, that the best way to move people across Toronto is with rapid transit - which you simply cannot have with the surface rail lines.” Mayor Ford argues that Rexdale residents will use the Eglinton Crosstown to get to Finch and Victoria Park. That mothers who take the bus for three stops to drop their kids at daycare, before going to work need a subway running under their apartment building. Let’s stop fooling ourselves, look at who’s using the TTC and cater to their needs. Suburbanites drive their car to Finch Station and take the subway to work downtown, yes they’re transit users, and they’re welcome. But the TTC is running on the backs of inner city, tax-paying, working people who deserve as much subsidy as the pampered crowd, everyone is eager to lure into taking transit.

I’m interested to know why Jane and Finch got completely ignored by the Provincial Government and the City, after being promised 2 much needed streetcar lines? The 35 Jane and the 36 Finch routes are a source of revenue for the TTC, they are THAT busy. Yet Jane and Finch gets treated as though it’s not worth a subsidy or a capital investment, instead it’s faced with service cuts. Mayor Ford is very clear in two things: he wants to shift the burden of operations onto the shoulders of the working poor, as evidenced by his favouring of user fees over increased taxes, he is also not interested in serving better, those who already use transit, but rather he is interested in making transit an attractive excursion for those who don’t necessarily have to take public transit. Well I’m sorry but this is a clear war on the working poor of the city.

Street-level low floor wide bodied trams are the most accessible and the most reliable form of transit for those who live or work in high density neighbourhoods outside of the downtown core. It is not something we ask of the government, it is something we DEMAND that streetcars run in Jane and Finch, because we’ve earned them it’s been a while now. We keep the TTC afloat and yet we’re treated with less consideration than Vaughan by the City of Toronto.

All that said I want to emphasis that I oppose the idea that transit should be funded at the fare-box (which is actually the case in Jane and Finch). I believe the funding for transit should come MAINLY from subsidy, and that the subsidy should come mainly from a progressive tax, not from the regressive property tax (the working poor pay a far larger portion of their income (not to speak of their nonexistent disposable income) in property taxes than upper middle class families, yet it is only the latter I hear complaining about high property taxes!). So I think it is only realistic that the province should subsidize at least two-thirds of the operating budget for municipal transit, and the federal government should subsidize close to 100% of capital spending on transit in Canada, all through the personal income tax. And for those who will say “Oh no, we cannot take anymore taxes” I say to you, you are paying more if you stick to the status-quo, maybe not to the government but the exorbitant cost of living is a real tax. A basic necessity, like transportation for a working person, is a real tax that has to be paid under the pain of hunger. Middle class Canadians should stop whining about taxes and instead look holistically at their spending to see what it is they cannot take anymore (tuition fees, mortgage interest, car insurance etc…) and stop demanding spending cuts that hurt the poor, and will inevitably hurt them too.

So I’m on the subway standing in front of the door. Train stops in the station, doors open, pretty girl walks in and tries to walk past me. I let go of the pole, take one step sideways to let her through. She takes one step to the opposite side and one step past me. I make a 180° turn and hold onto another pole at the same time as she’s making a similar turn. We’re face to face now. I smile, she doesn’t; I don’t think she realized we just did a two-step dance :)