The Citizen, 2004-03-11, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2004. PAGE 5.
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Traffic moving bumper to bumper
Ever hear of Joseph Thomson? He was
one of those 19th century Doctor
Livingston/Lord Stanley intrepid Brit
explorer types. Trekked all over darkest Africa
at a time when no one had a clue just how dark
it was.
Persevered through blinding sandstorms,
blistering droughts, blizzards of tsetse flies,
bouts of fever and ague, hostile natives and
man-eating crocodiles. Thomson eventually
staggered back to England, a hero. In the
sunset of his life he was interviewed by a
reporter from The London Times who asked
him to describe the most dangerous part of his
travels.
Thomson replied without batting an eye,
"Crossing Piccadilly Circus".
Yes, indeed. Anyone who's been exposed to
that snarling maelstrom of honking cars and
tooting lorries in the very bosom of downtown
London can only nod ruefully.
What's sobering is the fact that Thomson
was talking about a traffic nightmare that pre-
dated the automobile. He wouldn't believe
what traffic is like in London nowadays -
although ironically, the pace of modern-day
traffic probably wouldn't alarm him.
A couple of years ago an expert reckoned
that it took as long to drive through downtown
London in a Porsche today as it did in a horse
and carriage a century ago.
We're not that far behind here in Canada.
Trying to drive out of Toronto on the eve of a
holiday weekend is like a scene from
Napoleon's retreat from Moscow.
Attempting to drive into Vancouver on a
Monday morning (hint: sooner or later you
have to cross a bridge - along with 11 kazillion
Videos — not the sort you rent from your
corner store — are the newest political
weapons in Ontario:
They often are made by ordinary people,
because many these days have access to a
video camera, and shine lights where they
need to be and one or two should have been up
for an Oscar.
The most recent was obtained by two
women health care workers who gave extra
help to an 87-year-old stroke victim in a
Brantford nursing home and suspected she was
being abused.
They hid a camera that caught two other
workers throwing her on her bed, slamming
her in a wheelchair, threatening her with their
fists and taking money from her drawer. The
culprits have been charged with assault and
theft.
Premier Dalton McGuinty immediately said
he will increase protection and "will not
tolerate mistreatment of vulnerable seniors."
.Governments often have promised tighter
watch on homes, but this reaction was stronger
because pictures don't lie and are difficult to
explain away. .
A community activist snuck a camera into a
shelter in Toronto and taped homeless people
sleeping on a floor on thin mattresses only
inches apart, closer even than the United
Nations requires for refugee camps and
increasing risk of spreading illness.
Newspapers had written of cramped
conditions for years, but the video jolted
McGuinty's '. Progressive Conservative .
predecessor, Ernie Eves, into saying it was no
place for humans .and he would push to
mprove condition'S.
An apartment-dweller testing his new
;amcorder from his balcony in Ottawa made a
.rideo that convicted a police officer of using
innecessary force on a woman the street.
The officer arrested the woman, who had
other commuters) is like trying to dog-paddle
across a vat of Skippy peanut butter.
Could be that London solves its traffic
problem before we do. This past year the city
has been conducting an experiment in which
each car venturing into the heart of the city
during weekday business hours got dinged 5
quid (about $12) for the privilege.
Drivers. howled with outrage. Business
soothsayers predicted economic ruin for the
city merchants. Drive-in restaurant owners and
operators of strip malls wailed and moaned.
Civil servants grumbled and threatened to go
on strike.
But none of that happened. Instead, the city
streets became more pedestrian (and bicycle
and moped) friendly, the air is more
breathable, people on the streets can converse
in a normal tone of voice, not having to shout
over the din of car horns, grinding gears,
squealing brakes and revving motors and...
The traffic is moving again. The average
speeds in downtown London are now around
40 km/h.
And the city fathers have a brand new pot of
money to play with, because tens of thousands
of motorists chose to pony up the five pounds
a day for the continued convenience of driving
downtown.
been drinking and was shouting, for causing a
disturbance. He had her handcuffed and bent
over the hood of his cruiser.
He claimed his hand banged on the cruiser
as she became aggressive and he tried to
control her. But the judge said the video
showed clearly the officer banged the woman's
face on the hood twice.
The judge said the tape's account of events
was dispassionate, unbiased, clear and
unambiguous, a resounding endorsement of
the value of videos as evidence.
A tourist stopped in a car at a doughnut
stand in Toronto shot a video that when
produced in court embarrassed police to
withdraw charges against a Somali immigrant,
including assault on a police officer.
The officer claimed he arrived during an
altercation involving several men and that the
accused struck him in the chest and he never
hit the accused, and three colleagues supported
his story word for word.
But the video showed clearly the accused
was acting as peacemaker and standing with
his hands at his side, when the officer grabbed
him, threw him against a car and punched him
in the face. Photographs showed him with a
badly bruised face, swollen lip and missing
tooth.
The lawyer for police conceded the video
made it impossible to secure a conviction and
the accused added it was particularly fortunate
it turned up, because courts normally accept
But about 50,000 vehicles per day have been
eliminated from the metropolitan mix,
and London's mayor, Ken Livingstone is
ecstatic.
"People who have to drive are over the
moon," says the mayor. "Most people are
saving money hand over fist because they are
not spending so much of each day stuck in
traffic."
Cars. Someday archeologists will look back
on our civilization, at our multi-lane freeways
and concrete cloverleafs, our paved-over
farmland and our acres of parking lots and
they'll wonder "Why would they design their
living spaces for the convenience of vehicles at
the expense of human comfort? What the hell
were they thinking?"
No accounting for human nature. Take the
case of Shanghai, China's largest city. Traffic
police there feel they've identified the number
one problem in the city's burgeoning traffic
congestion and they're cracking down.
But not' on automobiles. There are only
about 120,000 private cars in Shanghai -
piddly for a city of 20 million.
Shanghailanders are too poor to buy cars, but
they can afford bicycles.
There are 9 million bikes in the city and the
police say it's the cyclists who are the problem.
"Bicycles put great pressure on Shanghai's
troubled traffic situation," says police chief
Chen Yuangao.
Ah, yes. Those pesky bicycles.
Ex-U.S. president Ronald Reagan once
named, trees as the primary cause of air
pollution.
Fella who reasons like that could've been an
honorary citizen of Shanghai.
the words of police over others and he would
have been deported and never allowed back.
A video made in 1995, but made public only
recently through freedom-of,information laws,
shows two Ontario Provincial Police officers
discussing native Indians demonstrating at
Ipperwash provincial park and one suggesting
they could be lured into a net'if it was baited
with a couple of cases of beer.
It has revived fears some police are racist
and they must wish, like Richard Nixon with
his tapes on Watergate, they had erased it years
ago.
Videos have identified a man suspected of
raping a woman in an apartment lobby and
cleared another of stealing ivory carvings from
the Art Gallery of Ontario.
A passenger also taped a bus driver playing
games on his computer while driving at 100-
kilometres-an-hour on a crowded Ontario
highway. It cost him his job.
Videos are hard to argue with and effective
in getting a message across. Ontarians will
hear a lot more of them.
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A few thorns
/t really was just coincidence, but having
ended last week's column with roses, I saw
no harm in continuing the theme this week.
There is a little proverb that I like, which goes
something like this — "God gave us
memories so that we might have roses in
December."
Memories are uniquely ours, like each rose
that blooms with its own vibrancy, its own
scent. For example, how many times have you
heard the same story remembered by two
people and found the versions surprisingly
different?
Roses, like memory, come in many shades.
Black roses have symbolized loss or
vengeance, and though our pasts too include
dark moments, they are blessedly for most a
small portion of our reminscences.
Yellow and pink roses speak of sunshine and
spring. They brighten the space with a
perkiness not particularly in keeping with the
rose's tradition of drama. We have memories
too that lift our spirits when they spring
unbidden to our minds. Remembering a dear
friend, or kind words spoken by a stranger can
energize you. Recalling a special time with
family or friends can be invigorating all over
again.
There are roses that draw you in, with
colours of velvety, deep richness. These are
tangible evidence of a real and beautiful
world, as are memories of holding a newborn
baby or the heady experience of being in love.
These are the memories of a fiery sunset, or an
azure sky, tranquil, turquoise water and golden
sand.
White roses are elegant and pure. They are
the memories of simpler times, when life was
less complicated. They, are the memories of
childhood, of a favourite teacher and friends.
They are the memories of quiet times and rare
(in my case, anyway) occasions of dignity.
Yet, roses themselves are a mixed bag; with
their fragrant beauty comes thorns. Such can
be true as well of memories. bittersweet, even
the most lovely memory can sting.
This past week Blyth's youth population
grew by a couple of hundred as the community
welcomed students from 11 secondary schools
for the annual Sears Drama Festival. Seeing
them travelling along the downtown
sidewalks, memories were stirred. My
recollections of one particular Sears Festival
seemed pretty fresh, and I was surprised to
realize it had been six years past now. That
time the event was also in Blyth and my
youngest two kids were involved. I had the
pleasure of having my workday interrupted by
their fresh faces as they would pop in, excited
by doing something they loved, by the learning
and by sharing all of this with new
acquaintances.
It was this memory that was awakened as I
travelled from workshop to workshop taking
pictures this year. And I was somewhat
bemused that the awakening had me a little
teary-eyed. The revelation caught me so off
guard that it required some introspection. I
recognized that while I may think I have
recovered from empty-nest syndrome, I still
really miss those fresh faces popping daily
into my life.
Such is the stuff of memory. It's all pretty
wonderful, but the tiny thorns are there to
remind you that nothing in this world is perfect
- not even the loyely rose.
Videos newest political weapon