toronto

What’s Missing in the Media?

- Adam Clare

If you live in Toronto or area then you should come out to the event Missing in the Media on media democracy day. Come learn about and share what is missing in the mainstream media. The complete schedule is now online. And yes, I’m involved with this 🙂

What is missing in the media? Who is left out from mainstream news coverage in Canada today? A large coalition of independent media organizations, advocacy groups and media activists will ask these questions and more at “Missing in the Media: Media Democracy Day Toronto 2008,” taking place all day on October 23.

What: A series of thematic and skills-building panels and workshops on media democracy followed by a rabble.ca relaunch party with guest speakers Maude Barlow and Linda McQuaig, and musical guests LAL, KoboTown and Maryam Tollar.

When: Thursday, October 23, 2008, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (workshops and panels); 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. (rabble.ca relaunch party).

Where: Free workshops and panels at International Student Centre (33 St. George Street), University of Toronto; Pay-what-you-can rabble.ca relaunch party (suggested $10 to $25 donation to rabble.ca) at the Steam Whistle Roundhouse (255 Bremner Blvd.)

For program details and a list of participating organizations please visit: www.missinginthemedia.ca.

I Vote Toronto Wants New Torontonians to Vote

- Adam Clare

I Vote Toronto is all about getting people who live in Toronto to show their support for their city and democracy come voting day. I Vote Toronto wants to help people new to Toronto (and those unfamiliar with the Canadian electoral system) figure out how to vote. Canada’s federal election is happening on Oct. 14th and hopefully people will vote showing respect for each other and vote for a party that looks to help the people of Canada.

From their website:

I Vote Toronto is a coalition of individuals and organizations who believe in creating a more inclusive and representative city. Our coalition consists of community centres, settlement and integration services, social justice groups, employment agencies, environmental organizations and concerned residents from all areas of Toronto. While the coalition represents many different interests, we are united in our understanding that Toronto’s electoral process must reflect the makeup of its residents.

The I Vote Toronto campaign will engage communities all across Toronto, building awareness and providing the facts about immigration, integration, civic engagement and the health of our neighbourhoods. We will then make our case to provincial and municipal politicians, and urge them to update our voting laws, which currently leave hundreds of thousands of Torontonians without a voice.

Stolen Bikes May go to Poor

- Adam Clare

Recently in Toronto over 2,000 stolen bikes were found, which is good news itself. Now, after the public has been given a chance to reclaim their bikes, community groups are championing the idea that the stolen bikes should be give to the poor. The bikes that have been stripped for their parts should be given to local non-profit bike organizations to help them run their bicycling operations.

Heaps said the city can’t get directly involved, but it has encouraged interested outside groups to raise the matter with Toronto police, who seized the bikes after arresting bike shop owner Igor Kenk and laying a series of charges related to bike theft and drugs.

“There are many people out there who cannot afford a bicycle,” Heaps said. “They probably would benefit from a second-hand bike that was safe and sound.”

One interested group is the Community Bicycle Network, but a project of that size would likely need a number of groups to get together, said its spokesperson Sherri Byer.

“Everybody would like to see (the bikes) go back into the community in some kind of goodwill manner,” Byer said in an interview yesterday.

“They could go back to community organizations and go to people on low income who need bikes. It would be nice to see something good done with them.”

Toronto police have been getting “continual requests and suggestions on just how to deal with these bikes,” said spokesperson Const. Wendy Drummond.

Urban Agriculture Growing in Popularity

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Urban framing is gaining popularity here in Toronto and that is good for jobs and people’s health.

Urban agriculture should not be confused with gardening, says Field. The main difference is the scale – the plots are larger – and the food is sold, not shared among a community or taken home at the end of the day by one gardener.

The harvest from FoodShare’s rooftop garden and greenhouses is included in its urban agriculture, as well as its bounty from city soil. And, as urban farmers such as Matchbox Garden and Seed Co. and The Cutting Veg begin to set up stalls at farmers’ markets, Toronto joins a larger movement that recognizes living in the city doesn’t mean you have to live miles from your food.

On Wednesday, Michael Ableman, the granddaddy of urban farming, is to speak at the Robert Rose lecture series From the Ground Up, a fundraiser for the Gardiner Museum. Ableman’s talk will be followed by a panel discussion on urban agriculture with Field from FoodShare, food columnist and author Elizabeth Driver and architect Stephen Teeple, who is designing community housing with green spaces for agriculture.

“What Michael did in his big garden in Los Angeles was to go from community garden to urban agriculture and he showed he could do it,” says Field.

Artist Asks How’s My Advertising?

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Posterchild is a Toronto-based artist who is sick of all the illegal billboards in the city and decided to do something about it by using art. One can hope that other cities follow in São Paulo lead by banning billboards in the city. Until then, we have artists.

Last Monday—using data gleaned from Rami Tabello’s IllegalSigns.ca—Posterchild stenciled solicitations for feedback below three illegally-run fascia signs downtown (“persistent violators,” as he put it). A play on the now-ubiquitous “How’s My Driving?” slogan typically seen on the back of big rigs, the stencils feature the number of the City’s Building Division, which is, among other tasks, responsible for sign permits. Posterchild, an equal opportunity stenciler, hit one sign each of Astral Media, Titan Outdoor, and Strategic Media. (Titan and Strategic, by the way, are the two companies currently suing the City. And Astral Media is a whole other story.)

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