Random Access

My, how a little distance changes the perspective.
Spending a week at the cottage with the warblers and the grouse (one paraded around the back yard for us Sunday) gives one a greater appreciation of the natural world and fear for what we are doing to it.
The routine of picking up the daily paper from the newspaper box is not only a chance for an early morning bird walk, but an eye-opener when you see the world reflected through different eyes – like those of The Toronto Star.
The Mississauga summit last week was the first event not featuring an airplane crash or a train going off the tracks which was actually able to attract a small cadre of reporters from 1 Yonge St. out to the wilds of Mississauga.
Once exposed to the rarified air west of the Etobicoke Creek, they learned several interesting things. “Funding required to address the social deficit is shockingly below the regional averages — so far below that it is front-page news,” states the paper’s urban affairs columnist.
Translation: after erasing a decade of effort by the Fair Share Task Force from our memory banks, we have discovered that its stepson, the Strong Communities Coalition, really does have a point. Maybe we should have run more of those stories filed by our Neighbours West reporters.
In a sidebar we hear that people in Mississauga really do understand that public transit is critical and they really do want it. Guess those exhaust fumes aren’t as thick out here as we thought.
Then there were a couple of head scratchers in a list of ideas floated at the summit. “Start a Mississauga radio station.” CJMR 1190 Mississauga founded and run by the Caine family, which started running the same year the City was born in 1974, doesn’t count apparently because it has a multicultural foreign-language format. The irony is rich given other goals floated at the summit, such as a secretariat or office of diversity to make multiculturalism a recognized strength.
And, as the Living Arts Centre celebrates its 10th anniversary, we have a proposal to re-market the City as “world-class” (an exercise that would prove it is not) and “build a downtown entertainment complex.” Ouch.
At least nobody proposed having an architectural contest to create a truly unique civic presence in the core that would resonate among the canyon of condos.
(None of the foregoing is intended to detract in any way from the admirable goals of the summit. It is a healthy sign that we want to set markers for our progress for the future.)