Mississauga Musings

Seriously. Where do you begin, let alone, how?

The reader who requested that I work up the Donald Barber arrest security video footage in real time will be pleased. I stayed up all Sunday night and heard the birds break into song well before Monday's dawn. Done.

I'm also pleased because I finally figured out how to merge the ROGERS Cable TV telecast of that day over-top the one-hour Mississauga Corporate Security video surveillance tape that they provided Mr. Barber for his defense. (They dropped the charges before this surveillance footage got to see the light of day in that court.)

Readers need to know that on June 7, 2006, Mr. Barber and fellow-citizen, Roy Willis, had sat inside Mississauga Council Chambers for three hours waiting for their turn to ask some questions at Public Question Period.

By all estimates, Donald Barber would've been inside Council Chambers for almost three and a half hours. Yet Mississauga Corporate Security provided him (and Peel Regional Police) with just a one-hour tape where Barber appears for only 17 minutes before he is escorted out.

Recall I'd mentioned that I operate with the belief that what happens to me with municipal governance, has happened to others and will continue to happen to others.

Both Mr. Barber and I are convinced "what happens" most affects the Poor/"At Risk" --people least able to defend themselves and people who actually need Government most.

Only by working up the video all Sunday night do I finally know what happened to Donald Barber. You see the irony, kiddies? It was Mississauga's Big Brother June 7, 2006 surveillance evidence-tape that finally Shattered the Myth of Big Brother.

By example, even though I'd watched Barber's security tape dozens of times, it took me (someone now quite sophisticated in video analysis) this Sunday to identify the subtle nuances that appear to have gone down (yes, "appear to have gone down" --carefully-guarded wording) back on June 7, 2006.

It was only by listening to the final product through headphones that I heard comments for the first time.

Like when Donald Barber took his first picture of the female security guard, someone (likely Katie Mahoney) can be heard to say, "Oh come on. That's intimidation."

(Taking pictures is "intimidation"? Ya gotta wonder what that makes me on those occasions when Mahoney's waxin' ever-so-poetic, soaring to lofty heights on some fave topic --and I've got all three video cameras documenting for posterity that Ward 8 Sage.)

Back on June 7, 2006, Mr. Barber did not know that video surveillance security footage could be requested through Freedom of Information and then held secure at the City Clerk's office pending investigation by the Ontario Freedom of Information/Privacy Commissioner.

Had Barber known, he could've seized all video from (say) 9:00 am when he entered Council Chambers to (say) 12:00 (well after he was escorted out). Instead he was handed a video-record of what Mississauga Corporate Security wished him to have.

If readers (especially "at-risk" Youth) learn nothing else from viewing today's important video (most important one I've ever produced), let it be this:

Big Brother is NOT INTERESTED in your Rights. They're not part of his Job Description. Big Brother is there exclusively to secure The Corporation's assets. Those "assets" are The Corporation's Property and its Employees. You're regarded as a potential nuisance. End of story.

Which brings us to a related topic --another form of surveillance...

PHOTO RADAR MISSISSAUGA

When you watch this video, the more astute viewers will come to understand my objection to Mississauga pushing for Photo Radar. Despite Councillor Saito's assurances that great care will be taken by Mississauga to follow provincial legislation/guidelines, well, I've heard that before (check out today's video to see how Mississauga followed Provincial Privacy Video Surveillance Guidelines).

Moving Forward. Regarding Councillor Pat Saito insisting that people must really be educated about Mississauga "Automated Speed Compliance" in order to support it, here's just one example of Saito et. al. not being straight with the public.

From the mississauga.ca FAQ:

"Does someone review the photograph?

Yes. A provincial offences officer reviews every photograph to verify information and ensure that there is clear evidence that the vehicle is in violation. Tickets are mailed to vehicle owners via regular mail."

"[P]rovincial offences officer" sounds all province-cy and licensed, right? Even hints there's a "Third Party objective reviewer", right? The reality is that a "provincial offences officer" is any City employee allowed to hand out a Provincial Offences Notice (PON)!

And what are "Provincial Offences Notices"?

Of course, you'd never get this information from the Mississauga Photo Radar FAQ.

You'd have to go to the City of Toronto website and their FAQ!

From the CITY OF TORONTO:

"Q: What are provincial offences?

A: Minor offences that include, but are not limited to:

* speeding, careless driving, or not wearing your seat belt - Highway Traffic Act

* failing to surrender your insurance card or possessing a false or invalid insurance card - Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act

* being intoxicated in a public place or selling alcohol to a minor - Liquor Licence Act

* entering prohibited premises or failing to leave premises after being directed to do so - Trespass to Property Act

* Occupational Health and Safety and Ministry of Environment violations
noise, taxi and animal care by-laws - City by-laws

Most Provincial Offence charges result in out-of-court fine payments. Residents who are issued a ticket under the Provincial Offences Act should read it carefully for a complete list of their payment and trial options."

Yep, "Provincial Offences Notices" are frikkin' TICKETS! So any City employee who can slap you with a TICKET --I guess, is a "provincial offences officer" and therefore more than qualified to "verify" your photograph. Have a nice day.

So. Let's review the *choke* Mississauga Photo Radar FAQ:

"Does someone review the photograph?

Yes. A provincial offences officer reviews every photograph to verify information and ensure that there is clear evidence that the vehicle is in violation. Tickets are mailed to vehicle owners via regular mail."

Yeah, the individual who reviews every photograph to verify information and ensure "clear evidence" is potentially any City employee who hands out TICKETS.

Here's the weird-weird-Twilight-Zoney-thing.

The "provincial offences officer" who will review "every photograph to verify information and ensure that there is clear evidence that the vehicle is in violation" can even be the dude who operated the roving-eye-snoopy "Pelco One" video surveillance camera back on June 7, 2006 --isn't that a HOOT?

Yeah --could be the same dude (or dudette).

Now you know why I skate up there to the Council Podium and try to fling a couple of darts every time Mississauga is floatin' up its ol Photo-Radar-weather-balloon.

TODAY'S VIDEO --A MUST SEE (especially for Peel Regional Police)

One final thing. I really didn't appreciate what Councillor Pat Saito said about Mr. Barber when he was removed from Council back on June 7, 2006. "Unsavory" --that was the word, she used.

"Unsavory

Main Entry:
un·sa·vory
Pronunciation:
Function: adjective
Date: 13th century

1: insipid, tasteless
2 a: unpleasant to taste or smell b: disagreeable, distasteful [an unsavory assignment]; especially : morally offensive [unsavory business practices]"

Stick around, Mississauga Boys and Girls as The Mississauga Muse continues her quest to document "Unsavory" business practices.

This video is dedicated to Mississauga Big Brother (yes, really) --and Councillor Pat Saito.

"BIG BROTHER MISSISSAUGA" VIDEO SURVEILLANCE ARREST (June 7, 2006) 20 minutes

(Click here to go directly to the Big Brother clip on Google Video)

Signed, The (HEY MISSISSAUGA! Why don't you call your silly Automated Speed Compliance, "Automated Speed Surveillance"?! It'd be a way more fitting acronym to describe McGuinty should he approve your cash-cow initiative!) Mississauga Muse

PS. Caveat. I support Photo Radar ONLY IF its design, implementation and evaluation are exclusively the domain of Peel Regional Police. And I mean "exclusively". Like "exclusively-exclusively". And/or OPP, too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Big Brother has his hand firmly planted in our back pocket – government revenues his lifeline; unaccountability his refuge." (Andre Marin, Ontario Ombudsman --June 27, 2007)

"But what are we without him, our courage, our valor? Steady and righteous we may be, my friend, but without courage to risk ourselves for our brother, we are but politicians--blustering whores to rhetoric." (Christopher Moore novel, A Dirty Job)

"We must employ every possible tactic to dissuade those who try to silence us with fear" ---The Mississauga News Editorial (2007-03-24)

Want (or worse, need) to learn more? Link to MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA