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-- Docks Wins Court injunction
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It is refreshing that legitimate issues seem to be driving the dispute. I was worried that it would come to "i like to party at the docks and therefore you can't close it because i would miss it".
Instead it has been focused on things like setting bad precedent and the possible negative effect on the city, which will stand up much better in the long run.
Good job to the people fighting this so far, I wish them all the success in the world!
| quote: |
Originally posted by dEsidEL   |
quote:
Waterfront belongs to us all
Jul. 29, 2006. 01:00 AM
Toronto's cultural wars have moved to the waterfront.
The latest skirmish, fought between the residents of the islands and the Docks nightclub, has not been a pretty sight. It's hard to say who's least sympathetic, the management of an entertainment venue known for its civic indifference or a small group of locals determined to keep the rest of the city at bay.
The same scenario has been played out again and again throughout the city. The combatants vary but the issue is always the same: Who controls the city and do we have the right to choose our neighbours?
Though reports that Canada is a democracy have been greatly exaggerated, still no one has the right to say who lives next door, down the road or across the lake.
Like so many neighbourhood groups, Toronto islanders are reluctant to share their little part of the city with anyone or anything that doesn't meet with their approval. For now, their efforts have been focused on the Docks, but what's next? Centreville? The Guvernment nightclub? Party boats? The Redpath Sugar refinery? The Molson Indy? The Molson Amphitheatre? Caribana? Waterfront revitalization?
On the other hand, it's hard to feel sorry for the Docks, which has been convicted of several noise violations. Judging by its website, Docks patrons largely seem to be young men for whom the thump of the bass fills a deep inner void. We may not like them, but like death and taxes, they are inevitable. Besides, eventually they grow up and want to move to places like Ward and Algonquin islands to live happily � and quietly � ever after.
That's why we need rules. Even though they will never eliminate conflict, Toronto has no shortage of them � bylaws, regulations, zoning ordinances and so on.
But conflict is inevitable, as much a part of urban life as police sirens, traffic jams and construction cranes.
Down by Lake Ontario, the saga of the Docks versus the islanders is just a prelude. Once waterfront revitalization gets going in earnest this fall, the fighting will become incessant, and vicious.
If lakeside residents and businesses remain true to form, we face decades of fighting.
The tendency to intolerance may be inescapable, but in Toronto it's growing worse. We pride ourselves on being a city of diversity but it turns out that's not true when it comes to our own tiny piece of turf.
To make matters worse, the nature of civic governance in this city is such that municipal politicians prefer to play to their constituents' weaknesses, rather than their strengths. The term is NIMBYism, but that hardly does justice to an appalling phenomenon that sees otherwise nice, normal, middle-class neighbours organizing to stop shelters for single mothers, high-rise condos, even hospitals, parks and other public amenities.
Their arguments that such additions are bad for property values are not only bogus, they're misguided, selfish and hysterical. A vibrant waterfront guarantees rising real estate prices.
Dire predictions that rebuilding the waterfront will fail if the Docks ultimately ends up losing its liquor licence are nonsense, best viewed as corporate scare tactics.
Right now only a few hundred people live on the islands, but anyone who has seen what's happened on Queens Quay W. in the last decade or two knows that the waterfront has become a neighbourhood. Supermarkets and drug stores have appeared. Next month, two lanes of Queens Quay will be closed to cars for 10 days to be turned into a bike trail and a linear park. Next year, these changes will be made permanent.
Planners expect that when complete, the new waterfront neighbourhoods will be home to 60,000 people, many of them families living in multi-unit residential buildings. There will also be business, shops, restaurants, bars and, yes, nightclubs.
If the Docks thinks it has problems now, just wait. Things will only get worse.
And how will islanders respond to all the changes, the tall buildings, streetcar noise, social housing and the hordes that will be moving to their area?
A pox on both their houses.
Remember, we live in a city that doesn't belong to any one person, neighbourhood, group or business, but to all.
For too many Torontonians, however, it's easier to love thy neighbour when he doesn't live next door.
source:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...d=1154123417668
I went to the Docks this afternoon to see about that pep rally was happening and unfortunately there was nothing.
However, a friendly security guy said we should go to the thedocks.com website and there are instructions on how to fill out the letter to send to David Miller to save the Docks permanently!
Russel, I'm gonna send you an email. I was looking for you (about 2 pm) but I figure you were busy with the MUSE setup. I walked into the main room with my fiancee as the security guy was looking for you for me, and I saw the wicked set up with all the speakers and sound...Jenny (and especially me) was totally impressed! 
EDIT:
I just went to the website and didn't see any details re: a letter to David Miller. If there's anything further we can do to help the cause, I'll post it here.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by fayraree I went to the Docks this afternoon to see about that pep rally was happening and unfortunately there was nothing. However, a friendly security guy said we should go to the thedocks.com website and there are instructions on how to fill out the letter to send to David Miller to save the Docks permanently! Russel, I'm gonna send you an email. I was looking for you (about 2 pm) but I figure you were busy with the MUSE setup. I walked into the main room with my fiancee as the security guy was looking for you for me, and I saw the wicked set up with all the speakers and sound...Jenny (and especially me) was totally impressed! EDIT: I just went to the website and didn't see any details re: a letter to David Miller. If there's anything further we can do to help the cause, I'll post it here. |
good!
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