The Mayor Of All The People - What A Load Of Crap

Mayor pans business woes
By SUE-ANN LEVY

Earlier this week, Elm St. restaurateur Tarek Bousheka told the mayor's hand-picked executive committee he's "shocked" by the number of panhandlers who "aggressively" beg for money in his new neighbourhood.

"I arrived in the neighbourhood three months ago ... the scene in the streets seems to be more like out of a movie," said Bousheka, who noted he decided to speak out about the issue for the first time to "express the frustration" he faces.

But Mayor David Miller was not in the room to hear him. About half of his committee was missing in action as well, including Gloria Lindsay Luby, Norm Kelly and Giorgio Mammoliti.

Miller did finally turn up about one hour later, just as soft-spoken Nivine Shenouda, owner of a Tim Horton's at Queen and Bay, recounted her own personal experience with a panhandler. "He was sitting in my store for a couple of hours when I asked him to leave he got very agitated, slapped me across the face and cut me," she said.

The King of Denial tersely thanked her and quickly moved on to the next speaker.

When Elm St. restaurant owner Chris Ross said harassment of customers on sidewalks by aggressive beggars has become part of the "nightly fabric" on that street and businesses there feel let down by City Hall and the police for not dealing with it, Miller claimed the Safe Streets Act is on the books to handle the problem.

Yes, the mayor, a member of a police services board which has sent a clear message to the force to keep their hands off the "poor" panhandlers in this city by not pushing them to enforce the rules that are there, actually had the gall to claim the police have the tools to deal with the problem.

When Monica Testolini, general manager of the Bond Place Hotel talked about panhandlers, like the drunk who regularly passes out on the steps of her hotel driving tourists away, the mayor seemed testy, if not bored.

When Beric German, one of the poverty advocates on the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC), suggested a proposed summer-long study of panhandling wouldn't be done if it involved "Jewish people," not one member of the committee stopped his offensive comments.

"What if we were discussing here Jewish people ... would we be studying whether Jewish people could come down and ask for help if they were in trouble?" he spat in an angry voice. The politically correct leftists sat like bumps on a log.

Is it any wonder chaos reins supreme on the streets of downtown Toronto?

While our Harvard-educated mayor deludes himself into thinking illegal guns are behind the rash of shootings in this city, the criminals, I dare say, are emboldened because there are no consequences for petty crimes like panhandling.

For nearly three hours Monday, downtown business owners begged the mayor and his minions to do something.

At socialist City Hall the reality of the streets falls on deaf ears.

All Paula Fletcher could do was blame the Harris Tories for creating the problem. "The Common Sense revolution has left people in very dire straits 12 years later," she said.

Her comrade-in-arms Joe Mihevc said the last thing they should do is put in place "yet another bylaw" that blames the victim. "If you're struggling with a mental issue and are hungry, you're going to do some silly things on the street," he said. (Not half as silly as the dogma coming out of City Hall.)

As for Miller, he moved to put in place his silly summer-long review of the needs of panhandlers and creatively invented a way to ensure the issue won't be sent to the next council meeting (as has been his habit as of late with all controversial issues), let alone see the light of day again until next spring.

He also claimed, once more, that the laws are already there to address aggressive panhandling. "Much more can be done by the police services to address this issue," he said.

Okay fine Mr. Mayor. Put your money where your mouth is and give the police the go-ahead to charge aggressive panhandlers. Like heck he will.

Coun. Case Ootes, who bravely tried to push for an anti-panhandling bylaw, said all he can do is hope there will be "continuous pressure" by the downtown business people on the mayor to do something.

"Hopefully it will get more attention as a serious issue," he said. "But no there won't be a change this summer."