Poverty Awareness in York Region

As the York Region Transit strike moves into a 3rd week, those workers and kids needing to get to their destination workplaces and schools, have been nothing more than an afterthought it seems...no outcry from our main-stream media for transit workers to end their strike...no indications from the regional government  to end it or declare it an essential service - like Toronto did....What's wrong? Aren't our transit users as important or their survival as essential as the city folk!?..Or is it just that we in rich York Region are composed of mostly car users as opposed to local transit users, and therefore we don't have to care enough?....It should be an even more vital a service in suburbia as far as I'm concerned, especially for those communities isolated from schools, amenities, food or any non Y.R.T. transit station. Ironically only Conservative M.P.P. Frank Klees seems to be saying anything about it politically. Everyone else keeps playing the don't look at me game.


I don't know what they could possibly be striking about anyway as YRT is quite possibly the worst service I've ever experienced and I've taken it often and ridden transit systems right across Ontario. Frequently with connecting routes on the YRT that run every hour and drop you to wait another 45 minutes to an hour for a connector often without a shelter..I've had it take me 3 hours to travel a 10-15 minutes car ride distance... or after getting in town from work taking up to an hour and a half to get home. Ridiculous...and the newest Y.R.T. drivers are often rude and seem more interested in picking up green lights than passengers ....one driver stops daily while already running 10 minutes late to use the bathroom at Tim Horton's on Yonge St because it's apparently better than the one at the Go terminal she tells me..nice perk, er I mean perc., ha...and that route already runs only once per hour...on strike!?...Ha!

The VIVA drivers of course have no conversations with you whatsoever eliminating friendly hellos with their "honour system" designed to criminalize and sentence our poor, young, and homeless to lives with bad credit ratings for daring get warm in the winter, and which it's personnel has been boosted in recent times by an apparent influx of transit security police, not previously needed, who last summer delayed me an hour for simply insisting on full time on my transfer...sure I got an apology...but tell that to the meat, ice-cream, and milk that spoiled...where's my payback? I was treated like a criminal for insisting on my full fare value for which there was no argument in the end...just a driver having a bad day wanting to take it out on someone was my best guess...until I played my P.A.C.C. card. They've since changed the transfer system to a digital timed one now which eliminates the manual option and the little discretion a nice driver may have had in the past to give a few more minutes on a system you never every minute for! It's become a sad, face-less transit system with an even sadder direction in which it seems to be going ...the only reason the service has increased in number of riders in 2010-11 is because they now offer 15 minute interval runs up Yonge St to Finch Station which is convenient, but connecting a bus(es) home in a timely manner once back in your town is another thing entirely....This service does not warrant a raise and needs a new manager to run it as the guy they brought from the U.S. and his crony security cops style of service is not the Canadian way. This is not Boston city. He also has no concept of priorities it seems.

Over the summer they quietly changed some routes again....meaning chopped them..like the route 53's 6:20 a.m. run which connected remote Bathurst St. dwellers in Newmarket to work and schools and amenities. What were those people supposed to do that relied on that? Did you not know the route covered an area rife with low income earners? This route is changed constantly as well it seems so how do they expect to grow ridership?...One man I spoke to last year was late for the 1st time in 12 years after another one of the silly route 53 changes which, when changed, made him miss his usual connecting bus....and this without any strike!! And did they need to cancel completely their transportation to Walmart Sundays too for those working there? And shorten the last bus time so students from the mall can't catch it home after work whereas before there was one more that ran? Those workers can't afford the 30 buck cab fares on the wages paid ... even with a union! That is, short of labour laws that ensure they make a living wage so they could afford a car to drive...and to top it off Y.R.T. already charges more than the T.T.C. which offers much better and frequent service with talk of another fare raise in early 2012.Please! Improve your service and you'll improve your ridership and in turn more revenue. Just gouging the poor riders for more doesn't cut it. Terrible service. Terrible planning.




Street Talk

Street hockey took on some life early for us - our free Friendly Neighbourhood Youth Road hockey Challenge takes place in March - via the Era-Banner / town council hoopla....with Newmarket council - woman, Maddie Dimuccio, attempting to have it restricted and or require kids to have permits to play.  Ha! It's all just good publicity for us anytime anyone tries to control road hockey - a Canadian icon as a past-time - so I had to weigh in...but no worries ...a safe bet it's not going anywhere soon.

Fairy Lake Park home to upcoming "Occupy Newmarket"General Meeting Sat Nov 14 with a 12pm start I'm told

This time of year seems to always flush out people in dire need and at the end of their ropes...not literally usually, thank God, but spiritually and mentally...having been exhausted by the various processes designed to keep them warm and fed for our harsh winter months... it catches up to some around now in different ways for different people.One mother of 3 came to me for a box of food (often we hand them out to families we come across too proud or without access to food banks) who lives in an abusive relationship for the sake of her kids and who is now second guessing her moves after being ditched rent day with no money and no income, having relied on this person...As she asked me, "What kind of a man does that?"...Now she / they are in transition..again...she had assisted housing once but foolishly gave it up and try as she might they wouldn't reinsert her.....Now it's a life of the constant grind to once again try and find an affordable place to live having not known their rights in the last one and having felt intimidated when the landlord's brother went as far as to break the door in while she huddled with her kids..scared..alone...and now she's back with him, having been shunned by welfare..to return to the cycle until her kids are of age where she can branch off to survive on her own....if she can last..and if the demoralizing system hasn't destroyed her first...Another woman that PACC was asked to help direct made the gut wrenching decision to have her now school aged son live most often at Dad's who makes a steady income and has family around and a car...for that decision she's to be turfed from YR housing and was informed she's being bumped to market rent of $1250.00 per month...she had been paying $134....and of course made to apply for welfare..and explain to them..and on and on...no daycare and no opportunity equals this result...Still another woman, a newcomer, found out the hard way that some schools' credentials don't get recognized by some agencies...beware of accelerated P.S.W. programs / courses...just because the government covers it doesn't mean it's recognized by the industry...confused? Join the club...Another couple tells me they've been told by Children's Aid Society workers, who have inserted themselves into this disabled couple's lives because they dared have a child even though her mom has custody to appease their worries of their disability and despite the fact the dad has raised two successfully previously, that they feel they HAVE to go to a mediator..thus controlling them just so they can have access to their daughter...What gives anyone the right? An opinion is all they should get...goodness all couples have argued throughout history on occasion and these two are tame compared to many I've seen who weren't ORDERED to!..If they had money of course there wouldn't be all this intervention....another story for another day...!@...Last note...someone has proposed a "Occupy Newmarket" platform for Fairy Lake...wasn't me...just saying! Here's my latest 1 minute creation...a tribute to the growing gap between rich and poor.. Enjoy!

Tom out!