Here's John Barber's typical take on the issue.
It's high time to kick against the troglodytes
JOHN BARBER
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Ihaven't heard the word "hooligan" since I was a boy. It was used by the troglodytes who then (as now) colonized City Hall in such numbers to describe any young male with hair over his collar, which was ridiculous.
But hearing the word again this week, on the lips of rookie councillor Adam Vaughan, is almost thrilling. At last, somebody in authority is talking straight about the disaster of the so-called "entertainment district."
It takes some courage to speak honestly about the revellers kicking off another season of bloody mayhem downtown this weekend - with the kicks aimed, likely as not, at one of the dozens of police officers called from across the city to keep order there. Mr. Vaughan's repeated use of the H-word has gotten him into trouble with his wife and raised suspicions across the city that he really is a grim, humourless scold.
"Yes, it's pejorative, it's rife with Thatcherism, it's a very charged word," he says. "But look it up."
Hooligan: a noisy and
violent person. It's rather an understatement when applied to the smashing, shouting and vomiting characters who
make life in the entertainment district so colourful every weekend.
"What I'm saying is that that behaviour, in that neighbourhood, has got to change."
If people think the local councillor is being a wet blanket in his recent sally against the warehouse clubs, demanding rent for their use of sidewalks to queue up customers, they should consider the real policing that occurs four nights a week in the district. It's an enormous operation of considerable danger to those in the yellow slickers waiting for the clubs to empty at closing time, when 60,000 drunk and drugged suburbanites pour into the streets, looking for fun. Every kind of creep revels in the entertainment district, and every kind of cop is needed to keep them down.
First in line are the bicycle officers from nearby 52 Division, supplemented by plainclothes officers from the same division - successors to the crew that was so corrupted by local club owners it was broken up, and two of its members arrested on criminal charges.
Each of the other eight central field divisions lends an officer to the party, while 52 supplies several others on overtime. Then, of course, there are the mounted police, whose presence is absolutely necessary to maintain order when things get fun.
Following them is a virtual swarm of officers from specialized units. The Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy now has a fourth team dedicated exclusively to the area. Members of the Guns and Gangs Task Force target known criminals on the streets, while officers from the Urban Organized Crime Task Force sniff out higher-ups behind the velvet ropes.
Paramedics cruise on bicycles to triage the nastiest injuries because ambulances cannot penetrate the hooligan-choked streets.
You really have to see Richmond Street West at 3 a.m. to "appreciate the challenges" it presents, according to Staff Sergeant Chris Fernandes, who is in charge of the 52 Division bicycle squad.
Since he arrived three years ago, Staff Sgt. Fernandes says, the crowds have grown, gang activity and incidents involving weapons have both increased - and more police are being injured in the regularly scheduled melee.
It's common for police to be jumped by onlookers while trying to break up a fight, he says. Last year, one of his bicyclists was stabbed in the head. This year, he's back on the job. But the detail is gruelling.
"We know it's alcohol- and drug-induced, and we're dealing with that," Staff Sgt. Fernandes says. But it's harder to deal with the attitude of ordinary people from all walks of life, "not necessarily criminals," who turn so ugly on Saturday nights.
"We're very interested in keeping it safe so people will want to be there," Staff Sgt. Fernandes says. "But if we can't keep ourselves safe down there, we can't keep the district safe."
The big hope this season is that eight new security cameras, prominently mounted at key sites with signs announcing their intention, will help police keep order - or, failing that, provide evidence in the aftermath of the usual riot. Street lights are being doubled in power to accent the cheerful prison-camp ambience.
Despite their best efforts, police and civic authorities - more teams of specialists, attacking the district from every angle - have failed to gain the co-operation of the club owners. That's where Mr. Vaughan comes in.
"The club owners are as unruly as the hooligans," he says, dismissing the complaints they occasionally direct through lawyers, and promising more pressure on every front. Store owners on Queen Street West can no longer obtain insurance for display windows because they are so often broken, he says. "It's not smash and grab; just smash." Pools of vomit curdle on every doorstep in the aftermath.
"People think they're just drunk kids, no more disorderly than frat boys singing beer-hall anthems on their way home," Mr. Vaughan says. "But the level of violence and the destruction of property is really quite staggering.
"I'm not trying to ban dancing. I'm not a Baptist. It's just a matter of civility."
Sure, he says, the majority of kids in the district are innocent fun seekers who cause no trouble. "But the hooligans do."
Let fire and brimstone rain upon them.
jbarber@globeandmail.com
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60,000 drunk and drugged suburbanites pour into the streets, looking for fun.
Of course. It's never
our kind. It's always "suburbanites" who cause the problem. Knowing Toronto, of course, that's as loaded a term as saying it's kids from the banlieue that cause all the problems in Paris, but the Vaughan/Barber types toss these terms around without any doubt in their minds that they're the most progressive people around.
Sure, he says, the majority of kids in the district are innocent fun seekers who cause no trouble. "But the hooligans do."
Of course. We need to eliminate all the clubs because a few people break the law. Alright, well I can think of a lot of other places that should be shut down because a few patrons break the law.
"I'm not trying to ban dancing. I'm not a Baptist. It's just a matter of civility."
No, he's not a Baptist. He's not doing it for any higher moral or even ideological reason. He's the worst kind of politician doing absolutely anything he can for a few votes, in this case, for the votes of the neighbourhood NIMBYs. Well, I live in the neighbourhood, I don't go to clubs, and he won't be getting my vote.