Following on from today's Eglinton Connect project protest. Which I attended, with my shirt on.
Was it worth it? Yes - as with the 1010 protest, it got a great deal of media coverage which succeeded in making the point that 'common folk' are fed up to the oxters with the Fos and the new redemption narrative.
It was a tight space, with Rob almost standing in the street with his back to the traffic. There were only a handful of protestors and only two shirtless (so John Furr got all the video). The protest unfolded fairly spontaneously - Fords' people were not pleased as can be deduced from Dan Jacobs' inane scuffling. Amin looked like he was about to burst into tears. Jerry was the model of calm restraint. The cops were extremely calm and indeed quite amused in their handling of it. Watching the footage, I am surprised how well Rob handled it, almost smiling to himself at one point.
A number of local people showed up (it was outside the Forest Hill Animal Clinic so we had the added entertainment of doggies going in and out of the premises). The local residents were pissed by the hijacking of what they expected to be their presser - I don't blame them, I would have felt the same - but a number had the sense to talk to media reps afterwards. All the same, it sounds as if this plan has been well communicated for many months and it's a bit late to pull heads out of the sand. Also I understand Rob was telling a few RobFibs about the number of lanes that will result - only one lane in each direction? Keesmat says this is not true. Rob also invoked the St Clair disaster several times. (He later spent some time at City Hall maundering on about pink umbrellas, which has given me a great idea for the next protest.)
Would I do it again? Today I held up a sign which got on tv ("Why won't you talk to Gary Giroux?") and I'd do that again. I'm not interested in getting shoved around by a numpty like Jacobs and I wouldn't put it past the Fos to have some lead-pipe wielding chums show up next time. But I've read a lot of Twitter and online news comments today, and while there's a lot of gleeful support, there's also some suggestions that this type of intervention may be helping Rob in some people's eyes. There were infinite numbers of *great protesting tips* from the Twitter armchairs today but if these protests are to gain momentum, they need a whole heck of a lot more people or else it will become just another sideshow.
Local Eglinton resident Sue Ann Levy was there: called me a 'bike-riding lefty' as she strapped on her bike helmet and rode away. She is a strange one.
And talking directly to Doug Ford now: no I'm not in the Tory camp nor the Chow camp. Nor did I smash your SUV window nor did I send letters to your good wife. However if you're interested in the Lindbergh baby, give me a call.
