Toronto Stinks

As anyone from Ontario already knows, we have a big city strike here and there has not been garbage pick up for 4 weeks.  You can bring your garbage (but not your recyclables) to drop-off spots in parks around town.  Now the parks where I like to go for runs are stinky.  As well the pools are closed, and I can't go swimming.

One of the main sticking points (or at least the one that's gotten the most attention) is bankable sick days. The workers get 18 sick days a year, and if they've worked for the city for 10 years or something, they can bank their sick days and use them all up at the end of their careers for a total of 6 months paid leave. 

I think this is totally ridiculous, and I feel really badly for the large number of seasonal or part-time workers like day-camp leaders and lifeguards who are losing their summer income! 

I think the union should suck it up and settle.  People are going to remember this bs when mayoral candidates start pushing for privatized service next time around and then they'll all be up a certain creek with no paddle.

Ah, Mississauga smells wonderful.

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

Ah, Mississauga smells wonderful.

 so does Vaughan :)

So do the Rockies.  We don't even have any forest fires right now (touch wood).

Anyway, I thought Toronto always stank.

Edit:  Stunk?  Gah!  Now they both look weird.

Original Post by rosieblue:

Anyway, I thought Toronto always stank.

 What's with all the Toronto hate across Canada!?! Us Torontonians.. we swear we love all of you!

Yes, but Toronto does indeed stink. I'm not sure if the OP got the title of this post from the recent Macleans article, which ran that headline right next to a picture of David Miller. Ooohh, controversy...

Only four weeks?  Windsor has been on strike for FOURTEEN WEEKS.

Our city parks are unusable, no swimming, no garbage pick-ups or rycycling.  What a mess.

They voted on Thursday against the contract.  Their beef is health benifits for new hires when the new hires retire.

Every time I have to fill up my car with garbage and bring it to WDS to get rid of it at $10.00 a car full, my car smells horrible for days.

The rats, raccoons and skunks are overweight from all of the buffets they can chose from.  We have snakes and other country animals coming to town because of the overgrown vegetation.

But for some reason the arenas are all open so they can play hockey in the summer.  Figure that one out.

Bags full of trash have been mysteriously "appearing" along the 401 exits out here in Grafton - about an hour and a half east of Toronto!

Sorry, it was a very clumsy attempt at teasing.  But I'll lay off until the strike is over.  Garbage everywhere in an Ontario summer?  Ugh. 

Original Post by splitrail:

Bags full of trash have been mysteriously "appearing" along the 401 exits out here in Grafton - about an hour and a half east of Toronto!

Awww Split, how nice. Even the garbage is getting out of the city & into the countryside to enjoy summer vacation. *smirks*

I find it disgusting how much garbage Toronto has produced in this time. You would think it would make people think "wow, we are really wasteful" now that they can actually see how much has accumulated.

As for the garbage sites stinking, why the heck don't people rinse out their garbage and recyclables, and start composting waste food? Buy a composter! I understand that it would be difficult for those who live in apartments, though.

I really don't have that much sympathy for Toronto right now.

 

You can't really compost meat, bread, or dairy scraps in a backyard composter.... Also I would bet that close to the majority of families in Toronto don't have a backyard. I agree the strike should be forcing people to think twice about their waste consumption, although some programs in toronto have already done that - you have to pay extra for anything bigger than the tiniest garbage bin for pick-up, for example.  I do rinse my recyclables, but I don't have a yard or a garage or anything, and now I have huge bags of recyclables taking over my balcony.  

Its not just the garbage that makes the strike suck - city run daycares and day camps are shut down, so parents with school aged kids and younger kids have to take time off work or find other childcare solutions which can be expensive.  Also, many of the free things to do with kids for fun in the city are closed.  And I left my cell phone in a city-run pool's change room and I haven't been able to get it back!!!

 

I used to live in Guelph, and in our compost pick up we were allowed to put in absolutely anything. Meat, dairy, bread, paper towel, kleenex, pet feces, etc. But I do understand how that could b e problematic in a backyard.

It does suck that everything city run has been shut down... :(

We put everything organic in the 'green bin' (kleenex, meat scraps, etc...) but it just doesn't work in a backyard composter. That stuff needs to be ground up to decompose quickly enough.

double post

Hate the fact I have to take my garbage for a drive!!

Only good thing about  cool summer weather is easier to tolerate and not as smelly as last strike.

 

But what burns my butt even more is at my local park there is a wading pool with a overhead sprinkler system attached.  Well this system is turned on in early June.  Because the wading pool  isnt filled there arent city life guards until the summer starts.  Well guess what the city turned the sprinklers off.  Why I dont know since they arent supervised anyways.