High Park High

*photo by RussTimothy

Because High Park is   next on the list to join the rest of the city in its function as a dirty, smelly, communal waste bin, I figured I'd post some recently developed photos of High Park when it was at its best: autumn.

As Toronto's luck would have it, it's  Day 13 of the garbage strike. Mayor Miller says he   won't ask for any back-to-work legislation, which means Toronto's public pools will stay closed, strapped for cash parents will be forced to seek private forms of daycare, and the rest of us are as good as   garbage pail kids. 

What do the workers want? According to the   Globe:  job security, seniority rights and layoff provisions, contracting work in or out, advanced life-support training for paramedics, the inclusion of Family Day in the contract, wage increases, and the controversial sick-leave benefit, to name a few.

But the city is strapped for cash, and Toronto is not on anyone's bankroll. Ottawa still thinks we're its greedy, undeserving offspring, and the Bay street bucks have all but dried up. There simply isn't money to give, or so the city says.

Torontonians don't care who takes the trash, they just want it gone. Resident-run removal services like the aptly-named   Stanky Boys Garbage Removal have popped up all over Craigslist, offering to take your trash for as little as four bucks a bag, though such tax-free businesses are   highly illegal.

Privatized garbage removal may become much more the norm though, as the strike progresses. Both sides are trash-talking (pun intended), though little seems to be getting accomplished.

"I want to say to the unions and to the people they represent, enough is enough,"  Miller told the Globe on   Saturday. 

In response this   morning, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) spokesperson Pat Daley told another Globe Reporter,   "We had a problem in that until we actually went on strike, there wasn't much progress being made."

So contract negotiations, which require months of mud-slinging and name calling, have really only begun. This means the summer is sure to stink, and we have only two options. We can either stay inside, look at pictures of the recent past, and reminisce about better-scented days; or we can  prepare for when the rats start to bite.

I suggest the latter.