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listen  jim guthrie read  the little prince laugh  ryan belleville
random © design and text by near-sighted 2001-2002 |
Why is this benefit seeming to attract more national coverage than those organizers that have been truly trying to make a difference in this world. And though I'm sure Toronto needs the money, this decision reeks of big money validation. Normally, the big money people would not stick their fists up in the air to support the homeless issue or any significant social issue, nor had they actually had the foresight to revitalize the city and make it an interesting and beautiful place to visit before this whole SARS schmars thing happened. People are not jumping up to make a trip to Toronto because there are other reasonable alternatives: Anycity, North America. It irritates me that all this money from the public purse is being used to summon these people into the city, when the money could have been funneled at the city level previously to really boost and substantiate the image of the dang place in the first place. Besides, a large percentage of the attendees are likely people from Toronto itself, which will, in terms of ticket sales, benefit the SARS fund tremendously, but still is doubtful to cause a big surge in the Toronto business core as expected. I wonder how places like Thailand are coping, suffering from a major blow on tourism, not only having the "developing country" stigma, but also SARS and the perpetual Myanmar's cross-border ethnic conflicts. The Rolling Stones are now out supporting Toronto to bring life back to the city, but they cancelled their own dates in Asia because of the so-called threat. What a contradiction.
And I feel fine....... - 2004-02-23 |