The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Was It The Fault Of Those In The Park Or Those Who Run It ... Or Both?

Episode Date: May 25, 2020

Week Eleven begins with some tough questions about how a gorgeous weekend in downtown Toronto created such a nasty mess and left some big questions.Plus, is Dubai our future?

and hello there peter mansbridge here with the latest episode of the bridge daily as we begin week 11 that's right week 11 of the bridge daily, week 11 of the Bridge Daily, as we focus, for the most part, on COVID-19, the impact it's happening on our world, on your life, on've got, what, hundreds? No, thousands. Maybe tens of thousands of parks, community parks. Every city has them. Every town has them. There are parks everywhere here in little old Stratford. I don't know. Half a dozen or ten parks.

At least. So you add that up across the country and there are, as I said, lots of parks. But of those lots of parks, only one made the news in the last couple of days. And it's a really fascinating story to look at. The park we're talking about is Trinity Bellwoods. It's in, I guess, kind of the heart of downtown Toronto. It's sort of west, the west end of downtown Toronto. It's just off Queen Street. It's a beautiful park. You know, it's not a small park. It's not a huge park, but it's sort of in the middle there.

And it's got a couple of sections to it. Some part near Queen Street is, you know, pretty flat, and then it kind of dips down. There's kind of a nice little valley at the northern end of the park. Well, that main chunk of Trinity Bellwoods Park was the most discussed piece of turf in the country over the weekend. Why? Because more than 10,000 people decided on what was a beautiful sunny day

in southern Ontario that that's where they were going to go. Not all the other places they could go. It's not like Toronto's a small town and there's only got one park. There's all kinds of places they could have gone, but no, they went there. At least these 10,000 people went there. Now, it's a popular place in a popular neighborhood. A Trinity Bellwoods area is, you know, middle to upper middle class. A lot of great houses,

both single family dwellings and what do they call them? Attached, semi-detached, and lots of condominiums. And the word that went out was sort of, oh, all these people in the condos, they finally had a chance to get out and get some fresh air and it was sunny and out the door that went out was sort of, oh, all these people in the condos, they finally had a chance to get out and get some fresh air, and it was sunny, and out the door they went.

And they congregated in the park. I don't know. Seemed to be a lot of people there from not just that particular part of town, but whatever the case, there were a lot of people there. And as well-meaning as I'm sure some of them were, that they were going to keep socially distant, you know, the old two meters, six feet from anyone else or from their group,

it didn't work out that way. And I'm sure you've seen the pictures. Some of them are pretty horrific in terms of social distancing. And it's clear there's a lot of drinking going on. And there's a real party atmosphere. And I didn't see a mask anywhere I looked. Didn't see a mask in all the video that I saw.

And the video, you've got to be careful. You don't know the angle it was shot. You don't know how representative the pictures you're looking at are of the whole park. You've got to be careful about that. But one of the other things that's been pointed out by a number of writers over the last few days is most of the faces were white. I'll keep that in mind for a moment. So this story plays out on a number of different levels. Obviously, there were some people who were outraged that this happened at a time where

asking people to stay socially distant, to wear masks outside. We talked about this last week. You know, you've got to get outside. This is the time of year you want to be outside, and there are lots of places to go outside and be safe. But one of the extra ways to be safe is to wear a mask and obviously be socially distant, physically distant from anyone else. So anyway, on the part of those who were outraged,

they said, where were the police? The police have turned up in a lot of other places over the last few weeks and have handed out a lot of tickets in other areas of the city, in some of those other areas of the city where the faces aren't all white. And so they were wondering about the racial issue there. So that's one element. But the other element is the simple fact that were police there at all?

A lot of people said, we never saw police. Never saw them. Well, in fact, the police were there. Not many. And it doesn't appear that they did too much beyond perhaps telling people. They were breaking the rules they handed out four tickets for ten thousand people all bunched together four tickets for social distancing there no sorry not for social distancing.

But in four cases, they found people who were using public spaces as public washrooms. In other words, not the washrooms, but just sort of in the park. And in some cases, not in the park at all, on private property outside the park. But the police handed out four tickets. That's it. That's all. Now, seeing as they have handed out tickets in other cases, just last week they handed out quite a few $880 tickets to a group of people in an organized cricket game in a park that was allowed to take place where if you ever

watch cricket it's pretty hard to be close so there's you know distance was not an issue but i guess it was more than five people or something and so they handed out the tickets 880 dollars each most of the faces there were brown. All right. So that's one element of what happened at Trinity Bellwoods and one reason why some people are very upset, including at the mayor who turned up at the park when he heard it was going on, which was, you know, courageous of him. But when he got into talking with people, he took his mask off or he pulled it down. And he was like right beside people.

So he took a bit of a kicking. So there's all that element. But then there's another angle to this. And a number of people have raised it, but Andre Picard, the great health reporter in the Globe and Mail, raised it in a piece in Today's Globe, which raises the question, okay, these people were trying to get outside, and the only place they went, that's debatable, but the only place they could have gone was that particular park. And it was overcrowded. Now why couldn't they have somewhere else to go

if you're from that particular neighborhood? Why isn't the city doing more? And this has come up a number of times in the last few weeks. Why isn't the city doing more, and this has come up a number of times the last few weeks, why isn't the city doing more to open up more space, to allow people to get outside, enjoy the weather, enjoy the new rules in the sense that they would obey them, and keep distant from others. It's not like the city doesn't have other spaces

that they perhaps could make some decisions about opening up. We're living through a period where not a lot of people are using their cars. So the roadways in a lot of places are not being used in any way the way they used to be used. And could easily be, traffic could easily be diverted. So you open up roadways, major road, walk, run, whatever, to allow them that space. So it's an interesting debate. Some cities have done it really well. Vancouver's done it well.

I think Calgary's done it. And Toronto, to its credit, has done some of it. But Toronto's like whatever it is, you know, 8 million people, the greater Toronto area. Perhaps the demand should be that there's a lot more open space. And you never know. Over time, it may become part of the new society that we live in. So that's the Trinity Bellwood story.

It was ugly. There was a lot of, you know, shaming going on on social media of those who were there. And there was blowback from those who were there. And there were others, like Andre Picard, and he wasn't alone, who were thinking beyond this, saying, look, this was an issue.

It could cause us problems. We'll know in 10 days or two weeks how many of those problems are created in a province and in a city that's already having a hard time fighting this virus. But it's allowed us to think bigger. You know, we had our big project and big ideas that have been going on for the last couple of weeks. In a way, this is a big idea and a big project, too, when you take it across the country and you think on a different level about how to use space.

So while it was a difficult weekend, to say the least, it was one that has produced a lot of talk, some of it destructive, some of it constructive. And we should understand that. Okay, topic number two. This, too, in a way, is about the changing nature of our world. Some things clearly are going to be different throughout the rest of this and quite possibly beyond it.

How many of you have been to Dubai? I don't see a lot of hands being raised there. I see some. of you have been to Dubai? I don't see a lot of hands being raised there. I see some. Dubai's an interesting city. It's one of the most modern cities

that I've ever been to. I've been there a few times when I've been traveling on major international travel. Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates. It's a city of about more than 3 million people, extremely modern in its facilities. You know, the first thing you see is the airport, incredible airport.

I think it used to hold the title of, because nothing in airports holds these titles anymore, but it used to hold the title of the busiest international travel airport in the world. More than 85 million people flying through in and out of Dubai every year. More than 100 airlines used to use Dubai and hopefully will again one day. And it connects to, you know,

more than a couple of hundred different destinations around the world. So great airport, known for all those reasons, but also known for if you're in it, and I've been in it a few times, as I said, I've stayed at the hotel in the airport a few times, and it's like living in a shopping center, a huge shopping center, like the one in edmonton or the one or you know the eaton center in in toronto or they what do they call it uh

the bigger the mall of the americas or i think that's what they call it in minneapolis huge right so you kind of come out of your room and you look down this I think that's what they call it in Minneapolis. Huge, right? So you come out of your room and you look down this atrium area and it's just like nothing but stores. You don't even know you're in an airport. It's amazing. And you're thinking, all right, we get the picture. Where are you going with this story? Well, where I you going with this story? Well, where I'm going with the story is something that was on CNBC last week.

You know, it's one of the business television channels in the U.S., and we see it here in Canada. And this is what they reported, because this actually tells you, you assume because of where Dubai is, and the UAE, and the Gulf area, that boy, Dubai's got to be all tied to. Oil. Well, sure, some of it is tied to oil.

But not most of it. CNBC reports that a staggering some of it is tied to oil, but not most of it. CNBC reports that a staggering 70% of the more than 1,200 Dubai-based companies surveyed by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce expect to go out of business within six months due to the pandemic. Now, many of those businesses, and this is where it tells you something about Dubai, are restaurants, hotels, travel and tourism-related companies. Dubai has one of the most diversified and non-oil dependent economies in the Gulf. And it relies on sectors like hospitality and tourism and entertainment, logistics, property and retail.

And they're facing a crushing blow. If you've never been to Dubai, you probably know of one building in it. Or at least you are familiar when you see the pictures of it. It's the Burj Khalifa, that huge, huge hotel and condominium complex that's right in the heart of Dubai. I can't remember. It's more than 800 meters high. It's huge.

And Tom Cruise shot a movie hanging off the outside of the Burj Khalifa, or at least they made it look that way. But, of course, Tom, he does all his own stunts, right? That's what we're told. Hey, I'm a big Tom Cruise fan. I know that upsets somebody, but I am a big Tom Cruise fan. I know that upsets somebody, but I am a big Tom Cruise fan. And I know that there are a lot of the stunts, in fact, he does do. I don't know what he did with the Burj Khalifa,

but that's what it looks like in the movie, one of the Mission Impossible movies. Anyway, there's your Dubai story, and it's interesting to keep in mind because it once again ties to this huge impact. What we're living through is having on areas that go beyond many of the businesses and companies that we tend to think of,

I don't think we realize, or at least we haven't realized until this, how big the hospitality industry is. Whether it's restaurants or hotels or casinos or whatever that may be, it has a huge impact on cities as large as Dubai, on cities as small as the one I'm sitting in, in Stratford, where the world-famous Stratford Festival is closed down for this year. That's had an impact. That's the entertainment side.

That's had an impact on all of the hospitality side. All the hotels in this town, which fill up throughout the summer, spring, summer, and fall, they're desperate. Desperate. All the restaurants, some world-class restaurants in this city, they don't know how they're going to survive this summer without the hundreds of thousands of tourists who come into Stratford every day through the spring, summer, and fall

who won't be there this year. How will they survive? Well, that's just mimicked in towns and cities across our country and around the world. And Dubai is a staggering example of that. Now, as part of that story about how companies are trying to deal with the hand that's being dealt them, there was this piece in Bloomberg the other day. Big financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs

are preparing offices meant for thousands to house a fraction of that number, in some cases aiming for just 20% of the workforce allowed in the offices. Some of those displaced employees relocating to spaced out offices and suburban outposts, and some working from home indefinitely. Now that's not going to surprise you because you're probably hearing a lot about that in your community, especially in cities across the country where big companies are trying to determine how they're going to deal with this. The distancing factor that's going to be with us probably for at least another year, maybe longer. And given that, how will they deal with offices? and which areas of their office even need to be at work in the office. Can't do it from home like they're doing it now.

So that, you know, we've been trying to monitor that aspect of the story ever since we started this daily edition of the bridge and we've had a number of examples and we've talked to a number of people about it i don't think everybody's come fully to grasp with this about the significant degree of change that's going to take place at least in the short term on that that issue. Because until, you know, people tend to say, and you may have read it many times on the weekend, until there's a vaccine, this is not going to be the same as it was.

Once there's a vaccine and it's available to everyone and there's a delivery system for everyone, we may well return to some sense of what life was like before. But until that time, it's hard to imagine that. So I think we're going to be hearing a lot more stories like that one about the big financial institutions, like the one about the big financial institutions, like the one about Dubai. And at the same time,

like the one about Trinity Bellwoods Park, maybe a different city, maybe a different province. But let me tell you this, because I think it goes back to the very first point i was making there are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of community parks in this country of ours we heard about things that went sideways in one of them this weekend well the weather was pretty darn good in most parts of this country over the weekend,

and a lot of people got outside, and a lot of people did the right thing about how they took advantage of those open spaces. So hats off to those millions of Canadians who were able to deal with the situation. The best one I saw, it wasn't in Canada, although it may well happen in different parts of Canada,

it was in New York, where they circled out, or it was at San Francisco, where they'd done white chalk lines, like at a baseball game or a football game, in circles, across the parkland. And so when you got there, you got in your circle, and that's where you stayed.

And it was nowhere near the next circle. Well, it was near, but it was a couple of meters away. That is so simple, so easy to deal with, so easy for a community to do. But it's easy to Monday morning quarterback. But as we do, let's not forget all the areas where things were handled well, where there were no issues. You may have thoughts on all this.

Don't be shy. Send them along to the Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com, the Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. Looking forward to our next episode tomorrow. In the meantime, this has been the Bridge Daily. I'm Peter Mansbridge. We'll talk to you again

in 24 hours. Thank you.