One of the stupidest statements we have heard lately is the claim by some people that they do not want a Las Vegas in Toronto. In a city that is so paternalistic that it used to chain up the swing sets in its public parks on Sundays, there is no fear of that.
You sometimes wonder why people run for municipal elections in Ontario cities. Is it some ingrained belief that only they are fit to tell the rest of us how to live? In our experience in working with neophyte civic politicians, we have found that most are naïve and have nothing beyond a few simple issues on their to-do list of political objectives. Some of the older ones are there to fight a particular change. The younger ones are there to build their credentials for higher office.
It has also been our impression that the longer one stays in municipal politics, the more the brain atrophies from lack of use. It is the singular reliance on the ultra-conservative city staff that allows the civic politician regular re-election for doing nothing. And God forbid, the moribund city staff be called upon to do anything more creative than raise the municipal taxes each year.
In Babel, for example, the question of a casino came and went before most citizens knew it was possible. The city staff wrote a report on the subject that reads as humorous fiction. They quoted every ignorant statement made by people in Babel who had no idea what they were talking about. The quotes from Babel’s own civic politicians were a sad embarrassment of misinformation.
In Toronto, the fear of becoming Vegas North is the silliest argument of all. Anyone who knows Las Vegas can assure you that there is absolutely no danger of Toronto becoming anything like Las Vegas. When hoodlum Bugsy Siegel decided to get into the casino business in the desert town of Las Vegas, it created a notoriety and panache to the resort town that has carried it to this day. The source of hundreds of films and television specials and series, Las Vegas thrills millions of visitors and convention attendees every year. When you play in Las Vegas, you leave reality behind.
Casinos in Ontario are a very small escape by comparison. They are sadly in-your-face authoritarian, badly designed and worse run. You have to close your eyes very tight to imagine that you are in wondrous Las Vegas.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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