Category: Uncategorized

The Friendly Americans

May 19, 2022  

We were driving along highway 37 in upstate New York when there was a beep and the dashboard in the car flashed a message that our tire pressure was low. A few weeks ago, I had the regular tires installed replacing the winter tires, and thought the mechanics checked tire pressure automatically. Our destination was a thousand miles south, and we had to fix the tires.  

We stopped at the next gas station and looked for an air pump. Not seeing one, I asked a couple of fellows working on a truck if they knew whether the station had an air pump. They pointed to the back of the station but warned that the pump had no pressure gauge built into it and asked whether I had a pressure gauge. I said I did not have one. But I backed up to the pump and thought of putting some air into all the tires anyway. To get the warning light off. 

As I backed my car to the air pump, one fellow I talked with came over and handed me a new pressure gauge, still in a paper package. I opened the package, and, using the gauge, discovered that the right rear tire had less pressure than the other three tires, so I put some air into it.  

When I finished pumping the tire, I went to return the gauge, only to find the two fellows had left. At the gas station, I inquired whether the gauge came from there and if so, I wanted to pay for it. But the clerk said the fellow purchased the gauge costing over five dollars. So, a total stranger bought the gauge for me! What a friendly and helpful gesture that was.  

Why would someone purchase a tire pressure gauge for a total stranger? If he had one, he would have let me use it. But buying one? Perhaps I looked totally inept, and he tried to help me by buying it. But maybe he was just being friendly and trying to help a stranger who needed help? I was totally taken by this friendly gesture. And that friendliness extended to the clerk at the station who chatted with us and went out of her way to check the price of the gauge.  

This was not the first time someone stopped on the highway to help us. We were driving north on I40 a hundred miles south of Durham, North Carolina when I blew a tire and stopped on an off-ramp. Before I finished calling the AAA, a friendly person stopped at our side and in less than ten minutes, changed the tire expertly, loosening the lugs; cranking up the car on the side and putting on the spare.  

Not only on the highways but elsewhere too, helpful experiences await you in the US. At the local grocery chain store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, comparable to our Loblaws chain in Ontario, store people asked me how they could help find items without prompting. It is often difficult to find a store clerk at Loblaws in Ottawa and I have never been approached by a clerk offering help.  

I found the same walking on the streets of Baton Rouge this morning; people said hello and how are you, meeting you. Back home, people are more reserved and often pass you without even acknowledgment.  

I think that friendliness is baked into the DNA of Americans. It may be a historical, cultural trait, borne out of hardships in occupying the country and building communities. Whatever is the root of this characteristic, it triggers a warm feeling inside of you.  

The Curse of Oak Leaves

May 7, 2022

The Curse of Oak Leaves

It is a beautiful May afternoon. The wind is blowing the oak leaves in my backyard and I am sipping coffee and thinking about how much more raking I need to collect the leaves. The piles of oak leaves cover up my plants. Oak trees lose their leaves slowly through the Fall and Winter. I try to get the leaves collected before the snow covers the plants in the Fall. But, of course, cannot collect the oak leaves which fall over the Winter until snowmelt in the Spring.

Oak leaves come from the neighbor; we do not have any oak trees. We have other trees, the leaves of which had already fallen and been collected before snowfall.

Mind you, the leaves are large and beautiful in attractive hues but feel like leather. And that is why they do not crumple, even in time. They survive as whole leaves and cover the ground, killing the plants and vegetation under. So collecting them is a must if you want to keep your garden.

Now it is May again and lo-and-behold, there are still oak leaves in my yard.

When the neighbor moved in decades ago, they planted some sample trees, many oaks, along the perimeter of their yard. It sounded like a good idea. But trees grow and in decades the trees became mammoth.

For example, the ironwood in the corner next to us is over eighty feet tall. The lower branches were scraping and making a hole in my roof, so I had to hire people to take some branches off, which cost hundreds of dollars.

Before the contractor could prune the ironwood, he had to have the approval of the neighbor. So we marched over to the owner of the house next door and I talked with the woman whom we had known for a long time but never socialized with. Her husband died of cancer a couple of decades ago and she has not maintained her yard, nor pruned the trees. But she agreed to have her tree pruned, seeing the professional-looking t-shirt with a company logo, worn by the tree cutter. At any rate, I paid for the branch removal.

Another year, another cleanup of the oak leaves. Another few dozen bags later, I was getting mad: why do I have to clean up after the neighbor? The wind blows HER leaves into my yard. She should clean up. But she does not even clean up her yard except for a day in the Fall and a day in the Spring, hiring a contractor for the cleanup. Is there some bylaw that would require people to clean up their yard? And could such a bylaw be enforced? Or could there be a bylaw prohibiting the planting of oak trees on regular-sized, quarter-acre city lots?

Now I thought of talking with my neighbor when in a good mood and not upset with raking her leaves and perhaps trying to convince her to get her cleanup earlier and more thoroughly in the Fall and the Spring to minimize her oak leaves arriving in my yard. But I decided that would be useless; I chatted once with her before replacing an aging and ugly cedar hedge between us comprising tall poles denuded of green parts and even offered to pay for it, but she refused.

Another idea I thought of was to just dump the leaves back in her yard; they are her leaves. I thought about it and declined to act. She lives by herself and probably needs help. Who am I to give her more grief?

So I keep raking, bagging, and hoping that gypsy moths will enjoy the oak leaves this Spring and take care of my continuing frustration this year.

From Real to Unreal in One Day

April 29, 2022

My car dealership does not have a van to take clients home when they leave their cars for the day. Instead, they call Uber. I left my car yesterday for maintenance at the dealership and they called Uber. My Uber driver was Syrian. He came to Canada as a refugee escaping Assad’s regime. He has a family and told me he works twelve-hour days. His Hyundai was spotless but explained to me that his next car will be an electric one to save on fuel. His biggest cost today is gas.

When I got home and opened my computer, there was an invitation for me to fill out a survey on “mobility justice”; a concept that transportation services should be equally available in all communities. This was a follow-up to a webinar that I signed up for previously.

The invite said: “We are continuing to explore what mobility justice means for community members on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe People (so-called Ottawa)”. OK. So if people ask me where I am from, what do I say? Am I from Ottawa or am I from the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe People?

Come on now! Ottawa, Canada, is known around the world as the capital city of Canada. Who heard of the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe People?

Before completing the survey, I listened to the transcript of the webinar

The first speaker at the webinar spoke on behalf of the City for all Women Initiative, a volunteer group working with the City of Ottawa. She explained that “marginalized” communities, typically occupied by low-income and racialized people, lack sidewalks, cycling paths, and bus service. For example, the LRT (Light Rail Transit) in Ottawa does not serve the communities at Heron Gate, Dynes Road, Overbrook, Vanier, and Carlington, implying that these communities are low-income and racialized. She did not produce hard data to support her comments. The LRT serves a tiny portion of Ottawa: it is being built currently, so her comments apply to most of Ottawa.

In addition, she talked about other barriers affecting the ability of these communities to access public transit – the lack of safety on buses and bus shelters in need of cleaning. She said bus service should be frequent, affordable, and reliable in marginalized areas.

I agree with everything she said except that bus service should be available in all communities, not only in marginalized areas.

But what does “mobility justice” mean in practical terms? Could it be the same number of buses in each community regardless of population density? A bus stop within walking distance from all people in the community? And if so, with what frequency and cost? My head was spinning with questions on what is equal access to transportation or “mobility justice”.

The next speaker was a member of the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project (CPEP was established by professors and students at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa). The key message of CPEP is to change our minds about resolving social conflict by focusing on mutual help instead of criminalization and punishment. He made a pitch for defunding the police and using the money instead for community building. He introduced himself as a highly privileged, white, cisgender person; I am not sure what the point was in doing so. He said that he is not an expert on “mobility justice” and listening to his comments, I wondered why he was at the webinar.

He described one key objective of his group: “Challenge inequality, privilege and dominant social structures (e.g. capitalism, colonialism, racism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and ableism) that have a particularly negative impact on marginalized persons and groups.”

By now my mind was going gradually numb with all this social jargon until another speaker spoke of looking at the Transportation Master Plan under preparation by the City of Ottawa through an “equity lens”. Aha! This may be the nub of mobility justice: look at transportation planning via an “equity lens”. But equity was not defined, and neither was the lens. I was not sure how to quantify the equity needed to correct the situation, discovered through the lens.

Before I could finish listening to the entire transcript of the webinar and respond to the survey, the car dealership called my car was ready, and sent an Uber taxi to pick me up. During our ride, the driver mentioned that he hardly makes ten dollars an hour with increased gas prices and needs to work two jobs to make a living wage. The reality of trying to make a living today brought me back to the genuine issues facing people.

I appreciate the work of all those people advocating for “mobility justice”, for low-income and racialized people, whatever that entails. But I wonder if we should talk about creating better-paying jobs for those people, instead of demolishing their homes for the right-of-way of the LRT?

Public Engagement Goes Off the Rails, My Rant for the Day

April 23, 2022

Four City Councillors, four staff members, and two councillor staff held a zoom meeting last night where eight people hooked up to discuss the preparation of the City of Ottawa’s Solid Waste Master Plan for the next thirty years. I was one of the eight people. I am sure that all the Councillors informed their voters of the upcoming consultation in their recent newsletters; that is how I learned about the meeting.

We spent a couple of hours listening to a presentation by city staff followed by an open discussion, but only eight people were interested enough to hook up in a city of a million people! That is a shame.

One reason for the lack of interest may be that the city has a habit of consulting but not listening. That is what most people think. Public reviews for proposed high-rise buildings in settled residential neighborhoods often trigger huge local opposition by area residents, but they have very limited success with their objections. The developers usually get what they want in terms of height limits and other requirements beyond what the zoning code allows. People had gotten frustrated and lost faith in the city’s consultation process.

Another reason could be the subject. You know people get riled up and show up in huge numbers to oppose a highway going thru their neighborhood arguing that it will destroy their property values and the cohesiveness of the neighborhood. Perhaps planning for solid waste management is not a subject people are concerned about. So was this high-level zoom meeting with councillors necessary?

Was city staff aware of the scant interest the public has in preparing the Solid Waste Master Plan? They had organized half a dozen zoom meetings (and planned for special target group meetings as well) about various aspects of the plan, such as technology, changing behavior to reduce solid waste, and so on.

I had signed up for some of these zoom meetings and had found participation low, with only dozens of people attending. City officials had reported on the status of the plan at these sessions. The public attendees asked for clarifications and often the response was that “it is a good question” or “working on this and get back to you”.

In response to my question at one of these meetings, the program manager said that the cost per family for solid waste removal is $150 in Ottawa while in other Canadian municipalities, the cost ranges up to hundreds of dollars. But she did not explain how the delivery of the services compares to having such a wide divergence in cost.

One consultation subject was to make high-rise buildings separate organic from other waste; there is typically one chute for high-rise residents to dump waste. I asked how come the City Council just considered that exact policy for approval when we are supposed to be debating the subject? The answer was that some elements of the plan that enjoy wide consensus will be approved during this consultation process. I asked myself: why are we here then?

Then I signed up for one of the focus group sessions to which immigrants and BIPOC people (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) were invited. City officials planned two zoom sessions, one for immigrants and another one for BIPOC people, only to merge the two groups the day before the planned date. Obviously, they did not generate enough interest from those target groups to have two sessions. And, as it turned out, I was the only one who signed on.

The coordinator addressed me when the meeting started via the zoom audio channel, asking if I wanted to carry on alone since I had heard the standard presentation a few times. I was interested in listening to what other people had to say about the plan and with me as the only participant; I declined to carry on with the meeting.

Maybe it is the wrong time to engage people at this early stage of the planning process. At a more advanced stage, there may be issues that impact people directly. Such as the cost of acquiring new technology. Or buying land to expand the Trail Road dumpsite. Such initiatives could call for additional debt to the city that the city would pass on to the residents. That would hit people’s pockets books and they might show up to express their displeasure or support such additional expenditures.

I think some people are tired of consultations, some are complacent and some may not be interested in solid waste management. For now, though, I would recommend the City save money on their professional public engagement bureaucracy, pay overtime for night work, and fancy presentations and fix potholes on our major roads. Just my opinion.

Head-Scratchers, or How to Get a Balanced View of World News

April 20

What paper or journal do you read and watch to make sure you get a balanced view of what is going on in this world? A friend posed this question to me: he said he was trying to advise his son on what to read/watch. By balanced, he meant views not only on the right but also on the left – he looked for views and opinions describing facts and behavior from the far right to the left liberal woke community, and all others in between.

I told him I get my information on current events from many sources: newspapers, online and paid subscriptions, as well as the internet and television, and radio. I read many newspapers across the political spectrum and could not single out one that is the best or that would provide a balanced viewpoint. But subscription cost is a factor, and I gave up on many first-rate Canadian newspapers charging up to forty dollars a month.

But most newspapers give you ten free articles to read a month, such as the Guardian or the Toronto Star. By accident I noticed an ad for the Washington Post, a liberal newspaper, for an annual subscription for nineteen dollars US and subscribed, not believing that it was a genuine offer. But it was, and I have been receiving the digital copy of the paper ever since at the originally advertised price. In contrast, reading the New York-based “Epoch Times” provides a conservative angle.

The internet and television are other excellent sources of news. Fox News has the reputation of being a right-wing propaganda channel, while CNN has more of a left-wing bias. So between the two, you may get a “balanced” view.

An overarching theme over the past several years has been “climate change”. Whether you believe IPCC reports or follow Steve Koonan’s contrary arguments, it is your choice. Koonin’s name to fame is that he was a scientific advisor to Obama (his book published in 2021, entitled “Unsettled” explains his views). But many people follow their prejudices and if they believe that climate change is a hoax, then Koonin provides support for their beliefs. There are volumes written on this subject and you can read up on both sides of the story, although the bulk of evidence in my readings supports that ‘climate change” is real.

The other major story over the last two years, of course, has been the pandemic. One source of disagreement focused on whether the virus came from China: several studies concluded it did, while others did not. Another controversial subject was whether the World Health Organization announced the pandemic in time or was late, with dire consequences. President Trump’s approach to downplay the virus, in the beginning, was also a source of controversy. And then his continuing approach to downplay the virus-caused catastrophe was further debated. You could listen to Fox News or CNN, to hear conflicting arguments.

And now the major news item is the war in Ukraine. Depending on which newspapers you read or TV channels you listen to, you get various arguments on whether the US is doing the right things. Although most news stories characterize the war as “unprovoked”, the New York Times’s Thomas Friedman quoted George Kennan (expert on Russia in the US) who commented that the expansion of NATO was a mistake when Russia was not a threat and that it triggered Putin’s war in Ukraine. So, who or what do you believe?

I told my friend that besides listening to all the different news sources, my interest is in “head-scratchers”: stories that make you scratch your head and ponder if the news makes sense based on the information provided and my built-up knowledge.

For example, to defend the Odessa region in Ukraine, a consortium of Canadian industry executives wrote to the Canadian Defense Minister that Canada send twenty-four anti-ship Harpoon missile systems to Ukraine: The Royal Canadian Navy has two hundred of them in storage. This recommendation follows Canada’s promise to Ukraine to send lethal weapons. But the Defense Department has yet to respond. What is the holdup? Are Harpoons not functional? Would Canada ever need these weapons to defend its coasts? If there are legitimate reasons for not sending these weapons, then some explanations would be in order. So, I scratch my head.

Another example. While the US, major European countries, and the EU expelled Russian diplomats as a symbol of outrage against the unprovoked war in Ukraine, Canada refused to do so. The Prime Minister said such diplomatic expulsions would lead to retaliation by the Russians that would lead to Canada losing its “eyes and ears” in Moscow. Is that true? Do the other countries not lose their “eyes and ears” as well, but do not consider it important? But is intelligence gathered only by people on the ground? Do we not have cyber intelligence? And why do we think that while all the other major countries of the Western alliance can do without people on the ground in Moscow, Canada cannot? The scenario makes little sense to me. So, I scratch my head.

What is also incomprehensible to me is that the Deputy Prime Minister and who is also the Finance Minister of Canada has Ukrainian ancestry and has been vocal about assisting the Ukrainians. Words have been flowing freely about supporting fully the Ukrainians, and the recent budget had money allocated to helping Ukraine. But instead of words, action is required now and not in a few months that budgetary processes take. In a few months, the war may be over. Another headscratcher.

As our Prime Minister Trudeau said in the 2015 election victory, “Canada is back”. According to John Ivison in a recent column in the National Post, Canada is more “at the back” of the countries providing meaningful and timely help to Ukraine. Canada is the ninth of twelve countries, providing financial and military aid to Ukraine, after Estonia. Are we experiencing bureaucratic malaise? We do not want to antagonize Russia by sending powerful weaponry to Ukraine? And if so, why not? Does that make sense?

My advice to the friend’s son would be to listen and read widely and try to understand events from all points of view. And the understanding will deepen with events that do not seem to make sense.