Toronto on strike: building permits to resume partially
Posted: July 21, 2009, 11:01 AM by Allison Hanes
Toronto Mayor David Miller will announce later today details of a plan to revive the process of issuing some building permits, with a strike by civic workers now in its fifth week.
No building permits have been issued up until now under the city's contingency plan, the reason being the qualified inspectors had all walked off the job and not available to issue them.
New construction projects and renovations have been on hold since June 22, when the strike began. Deputy city manager Richard Butts said several weeks ago, any one (see non-compound modified pronoun + prepositional phrase rule) waiting for a permit to begin work should cool their jets until the labour disruption ends. With no end in sight, the city is now taking action to allow some of those projects to get under way.
Which ones and what kind will be revealed at a briefing later this afternoon at City Hall.
Just yesterday the Mayor told the National Post that the only way the process of issuing building permits would only be reinstituted if enough trained staff were back on the job – ie: that enough building inspectors had crossed the picket line and returned to work.
"We can't do the building permits. We looked at that last week. That's not possible yet," he said Monday. "But as some people have come back to work, it does give us a little flexibility. So if we are able to broaden the range of services, we certainly will. I'd certainly like to. I'd like to have all of the services being delivered. But it's contingent upon whose coming back to work in what areas. So at the moment the answer is no, but if we are able to bring back some services we will do it at the earliest opportunity."
__________________________________
No wonder our newspapers are being downsized. I am appalled by the laziness in this, and in other, reports I have read recently in your newspaper. I am not surprised, however, that the first item I saw (regarding the building permits) on the Internet today was Allison Hanes's tweet about same. Perhaps relegating her to the world of Twitter is your best option.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Coffey
My daughter has worked at a Canadian newspaper for eleven years, and she and I have talked about this often -- in horror. If people would take time to more capably write and to proofread their articles, then she would not be in her own state of constant worry, wondering if tomorrow she is going to have a job. So I do mean, as a warning to us all, if we do not return to an idea (and therefore construction) of more ethical journalism standards, we will not have newspapers to read, and I cannot imagine a greater travesty.
Journalists -- especially paid jounalists -- should either write less or work more competently toward providing well-written pieces. My father worked at The Globe for years, writing hour upon hour, and he would have been fired for half this number of errors. If newspaper editors find that their staff members are too busy to write effectively, then editors at least ought to have proofreaders who can correct all written work. Bad writing lowers standards and subscriptions, and these are the sorry facts of it all.
Save my daughter's job by doing yours better. This is all that I ask.
