Friday, July 22, 2005
EuCan Be Free (aka the turd on Roncesvalles)
Physical State: weary
Mental State: sludgey
Music: Notwist - Neon Golden
Fashion sense: white t-shirt, tan shorts
Bigger than a newspaper box, more irritating than a TV commercial and able to block whole sidewalks in a single move—it's the all-new, never-before-seen Eucan trash/recycling bin!
Yep on one of the smoggiest and oppressive days this week I noticed the debut of my 'hood's media turd that is the Eucan at the corner of Roncesvalles and Howard Park. Eucans are one company's attempts to create a receptacle for garbage and recycling that also acts as a signboard. It's more like a 24 hour illuminated signboard (hydro use, schmydro use) with a feeble attempt at disposal. They take up a lot of room on the sidewalk and look ugly (like cross between a wonky atm and a Parisian piss station). Ironically across the very same intersection in two directions there are two City of Toronto stainless steel garbage/recycling bins?!? As Christopher Hume so succinctly described it in his article in yesterday's Toronto Star, it's the city demonstrating it's crassness on a whole new level! This Eucan crap is just another stupid venue for visual pollution (and this coming from a guy who makes posters for a certain television network. At least in those cases they are housed in bus shelters which are not going away and do serve a definite need in the city). Should we fill up sidewalk space with this wank or should we maybe scale back empty sidewalk space for a much needed bike lane? The positioning of this ad cum garbage can at the corner ensures that accidents will happen too. People will walk out behind their 5' x 7' frame and not be seen and motorists will not be paying attention to the car in front of them as they pull into the intersection because they have to take that second to read another damn cell phone ad. Silvia Watson you should have had your head examined for greenlighting this fiasco (I'm also looking at you Mayor David Miller of "Clean Up The City" fame, this is a step in the wrong direction). I don't think that an added garbage can can make up for the pollution that is this blight on the cityscape. Haven't we got enough places with ads already? Too many damn places. Everywhere you look even on a piece of fruit. Brand this, motherfucker. I can't even take a piss at a bar without some cellphone company's conveniently placed ad reminding me to buy their service (which I had read in various places about 50 times before arriving at said bar). Too bad they couldn't place the ad a little lower if you get my drift, then it would be positioned in a place that I could do something with. Toronto is becoming one big ugly sell job and it's really starting to get to me. It's time for some restrictions on advertising space. More art, more trees and less shite. If you live in the area (or elsewhere in Toronto) and want to see these eyesores disappear, speak up. The City of Toronto has set up a 6 question feedback line so call 416-392-6000 to make a decision on whether to adopt these for the city or not. Speak damn fast though because you can't get all your thoughts in in 20 seconds, nice system, very useful (insert sarcasm here). Call it now, call it often, tell your mother get everyone you know to call. Overload the answering system! Tell the City that you're sick of seeing these unneccesary ads masquarading as a garbage can. This is an all-time low in the City's attempt at a quick cash grab. For more info about these eyesores and their ineffectiveness check out publicspace.ca's comments here and Sheila Heti's plea to David Miller from last summer here.
