As usual, there's no pleasing some people

Let me preface this by laying my cards on the table.

If I could go back to the early 1970s and shove the Spadina Expressway down the City of Toronto's throat, I'd happily hop in the TARDIS and do so. I think one of the dopeyest decisions this city ever made — in conjunction with an abysmal lack of vision exhibited by Premier Bill Davis — was to kill the highway. That said...

...I'm no enemy of public transit, either. And so I'm equally pissed off to hear the whining going on from business concerns on St. Clair Avenue West now that the streetcar line has been rebuilt and segregated from traffic. Let me be plain. I like streetcars... when I'm riding them. When I'm stuck behind them in a car, they are second only to hemorrhoids as a pain in the ass. So a segregated line solves both problems. A public transit line, and one that doesn't fuck up auto traffic.

What's the beef?

People can no longer park on St. Clair.

Pardon me, but only the stupidest cities allow people to park on major thoroughfares in the first place. I grew up in Mississauga, where NO ONE was allowed to park on a major city street... EVER. If you stopped on a city street in Mississauga, you'd better have the excuse of a major myocardial infarction. But amazingly, much of Toronto proper remains in the 19th Century on this one. "I'm just tying Seabiscuit to the post here for a second, Constable, whilst I purchase some comestibles..." Sorry, pal, this is 2007. Get thee to a side street. The rest of us have places to go.

To the business folks on St. Clair: you will adapt. Your patrons will adapt. If not, this city is too stupid to live. Move to Mississauga, where, amazingly, customers are smart enough to manage to buy things even without the ability to clog traffic like cheesecake clogs arteries.