Raise the Hammer

Agreed - When the people come back to their senses they will realize that the only business that survives is something that your neighbours want and will pay you to do from the earnings of their own work.

Comments like this are why I love this site.

What if every 'block' had a snow remover (those little sidewalk sit-in jobbies), as well as a pick-up with a plow on the front. One person in that community is paid per snowfall, to remove all road and sidewalk snow and the big piles on the streets currently left as obstacles for us street parkers.

Each area in that area pays this person say $10 or $20 per snow fall (or whatever seems appropriate). They don't pay, you don't clear their sidewalks. Also let it be known to the neighborhood, those are not involved in the 'community'.

Snow removal as just one example, can be taken off this communities taxes and their money now goes directly to that businessman. Perhaps that same guy cuts lawns and hedges, leaf removal and such, during the summer months.

Maybe each neighborhood has their own cable hub. One guy in each block does the repairs in these little mini headends, replaces the cable feeds into the homes, replaces set-top boxes and maybe even does internal wiring, etc.

These blocks could cover say an area comprising for example, of Ottawa and Barton to Gage, to Main, and back to Ottawa St again.

Each block could have localized entrepeneurs that service just their local community. Some would need to be jack of a few trades to be sustainable all year round, but if my money could go into a real persons pocket, I think we would all feel so much better about that.

The list could go on. I used to think of this sort of thing so much when I lived on St. Clair Ave. The area is so beautiful but ruined by the eye sores along King and Main, and it is also missing that 'subdivision' feel that exists on the mountain. Downtown, so many streets are open from Barton to Main, used as thoroughways for cabs and other such traffic. If you closed every other side street off and closed off these big city blocks more, you create quieter, safer communities, instead of mini-speedways for people trying to avoid stop lights on major routes like Gage or Ottawa, etc.