Seacrest (scratched) out

Poor Ryan Seacrest just can't get a break in Toronto. First he's panned for his disappearing act as host of the Emmys on Sunday, and now a poster of him is defaced in St. George station.

The pillar ad, featuring a closeup shot of Seacrest's face to promote his show on the renamed E! channel has had both eyes gouged out. To add insult to injury, some mean soul has written "Nerd!" above his face.

Mr. Seacrest, we wish to apologise, on behalf of all Torontonians, for this incident. But privately, we congratulate the vandal on not choosing stronger, more bleep-worthy slurs to scrawl.

MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS

Ryan Seacrest deserves some dignity.

Facebookers unite! Seriously, you should

Are we seeing the same capacity to generate both news and social, economic and/or political changes online with social networking site Facebook (reg. req.) that has occured in the blogosphere?

Blogs have been pointing out the error of politicians' ways since 2002, when some sharp-eyed pyjama-wearing pundits pointed out comments made by US Senate Majority leader Trent Lott could be seen as condoning racial segregration. The resulting furor caused him to step down.

DICK LOEK/TORONTO STAR FILE

Sam's sign is under debate on Facebook.

The social networking sites have a precedence with Meetup.com. Leading up to 2004 U.S. elections, grass-roots support and mass meetings across the US could make or break a candidate.

But the key is organization. Case in point: the groups on Facebook petitioning to save the Sam the Record Man sign. It was announced last month that the iconic Yonge St. store would close, and turn off its wonderfully garish neon sign for good.

As with so many hot topics, one person starts a group, invites all of his or her friends to join, and they invite theirs, and so on. Meanwhile, someone else has had the same bright idea. Rather than joining forces, the two groups end up competing for members. While that's fine for a radio contest, if you want to get anything done you have to co-operate.

At last count, there were 56 in one group, 8,857 in another group, while the biggie has 16, 959 members. Plus there's a "don't save the Sam sign" group with 13 unimpressed members.

It's unclear what, if anything, either side will accomplish, but it's for certain they'll have a better chance together.

-Shauna Rempel

The Big Bounce

Dealing with a bit of a weekend hangover today, so I figure it's a good time to comment on the two club stories that were percolating in the Big Smoke last week. One seems to have come to a peaceful ending.

Gaurav Singh: Restaurant apologized for turning him away.

Two weekends ago at Marlowe -- the former College bar that has moved to Richmond Hill and become a bit of a hotspot -- a bouncer refused entry to a Sikh man, Gaurav Singh, because he was wearing a turban, supposedly because the club had a "no hats" policy. It caused a stir on Facebook, where an outraged group (registration required) reached more the 4,000 members with their message. You can read the Star stories here and here. 

As the second story says, the aggrieved party gave the club a deadline to apologize, and they eventually did -- even though in my opinion, it seems fairly wishy-washy. From everything that I heard about the incident -- and being a brown man who's written quite a bit about bars over the years, and whose father wears a turban, I heard a lot -- it sounds to me like a classic case of power-tripping bouncers.

I don't want to minimize what happened, and the story has plenty of people talking about clubs and racism, but there are too many weird contradictions that don't add up. I know that bar, and the crowd is pretty mixed, with plenty of Asian patrons. I've also had my share of experience with bouncers, and while there are plenty of nice ones at the hundreds of clubs out there, that island between the lineup and the door is their tiny fiefdom, and plenty like to flex their muscles in order to feel like, well, big men. I have a hunch that's what happened here. Of course, I'm just speculating, like most other folks who've read about the incident, but that's my two cents. 

The other club story was City Councillor Adam Vaughan's suggestions of possibly taxing clubs that have lineups on the sidewalk. It does feel like there really is a bit of war on clubland heating up, doesn't it? And while some have accused Vaughan of being punitive or ignorant, let's look on the possible bright side of this. How many times have you gone out, waited in a long line and, when you finally made it past the velvet rope, found a empty club inside?

See, Vaughan just wants to make it easier for people to get their groove on, so one benefit of this possible tax is that clubs might actually stop holding the line in order to make it look as though it's really busy inside. Thanks a lot, city hall! 

-Raju Mudhar

Say "Freeze!"

For those of you going clubbing on this balmy Monday night (known as Industry night for those who work weekends in bars and restaurants) be aware that starting today, your drunken antics in the Entertainment District will be on candid camera. Toronto police installed security cameras at several locations along Richmond, Peter and John streets to cut down on crime in the area.

But I wonder: Is there much for police to watch, other than underage girls tottering around in heels, swaggering guys trying to pick up girls tottering in heels, and bouncers playing God? There's already a pretty significant police presence on Friday and Saturday nights, and a camera isn't going to be much help during a closing time fist fight.

People who live in the neighbourhood say it's rowdy at night but the crime isn't all that bad. Star interns who listen every night to police activity over scanners and track major crimes in the city, say while a stabbing isn't unheard of, the Entertainment District isn't exactly Jane-Finch. That area, by the way, is also receiving cameras under the pilot project.

Many clubbers don't think of it, but the Entertainment District is a mixed-use neighbourhood, with housing as well as clubs. I know I'd feel a bit creeped out knowing a camera lens was following me home with my groceries.

But fisticuffs aside, there is the potential - with all those party people with all that alcohol in their bloodstream - for booze-fuelled mayhem to break out. And the memory of the 2005 Boxing Day shooting in Yonge-Dundas square (where cameras were also briefly installed this Christmas) is still fresh for many people.

In the UK, CCTV cameras are widely used in all sorts of neighbourhoods and footage is shown to the public to aid in fighting crime. Rather than seen as an invasion of privacy, it's considered a good thing if cameras go into a residential or mixed neighbourhood, because it's been shown that petty crime rates drop after installation. But the crime elements just move into the adjacent hood and soon residents in those communties are asking for CCTV. It becomes a pattern.

In Toronto it's just a pilot project, so for the time being at least, don't forget to smile when you're out and about. You never know who's watching.

-Shauna Rempel

Lockdown

It's hard not to notice those bulky bike lockers that have recently been popping up all over town. They've found publicity as part of the City of Toronto's street furniture campaign, and you can expect them to proliferate further. You can already find a cluster of these graceless boxes, for instance, tucked away behind city hall, at St. Lawrence Market, and at a handful of subway stations.

Astral Media's proposal: Making bike lockers safe for advertising.

This is a triumph of function over form. For the lucky few cyclists who manage to get a key to one of these coveted cubbies — and the privilege of forking over $10 a month — they can rest easy that their wheels are safe from bad weather and theft. But it's hard to imagine that the city has the space or resources to install nearly enough lockers to satisfy a growing community of cyclists.

Which means the rest of us must resort to the subpar security of the "post and ring" or other bike stands, risking theft. With the right tools, thieves can snap bike chains or pry apart "indestructible" U-locks within minutes. They've been known to saw off bike stands, break into garages or slice through porch railings to "free" the attached bikes. On second thought, maybe those lockers aren't so secure after all. Surely those wily crooks will think of something.

As usual, we can look to California for innovation. In San Francisco and elsewhere you will find 24-hour security at attended bicycle parking lots and even bike valets. Some enterprising cycling company here would do well to blaze a similar trail while our city's planners are stuck in the ditch.

-Ariel Teplitsky