Parkdale Soapbox lets people speak their mind.
Stephanie Hoff has her say at the Parkdale Soapbox event.
Staff photo/ERIN HATFIELD
Offered a chance to wage a verbal war on any topic they like - as long as they remained respectful - the people of Parkdale brought an array of topics to the Parkdale Soapbox.
Cats were a repeat topic of the night.
Ellie England, an employee of the Parkdale Liberty Economic Development Corporation (PLEDC), a self described cat lover and budding blogger of all things cat related, spoke about the place cats deserve in our society. While in true soapbox style, another cat lover, countered by saying the City of Toronto should enact a bylaw giving authorities the power to compel people to spay and neuter their cats.
On Wednesday, July 21 the Parkdale Soapbox event, held in the Parkdale Town Square at Queen Street West and Cowan Avenue, gave anyone an open invitation to step up and have their say.
The roster of talkers was littered with politicians, aspiring politicians, bloggers and people who were just passing by.
The evening of ranters began with Clair Culliford who spoke about the upcoming municipal election and what he sees as an ineffective operation of the City of Toronto.
Michael Erickson, who recently registered to run as a council candidate in Ward 14, gave a speech, almost in the style of spoken word poetry, about "his Parkdale".
"Parkdale is a circus, our circus," Erickson said. "A safe place for freaks and families."
After saying she would like to see the Parkdale Soapbox as a permanent feature in the area, NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park, Cheri DiNovo spoke about community service.
"The best do so out of a very basic and fundamental drive - love," DiNovo said. "No matter your political stripe, if you are doing it legitimately then you are doing it out of love."
From organic meat, to cuts to the provincial Special Diet Allowance - which helps people on social assistance pay extra food costs - rooming houses and mental health, one of the most boisterous rounds of audience applause came for Amanda who was just walking by and felt compelled to get up. Appropriately dressed in her 'Parkdale' T-shirt she said how much she loves the community.
PLEDC executive director Bill Squires organized the event saying he hopes it will happen again in the neighbourhood although no date is scheduled for a second rant.