'Toronto turning into Gotham city': Is rising random violence pushing Toronto to a tipping point?
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“I feel like a TTC ambassador,” he said Sunday, before setting up his large cello for a solo performance inside Bloor transit station. From his view on the sidelines, there has been a slow erosion in confidence over 10 or so years — until COVID. Then things really tanked.When musicians were kicked off TTC property by pandemic restrictions, homeless people moved in, and now that riders and musicians are back, they don’t want to leave, Zhang said. Many bring baggage from addiction, mental health and poverty with them, which he sees as root problems.
The chief announced an immediate increase of 80 police officers on high-visibility TTC patrols, pulled from his off duty ranks and paid overtime wages so other frontline needs aren’t jeopardized, he said. The TTC is making supervisors more visible, cameras are being added, and more Streets to Homes workers brought in.
A subway train is the urban leveller, where people from all realms and circumstance find themselves cheek by jowl, or butt cheek to butt cheek. Whatever they’re dealing with outside the station comes in with them — mental illness, abrasive personality, addiction, homelessness, privilege, poverty, anxiety, racism, aggression, entitlement, bad mood, stress, fear.
“Most people aren’t going to do something criminal right in front of a police officer, but you might have just pushed it elsewhere. Hotspot policing tends to just relocate things. It’s not addressing the problem.”Article content
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