Accordion City’s garbage collectors and other outside workers went on strike this afternoon after the city and the union failed to beat a noon deadline for coming to an agreement. The strike will affect all kinds of services, from garbage pick-up to parks and recreation to clean-up crews for the upcoming Pride Parade, and later on, the Catholic World Youth Day gathering (I hear they’re going to have some rockin’ rallies).
It’ll also make the streets of Chinatown, a mere half-block from my house, stink to high heaven. The main drag is a mix of restaurants and food markets, and every day, they somehow manage to produce stacks of garbage taller than I am. Combine this trash with no pickup and hot summer weather and you’ve got one — ahem — aromatic neighbourhood.
It might make for an interesting photo essay.
The parks and recreation facilities won’t be open either, which means that a lot of public pools and baseball and soccer leagues won’t be running. As Murphy’s Law would have it, today is the last day of classes for grade school kids.