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| Lazy Bones |
Jul. 16, 2003. 05:06 PM
PETER POWER/TORONTO STAR
It takes a lot of portable toilets to serve the 500,000 people expected at the Rolling Stones concert at Downsview Park on July 30. Yesterday, a worker gets them ready.
KEVIN MCGRAN
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER
The better way home from the Rolling Stones concert might be your own two feet.
"If you're smart, you'll walk," Rick Ducharme, the Toronto Transit Commission's chief general manager, said yesterday.
"Quite bluntly, if you're within a couple of hours of the site and you can walk, that'd be my choice.
``And you don't have to worry about crowding and standing in line."
Ducharme and other transit officials were putting the finishing touches on a plan that will outline how The Better Way can help get 500,000 people to and from the July 30 concert at Downsview Park.
The "to" is the simple part.
With gates opening at 8 a.m., fans will have all day to gather and to mill about, Ducharme said.
The "from" — the trip home at night after the show closes at about 11 p.m. — will be much more difficult because the TTC can only move about 50,000 people an hour.
"Do the math," he said.
"People will be standing for a long time and patience is key.
``If people think they're going to get out in an hour, good luck, unless they walk.
"If you think you're going to drive, you're not. The roads will be closed."
The plan is based largely on last year's World Youth Day mass at the North York park. Allen Pinkerton, manager of traffic operations for the city, said a public meeting will be held tomorrow night at Monte Casino on Chesswood Dr. to discuss road closings.
The TTC and emergency vehicles will have exclusive, barricaded access along Sheppard Ave. W.
Pedestrians will be allowed on to the rest of the street. It should take about 45 minutes to walk from Downsview Park to Yonge St.
Ducharme also said he expects no problem getting employees to do the overtime required to drive buses and subways, and operate ticket booths.
Up to 1,000 extra workers will be needed so the TTC can:
Run a shuttle-bus service from the site to the Sheppard subway station, using 100 drivers in six-bus convoys.
Have additional buses, with about 200 drivers, augmenting other routes throughout the city.
Put an extra 100 operators on the subway to provide additional high levels of service through the night.
In addition, extra ticket sellers, security, supervisors and control-centre workers will be needed.
"We see no problems today as far as sign-ups," Ducharme said.
It's possible that concert-goers will still be using the TTC by the time rush-hour service begins on the morning of July 31. Subways that would normally be sitting at the end of the line to begin service at 6 a.m. might still be operating out of Downsview station.
"They close the concert down at 11. By the time you get to the subway, it's 11:30, 12," Ducharme said. "If we don't have everything cleared out by 6, there might be an impact. We'll have had people working all night, and having this (concert) in the middle of the week is definitely not a good plan."
GO Transit was finalizing plans yesterday for how to handle late-night traffic. Normally, the last eastbound train leaves Union Station at 12:13 a.m., the last westbound at 12:43 a.m. Managing director Gary McNeil said they might be held until after 1 a.m., with an extra train running at about 2 a.m.
Ducharme said it would have been impossible to plan the transportation aspect of this event on such short notice without the experience of last summer's World Youth Day mass, which took two years to organize.
"This is a massive co-ordination effort with TTC, police services, emergency services and fire services. We all have to know what are we doing." |
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| Lazy Bones |
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Stones SARS show rules eased
TORONTO (CP) -- Organizers for the Rolling Stones concert on July 30 at Downsview Park have softened the rules for what people can bring to the show.
Originally the list of banned items had included blankets, coolers, and food and drinks -- except for two sealed bottles of water.
On Thursday, organizers said concert-goers will be allowed to bring beach towels, binoculars, cellphones, sleeping bags, snacks, soft drinks, and soft-sided coolers.
Food and beverages will also be on sale at the concert site at lower prices than sports arenas and movie theatres, said Riley O'Connor of House of Blues Concerts Canada.
"I don't want anybody to think this is a price gouge," he said.
No prices have been released yet, but organizers said they should be made public in a few days, along with other details.
Fans had complained about the restrictions since they were announced earlier this week, citing the ban on umbrellas and blankets in particular.
The ban still applies to such items as weapons, alcohol, cans, glass containers, camping equipment, hard-sided coolers, chairs, recording equipment, in-line skates, bicycles and skateboards. |
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| Lazy Bones |
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Belushi ready to roll in T.O.
By BILL BRIOUX
Toronto Sun
Jim Belushi can't wait to come to Toronto to introduce the Rolling Stones.
"Danny's running everything," says Belushi, referring to his pal Dan Aykroyd. Together, as The Blues Brothers, they're booked to MC the oversold fundraiser.
The duo, who have a CD that's topping the blues charts, nearly got on a few Stones bills earlier this year. "We were a contender to open for them on a couple of dates but it didn't work out,"he says.
He's heard the crowd could push past the half-million mark in Toronto.
Just last week, he and Aykroyd drew 23,000 fans at the Ottawa blues fest.
"It started raining, and, boom (he opens an imaginary umbrella). We didn't lose one person."
Critics have never really embraced his ABC comedy, According To Jim, but it is quietly becoming one of the network's top shows and has been sold worldwide to over 180 countries. |
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| jb |
Never cared for Jim Belushi...why he and Akyrord are allowed in the Stones camp is troubling...I think Akyrord got introduced in the 70's vua fat John Belushi who was partying with Keith......... |
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