Netting a profit

>> Cheap prices at Internet cafe for homeless attract Yahoo yuppies

By RINA CALABRESE

It doesn't take long before people catch on to a good thing. Cafe sur la rue's Internet cafe was initially started to help out the homeless but today their $1 an hour rate attracts everyone from tourists to businessmen.

That's why as of April 1, the cafe, located at the corner of Amherst and Ontario, is implementing a two-tiered rate system.

"We like to call it positive discrimination," says the cafe's Internet coordinator, Sebastien Langlais, with a laugh.

The new rate hike means low-income people will continue to pay $1 an hour while those who can afford it will pay $3 an hour. So how will they decide who can afford it? "Well, you won't see a squeegee kid wearing a three-piece suit," Langlais says.

Anyone who can show proof-positive that they're a student or on social assistance will be issued an Internet Cafe card that green-lights them for the buck-an-hour service. But those conspicuously carrying briefcases and cellular phones must pay up.

"It's for those who make good salaries, who can afford to pay $3 an hour," explains Mario Lanthier, president of the cafe's administrative council.

The council voted unanimously on Feb. 14 to raise the rate effective April 1. "This is no April Fool's joke," adds Langlais, who was initially opposed to the increased fee. "I find that to go from $1 to $3 is a lot." But compared to what many commercial Internet cafes charge, their fees are a joke. Some cafes charge upwards of $6 an hour or more. For a buck at Cafe sur la rue, you can surf the Net, check your e-mail or join a chat group on any one of the cafe's 11 IBM compatible computers and two Macintoshes.

The extra money from the fee hike will go toward making the community group less reliant on government grants. "The purpose of the hike is to become as autonomous as possible," says Langlais.

Hit spot

Since the cafe opened in 1997, it has tripled its number of customers. The cafe was initially intended as a means to break the isolation that homeless people suffer. And while they still give priority to homeless people, these days customers are as likely to be toting briefcases as they are shopping bags. Of the 30 to 60 people a day who visit the cafe, Langlais estimates that about half are on Employment Insurance or welfare and 5 per cent are homeless or squeegee kids.

Real Delisle, a former squeegee kid and heroin addict, comes to the space almost every day. Delisle, who quit smack four months ago, says playing Agent Empire and Star Craft at the cafe gets his mind off his addiction.

"It passes the time," says Delisle. "I walk in the street and see my junkie friends and I think, 'Fuck it would be good to do a hit,' but then I come here and spend hours and it makes me stop thinking about it. I play my games and check my e-mail. You gotta occupy your time or else you always think bad thoughts." zxyxzxx

more Technophilia...