Quote of the week:

"The whites think they are the only ones who can ride, and we want to prove them wrong." - China Pusoeng, president of the Sowetan Eagles, the only all-black motorcycle club, at the recent Paradise motorcycle rally in South Africa, in Tuesday's Globe and Mail.

Parking sign vandals on the romp

Other places have crop circles or Stonehenge, but Montreal is undergoing what might in posterity be known as the Great Traffic Sign Disappearances of '03.

On small streets on the western edge of Old Montreal and in Griffintown, signs notifying drivers of limits on their parking have been mysteriously disappearing at a not-insignificant pace.

For several months, on the west side of tiny St-Henri street, between St-Paul and William, about 20 cars now park without any restriction as the sign pole stands bare.

Other nearby poles which have been denuded of signage include one on William between Duke and University, while other signs on Queen, King and Ann have also been removed, painted over or knocked down, including one outside Police Station 20.

One of that station's officers says that he was unaware of the ongoing vandalism, which entails removing a single bolt from the back of the metal sign. Nobody knows who's removing the signs, but one parking lot owner insider figures it's drivers looking for a freebie to avoid the $225 monthly parking fee offered on private lots.

"I have a high suspicion that it's being done by people who have moved into condos down there," says Gérald Girard of the parking lot owners' lobby group Montreal Parking Association, who expressed surprise at the phenomenon. "I've been in the parking business for 40-odd years and that's the first time I've heard of such a thing," he says. » Kristian Gravenor

Go jump in the river

There may be a few beaches around the island of Montreal, but Pierre Lussier thinks that it's the right of every one of the city's resident to take a dip in the St. Lawrence wherever they please. That's why this Sunday, Sept. 7, he and about 20 other activists are going to walk from city hall to the Old Port's Quai Jacques-Cartier and take a quick dip in the river.

"It's all in good fun," says the director of the Corporation St-Laurent, a non-profit environmental action group that's also responsible for organizing Earth Day in Quebec. "We want people to show up in their swimsuits - well, not if it's 10-below, then they'll probably want to wear bathrobes - along with beachballs and masks. It's to be a symbolic act."

The symbolism, he says, lies in pointing out the fact that although Montrealers are surrounded by water, we don't have enough direct access to it. Whether it's due to pollution or because it's closed off from the public for commercial purposes, our water, Lussier says, isn't really ours. By taking the dip, he hopes to raise the public's awareness about our all-too-dry ways.

An Old Port swimming spot might also, Lussier speculates, make the city a more efficient one. "If all the lawyers working in Old Montreal, everyone at the Palais de Justice and city hall, went for a half-hour swim a day, I'm sure their heads would be more clear," he says.

Anyone looking for more info can call Lussier at 728-0116, or can sign up by calling 842-8758 ext 226. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Throwing peace a party

Who can't get behind peace? This is the idea at the core of the second annual Peace Party benefit, to be held next Thursday, Sept. 11. Whether or not you planned to commemorate that inauspicious day, have personally lived through war or cried out to protest against it, the organizers of the benefit feel that peace deserves to be fêted.

"Last year," explains Peace Party innovator Ivan Freud, "as September 11 was approaching, I thought, rather than encourage retaliatory attitudes and depressing remembrance, we could turn it around, change some attitudes by linking the day to celebration."

The evening will offer a range of entertainment: films (including a short rock-doc made of last year's event and an animated short), musical acts (like Testpilot and Tippy Agogo), DJs, dancing and more. The party is expected to carry into the not-so-wee hours of the morn, perhaps as late as 6 a.m.

"All the performers are donating their time," says Freud, and proceeds from the event are going to Maison de L'Amitié, a local organization that works with refugees, and WarChild (www.warchild.ca), a Canadian group that focuses on aid for children affected by war everywhere. This year's event also boasts simultaneous sister parties in London and Tokyo. All three parties will be filmed.

The second annual Peace Party will be held at the Theatre Plaza, 6505 St-Hubert (metro Beaubien). Tickets are $10 in advance at Je L'ai, 159 Duluth E., 284-5393; and Psychonaut, 375 Roy, 844-8998; otherwise $15 at the door. » Alexandra Spunt

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

15 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Aug. 26-Sept. 8, 1988

On the cover: Filmmaker Robin Spry, who discusses his latest film Obsessed, competing at the World Film Festival. It deals, in a very loose way, with NAFTA, U.S.-Canada relations, human emotion and injustice. The bad guy in the movie is a reckless American driver, the heroine a grieving, revenge-bent Canadian mother. "When some profound injustice has been done and the legal system fails you, what do you do?" Spry asks.

• The Mirror examines the injustice of the birth-control pill, calling sex a "troublesome human function" and looking at the political and economic reasons behind the lack of a male oral contraceptive. "The whole notion of being masculine, being male, is related to sexual prowess and the ability to impregnate women," says Concordia sociologist Susan Drysdale. "Males are not going to allow themselves to be experimented upon."

• My Dog Popper, described as "music for sociopaths," release their album 668: Neighbour of the Beast at Foufs. Songs include "I Lost My Job to a Guy Named Gino," "Acid Flashback" and "Suck My Cock."

Angel >> The Canadian Medical Association Journal In its most recent edition, the journal spoke out against the sharp increase in pharmaceutical drug direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA), which includes TV, print and billboard ads, over the past three years. DTCA is legal in the U.S. but isn't here, or in most developed countries. Nevertheless, there has been no action on the part of the federal government to crack down on it. Public health, the further commodification of health and the increased strain it puts on the Medicare system are all concerns the journal raises as it takes the feds to task for not enforcing its own rules.
Insect >> Charest's much-vaunted tax cuts Ruth Rose, a UQÀM political scientist, says that the proposed tax cuts the Charest government wants to implement will not only not benefit poor families, especially families earning under $35,000 a year who have children, but may actually hurt them. The tax specialist, who studied family assistance between 1994 and 2002, says that the practice of issuing non-refundable tax credits and the $5-a-day daycare system will be rendered useless by the cuts. The provincial government says the PQ made this mess by relying too heavily on an overly rigid system, and that they are now looking at alternatives that will help all families - including the possibility of scrapping $5-a-day daycare.