Mayor Ford will be trying to set an example today that his constituents all across town will actually want to follow. He will join his neighbors and supporters in observing Cleanup Day at Colonel Samuel Smith in Ward 6 (Etobicoke-Lakeshore). This Toronto-wide citizen participation cleanup was the Mayor’s idea and it seems to have caught on as hundreds of groups will participate in the third annual event. It’s really a month long program in which citizens and the city deal with litter, graffiti and vandalism. Locally, our street seems to have come out from under the snow looking better than usual. But a sweep of Bayview Avenue’s wide sidewalks would be good for the spirit and an excellent example to others. The picture distributed online of Mayor Ford as the poster boy for a spring cleanup is one of his better portrayals. 

Court granted self-styled anarchist Joel Bitar bail in the amount of  $100,000 today and permitted him to return to New York City where he lives with his mother and father. Bitar is a 27-year-old doorman who in the past has called anarchy “direct democracy”. Police say he was a one-man wrecking crew, wielding a hammer at business windows and police vehicles and causing damage totalling $400,000.  Bitar and four other U.S. citizens have been tracked down by Toronto Police with the help of  U.S. authorities by sifting through thousands of pictures and hundreds of videos. In this instance, according to Detective Sergeant Gary Giroux, an outraged peaceful protester followed Bitar taking pictures of him. The images form a history, police say, of the Manhattan doorman’s violent rampage while masked and later when he unmasked and melted into the crowds. The peaceful protester will testify for the Crown at Bitar’s trial. Michele Mandel was in court today and wrote a highly readable account.