ttc autocratic driver

SMART TTC DRIVER, BETTER VENDOR’S HELPER

By William Doyle-Marshall

Leaving Scarborough Center aboard an RT Kennedy-bound January 9 I collect a transfer from the dispenser at 8:12 a.m. Get to the Kennedy station and board a westbound train. At Bay Street I disembark and waited a while on the south bound Bay Bus. It never occurred that I should time my wait as I accept the delay as part of the TTC Riding course. I showed the operator my transfer and board the bus. I got off at King Street in the heart of Toronto’s financial district where I wait for the eastbound King streetcar.

Upon boarding the route 504 car (no.4154) I displayed my transfer as any fare paying customer is expected to do. The driver looks at it, studies it for a while then announces to me ‘it does not take that long from Scarborough Center to get to King Street. ”I live there so I know. This transfer is not good here. You can report me. I don’t care but this transfer is not good here”. No arguments except to inform the very sensible driver that I was not responsible for the Bay Street bus delay; neither did I drive the westbound Bloor train. I decide to get off the streetcar at King and Yonge.

I am still very confused by the attitude. Did he expect me to argue with him and demand that he took me where I wanted to go so he could put the car out of service? That’s not my style. How is it possible for an individual driving a streetcar along the streets of Toronto to be able to determine what happened on the subway beneath the ground – a world away?

Being smart does not provide one insight to display autocracy. Perhaps his intention was to ruffle my feathers this Wednesday morning. For what purpose, I wonder. I could have matched his arrogance and refuse to leave the streetcar. Then he would have put it out of service and call for re-enforcement or supervisory staff. What would be the objective? The answer is not even blowing in the wind.

Clearly individuals like this haughty, power drunk driver takes good care of giving the other TTC personnel the kind of reputation they could do without. Customer service is vital in every business, especially transportation. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and its union have to conduct some routine and regular sessions with this driver to ensure that he understands his role. Mr. #4154of January 9, 2013 you are the ambassador for the commission. If you don’t understand that I suggest you quit driving for the TTC and get a job as a coconut vendor’s assistant or perhaps you would do better at cleaning boats for hard working fishermen.

Encountering this sort of unsatisfactory behavior must irk Andy Byford, the commission’s Chief Executive Officer who has said publicly that he is putting the customer “front and centre” in all its operation.

Small business Can seek NYC Contracts

Caribbean American business owners encourage to seek New York City Contracts

By William Doyle-Marshall

   Small Caribbean American entrepreneurs can now apply for City of New York contracts as a result of a new law passed and signed by the Mayor late last year. Edna Wells Handy Commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services made the announcement during her keynote address at the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (CACCI) Small Business Power Breakfast in observance of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

  Commissioner Handy said signing by the Mayor of that law will eliminates the million dollar cap to contracts that were awarded to minority businesses. At one time the city didn’t count Minority Businesses for contracts over $1 million. Now the new law affords them the opportunity to maximize so the commissioner encourage Caribbean American business owners to look at what is done with respect to the new legislation and see where it fits for them in the department of city wide administrative services. “I want to get to know you personally,” Handy said.  Since becoming Commissioner of DCAS she has been looking at the city’s numbers with respect to contracts awarded. “We are looking to increase the pool of those who can bid on our contracts,” the commissioner assured the gathering of small business operators.

   Commissioner Handy, former professor of law at many law schools, served on Kings County Staff as the legal adviser and president of her neighbourhood block association. “With the support of every small business owner moving further in this country and going global, this is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for me to thank you to thank CACCI, the board, the master of ceremony, the wonderful personage assembled here, past, present and future,” she emphasized.

Participants at CACCI's annual Small business Power Breakfast in Brooklyn, New York

 As you engage in this wonderful, wonderful opportunity Commissioner Handy appealed for CACCI to become involved with her collection of business leaders, business owners and organizations in the volume of work that must be done in a way that gives honour to the ancestors and to those who are working in the vineyards now.

The Honorable Public Advocate Bill De Blazio, a candidate for Mayor of the City of New York is critical of the small budget allocated to small businesses out of the City’s Budget. He told the gathering of small entrepreneurs the City of New York is spending an astounding $17 billion a year on every kind of goods and service you can imagine, yet so little – three percent -- of that is falling in the hands of the small business community.

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  Throughout the years, CACCI has engaged an array of distinguished speakers and resource persons from the public and private sectors, and in partnership with Service Corps of Retired Business Executive (SCORE), CACCI provides weekly free small business counseling services to its members and the small business community.  The Chamber’s international contributions include: trade and investment missions to Caribbean states, hosting numerous Caribbean Heads of State visiting New York, and mobilizing numerous emergency disaster relief efforts. The organization has been recognized and applauded for its record of service, and CACCI’s president Dr. Roy Hastick Sr. has received countless awards and citations for his unwavering commitment and service to small businesses, and for his efforts to address intractable economic disparity issues while promoting unity among diverse ethnic and cultural groups in New York and in the Caribbean Diaspora.

   As Commissioner Handy praised the efforts and dedication of Roy Hastick and his wife Eda,  she admitted that  one of the wonderful things about them CACCI and Eda and Roy, they are the bridge builders between African Caribbeans and Americans, Christians and Jews, Blacks and Whites, Haitians-Dominicans and now Ebo and Yoruba. It is up to the community to maintain the Hasticks’ strength and commitment.

January 25, 2013

Make steelpan the country’s national instrument-- Shaqq

By William Doyle-Marshall

Hameed Shaqq (the Pan Piper) wants the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to introduce legislation making steelpan the country’s national instrument.

Shaqq, a former member of Invaders and a tutor on the Ontario scene who has been playing his instrument in Canada for about two decades, is troubled that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has not officially legislated steelpan as twin island republic’s national instrument.

Hameed Shaqqq, Trinidadian steelband performer converses with a Canadian poet at a festival in Toronto

He confesses that former Prime Minister Patrick Manning made a declaration that steelpan is the national instrument of the country. But that declaration does not make pan the national instrument. “There must be an Act of Parliament that embodies the emblem. Without that, it is just talk. I am arguing that there is no Act of Parliament to prove that pan is the national instrument,” he contends.

A Private member’s Bill or a Government-sponsored initiative can correct the situation, Shaqq advises. “We have Pan Trinbago which was incorporated. They incorporated carnival, they incorporated chutney and they disguised the incorporation of the steelpan under Pan Trinbago but there is no protocol; there is no Act of Parliament which states it (steelpan) is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago,” the veteran steelband artist argues.

Shaqq is concerned that lots of individuals are now taking out patents about the instrument. He recalled a recent case where someone was patenting the ‘cycle of fifths’ which Tony Williams brought into being many years ago while he was at the helm of Pan Am North Stars. The cycle of fifths was made popular by Pythagoras, the mathematician, in the 6^th century BC. He didn’t invent the cycle. He made that theory popular and there are lots of diagrams you can see about the cycle of fifths but there was never an instrument until Tony Williams did that in the 1950s and we should have protected that intellectual property because it is indeed a unique invention and a ground breaking discovery. It should have been incorporated at that time.

Shaqq cites the country’s Coat of Arms that cannot be patented by anyone as that would be illegal. Determined to see changes in the situation, he laughs “It’s not too late now to introduce legislation to correct the situation because the world is not coming to an end. We always have time to secure our intellectual property.”

Because Nobel Peace Prize is awarded for unique invention and ground breaking discovery, Shaqq says, the steelpan qualifies for such recognition. He insists that recognizing those individuals who created this instrument is necessary and vital as a mark of respect and appreciation for their talents. Ellie Manette, former Invaders captain; Bertie Marshall, of Highlanders and Tony Williams are among nationals who must be recognized for their efforts, he charges. Unfortunately nationals of Trinidad and Tobago seem to have difficulty praising each other and crediting people for what they have done.

If you look at the history of the steelpan, you will see in 1951 they took TASPO to England for the 100^th year celebration and they took the pan there. The British press made the steelpan look very impressive. We saw in 1953 steelpan came to the Canadian National Exhibition. We saw in 1957 the United States Navy opened a steelband that was based in Puerto and it lasted until 1999.

“With all these things happening internationally in 1962 our government did not make this instrument the national instrument which would have protected all the copyright developments that happened later. This failure to protect steelpan is such a serious issue for Shaqq that he insists “one has to look at the overall national cultural expressions of Trinidad and Tobago”. There is a feeling among concerned individuals involved in the arts, and due to the flippant attitude over the years, many believe it has grown into wholesale copyright infringements visibly particularly in the music industry. There is a distinct feeling among the average person that it is okay to pirate music on the street corners.

“In 1992 the then government of Trinidad and Tobago under the leadership of Basdeo Panday fought a case against a person who had taken out a patent on the steelpan. Those guys from the United States won the case because their defence was, they were not patenting the steelpan, they were patenting a process of making the steelpan. As a result they got the patent licence for that. If we had gone beyond in 1962 to patent the instrument then no one would be able to patent any process of making the instrument nor you could not patent anything related to the instrument.”

January 19, 2013

Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce & Industry MLK Power Breakfast

By William Doyle-Marshall

Brooklyn, New York was the scene of a very exciting event Friday. It provided a wealth of opportunities for small businesses. Dr. Roy Hastick Sr., founder  and CEO of CACCI pulled out all the stops to ensure that entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs who are doing business in the city would become rich and famous. Anyone who sat through the day’s happening, certainly left there with a wealth of information. The next step is up to them and how they utilize the opportunities that seem to be looming in the air above their heads.

Dr. Roy Hastick, CACCI Founder & CEO presides 

Edna Wells Handy, NYC Commissioner Administrative Services

Imagine having senior level bankers and funding agencies representatives telling you how the U.S. Small Business Administration is poised to help you improve. JED Office Interiors; New Jersey Career Institute; SUNY Downstate Medical Center were among the agencies on hand to network.

It did not miss anyone’s attention that the City of New York has to take serious steps to spend more of its money with these individuals and organizations who are either barely surviving or struggling to survive. The fact that the municipality is always anxious to grab what it can get from entrepreneurs without offering anything or giving very little in exchange, was certainly a concern of the gathering. Imagine a mere 3.5% of the City of New York’s budget reaching these small business operations. In any world it has been admitted that small businesses are the engine for employment creation.

Senator Eric L. Adams, Walter T. Moseley; Wayne Smith, Mayor of Irvington, New Jersey; Marty Markowitz, President of the Borough of Brooklyn and his deputy Sandra Chapman and Councillor Mathieu Eugene were among the supporters of the CACCI event which had its focus on financial literacy, workforce development, job development, micro enterprise development and more.

Dr. Hastick and his wife were acknowledged for their selfless and dedicate commitments over the years in knocking on doors to bring attention to these operations – many of whom are immigrants. As Hastick and his team hosted the power session in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, celebrants acknowledged that the late civil rights leader was slain as he pursued economic development for the people of America.  This perhaps was a motivation for CACCI and others to encourage City officials to develop a real policy that would offer serious and tangible access to a larger share of the city’s budget. Three point five percent of a  billion dollars is hardly a drop in the bucket.

January 19, 2012