I met two people last week who really surprised me. A kind old lady who doesn’t believe in free lunches for children in schools, “they’re not doable.” And a middle-aged guy who said, “parks are for lazy people.”
The lady was talking about Olivia Chow’s proposed universal lunch program for school kids. The guy was referring to a Bradford candidate that wants to cut spending on local parks.
I never thought I’d meet a kind old grandma who was against lunches for kids. I also never met anyone who was against parks.
The lady talked about her own local park and how city construction is blocking her access to it. “Why do other construction sites in the city get alternatives to go around the work and we don’t?”
The man said Chow’s free ride on his tax dollars has to come to an end. He was carrying a tool bag and shook it. “I work for a living. I don’t have time to go to parks. You wanna talk about parks, why don’t you clean up this park right here,” he was angry by this time, and pointed to an area behind me. “It’s a mess!”
I found their opinions, uncomfortable. These were middle class people from middle class areas. They live in neighbourhoods with leafy trees, quiet streets and neatly kept detached houses with gardens and driveways.
They’re not rich, but they’re definitely not poor.
I guess I expected them to be more generous. Like it doesn’t matter that they don’t personally use the lunches or the parks, but if the community uses them, then they support it.
Not at all.
For these two people, any City expenditure is coming from their pockets. And in times of scarcity, they’re looking after number one.
