Open Sources Guelph - May 4, 2017

This week's Open Sources Guelph will not begin until we're shown to our villa. But seriously, unlike a certain luxury music festival organized by the man that gave us "Thug Lovin'", or a certain American administration that we could name, this week's show will run like a Swiss watch. No guest this week, but we're going to have lots of discussion about 105 days of Trump, ranked ballots, refusing to pay rent, and why some people this week proved why their best work is behind them. 

This Thursday, May 4, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

1) (100) Days of Bummer. After marking 100 days with an old-fashioned rally with all his classic tropes and memes, President Donald Trump started his second hundred days opining the fact that Andrew Jackson died 16 years too soon to stop the Civil War, while his budget department tried to turn the fact that none of 45's goals were achieved in the Congressional budget deal into a win. In the meantime, the Russian interference investigation ramped up again, and the third attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare seemed doomed to failure thanks to mixed messaging and an intractable divide between the Freedom Caucus and moderate Republicans. Once more unto Trumpland, dear friends.

2) London Polling. The Ontario government opened up the possibility last year, but London has now become the first municipality in not just our province, but across the country, to move to a ranked ballot system. The vote seemed to be along a generational split, with rookie councillors in their first term voting in favour while veteran councillors sat opposed, but in the end, council embraced the future, and just under the deadline to arrange it for 2018. We'll look at why London went where no one else in Ontario has gone before, even Guelph, even though the Province of Ontario has opened the door wide for municipalities to make the leap.

3) Rent Control. People in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood are going on strike! Not against their employers, no, but against the management company that maintains two apartment buildings in the area. The residents are charging that the company  is raising rents while letting their buildings fall apart, which the tenants say is a conscious move on the part of their landlords to force them out and charge even higher rent. So they're going to hit the property owners where it hurts, the wallet. They're withholding $25,000 in monthly rent until the managers agree to no more rent increases and address needed repairs, but will it work? And if it does, will it catch on?

4) Free Fyre. What was supposed to be the hottest spot on a warming planet, saw hundreds of people got on planes and head to the Caribbean last Thursday for the most exclusive party of the year. So what does a $100K ticket price get you? Luxury accommodations in FEMA shelters, a crappy cheese sandwich, and half the top-billed ticket bailing before the show even started. As attendees tried to compare their situation to the plight of refugees, the rest of us enjoyed the proxy torture of over-privileged millennials who stupidly put their faith in Ja Rule, who apparently is still around. Were we a bit too eager to enjoy the suffering of people that put their faith in Instagram spokesmodels, or is their a real story here?

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.