W. K. Lis
Superstar
Same thing happened with a similar tree in High Park. The tree came down and they put in an ordinary sapling that looks like any other street tree. Nothing to differentiate it.
Sounds like downtown Cleveland.
As for keeping the LCBOs and Beer stores open later - not going to happen when the bars are required to buy their alcohol from the LCBO and therefore would face unfair competition from the LCBO's cheaper prices.
That would actually be a good place for some of the tourism marketing budget to go, even though it's a shame it has to come to that. Actually identifying places by their real names helps too. On a recent episode of Flashpoint (which plays coy the same way Rookie Blue does) they showed all kinds of shots of City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square...but City Hall became an immigration building and NPS became "Hancock Square". That's a pretty American-sounding name to me. So there you have it, they're showing off one of the most recognizable landmarks in the city and they're hiding what it is.There've been a lot of interesting ideas about what food, attractions, etc. should be marketed as "iconic Toronto" here. Just about any of these ideas could fly if marketed properly. What I think Toronto should do is - instead of choosing to promote, say, peameal on a kaiser as iconic Toronto fare - market our name through all the films and tv shows being filmed here. I think we have a singular opportunity here as more and more movies and tv shows are being set in Toronto and marketed to mainstream audiences in the US and around the world. For example, just as BMO did a very consipicuous product placement in "Being Erica" last season, Toronto could pay to make sure that our name and attractions are mentioned frequently. "Being Erica", incidently, gets props from me for frequently mentioning "Toronto" as well as places such as Centre Island, Casa Loma and Canada's Wonderland. However, shows such as "Rookie Blue" still play coy about where exactly they're set, even if they do show our skyline in many of their shots. All we need is for a lead character in a hit show or movie to stand in front of St Lawrence market exclaiming that when you're in Toronto you gotta have the peameal on a kaiser, and wham, people will be in front of St Lawrence Market eating peameal on a Kaiser the way people eat danishes in front of Tiffany's on Fifth Ave.
The Toronto-specific food is the best idea: my friends from NYC really think this is key to identifying a place.