{"id":3274,"date":"2008-06-16T11:50:01","date_gmt":"2008-06-16T15:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2008\/06\/16\/recent-writing-goats-and-glen-murray\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:43:35","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:43:35","slug":"recent-writing-goats-and-glen-murray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/recent-writing-goats-and-glen-murray\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent writing: Goats and Glen Murray"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

ED<\/strong>: Other than a general sense of making Toronto and area interesting, the following articles have nothing in common other than the byline. <\/em><\/p>\n

In yesterday’s Toronto Star Ideas section I wrote about goats<\/a>. Inspired by the urban goats at the Riverdale Farm and some gravity-defying GTA goats found north of Brampton (pictured above), the piece is a brief exploration into how goats intersect with our lives. Though not addressed too deeply in this article, I’ve started to wonder if goats will make a comeback on the urban landscape as fuel prices skyrocket and we look for sustainable and local sources of food.<\/p>\n

In his “Proverbs of Hell” the 18th-century, revolutionary English poet William Blake wrote, “The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.” The phrase alludes to a reputation that ranges from delightfully mischievous to the embodiment of evil. <\/em><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Though there is a growing movement to allow city dwellers to keep small livestock such as goats in their yards as a sustainable and local food source, urban goat connoisseurs can get their fix at a handful of nearby locations. Ten minutes north of Brampton on Heart Lake Rd. is Downey’s Farm Market — “A Family Farm for Family Fun” — which includes a petting zoo with a variety of animals. Dominating the barnyard are narrow wooden aerial walkways.<\/em><\/p>\n

Visitors can buy a handful of feed, place it in a cup on a pulley system, and hoist it up to one of the two crow’s nests in the hope of enticing a goat to exercise the mountaineering skills hidden deep in its genetic code.<\/em><\/p>\n

On one busy Sunday, the farm was teeming with children, but the goats weren’t climbing. “They’re over-fed today,” explains a farmhand. “They aren’t going to climb anything.” They were, however, content to be petted by a steady stream of squealing city children.<\/em><\/p>\n

John Downey, farmer and patriarch, introduced me to his goats on a quiet weekday. Without the children around as a distraction, suspicious goat eyes watched us enter the paddock in silence. It’s disconcerting — they look straight into your soul. Some are skittish and move away; others, if you don’t pet them promptly, will ram your leg until you do.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the recent issue of Building Magazine, the Canadian building and development industry publication, I wrote a profile on Glen Murray, the recently appointed head of the Canadian Urban Institute<\/a>. The discussion was focussed around “what makes a great city” and Murray’s thoughts will likely be of interest to many Spacing readers. Read the rest here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The CUI is a fitting home for Murray, and he is taking over from another former big city mayor, David Crombie, Toronto’s reform mayor from the 1970s. “My feet are getting into those tiny, perfect shoes,” jokes Murray, referencing Crombie’s Tiny Perfect Mayor moniker. The CUI is a non-profit organization that “brings together experts from different disciplines to connect people, money and ideas to build strong communities in Canada and internationally.” Established by the erstwhile Metropolitan level of Toronto’s municipal government, the CUI is now an independent body and self-sustaining.<\/em><\/p>\n

“It’s the only applied urban public policy organization in Canada,” says Murray. “One of the challenges in the country is a real lack of innovation in rethinking our urban systems, places that generate wealth and the mechanisms needed to capitalize on what we have. There is a lot of hidden capacity here.” Murray points to the CUI’s generation of brownfield, greenfield and sustainable energy networks that try to capture some of the organizations independent of municipal governments that have the potential to propel city building in the right direction. <\/em><\/p>\n

—<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the impediments to fostering “great cities” in Canada that Murray says needs to change is the anti-urban culture that permeates the county and is exemplified by the current disdain the Stephen Harper government shows to municipalities. “The antiurban culture in Canada is downright stupid. It sells and sells cheap,” laments Murray. “Other countries are moving to support regional urban areas. London (UK) put out a white paper on the city that included sections on its financial stake in relation to trade and regulation but also included subways, transit, and even sections on how London can access the Muslim World. Imagine [federal Finance Minster] Jim Flaherty talking about that?” <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Top photo by Liz Clayton<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ED: Other than a general sense of making Toronto and area interesting, the following articles have nothing in common other than the byline. In yesterday’s Toronto Star Ideas section I wrote about goats. Inspired by the urban goats at the Riverdale Farm and some gravity-defying GTA goats found north of Brampton (pictured above), the pieceContinue reading “Recent writing: Goats and Glen Murray”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21758,2],"tags":[9546,143,9548,457,847,846,9553,634,9545,451,45,9552,615,9550,2537,9551,1344,359,426,9554,26,533,9543,9544,9547,9541,9540,57,19,341,464,9542,625,9549],"class_list":["post-3274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-politics","tag-big-city-mayor","tag-brampton","tag-building-magazine","tag-canada","tag-canadian-urban-institute","tag-david-crombie","tag-family-fun","tag-farmer","tag-federal-finance-minster","tag-food-2","tag-funding-cities","tag-genetic-code","tag-glen-murray","tag-goats-murray","tag-jim-flaherty","tag-john-downey","tag-liz-clayton","tag-london","tag-mayor","tag-murray","tag-people","tag-poet","tag-recently-appointed-head","tag-reform-mayor","tag-stephen-harper-government","tag-sustainable-and-local-food-source","tag-sustainable-energy-networks","tag-the-905","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-star","tag-united-kingdom","tag-urban-systems","tag-us-federal-reserve","tag-william-blake"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRecent writing: Goats and Glen Murray - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/recent-writing-goats-and-glen-murray\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Recent writing: Goats and Glen Murray - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ED: Other than a general sense of making Toronto and area interesting, the following articles have nothing in common other than the byline. 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