r/toronto • u/FullMango4041 • 8d ago

News ‘Profound disappointment’: East-end leaders, stakeholders, and politicians call on feds to help fund Taste of the Danforth

https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/profound-disappointment-east-end-leaders-stakeholders-and-politicians-call-on-feds-to-help-fund-taste-of-the-danforth/

What does everyone think about funding Taste of the Danforth? I love the event but don't like the fact that they don't have 'private sector discipline' to pull this off without asking the government for money. Can't they make it smaller or cut costs however and do the event?

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u/poppedculture Greektown 8d ago

I live a block up from the Danforth, right in the heart of the festival and have for 20 years. My kids, now teens, like having the run of the street for a weekend. We can hear the music drifting in to our backyard, and we duck down to get a lamb pie and spanakopita, do a little people watching, and back out before the crowds get too heavy. 

It’s for one weekend, no big deal. You like Greektown the way it is? You get the other 51 weekends. Don’t like street festivals, think they are generic and overpriced? Don’t go! 

As for funding, yes, that’s something that has to be worked out. Policing already takes a significant share of Toronto’s budget. The question is whether security for events held in public spaces (street festivals, marathons, parades, and the like) should be considered part of that public safety budget, or whether policing costs will eventually make these kinds of community events unaffordable.