By Shannonn Kelly
1:20AM, EST, Monday, June 28, 2010

As an early response to petty violence, preventative measures were taken to discontinue a large section of public transit Saturday in Toronto, Ontario’ due to the G20 Summit.

Toronto the Good...?

There was no choice but to walk home Saturday amidst helicopters, bike cops, riot police and smoke filled skies. It was a repulsive and unnerving experience.

I texted my fella to tell him what I was witnessing on my way home. Both of us put in our texts: “Stay in Contact”. Both of us forgot to sign off: “I Love You”. My Blackberry was low on battery power. I felt anxious.

Minutes later I got a text from my fella again who had been home sick for the last 5 days. I thought he wanted me to pick something up for him on the way home.

He explained there was a cooler left in front of the Royal Theater and that that there was a bomb squad directly across the street from our home.

Then suddenly, no more texts. As someone who’s had a long-time love affair with New York City, I’m one of those people that has not fully gotten over 9/11. I panicked and I almost broke my ankle busting into a run until I received another text.

I tried all Sunday to unwind to escape from the senseless violence, thuggery and poor choices made by all in the air and on the ground.

I walked in a direction away from the mayhem. While out, I observed and overheard a scruffy type dude ask some other folks ‘where the riots were, so he could “maybe get on TV”.

I went back home feeling uneasy. I arranged spices in my kitchen cupboards, did laundry, made dinner, watched ‘The Hangover‘, ‘True Blood‘ and ‘Entourage‘. I wasn’t that successful in creating the diversion I was seeking. Even though I have a very early Monday morning, it’s 1:20AM and I’m still wide awake…

Toronto wasted almost a billion dollars on the G20, that could have gone to social and mentoring programs, summer camps, education, better transit, food banks, more bike and rollerblade paths, creative expression. I have no idea where this money really went. Do you..?

Faux police cars set up as burn traps to create sensationalist photo-ops. Thrill seekers taking videos and pictures. The vandalism in a major retail core. The loss of business in adjoining neigborhoods such as Queen Street and College Street. The Black Bloc and their misdirected wannabes.

When you understand that the holding cells  for anyone arrested during the G20 is a defunct film studio you think to yourself – This is a joke. But, today -  no one is laughing.

After trying to scrub my brain and make some sense of how everything got so out of hand, I’m still, in a word Toronto -
DISGUSTED…