[URBAN NOTE] "A private cafe in plain view on Toronto’s most important street"

[rfmcdonald]

At the Toronto Star, Shawn Micallef takes issue with a private restaurant in the Financial District.

Have you been to the Accountant Zoo, Toronto’s newest downtown attraction? It’s on the northwest corner of Yonge and Adelaide Sts. where people strolling by can watch accountants in their own habitat. It’s not a petting zoo though; the accountants are safely behind glass, seemingly oblivious to the world outside.

The accountants here look friendly enough. Some of them type on laptops, crunching numbers. Some are having meetings that seem very serious, probably doing an audit. Others seem much more relaxed, their identification cards bouncing at the end of their lanyards as they laugh and talk animatedly together.

This zoo actually looks like a bright and cheery cafe, but something’s different. Called Bistro 1858, it’s the new private restaurant for Deloitte employees who’ve moved into offices here in the Bay Adelaide Centre’s recently opened east tower. If you, non-accountant, walk up to the glass doors on Yonge you’ll find them locked with a sign that reads “No Entry. Please use our main entrance on Adelaide”. There, in the building’s lobby, a security guard at the entrance to Bistro 1858 only lets in employees and their guests.

This wouldn’t matter so much if it were tucked away in the basement or on an upper floor. Instead it’s like an elite airport lounge, but even those are generally kept out of view of the rabble who’ve only bought an economy ticket.

Saddest about this private cafe in a most public place is the denial of the public realm’s value and the mix it brings to our daily interactions. The closed door says no to chance encounters and overhearing random snippets of conversations from people we don’t know, some of the ways we learn about each other and gather new ideas.