For most people, the end of the holiday season is most closely associated with returning to school or work.
But for residents and businesses in Toronto's downtown core, it also signals the return to a state of relative, though potentially unwanted privacy.
After a three-week pilot experiment, closed circuit cameras that the Toronto Police posted at three downtown intersections were taken down Sunday, despite calls from some to make them permanent fixtures.
"I think there should be more put up, actually," said tourist Vera Grywacheski.
"We didn't want to go to Yonge Street because we heard about all the shootings and stuff."
In the wake of the 2005 Boxing Day shooting that claimed the life of 15-year-old Jane Creba, Toronto Police decided to put up cameras for the 2006 holiday season. The cameras were installed on December 18 on Yonge Street at Gerrard, Dundas and Gould.
They paid almost immediate dividends, as just days after the installation bullets pierced the window at Sam the Record Man, just steps from where Creba died at Yonge and Gould.
"As an investigator I expect that there are things that we learned that we otherwise might not have had if we didn't have those cameras," said Toronto Police Sgt. Randy Carter.
"Unfortunately, this (taking them down) is a disadvantage to me as an investigator."
And yet just three weeks after being turned on, the switch is being flipped again. Of course that doesn't mean there won't still be
surveillance. Many downtown businesses have their own cameras and security systems, which in some cases can see through front doors and windows into the streets.
Meanwhile, the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Association is pushing for the permanent use of the cameras, and has said it will be presenting them as a formal proposal to Mayor David Miller.
And if that doesn't work, they're prepared to take matters into their own hands.
"I'm sure there are going to be hundreds by the time it's all said and done," said Arron Barberian, the group's chair.
"If we want to have a system that's above and beyond what the City of Toronto or the Toronto Police department are willing to put in place, we'll have to pay for it ourselves."
Save this page on del.icio.us
Sign up for a del.icio.us account here to save your bookmarks for free online.