Archive for July, 2009
City of Toronto CUPE 79 and 416 Strike – Day 34 – Our Urban Forest Suffers From Labour Dispute Too
I’ve written about a number of impacts the City of Toronto strike has had on services ranging from garbage collection, ferry service, child care and recreation programs. Today, I’m writing about the impact of the City of Toronto strike on the urban forest we as Torontonians can be so proud of. Toronto is often referred to as a ‘city within a park’ on many of the municipal signs in our park space. We’re blessed with great tree coverage in a city of our size, and the City’s Urban Forestry Services is responsible for the health, preservation and maintenance of some three million trees on City owned property, in parks, ravines and along boulevards.
Southern Scarborough is an area I know extremely well, and all those who come and see it surely know of the richness of Scarborough’s natural beauty. The trees in many of the communities in this part of Scarborough are often considerably older than the homes built around them. While sharing this place with nature is a great privilege, there are also responsibilities attached to being the neighbours of such great examples of balance between urban life and nature.
Lorie Reynolds, a Scarborough resident knows this quite well and has done a tremendous job along with her husband advocating for the protection of a beautiful 200 year old White Oak tree on city property, just behind her home. She was kind enough to write to me and tell me how the City Strike has impacted this tree’s health, and share with me the history of her involvement working with City staff and her local Councillor to ensure Urban Forestry Services is doing what it can to preserve this White Oak.
As you will see in Lorie’s pictures below, the White Oak tree behind her home has an infection called ‘Anthracnose’ a tree disease that causes spots of dead tissue to appear on leaves, causing them to fall from the tree, weakening it’s health. Sections of the tree become infected and require intervention to treat the tree to keep it healthy through pruning, fungicide, mulching, and lots of watering.
Four years ago, when this particular tree was first noted to have an infection, the folks at Urban Forestry Services came and treated the tree. Things were looking good, but this summer, the Anthracnose fugus returned. Lorie had written to Urban Forestry Services to advise them of this, but received an auto reply message advising her of the strike, and asking her to re-send her email after the strike as staff would not be reading emails received during the labour dispute.
Lorie and her husband have developed what sounds like an excellent system for watering the roots of the tree in the meantime, using an old blue box recycling bin, as they await an end to the labour dispute so that Urban Forestry Staff can once again come out and properly treat this old oak tree and hopefully restore it to it’s previous vitality.
In many ways the Reynolds and this White Oak Tree are lucky that Councillor Brian Ashton is their municipal representative. He is one of the better municipal Councillors in Scarborough and has taken an interest in working with them to ensure the folks at Urban Forestry do what they can to help. Last week, he contacted City Management, who continue to work through the strike to advise them of the situation and see if anyone is able to come out during the dispute to treat the tree.
Lorie Reynold’s Photos
As someone from a well forested community in Scarborough, I have a great appreciation and respect for nature and the many old trees that dot our parks, and private property. Last June, I participated in a ‘Toronto Tree Tours’ nature walk through the Rouge Park put on in partnership with LEAF (Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests) Arborist Todd Irvine, and Jim Robb, General Manager of Friends of the Rouge Watershed. It was quite a fascinating experience that wove the history of the development of Scarborough and it’s tree cover into one narrative. It actually inspired my third blog entry, some three hundred and forty posts ago on June 22nd 2008 – Rouge Park. Trees like the one standing near the Reynold’s homes are real gems, and their work protecting this tree should be commended.
Last year I also wrote about another Oak Tree that had fallen on a playground in High Park and of Ernest Hemmingway’s concern in 1923 about the impacts of urbanization on the City of Toronto’s oak trees. July 31st 2008 Ernest Hemingway on Toronto’s Oak trees circa 1923
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Some Progress At The Guild Inn – Pictures of Guild Inn Hotel Demolition
For the record, the demolition of the cement hotel addition is the only form of demolition on the grounds of the Guild Inn I have ever supported. It pleases me to share with you photos I’ve received from Gloria Valeriote, a Scarborough resident who shares the passion I and many others from Guildwood and Scarborough have for this magical place.
Gloria had seen the photos Jeanette Mahon had allowed me to share of the Guild Inn Studio and kindly offered to share with me photos she had taken over the course of a number of visits to the site during it’s demolition.
The Guild Inn holds a very special place for me. When I ran for City Council in 2006, I did so because I opposed the demolition of the original Guild Inn building, the privatization of 7.5 acres of parkland, which included most of the gardens, the parking lot and access to the path to the water. Raising my concerns about these issues to the Councillor at the time and of the lack of information I believed residents had been given was met with a simple response:
‘If you think I am doing a bad job, you should throw down you’re hundred bucks and run against me.’
So I did.
My position was very unpopular because in my defense of heritage preservation and parkland conservation, I found myself opposing the only plan on the table, and largely on the outside of the debate. Then Councillor Soknacki and current Councillor Ainslie each supported demolishing the heritage buildings. Councillor Soknacki even had the Bickford Inn delisted as a heritage building and sought Council permission for it’s demolition, while Councillor Ainslie was still his Executive Assistant.
I argued from early 2005 that the proposal brought forth by Windmill development (this is somewhat ironic I know) was not economically viable, would harm our park space and would destroy a beautiful heritage site in the process. The response was a thorough mocking. The Toronto Star called me ‘one voice of dissent’ while the Globe and Mail referred to me as the ‘long detractor’ citing my belief that Windmill development’s proposal was not economically viable and would surely not meet the economic objectives they sought.
After a campaign that saw Councillor Soknacki and candidate Ainslie strongly support demolishing the heritage buildings, privatizing 7.5 acres of parkland and building a condoized hotel project twice the size of the current building, in January 2007, Windmill development announced a lack of economic viability to their plan, and it fell through. Thank god it did.
The failure of Windmill Development’s plan has allowed for Centennial College to come up with a more palatable proposal.
My view of supportable parameters for a project was simple, public retainment of parkland, preservation of heritage architecture, a purpose that serves our community. It seems many aspects of Centennial College’s proposal meet those requirements, which pleases me.
As a citizen, I am pleased to see Centennial College acting smartly, and demonstrating that in 2009 as in 2005 the heritage buildings did not need to be demolished for structural reasons as both Councillor Soknacki and Ainslie falsely stated to Guildwood residents repeatedly while selling Windmill Development’s plan on the developer’s behalf. I am glad to see the hotel tower coming down, and hopeful Centennial College will protect the remaining heritage component in their plan.
Below are Gloria Valeriote ’s pictures.
City of Toronto CUPE 79 and 416 Strike – Day 33 – A Heartwarming Story of Cooperation on the Picket Line in Scarborough
I get a lot of emails from residents of Toronto, and workers especially in response to my City of Toronto strike coverage. I found the one below very touching and asked the author for her permission to publish her story.
If you have a story you would like to to share with me, please click Contact Me.
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