Comments Back on http://laforet.ca
Folks who have been reading my site for a while may recall in January 2010 when I removed the option to comment on entries. This was done in response to racist comments and smears that were politically driven in response to me filing to run for Toronto City Council in Ward 43. As I said at the time, I have great respect for exchanges and dialogue, but no interest in censoring comments so only supportive ones appear. I also didn’t feel it reasonable to give a platform to folks set on tearing me down.
That said, I’m no longer on a ballot, have no intention to be on a ballot any time in the foreseeable future and will be focusing my time and energy on advocating through and on behalf of Wind Concerns Ontario. For this reason, I’m happy to re-open the comments section and hope folks will feel free to leave their thoughts on the issues I write about in the future.
No Comments »Media Summary of Executive Committee Debate of Wind Moratorium Motion
Below is the print media coverage from yesterday’s debate. Global and CTV news also covered the meeting.
680 News: Councillors try to delay the building of wind turbines off the Scarborough Bluffs
Toronto Star: Wind farm opponents blocked again
Toronto Sun: Wind turbine plan blows in controversy
National Post: Windmills get support from executive committee, despite residents concerns
Daily Metro: Wind farm’s foes frustrated again
My Reflection on the Motion and Outcome:
I questioned why Councillor Ainslie would move a motion to the Executive Committee where he doesn’t have a vote, and after watching his fellow Councillors flip his motion into one endorsing Toronto Hydro’s anemometer and off shore wind power, it was clear — he lacks basic political judgement.
You never move a motion you don’t have the votes for. This wasn’t even close. It got zero votes and resulted in a motion explictly supporting Toronto Hydro. The exact opposite of what the community wanted. It was even worse than nothing. Ainslie couldn’t even speak to the new motion, because he wasn’t a member of the committee he moved his motion to. It couldn’t have been more poorly planned.
Ainslie voted for Toronto Hydro’s offshore wind testing (the Anemometer) and wind turbine proposal in December 2009 – as did every other member of the committee his doomed motion was moved to. Again – the judgement of his apporach needs to be questioned.
It isn’t lost on me that he’s had a change of heart since I’ve filed to run against him and literally took the exact wording of a motion that a Wind Concerns group passed at their Council in March.
The City owns this project though and if we had a competent Councillor they could stop this project at the Council level, not fail in an attempt to go to the Province with a request that wouldn’t even impact Toronto Hydro.
Based on Ainslie’s motion, residents were trying to get Council to ask the Province for a moratorium the Minister had already refused to accept, even if the motion passed. It was symbolic at best, which makes no sense because this Council can act to stop Toronto Hydro.
The motion should have been calling on Toronto Council to stop Toronto Hydro and prevent them from exploring offshore wind projects off the Scarborough Bluffs in the future or anything else related to the fact that the City of Toronto, not the Province of Ontario owns and controls what Toronto Hydro does.
That being said, as President of Wind Concerns Ontario, I did speak in favour of the motion as I was supportive of the identical motion that Paul Ainslie literally copied from Clearview Ontario where it passed unanimously. I do believe a health study is important based on the negative impacts we know of so far.
Guildwood residents need the City of Toronto to stop the City of Toronto owned Toronto Hydro and unfortunately our Councillor’s voting record has been entirely supportive of this project at the municipal level. It is clear he can’t influence even a single vote to our side and it’s time to let someone else try.
No Comments »Toronto 311 to this caller: ‘You can’t always get what you want’
I was downtown tonight and came across a massive hole in the sidewalk by a sewer grate. Basically the sidewalk has been dug away creating a giant hole, that is large enough for a person to surely meet their end in. Clearly the hole was intentional, but marking this with a single pylon and leaving a giant, essentially unmarked hole in the sidewalk, couldn’t have been. No one’s judgement can be that bad.
So I decided something needed to be done to raise this to the attention to someone in a position to do something about it. I called Toronto’s 311 service in hopes that they might be able to help me figure out who to contact to make sure something was done tonight.
I have to say, service was quick. The phone literally rang once before it was answered. I started explaining the situation and the location but the potential seriousness of this issue hadn’t really hit the person on the other end. I was getting frustrated because it seems pretty clear to me that this is a problem. I was put on hold while the 311 representative got more information on how to handle this and what was playing?
And you can’t always get what you want, honey
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometime, yeah,
You just might find you get what you need!
The 1969 Rolling Stone’s classic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (This link will take you to a YouTube recording of a live performance)
I couldn’t help but laugh.
For any organization this is embarrassing for your customer service line, for the City of Toronto it’s a little too honest. In my particular case, not only could I not get what I want, but what I think people need – the hole properly covered with something (like a plywood board? giant piece of metal?). We see this all the time in other parts of the City when folks are leaving open trenches and holes in roads and sidewalks.
The call ended with the 311 representative asking for my name and phone number, saying she would pass it along and if they needed any more information someone would call. There was no commitment to any action being taken, or even appreciation for the issue.
So I went back, with my camera to take pictures of said hole and here they are. If you get bored, call 311 (they are open 24/7) and ask them to send someone to cover the giant hole in the sidewalk at Yonge and Harbour on the southwest corner that could end really badly if they don’t.
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