Media Summary of Executive Committee Debate of Wind Moratorium Motion

by John Laforet
posted on April 20th, 2010 at 06:22:48 am

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.

Toronto 311 to this caller: ‘You can’t always get what you want’

by John Laforet
posted on February 5th, 2010 at 21:38:23 pm

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.

Would you like to comment? Please feel free to visit the Contact page on my site and contact me. Click subscribe if you would like to receive daily updates from http://laforet.ca in your inbox.

Laforet.ca Gets Campaigny

by John Laforet
posted on January 17th, 2010 at 22:20:31 pm

I have been writing about community, political and policy matters on this site since June 2008 and it has been quite an experience. Certainly not something I’m going to give up because as a candidate, being candid is probably more important now than before.

But some things are changing.

You may notice instead of saying “John Laforet, standing up and standing strong” it now says “Elect John Laforet, For City Council Ward 43.” I still stand up and stand strong, but am hoping to do that as the next City Councillor for Ward 43. It seemed to make sense to make that part clearer.

Donations are now being accepted using paypal at the right hand side of the page. I will post a separate note about this item later with details on who is eligible to donate, and the rebate the City of Toronto will provide donors.

Comments have also been turned off. This was a difficult decision that involved quite a bit of back and forth but was ultimately decided by me. The basic idea is this – I strongly support debate, and exchanges, and I loathe anonymous, baseless attacks. I also don’t like being a censor and until today had only ever deleted one of 1184 comments posted. That being said, the last two days have seen a racist comment, and two factually inaccurate drive by smear attempts on me. Paul Ainslie supporters will need to find someone else to pay the hosting of their anonymous attacks because it won’t be me.

The point of drawing traffic from a community to a site is to allow for residents to read about your plans for the community, and get your take on things. It’s supposed to a tool to facilitate an exchange between the candidate and voter, something I do believe is better done without a comments section.

I imagine there will be a number of other changes to facilitate volunteer requests, ride requests, sign requests and the traditional campaign stuff, but for now using the contact me page will be the best option.

I am looking forward to the enhancements to the site that should also see video entries playing a bigger role, and more reflection on local events as the campaign unfolds.

I will obviously still be talking about the wind turbine issues as my community is deeply impacted by this, and my actions on this file and the inaction of my local representative is what led to me filing my nomination paper in the end.

Our campaign can only be successful with the financial support of those who believe in what we’re trying to achieve.

Would you like to comment? Please feel free to visit the Contact page on my site and contact me. Click subscribe if you would like to receive daily updates from http://laforet.ca in your inbox.