Archive for Actions

I should have blogged this post weeks ago, after the November 16 PLAC meeting where we discussed the Cherry Beach soccer fields.  I must say that this was not an easy issue for me to take a stand on.

It was first discussed at a PLAC meeting this summer, where the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation presented the plan, and it seemed, if not particularly inspiring, at least mostly harmless.  We were told that this was an area of scrub with an open toxic ditch in dire need of remediation and capping.  We were told it wasn’t being used at all.  Making it into temporary astroturf soccer fields would be a small step to satisfying the demand for sports fields in the city, and could be rethought later into a broader park vision.

I went to the November 16 PLAC meeting and felt I had been lied to.  Look at the Save Cherry Beach site to see a picture of the wasteland that was described.  There are hundreds of trees on the site, some more than 40 feet tall.  There is an open meadow that is currently enjoyed by butterfly enthusiasts.  Worst of all, it is apparent that the remediation plan was developed after the site had been identified as a potential sports field.  In other words, there was no concern about the toxicity until they thought about bulldozing it anyway.  Seems awfully convenient then, to discover it is in need of capping.  The truth is that by this reasoning the entire Portlands and much of Toronto might need to be covered over.     Read more »

This just in.  Brennan Louw is apparently singlehandedly trying to organize a protest about Canada reneging on its Kyoto commitments.  Over the last week he’s gotten over 150 supporters and called me about strategic help.  He wants a large protest so he’s looking ahead to early March as a target date.  I’ve suggested that he get an organizing committee together.  He works evenings so this will mostly be organized during the day.  If anyone else wants to get on board, and has a somewhat flexible daytime schedule, please contact Brennan at 416-520-3892.  Bravo, Brennan and thank you for your initiative.

Hamish Wilson, a candidate in our riding in the last municipal election, is one of the organizers of the Take the Tooker campaign.  The idea is to build an east-west bike lane along the whole length of Bloor-Danforth.  The name is in honour of environmental activist and one-time Toronto mayoral candidate Tooker Gomberg.     Read more »

The next climate chaos organizing / outreach planning meeting will be on:

Tuesday, 2006 November 28, 7:00 pm
Trinity St Paul Centre
427 Bloor St West
(follow signs to the room)

Fellow Green GTArs,

We have a great opportunity to have our first elected Green Party MP. We need to rally behind Elizabeth May and her team in London to make this happen. Greens across the country are looking to us right now to carry the flag into parliament. As GTArs we can and should mobilize teams to drive out to London and canvas the town. The goal is to hit every resident at least 3 times. Other areas of Ontario are working on this as we speak, so lets show the rest of Ontario and Canada that GTArs mean business and we’ll be there when it counts.

Here’s the plan:     Read more »