Illegal Advertising blights our Neighbourhood

In the last several weeks, three companies have defaced our neighbourhood with their illegal advertising. If you object to their tactics, please contact them directly. They are:

1. Warner Brothers - Robin Mogal, Publicity Department, 416-250-8384 (they painted an ad for their upcoming movie - Legends of the Guardians on the sidewalk at QQ and Bay)

2. SAB Miller - J. Meyer Kahn, CEO, www.sabmiller.com - A Dutch company that hired Mark Anthony Brands (647-428-3131) to paint an ad for Grolsch Beer on the sidewalk in front of the LCBO

3. Telus, who hired a company to project an ad on the side of the Harbour Castle Westin from a portable projector mounted atop a car parked in front of 10 Bay

Sugar Beach Opens!

Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray, Toronto City Councillor Pam McConnell, Federal Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty, Waterfront Toronto’s Chair Mark Wilson, Mayor of Toronto David Miller, and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Brad Duguid official open Canada’s Sugar Beach and phase one of the Water’s Edge Promenade.

WATERFRONT UPDATE BY BRAZ MENEZES

Environmental Assessment on Bay and Yonge St. ‘down ramps’ off the Gardiner
Various stakeholders from the communities affected by the ‘re-engineering’ of the down ramps, were invited for a-four hour ‘charete’ on Sat February 6^th to discuss preliminary findings and explore options.

A public meeting will be called shortly to discuss the final selection of the best option based on further technical evaluation currently underway. The objective is to improve traffic flows at the various intersections, and in the process do away with the ugly concrete ramps in front of Harbour Square (the circular ramp and the long east ramp into Bay Street. Four teams, working independently of each other, all concluded on the basis of the presentations, that the best of the four options was the one that brought traffic strait down to grade at Lower Simcoe. This will also facilitate traffic turning north into Simcoe, with two lanes continuing east on Lake Shore, with options to turn north or south on York; and continuing east on Harbour Road. The EA team will provide more data on the study of traffic flows for each option (including pedestrian volumes on York, Bay and Yonge Streets.

East Bayfront Stakeholder Advisory Committee Meeting (Thursday Feb 11, 2010)

Readers are recommended to visit Waterfrontoronto’s website.

Sugar Beach

This park on the water’s edge of Lower Jarvis will be completed in the summer of 2010, at about the same time as the new Corus building will be ready for occupation.

George Brown College Waterfront Campus

An integrated health professional training campus is moving ahead of schedule. Construction is already underway. Representatives of GB College and their Architects (Stantec/KPMB in Joint Venture) made an impressive presentation. The first phase for up to 2500 students will be completed in 2012. The food facilities/ library and some other areas will be open 24/7. There is excellent integration with the public realm and the water’s edge.

Water’s Edge Promenade and Stormwater Management Facility

Construction of the boardwalk (to match that already constructed along Harbourfront Centre) is underway and will be substantially completed by 2011. Design is by the competition winners for the redevelopment of Queens Quay – West 8 and DTAH.

Parkside Development Update

At Lower Sherborne a major new park is planned. This includes a body of water that penetrates from the Lake inland to the edge of Lake Shore East. A competition is underway for naming this park. On it eastern edge a development by Great Gulf Group of Companies is planned. This is a mixed use high-rise complex, with the ground floor providing extensive commercial retail space (restaurants, etc) to maximize public access and interaction. The project was conceived by Moshe Safdi, architect for the Montreal Expo. A representative for Quadrangle Architects Limited, made a presentation. This project has still some ways to go to finalise design, planning approvals, and secure financing. Project completion is scheduled for 2015.

Waterfront Resident Against Airport Expansion

It is not just Island residents that object to further expansion. It is a growing movement and it is almost everyone who lives on the Waterfront who is against it. This is a regional facility. TPA effort should be spent mitigating the disaster already there, and adhering to conditions in the Agreement,instead of bulldozing expansion.

The Tri-partite Agreement that opened the way for Commercial flights was drafted 27 years ago, when almost all the land south of the tracks was vacant. There are now about 50,000 residents on the Waterfront;
In any developed country, any expansion would require a major Enviromental Assessment carried by out by experts, in consultation with all three levels of Government, AND the community;
There are major issues of noise, health, safety, traffic and air and water pollution that are not being addressed. We heard at a meeting of the Toronto Board of Health, that toxic de-icing fluids are infiltrating the city's water system, and may also be flowing directly into the Lake.
The issues relating to Airport Security, to bring it in line with USA requirements, has probably not even been discussed, and the physical barriers and traffic chaos that will entail are still to unfold, slowly, as have all the other announcements in connection with this airport.
There is a childrens park and playground almost abutting the fence of the TPA ferry dock; as well as a major school and a community centre a hundred meters or so away;
The use of the of the Music Gardens is all but lost, due to the noise. If you walk along the water's edge some mornings, you can smell kerosene fumes; residents complain of layers of grit on their balconies; others already talk of spouses being nursed behind closed windows, because of respiratory illness and cancer.
Please help wake up our larger Community to what's ahead, because of one stupid decision.

I personally do not know of any other airport in a major city with this proximity to a residential area; nor of any developed country that will sacrifice a major resource such as what Waterfront Toronto are in the process of developing, ironically with the funds (taxpayer's money) from three levels of Government.

Finally, I want to say how disgusted I was at the bullying tactics displayed by the TPA officials, at the so called 'Public Meeting'. People were expected to drift around some complex panels stuck around the wall, and ask individual questions. There was no Chairperson, no seating, no microphone. There was however, an incredible display of arrogance, almost sneering, at the thought of having to put up with 'Community', and having to respond to serious questions, raised by a number of concerned residents; of course there seemed to be no credible answers from the CEO and MD of TPA.

We have hundreds of young men coming home on a regular basis, draped in flags; and thousands of others wounded. They have been sent to teach 'Democracy' in Afghanstan. Please let us start by more civility and a display of Democracy at home, by our Federal Agency at the TPA.

Thank you for raising this issue for public discussion.

Written b: Braz Menezes, Urban Planner and Resident

WATERFRONT COMMUNITY VS. AIRPORT NOISE POLLUTION

Representatives of the Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association, CommunityAIR, The Toronto Island Community Association, the Harbourfront Community Centre, the YQNA and dozens of members of the waterfront community attended the Toronto Port Authority’s meeting regarding the Draft Noise Study Report for the Island Airport.

The February 17 meeting, which was well-attended and included heated exchanges between the community and TPA officials, took place at the Queens Quay Radisson Hotel.

A technical Advisory Group consisted of representatives from all Waterfront associations was set up by the TPA in Nov 2008 to give input to the Noise Study. The Advisory Group has met with the TPA only twice since the Study commencement in Nov 2008. The Feb 17 meeting is being held without any significant input into the Noise Report contents by the Technical Advisory Group since project commencement. The TPA is calling the meeting a 'public meeting' despite only 9 days official web posting notice spanning a long weekend and no advertising in local papers. The Advisory Group feels that the motive for the TPA in circumventing the Advisory Group is to suppress informed technical inquiry into the findings of the noise study report. This presentation of the Noise Study by the TPA will be the first one seen by the Advisory Group.

York Quay Revitalization - Public Meeting

Waterfront Toronto and Harbourfront Centre plan to replace the 212-spot surface parking lot — a 1.4 hectare area in the heart of the Harbourfront Centre site — with an underground parking garage.

This important new piece of parking infrastructure will open up this spectacular waterfront site for future public space including Canada Square, a beautiful waterfront square and a second urban square above the parking garage.

On March 2nd, Harbourfront Centre and Waterfront Toronto will be holding a public meeting to present plans and discuss key features of the York Quay Revitalization Project, Phase II including the underground parking garage, Canada Square and the planning of a future Cultural Retail Village.

Understanding the Project
Harbourfront Centre operates a 10 acre site along Toronto’s central waterfront which encompasses York and John Quays. In 2000, Harbourfront Centre developed a master plan for the revitalization of its site designed to reclaim underutilized spaces for recreational, cultural and commercial purposes and strengthen public access
to the water’s edge. The master plan also included a vision for Canada Square, an urban plaza at the water’s edge.

This project, now known as the York Quay Revitalization Project, has since evolved to include elements from the winning submission of Waterfront Toronto’s 2006 Central Waterfront Design Competition. In its submission, the design team, West 8 + DTAH envisioned a vibrant, mixed-use cultural village for the site including Canada
Square and another urban square bordering Queens Quay. World renowned landscape architectural Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Landscape Architects recently won the contract to design this Phase II work.

An overview of the project will be provided by Harbourfront Centre and Waterfront Toronto, and a presentation on some preliminary ideas for the parking garage and Canada Square will also be given by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Landscape Architects.

Public feedback will be solicited and members of the project team will be on hand to answer questions and share ideas.

Public Meeting Details:
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West
York Quay Centre, ―Lakeside Terrace‖ Meeting Room
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. (Presentation and Discussion)


For more information:
Please visit www.waterfrontoronto.ca
or contact Andrea Kelemen at
416-214-1344 or akelemen@waterfrontoronto.ca
www.waterfrontoronto.ca

WATERFRONT RESIDENTS MEET WITH THE MAYOR TO DISCUSS THE ISLAND AIRPORT

On Monday, February 8, a dozen waterfront residents met with Mayor David Miller in his office at City Hall. The delegation, which included representatives from the Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association, the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association, CommunityAIR, the Harbourfront Community Centre, the Toronto Island Community Association, the YQNA, and Councillors Pam McConnell and Adam Vaughan, met with Mayor Miller for nearly an hour.

The residents spent the first part of the meeting detailing the repeated violations of the Tripartite Agreement, unbearable traffic problems, Porter's frequent curfew violations, the Toronto Port Authority's failure to appear before last month's Board of Health meeting, and the water, noise and air pollution generated by the Island Airport.

The second part of the meeting was spent working out a detailed plan for remedying the resident's concerns. Mayor Miller promised that the city would begin taking a more active role as one of the three partners of the Tripartite Agreement.

Residents advise Board of Health about Island Airport pollution

Fifteen deputations, including representatives from the Harbourfront Community Centre, Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association, Port Lands Action Committee, Community AIR, Harbourfront Community Association, St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association and the YQNA spoke before the January 18 meeting of the Toronto Board of Health at City Hall. The agenda focused on pollution control at Pearson International Airport and Toronto City Centre Airport (TCCA), better known as the Island Airport.

While the Pearson representatives gave a detailed report of their successful efforts to cut down emissions and noise, with exemplary public participation, the TCCA provided none of the materials the Board had requested and didn’t send any representatives.

Many citizens filled the committee room, and delegate after delegate spoke with elegant indignation about the water, air, and noise pollution caused by the Island Airport. Several spoke of the myriad carcinogenic chemicals contained in the cloud of diesel fuel that hangs over the Bathurst Quay neighbourhood and others detailed the damage, and cost to the city, from the airplane de-icing fluid which the Island Airport disgorges, untreated, into the city’s sewer system.

After all the deputations, our two City councillor, Pam McConnell and Adam Vaughan and Board of Health members introduced motions that included directing the Board to look into the long term effects of water and noise and air pollution generated by the Island Airport. The motions also asked the Board of Health to study what Environmental Assessments are required before Porter Airlines is allowed to proceeded with its planned tripling of passenger volume and flight frequency.

This hearing was a turning point for residents who have watched the unchecked growth of this airport. It is supposed to be governed by a Tripartite agreement between the Federal Government, Toronto Port Authority (TPA) and the City of Toronto. The first two partners have managed to expand the airport with taxpayers’ money and little oversight or concern for the Waterfront. Meanwhile, the City of Toronto has been inexplicably lax, though it is reportedly owed $38 million in back taxes from the TPA. So it was a pleasant surprise for citizens who spoke to be understood and well received by the Board of Health, which has six City Councillors as members. We are hoping these sympathetic councillors will give a wake-up call to the rest of City Council before the Waterfront becomes completely compromised by this growing and very polluting airport.