Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Successful community safety meeting from March 31

Last night's meeting was a great victory for the residents of Westbury Cres. Our city officials pulled together with provincial officials and definitive steps are being taken to ensure the safety of the residents and their enjoyment or their own properties. Afterward everybody joined hands and sang that Coca-cola Christmas advertisement song from the 1970's. You know, I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company...

APRIL FOOLS!

Of course the meeting was a giant waste of time. Many of the government agencies that we pay for, that Councillor Di Giorgio invited, did not attend. This included the TSSA and The city's legal council. When asked if legislation could be put in place to protect residents, either at a municipal or provincial level, Laura Albanese stated that it would take a long time and that she would have to see if there was any such legislation already out there. Was she unaware that this meeting would take place? It's been scheduled for several weeks now, is it too much to ask for our provincial rep to do her homework BEFORE she comes to a meeting. As for the time frame, many of the residents living in this neighbourhood have called this place home for decades. "It'll take a long time" is simply not acceptable. And what about the next neighbourhood, and the one after that? Is is right that they should have to fight the same battles to ensure safety from "light industrial" businesses in their backyards?

The meeting was full of "we'll try" and "operating legally" and "nothing we can do". Apparently there is some new definition of "legal" that allows you to detonate propane cylinders in residential areas, damaging dozens of private residences and risking the lives of the people in the community. It has been months and no charges have been laid. NOT ONE. By-law enforcement is apparently also only enforceable if multiple infractions occur. This is good news for people who want to dump a bunch of their garbage somewhere. Apparently you can't get fined unless you break a by-law multiple times over...oh, let's say a one month period.

The City of Toronto once pursed an Etobicoke man for three years in court because he had what some people would consider an "unruly" garden. Three years of tax payers dollars to keep their neighbourhood safe from tall grass and wild flowers. There were even some reports of nature creeping into the neighbourhood! Our city really knows how to prioritize when it comes to the battles it chooses.

This is not about restricting a legitimately operating business. This is not about neighbourhood beautification. This isn't even about noise complaints, all of which would be legitimate gripes for the residents of this neighbourhood. This is a public safety issue, one that the City of Toronto has CHOSEN to ignore. Everybody in the neighbourhood knows that it is only a matter of time before someone dies as a result of the operation of that scrapyard. It seems obvious, you 'd have to be a complete moron not to be able to see that. A complete moron or a politician.

-Sean Kloosterman

1 comment:

Sean said...

ol