world19News

This e-mail is going to people on the mailing list for world19.
If you don't want to receive further notices, please reply to this e-mail with "remove" in the subject.  Let us know if you prefer to receive this in "plain text" format.

Please forward this to anyone you think may be interested. We always encourage people to send us comments, ideas, as well as information about events or issues affecting our community.

In this issue:
- Welcome to new readers
- Historic events in Swansea
- Federal Election wrap-up
- Police Helicopters
- Ellis Park OMB hearing
- CVA & Taxes

Welcome
First, welcome to a number of new readers. The elections and our involvement in discussions on the Stelco site development have brought new subscribers and visitors to our website.

It's a good time to re-emphasize that we solicit readers' feedback, opinions and issues. We also make space available on our website for readers' issues and comments, and for community groups without their own webpages. We have been updating our website with various items including community events, some readers' feedback, extensive details on the proposed Stelco development, and City & Federal issues. If you haven't visited our website for a while, please take a look!   http://www.world19.com

"Historic" events in Swansea:

a) Swansea Historical Society announces the official opening of the William Small Memorial Community Archives Room
Wednesday, December 6, 7:30pm
Swansea Town Hall, 95 Lavinia Avenue
Visitors Welcome - Light Refreshments

b) Swansea's 75th Anniversary Celebration
Friday, December 15, 1:00pm to 10:00pm
Swansea Town Hall, 95 Lavinia Avenue
Picture Display, Entertainment,
Unveiling of Millennium Stained Glass Window - 5:00pm

Federal Election wrap-up
For those who want to see the final numbers, full results for Parkdale-High Park are on our website (www.world19.com or http://webhome.idirect.com/~jleeson/fed_election_main.htm. 

One outcome of the election results -- a majority government elected with a minority of the popular vote; the various geographical regions each to a large extent represented by a single fededral party -- has been a revival of discussion on some form of electoral reform to better represent the diversity of Canadians' views.

The November 29th Globe & Mail carried an article entitled "We Vote to Scrap the System", written by an interesting (left wing/right-wing) pair, Judy Rebick and Walter Robinson about the advantages of adopting some form of proportional representation. An organization, Fair Vote Canada (www.fairvotecanada.org) has been created to promote the idea, publicize the advantages as they see them, and to lobby for electoral reform.

 The Green Party themselves have created a website, http://www.votepr.org/   regarding PR, and have a 20 minute video available on the issue.

Stelco
A well-attended public meeting was held on November 30, with lots of information and discussion. We'll be posting full minutes and other information from the meeting, as well as some comments we've received from world19 readers and others attending the meeting. (Background and minutes of all previous meetings are available: www.world19.com or http://webhome.idirect.com/~jleeson/stelco_main.htm.

Police Helicopters
In September we published a note from one of our readers about this issue. With City Council's evaluation of the pilot project and decision on the choppers' future in Toronto, she once again has written appealing for public involvement. Below is an excerpt from her email; full text can be found at www.world19.com or http://webhome.idirect.com/~jleeson/stop_the_choppers.htm

The Toronto police helicopter pilot project ends shortly: December 31st, 2000. Toronto Police are already lobbying the new City Council to try to make the helicopters a permanent fixture in Toronto. This is an urgent call to activists to join a campaign to ensure the choppers don't become permanent. If they are approved by Council, we will be subjected to up to 24 hours a day of surveillance throughout the city by five noisy helicopters. Residents thoughout Toronto are already complaining about noisy police choppers keeping them awake at night. We must show Council that citizens are opposed to this expensive and damaging form of social control.

There is strong evidence against police helicopters, coming from the U.S. based   National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). They conclude that helicopters hovering over residential areas pose a health hazard. ... "With a sound level measured at around 96 decibels, according to the NRDC, choppers are louder than many other urban annoyances...

Crime is at a 20 year low in Toronto. How can we justify the $5 million-plus the choppers will cost? ...

Now is the time to get involved in this campaign. Please email helena@web.ca for more information.
Contact the City Auditor, who will write a report about the helicopters for City Council. Tony Venezia can be reached at tvenezia@city.toronto.on.ca or
392-3712. Contact your City Councillor (#s in Blue Pages p. 21-22 in the phone book). Please copy any emails opposed to the choppers to helena@web.ca

Ellis Park
A reminder that the 4-day OMB hearing into the condominium development planned for the corner of Bloor & Ellis Park (and turned down by the Committee of Adjustment) will begin on Monday, December 11 at 10:00am, City Hall, 100 Queen Street W., 2nd floor, Committee Room 4.  

For more information  or to contact the opponents of the development visit http://www3.sympatico.ca/2BIG/  or email 2BIG@sympatico.ca. We maintain a page on this as well at http://webhome.idirect.com/~jleeson/ellis_park.htm.

CVA / Taxes
New assessment notices have now been mailed out to property owners. Homeowners in this area will likely see a large increase over the previous assesment (reflecting 1999 & 1996 values). Average assessments have risen 21% across the city, but much greater in most of the older parts of the City. What will it mean in taxes? Amalgamation and downloading costs have not yet meant a tax rate hike (although again, many received a big hike when CVA was introduced). We will be pursuing the issue. In the meantime, we have posted 3 recent Toronto Star articles on our website in our City pages (www.world19.com or http://webhome.idirect.com/~jleeson/city_issues.htm), including a column by Royson James explaining why the assessments may be the least of out tax problems.  - especially for homeowners).

For world19,
John Leeson 

world19:
Supporting citizen involvement in our community and its future.
Phone: 416 766-8605
Fax: 416 766-0578
email: world19@world19.com
web:   www.world19.com