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about events or issues affecting our community.
In this issue:
1. Public meetings this week:
a) Town Hall AGM & green power
b) Eco-Village planning Session
2. Medicare: Upcoming Public Forum
3. City Politics
4. Stelco Development
5. Other notes
a) Public Energy
b) Traffic Issues
c) Fred Turner
1. TWO PUBLIC MEETINGS THIS WEEK
a) Swansea Town Hall Annual General Meeting (& talk on 'Green Power')
Monday Feb. 25, 7pm 95 Lavinia Avenue
The Annual General Meeting of the Swansea Town Hall Association.
Featuring a special presentation "Green Power or Mean
Power: Shedding Light on Ontario's Electricity Mess" by Ravi Mark Singh of the
Ontario Clean Air Alliance. This is the same organization that presented at last month's
Bloor West Eco-Village workshop. That was an extremely useful and well-attended
presentation. Notes from that talk, and relevant links are on our website at http://webhome.idirect.com/~jleeson/electricty.dereg.htm
See http://www.web.net/~swansea
for more Town Hall information, including upcoming events.
b) Bloor West Eco-Village General Meeting
Tuesday, February 26, 2002, 7.30 p.m.
Swansea Town Hall 95 Lavinia, Hague Room
For those interested in working with the Eco-Village, or
helping to contribute to some of the goals and interests of this group, the following
information comes from the BWEV:
Envisioning the Future
At this planning session:
- Network with like-minded individuals. - Plan upcoming workshops and a new
website. - Prepare for Earth Day in High Park. - Explore how we can each contribute to a
healthier, greener community. Bloor West Eco-Village email: bwevmail@lycos.com
2. MEDICARE - WORLD19 PUBLIC FORUM
Mark your calendars for the evening of March 26 when representatives from the
Toronto Health Coalition will be the key speakers at a forum at Runnymede United Church on
the state of our public health care system and how to sustain it . This will be a timely
opportunity to tackle the issue, given that Roy Romanow and his health care commission are
scheduled to be in Toronto on April 2 to hear from the public.
We will have more details soon in this newsletter and on our
website. Visit www.medicare.world19.com
We now have several related links on our website, including:
Romanow Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada
http://www.healthcarecommission.ca
Ontario health coalition:
http://www.web.net/ohc/
Recently released report from the Ontario government: http://www.gov.on.ca/health/english/surveys/dialogue_0701/results_mn.html
3. CITY POLITICS
As readers know, the now painful annual budget slashing is in full progress at City
Hall. Which critical city services will survive, which will be slashed and which will be
killed off? Those decisions are now being made. (The final budget votes are scheduled for
the week of March 4). We have some more information on our webpages at www.city.world19.com, including an
"alternative budget" released this week by Councillors David Miller and Olivia
Chow. The purpose of this proposal, according to their press release, is that
"council must choose the right priorities to build a safe, liveable and prospeous
city, even when we face financial challenges".
And while at City Hall, it's pretty clear that the 2003
mayoralty race is now in full swing. The Feb. 7 NOW column by Don Wanagas speculated on
how wide open the race might be over the next year: http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2002-02-07/news_story3.php.
This week's column reported on Barbara Hall's unofficial entry into the race last weekend,
and the jockeying on the left between her and David Miller: http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2002-02-21/news_feature.php.
(See also the Feb. 23 "Skinny at City Hall" column in the Star.
Co-incidentally or not, this week's eye column by John Sewell
also discusses David Miller's emergence as a leader on council: http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_02.21.02/news/citystate.html.
The column contrasts Miller & Mel Lastman, and includes a photo of the two standing
together. That in itself is a rarity, so I had to take a closer look. The picture was
taken during Mel's Bloor West Village walkabout in August 1999, and Mayor Mel is wearing
one of world19's "Save The Village" buttons.
4. STELCO DEVELOPMENT
Demolition is almost complete on the site; soil cleanup is well underway on the
eastern portion of the site. We have updated on the development, including information on
the bioremediation techniques that may be used to clean up the western site at www.stelco.world19.com.
world19 has been participating in the community liaison
committee, and we welcome comments, suggestions & feedback regarding the development.
5. OTHER NOTES
a) Energy
We've reported on upcoming "energy choices" with the January Eco-Village
workshop, and the Feb. 25 Town Hall meeting. Others (including ) have been active trying
to prevent the sell-off of the old Ontario Hydro, and resulting privatizaion of the energy
market. More infromation, including details of a one-day open conference on this issue to
be held March 9 are available at http://www.electricitycoalition.org
b) Traffic
We've reported before some readers' interest in tackling these problems. One reader
sent us the following link, which contains details of a report from Transportation
Services for York Humber Community Council. It addresses several traffic issues in the
area between Jane/Runnymede/Annette/Bloor, including lowering of speed limits, bike lanes,
etc. (Note that this is a PDF document, and needs Adobe Acrobat Reader). http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/legdocs/2002/agendas/committees/yk/yk020129/it022.pdf
Also, people interested in addressing traffic from an overall
community perspective are urged to email a world19 reader, Helen Armstrong at helena@web.net.
c) Fred Turner
Swansea residents (and many others) may remember Fred Turner, a long time active
citizen of Swansea. He is now the owner of "Fred Turner's Fine Used Books" in
Durham. Located in an old Georgian house, he specializes in Canadian art history, local
history and Canadiana. He'll soon be opening a printing press, printing broadsheets of the
communities that have been lost to amalgamations. We have a poster from his business on
our website. www.community.world19.com, or directly at http://webhome.idirect.com/~jleeson/fred_turner.jpg
For world19,
John Leeson
world19:
Supporting citizen involvement in our community and its future.
Phone: 416 766-8605
email: world19@world19.com
web: www.world19.com |