News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
A Message to Our Readers
 9.5K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
EarthCam Time-Lapse Documents Rafael Viñoly-Designed New Stanford Hospital Construction
 40K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
Resort Town
 5.4K     0 

bar1967

bar1967

Active Member
Member Bio
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
408
Reaction score
4
http://www.eyeweekly.com/ontario-election-2007/news/?p=17

TORONTO-DANFORTH/BEACHES-EAST YORK: Friends of Leslieville intends to cut OMB of at the pass.
September 6th, 2007

Sean Kelly KeenanComments [0]

If you can’t beat ‘em, go over their heads. That’s the motto an east-end residents group is epsousing with regards to the Ontario Municpal Board’s (OMB) zoning discretion in the Eastern Avenue and Leslie Street area. The Friends of Leslieville group is calling on the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs to issue a municipal zoning order that would trump any OMB decision concerning a proposed SmartCentres Inc. big-box retail development on the former Toronto Film Studios lands, reports the Beach-Riverdale Mirror. The proposed development, which is to be a suburban-power-centre-style, car-friendly nexus of consumer joy, has had local community groups in a tizzy since its inception. The delivery of Wal-Mart flyers to local homes in recent weeks would seem to confirm activists’ fears that the mutlinational retail behemoth is set to anchor the site, though a set list of tenants has not been released.

A community meeting to discuss zoning issues surrounding the area has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 20, at Riverdale Collegiate Institute, located at the corner of Jones Avenue and Gerrard St. East.
 
Leslieville/Studio District

http://www.eyeweekly.com/ontario-election-2007/news/?p=134

TORONTO-DANFORTH: Rowlands toes the party line on East Toronto tranmission line
September 24th, 2007

Sean Kelly Keenan
Not too long ago, the folks at Clean Air Alliance, a grass-roots organization aimed at getting Ontario onboard the ecologically-sustainable, renewable-resource energy band wagon, asked a number of east-end candidates one question: Do you support the Energy Minister telling the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to go take an unequivical flying-leap concerning a possible East Toronto power line.

The results are in, and of those candidates who bothered to answer the question, all but one said , “Not only will I support the Minister doing so, I’ll personally provide the short pier for him to push them off of.†(Politicians, such as Scarborough-Agincourt’s John del Grande, who send back the “undecided†box checked off can hardly be considered to have answered the question.)

The exception? Toronto-Danforth Liberal contender Joyce Rowlands, of course. This reponse will come as no surprise to those who have been following the “energy-wars†debate that has gripped the riding for the last few news cycles.

Rowlands, the daughter of former Toronto mayor June Rowlands, has consistently played the “don’t worry, be happy†yang to NDP incumbent Peter Tabuns’ “stop-the-bastards-now†ying in the debate.

Tabuns says he’ll shut down the Portlands Energy Centre if his party is elected; Rowlands says it’s a necesary evil that needs to happen. Tabuns has been waging a battle to get Energy Minister Dwight Duncan to force the OPA to take the possibility of an East Toronto power-line off the table since the summer, whereas Rowlands has defended Duncan, saying there’s no need to scrap the proposal, since it might not be needed anyway.

What is surprising is the wording of her answer though. Citing the fact that she lives in the neighbourhood in which the proposed 700 megawatt hydro-transmission line would run, and that she has two nieces who also live in the area, Rowlands said that she in no way favours its construction. However, she also said that “it would be inappropriate for the Minister to issue such a directive until . . . the OPA completed its Integrated Power System Plan (IPSP).â€

So far, so reasonable. When delivering an unpopular answer to a question concerning a hot-button issue like this during election time, it’s always a good idea to pull out the old “I’m waiting to find out what the experts say†argument to hide behind. It’s the second part of her answer that comes off as strange.

“As MPP for Toronto-Danforth I will do everything in my power to ensure that a high-voltage transmission line does not run through our neighbouhood, or any residential area. I will ensure that the voice of Toronto-Danforth residents is heard loud and clear by decision-makers,†Rowlands said.

Strange, because it doesn’t have any qualifiers in it.

Rowlands didn’t add any statements such as, “as long as it doesn’t mean an energy crisis for Toronto†to her assurance that she will work to prevent construction of the transmission line. Instead, she said she would “do everything in her power†to do so.

Say, you might ask, doesn’t that include advocating to the Energy Minister to get the project squashed before it even has a chance to see the light of day?

In the Liberal’s world, where they see no contradiction in having a leader whose kids attend a Catholic school, while at the same time he’s out decrying faith-based schools as un-Ontarian, I guess anything can make sense.
 
Isn't it just wonderful that all the opposition politicians can ferociously attack the new powerline without ever having to worry about any consequences. Of course, if you framed the question "Would you like to have this powerline or no electricity?" I'm sure the response would be rather different. Demand is growing in the downtown core, and especially since we closed Lakeview (which is of course also supported by these same opposition politicians), more of that will have to come from the east. Of course, the need for this new line has been delayed because of the new Portlands Energy Centre, but (surprise!) these same politicians opposed that too! It's a shame that the Liberal in that riding has also felt the need to adopt such a ridiculous equivocating position.

This is yet another ridiculous manufactured issue. What possible difference does it make whether there are four or five circuits in a hydro corridor?
 
^Oh, I'm sure they want electricity - they just want the powerlines to be somewhere else (and then let those people deal with it).

Many people want to close the Portlands Centre before it starts, shut the coal-fired plants down now, and are utterly opposed to any new nuclear plants. But when it comes to explaining where their electricity will come from - well that's the responsibility of someone else!
 
bar1967 said:
The delivery of Wal-Mart flyers to local homes in recent weeks would seem to confirm activists’ fears that the mutlinational retail behemoth is set to anchor the site, though a set list of tenants has not been released.
Click to expand...

Drawings from Turner Fleischer Architects (JRA, landscape designers), for Smart Centres. This variation of the Foundry District development turns these 18 acres into 700,000 square feet of big-box retail space, 60 residential units (not permitted under current zoning), and over 1,900 parking spots

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeclark/sets/72157600231598581/
 
All of those images are small, but the development does looks urban, with two level commercial buildings that face the street. It's a matter of making it pedestrian friendly by having multiple entrances by the sidewalk close to streets and good public transit access.

As for the hydro corridor, if members of that neighbourhood don't want them there, then they ought to do the responsible thing and accept the costs of burying the transmission lines. There are alternatives, they're just incredibly expensive.
 
As much as I do see your point in that where is the energy going to come from and so on.. as a long time resident of the area(26 years) and the fourth generation, my kids being the 5th. I have to ask when do we in the east end get a chance to breath some clean air and not have industries detrimental to the health of the area in our backyards. Again I understand that these things are needed but I think the east end has unfairly had the brunt of these for the last half century. Can we not spread them out at least a little? It's bad enough we have to smell shit all summer long, now we are going to have a power plant and a set of hight tension lines running through our nabe?
 
NO BIG BOX Meeting re. stopping the Eastern Ave. Mega-Mall

NO BIG BOX Meeting

The OMB pre-hearing has been scheduled for:

Thursday, October 4, 2007
10:00 a.m.

AT

The Ontario Municipal Board
655 Bay Street, 16th Floor
Toronto, ON M5G 1E5

http://www.nobigbox.ca/
 
Anyone go? Please report!

42
 
paraone said:
As much as I do see your point in that where is the energy going to come from and so on.. as a long time resident of the area(26 years) and the fourth generation, my kids being the 5th. I have to ask when do we in the east end get a chance to breath some clean air and not have industries detrimental to the health of the area in our backyards. Again I understand that these things are needed but I think the east end has unfairly had the brunt of these for the last half century. Can we not spread them out at least a little? It's bad enough we have to smell shit all summer long, now we are going to have a power plant and a set of hight tension lines running through our nabe?
Click to expand...

Are you making reference to the powerlines, the big box stores or the power plant? High tension wires don't dirty the air, and the power plant will be pretty clean. Other than the car traffic, big box stores don't generate air pollution.
 
Hydrogen said:
Are you making reference to the powerlines, the big box stores or the power plant? High tension wires don't dirty the air, and the power plant will be pretty clean. Other than the car traffic, big box stores don't generate air pollution.
Click to expand...

Your right, they don't dirty the air, but they have been linked to numerous health problems in the past, besides that who wants those running through their nabe?
"pretty clean" doesn't equal "clean" I also think that the plant is going to make it pretty hard for people to want to live in the re-vamped portlands.

Big box stores are a suburban blight that we don't need in Leslieville, 2,200 parking spots I believe, thats an awful lot of cars. Not to mention the effect it has on the retail in the area.

Anyone know the status of the smart centre application at the OMB?
 
Status

The OMB page for this case is at http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/ecs/CaseDetail.aspx?n=PL051314 It merely lists meetings and the formal board decisions.

The matter is at the pre-hearing stage. The main item right now is getting all parties to agree on the list of issues that are in dispute. This was the main topic of the last meeting on 04/10/2007, and the next pre-hearing at 10AM on 30/10/2007 (Hearing Room 1, 16th floor, 655Bay St).

At that last meeting, the applicant Smartcentres finally committed to making all its recent OMB submissions available on its legal counsel's web site. These consultant reports were finally accessible late last week.

The city has also a range of relevant documents on its website:

Preliminary Report - 629, 633 and 675 Eastern Avenue
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/2004/agendas/committees/ts/ts041116/it032.pdf

July'05 Status Report - South of Eastern Study
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/2005/agendas/council/cc050719/te6rpt/cl010.pdf

February'06 Directions Report - 629, 633 and 675 Eastern Avenue
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/2006/agendas/council/cc060214/te2rpt/cl038.pdf

July '06 South of Eastern Planning Study
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/2006/agendas/council/cc060725/te6rpt/cl012.pdf

Sept'06 - Final Report Official Plan Amendment re: Power Centres
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/2006/agendas/council/cc060925/te7rpt/cl018.pdf

April ’07 Long-Term Employment Strategy
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2007/ed/bgrd/backgroundfile-3361.pdf

January’07 Long-Term Employment Lands Strategy – Hemson Report
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2007/ed/bgrd/backgroundfile-3482.pdf

May 9/07 Economic Development Committee – Decision Document (see ED4.2)
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2007/ed/decisions/2007-05-09-ed04-dd.pdf

One community initiative "No Big Box in Leslieville" is already distributing posters in the South Riverdale area and has started the bare bones of a web site.

Another newly formed group "East Toronto Community Coalition" has just formed--it obtained official party status at the last pre-hearing--and is attempting to get up to speed on all the documents. They will probably also soon begin to make public their positions.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top