June 25, 2009, 11 e-mails

G. M. wrote:

Hello everyone,

I want to invite everyone to a public meeting that the Friends of Christie Pits are hosting at the scene of the temporary dump site in our park. The time is Friday evening at 7pm-8pm, and the place is the Christie Pits Ice Rink.

At the meeting, you can voice your concern about the city's choice of Christie Pits, and the eight other parks being used by the city as dumps. We have invited Councillor Joe Pantalone to attend.

We will also talk about what we can still do to have Christie Pits Park removed from the list of temporary dump sites. We have Joe Pantalone's support on this point, as he wrote to the Friends of Christie Pits in an email: "I will continue to advocate for the removal of the temporary dump."

From the map that the city put out of temporary dump sites, Christie Pits is nearly the only location within the central area of the city. See: http://www.toronto.ca/labour-relations/index.htm#mapdrops

Surely, Christie Pits is not the only possible place within that entire area! The park is planned to receive hundreds of tons of garbage from all over the central city.

We'll talk about what we can do to help Mr. Pantalone have that happen, and to make sure that it will never happen again. Parks are not dumps!

Please forward this message to any neighbourhood lists you may be on.

If you can help with postering your street for this event, please email me at govindrao(at)gmail.com, or simply pick up some copies of posters from our porch at 763 Crawford Street. Or print out copies of the pdf and post. We need help to get the word out.

I hope to see you tomorrow,

A. T. wrote:

A recent update from Joe Pantalone I have to say that I am not feeling very hopeful if the Deputy Mayor doesnt haven't any influence to stop this happening:

From: JoePantalone

To the Friends of Christie Pits and community,

Over the past few days, I have been advocating strongly with Joe Pennachetti (City Manager), Geoff Rathbone (Solid Waste Management), Richard Butts (Deputy City Manager) and Mayor Miller's office, NOT to use Christie Pits as one of the City's alternate dump sites.

Until this afternoon, City staff refused to share the 19 sites with City Councillors.

I provided City staff with alternate locations in my ward and did not receive the courtesy of serious consideration of those alternate sites!

I strongly oppose the use of this location as a dump site and will continue to advocate this position.

Christie Pits should not be used as a dump!

B. L. wrote:

Deputy Mayor is a meaningless honourific. The position is made up, and completely without power or responsibilities in law.

However... as our Councillor, one would think that Joe would have some sway over the goings on here. Shocking to see that he doesn't.

A. T. wrote:

And here is the response - I am posting this as I assume that people are interested in what is happening over at Christie Pitts. Thanks

Dear Joe,

Thanks for your note on this and our common view. However, I'm quite concerned if you, the Deputy Major of Toronto, do not have the power to stop the city from using Christie Pits.... That makes absolutely no sense to me and all of my friends in my neighbourhood - your Ward. It should be up to the people in the Ward (through you) where the dump site should be. I'd like to know where these people (City manager, head of solid waste mgmt, etc.) live, and I'd be glad to drop my garbage in their parks....assuming they have allocated their park as a dump site as well....

Please use whatever is in your power (!) to stop these people from wrecking our neighbourhood and making it VERY unsafe for the children (and adults). AND please put these people back to work NOW!! They should not be allowed to go on strike. This should be deemed an essential service - if they don't like their salaries and benefits, we should outsource it (like Etobicoke) to companies that are more than willing to do this job for less.

J. B. wrote:

This whole situation is appalling. Sunnyside is the welcome to Toronto as you drive in from Airport and US.....it is disgusting and stinks. Why is it that we don't hear of dumps being made out of beaches in the East end of the City? Christie Pitts is important for many reasons. Yesterday there were several older folks sitting out on the benches and children enjoying summer and NOW Mr. P (our Deputy Mayor) seems to think it's fine to use City Parks as dumping grounds. Please. There are lots of people who are looking for work and contractors who can guarantee pick up of trash on regular schedules.....HIRE THEM!

My concern is that there are many families who cannot leave the city in the summer either due to financial constraints or other issues. Parks, pools and fun should be available for them without having to share the areas with festering garbage, rodents and raccoons. No summer camp, no Center Island Amusement Park, no ball games in Christie Pitts, no farmer's markets.....punishment for living in the city when those suburbs are so inviting.

Our councillors are yes men to Mr. Miller and his merry gang. If I didn't see some of them enjoying coffee on Saturday mornings in the hood, I'd think they too lived outside the city. Guess you have to have a Toronto address to be a politician here even if there is nothing to show for voting them into office.

It is time to go back to work folks. Sick Days are for being sick and not savings accounts. I'm self-employed and don't have these luxuries that city workers feel is their right. Frankly sick of being held hostage by an ungrateful bunch of retrogrades.....

C. wrote:

It seems that it is becoming less and less acceptable for unions to strike. The immediate reaction from the public (often mimicking the media's demonization of the union workers) is that they have no right to do anything that will inconvenience our comfortable city lives. When the York strike was happening it was that they had no right to strike because students had paid for their classes already. Why is the blame on the unions? I'm not sure about this one, but at York the administration basically refused to negotiate, waited, and then pulled in the government to force workers back. Seems a bit unfair to me. Pointing fingers is so much easier than listening.

I certainly don't like having to deal with garbage/compost/recycling piling up. I definitely don't like the idea of the parks being used to hold it. But, I do think that this is a service we take for granted. I remember during the strike in 2002 thinking that it would be great if the strike encouraged everyone to make an effort to reduce the amount of garbage they put out. We waste so much. At the very least, the strike does give us a chance to reflect on ways we can bring the garbage quantities down.

And, I suspect there is much more to this strike than just garbage. This is also similar to the York strike in that there are lots of different kinds of workers striking (Jutta's email about park workers gave a hint of this). Some are just more 'visible' than others. I'm refusing to point a finger at the union. The city and the union need to find a way to come to an agreement - there are TWO parties in this strike.

R. wrote:

I spoke with Ann in Joe Pants' office and apparently the following 4 people are responsible for establishing the list of dumping sites:

Joe Pennachetti, City Manager (416-392-3551) Geoff Rathbone Gen. Manager Solid Waste Management (416-392-4715) David McKeown, Medical Officer of Health Richard Butts, 416-338-7200

I cannot find their email addresses anywhere on the City's site and they are not divulging the info when I call Access Toronto...how ironic!

I'm putting calls in and also emailing Joe Pants' office.

A. J. wrote:

Thanks for your rapid response Geoff. Surely that's an issue at the disposal end, the landfill end - nothing to do with the householder.

The consequences of not separating at the consumer-end include bulky bags of mixed 'smelly' waste and inert garbage piling up in yards and parks for the rats and raccoons to savour and rip open.

The problem will be worse for eco-friendly or poorer households without cars, i.e. your 'friends', as well as for landlord-run rental properties, some of these guys are also your friends! It seems crazy to make it worse on your friends - at a time when you need our support.

In addition, it will undermine years of slow public education - please don't imagine that everyone will quickly relearn at the flick of a switch, it's taken a couple of years to get here.

Solutions - if you stick to separating, people can keep their inert garbage at home a little longer, while their compostable and smelly green bins can stay sealed closed. Most people don't fill their green bins up that quickly. Otherwise you will end up with garbage overflowing into unsightly, weak, bulky, pest-ridden garbage bags much more rapidly.

If the strike continues, then you could have your park drop-off points for green bin waste only - and control it more carefully as the quantities will be much much smaller... easier to contain, easier to remove.

Think about the knock on effects on our parks and our kids - big piles of harder to manage garbage leeching into/spilling over onto playgrounds used by kids already deprived of daycare spaces, swimming pools, rec centres...

Please think about this and if necessary update citizens with a smarter solution - don't worry about U-turns or mixed messages, just be a strong leader, ready to update and adapt!

N. C. wrote:

I'm guessing that no amount of angry notes from local residents is going to change the city's mind about using Moss Park as a garbage dump, but if you are keeping a running total, you can count this as one. I'm sure we will be told that everyone has to pitch in and that the decision is final. Seems to me a lot of the city's problems end up being dumped in and around Moss Park.

This is just going to perpetuate the image of this neighbourhood as a place no-one cares about.

I have to say that it boggles the mind that a grass playing field is somehow more appropriate than an asphalt parking lot or other non-porous surface. We're going to wreck the field (which is used almost continuously), and I can only imagine what's going to be left behind when it is eventually cleared.

What I would like to do is explore every possible means to reduce the impact of the dumping activity. Will there be pickets? How will the flow of traffic be controlled and where will cars line up while they wait for their turn? People in air conditioned cars are not going to want to turn off their engines with bags of garbage in their car, but can we do something to monitor idling? Will there be staff monitoring that the garbage actually gets to the fenced in area as opposed to just dumped on the first patch of grass that people see?

I'm sure this won't be the last note on this subject. Expect more as the dump gets up and running, and the problems start to accumulate.

From: Councillor Rae

We understand where you're coming from, and won't deny that having a temporary drop-off site across the street won't serve as a smelly eyesore.

That aside, it's important that the city put in place contingency plans for residents to drop off their trash in a manner that is safe, convenient and as sanitary as possible given the current circumstances. It's unrealistic to think that people living downtown will transport their garbage to one of the transfer stations outside of the downtown core. Not everyone has access to a car, so there needs to be local drop-off locations. In speaking to Kyle, he feels the City would be negligent if it did not provide a means for residents to conveniently drop off their trash within the downtown core.

There are a few downtown sites, like Moss Park, that have a community centre nearby to house administrative functions, which is why the site is being used. If it's any consolation, Moss Park is not the only park to be used as a temporary garage drop off site. Even so-called posh neighbourhoods like the Old Mill and High Park will see green space converted into temporary waste sites.

I will do my best to see if a portion of the park can remain open for public use, as some have requested.

Again, I fully appreciate your frustrations and can only ask for patience given the state of affairs.
Ryan Lahr
EA to Kyle Rae

D. M. wrote:

Thank you for your response. I echo the sentiments in Nick's email below-- the fact that the City is using a grassy park area as a garbage dump is a very poor decision, from a health and safety and an environmental perspective. It is going to be a mess.

Point of clarification - I did hear on the news, that the area they are using in the Old Mill/Humber Park is actually the parking lot for the park - not green space.

In response to Kyle's concern for persons without a car having easy access to drop off garbage, well, good old Moss Park does seem like the simple solution from a political point of view.

I am sure we will all have more concerns as the situation unfolds. Let's get this strike settled, and quickly.