JUNE 22nd , JUNE 22nd , JUNE 22nd

Here in Don Valley East we are torn between two crucial events on June 22nd.

Parkway Forest Redevelopment

At Forest Manor P.S. at 7:00 p.m. all residents with an interest in the Parkway Forest Development Application are asked to attend. The original application has been refused by Toronto Council members. The applicant has now requested a hearing with the Ontario Municipal Board(OMB). While awaiting their hearing date, the developers are meeting regularly with City Planning Staff to try to adapt their application to satisfy the City and local residents before their hearing with the OMB.

On June 22nd, we will be showing whatever revisions the applicant has so far to the local community. Over the next few months we will need to organize a community working group to continue to prepare for the OMB Hearing. Even if you are busy, please drop by the meeting for a moment to add your name to the list of residents who will receive regular electronic updates in order to follow this process to the end. This process decides the future of Parkway Forest and intensification in Ward 33.

New City of Toronto Act

At the exact same time, across North York at Mitchell Field Ctre, M.P.P. David Zimmer is hosting the town hall meeting re: The New City of Toronto Act. This new piece of Provincial Legislation has the potential to change everything for local residents from how we decide stop signs to planning process to the very methods by which we are taxed.

It is not, in my view, as simple as a choice between the governance models of Strong Mayor/Weak Mayor. On June 22nd we hope that Torontonians will come out in huge numbers to send a message to whichever Government Members are there to hear you. If there are Toronto Area M.P.P.s absent, they must be asked by their local ridings to hold their own meetings to discuss the New City of Toronto Act. The Province must understand that if they want to download responsibility to tax for the social services they have downloaded to us, we will expect them to create the tax room on the Provincial side to balance your tax bill.

As Premier Dalton McGuinty himself said last fall at the hub-City Mayors' Dinner, "Toronto exists in a legislative straight jacket that would baffle Houdini. There must be a New City of Toronto Act before the House by the end of 2005." I would add to the Premier's remark that no other act of Provincial Parliament will be as important to the way this city is governed and the way the people of Toronto will be taxed.

I will have to split my time between Forest Manor P.S. and Mitchell Field because we can't re-arrange either date. The Ward 33 staff team will also be divided between to 2 meetings to help me follow both meetings in their entirety. If you are not going to the development application meeting, please join the City of Toronto Act Meeting at Mitchell Field over on Church St. All of the details are in the entry immediately below.

For more info: Justin, Jenny and Collette are at 416-392-4038