"When justice is gone,250,000 lbs of force, 40 times a minute, an explosion of atomized diesel at the drivehead, which pounds a 36” diameter steel pipe 22 meters straight into the ground to produce 130 decibels of sound energy for rolling, continuous vibration and noise.
There is always force."
Laurie Anderson from 'O Superman'
This is diesel hammer piledriving for the West Toronto Diamond, enabling a grade separation and underpass for the Metrolinx GSSE/UPRL corridor. This incessant pounding has induced headaches, cracked building foundations, covered homes with toxic dust, and disrupted school years. At any given time, three piledrivers could be working concurrently. There are 2,338 piles to be installed with diesel hammers.
Lucy McCormick Senior School, a special needs school for students with exceptional developmental disabilities, is located very close to the West Toronto Diamond. If you place a glass of water on a desk there, it will vibrate and shake. Try holding a year end exam for students, many of whom have ADHD, and are particularly sensitive to noise.
See for yourself the impact of this construction.
Tomorrow, on Thursday, January 28th, at 9:30 at the Federal Court of Appeal, 180 Queen Street West, suite 200, Metrolinx is challenging a Canadian Transit Authority ruling that ordered them to use the less intrusive, but more expensive, Giken vibratory piledrivers. Residents were delighted by the CTA ruling on December 7th. After the ruling, schools became quiet again, the elderly, caretakers, children and those who worked at home had the fundamental, constitutional right to enjoy their property, and heaven forbid, work, sleep and convalesce during the day in their homes.
This peace was short lived. Metrolinx did not like using the unobtrusive vibratory piledrivers. It forced them to take time, and precautionary measures, to think about each stage of the project, and the residents. Metrolinx does not like thinking about the impact of this project on the surrounding community, so Metrolinx circumnavigated the CTA ruling, and asked for an interim stay from the Federal Court of Appeal. It received this interim stay, and is approaching the Federal Court for a permanent stay tomorrow.
The definition of bullying "is repeated acts over time that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power with the more powerful individual or group attacking those who are less powerful". A bully is someone who knows how not to harm a community, yet contests the right to do so at $750 an hour, bankrolled by the residents' taxes. A bully is someone who chooses not to learn, and chooses to harm the learning process of others.
Draw your own conclusions. Speak up, and hold your hand steady, though, because the blackboard is shaking and your students can barely hear you.
Please come and support the CTA Ruling at the Federal Court of Appeal tomorrow. If this ruling is overturned, it will give Metrolinx carte blanche to pound through this corridor, without any environmental or social responsibility.
Also, post feedback on Minister of Transport Kathleen Wynne's site at http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/feedback/minister.shtml She should care, she used to be Minister of Education.
References:
Laurie Anderson 'O Superman'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzYu88jIDYs
Lucy McCormick Senior School
http://www.tdsb.on.ca/MOSS/asp_apps/school_landing_page/index.asp?schno=5310
Banging in Toronto. GO Transit Pile-driving. Spring 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRvFLVe9_bw
Property Rights and the Constitution
http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp268-e.htm
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