Invitation to Electric vs Diesel Public Forum at City Hall: Monday, March 22nd

This forum is a public discussion of the proposed Metrolinx expansion of the Georgetown South transit line and the rail link from Union to Pearson.

The Board of Health supports expanded public transit as a way to reduce vehicle traffic, but remains concerned about health risks and air quality impacts predicted with the proposed diesel rail expansion.

Date: Monday, March 22, 2010
Time: 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Place: Council Chambers, Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street W.

Presentation
Moderator: Eva Ligeti, Executive Director, Clean Air Partnership

Panelists:
Gary McNeil, Executive VP, Metrolinx
Prof. Christopher Kennedy, Transportation Infrastructure Expert
Dr. David McKeown, Toronto Medical Officer of Health

Please feel free to distribute this invitation widely.

"It's Not Fair, We Want Clean Air": Citizens for Clean Air Rally

Today at 2 p.m., I attended an extraordinary rally at Queen's Park organized by the Citizens for Clean Air (C4CA). Thousands of people protested the proposed construction of a 900-megawatt natural gas power plant in Oakville, slated to be one of the largest in Ontario. They arrived en masse in 42 yellow school buses, with their mayors from Mississauga South, Oakville, and King Township leading the charge, to point out the flawed decision making process of TransCanada Corporation, and the Ontario Power Authority, which has permitted them to build this gigantic plant within 2 km of 5000 homes, and 16 schools. Why was I there? I care about clean air in Ontario, I teach at one of those nearby schools, and my brother's family lives near this area. The world is small and interconnected, and the Liberals, in their mad rush to grow an electoral empire, are putting this world I know at grave risk. My beloved Ontario is being threatened by those claiming to lead it. As I walked away from the rally, one of my students reached out their hand from a bus to wave good-bye.

This megawatt power plant is being fast-tracked, without a full federal Environmental Assessment process, which the Mayor of Oakville, Rob Burton, promises to pursue with all his formidable might. The C4CA might be gravely disappointed to find out, as I did in our case with Metrolinx, that TransCanada Corp., a private company, and the Ontario Power Authority, an arm's length agency, will collude with the federal Minister of the Environment to refine data during the Environmental Assessment process to avoid air quality exceedances and provide the go-ahead for construction. Most likely, the EA will say that the airshed in Oakville is already so highly polluted- what is a bit more 2.5 particulate matter added to the mix?

It is the same argument that I have heard from Metrolinx to rationalize the Georgetown South Service and Air Rail Link expansion, that CommunityAir has heard from the Toronto Port Authority, and most likely, that the C4CA will hear from the Ontario Power Authority. The pivotal question that must be answered is whether private companies, in this case, TransCanada Corp., have the best environmental interest of residents in mind as their highest priority due to their corporate mandate. In fact, is there not an intrinsic conflict of interest between a private company and residential communities when the objective of a company is to provide specific services for profit, vetted by a provincial arm's length agency? And when the mandate of the provincial and federal levels of the Canadian government, apparently, is to ensure that our infrastructure is dependent on fossil fuel, when the rest of the world is turning away from this dirty habit?

A public relations thorn in McGuinty's side is that two gas-fired power plants have blown up, one very recently. On February 7th, five people have died in Middletown, Connecticut, and twelve were injured, with a blast emanating for 48.2 km. The plant was run by Kleen Energy Systems (sic). The GO train serving Lakeshore West is within 50 metres of the proposed site for this plant, and its pipeline, and this gas powered plant will emit a vapour cloud, which will ice the tracks, and decrease visibility. If you were worried about Lakeshore West GO service before, you really should be now.

Premier Dalton McGuinty, and the Liberal Party, are directly responsible for this project, through faulty rationale enabling a false timeline. Our population is simply not growing that quickly, and Ontario has more than enough energy, a significant proportion of it renewable energy generated by Niagara Falls. In fact, as we speak, Ontario is selling off its surplus to the United States, and buying it back at a loss. NDP environment critic Peter Tabuns has revealed this information, published in a series of articles in the Star this summer. There is no other government in the world who would issue permits to build gas-fired power plants when they do not have a critical need of electricity, especially when they have surplus, renewable sources at their fingertips. This is part of the aggressive expansionist policy of Premier McGuinty, and he should prove the need for this plant to the opposition, and all Ontario residents.

Who is used to enforce these aggressive, fossil fuel guzzling decisions for unsustainable infrastructure? The Ontario Port Authority, the Toronto Port Authority, and Metrolinx are used to be the enforcers of these outdated projects. I am becoming very leery of any arm's length agency with the word "authority" as part of their title - it is guaranteed not to be one. There is simply no need to build this fossil fuel plant at $1.2 billion, there is no need to build a fossil fuel driven air rail link at $1 billion, and there is no need to expand fossil fuel short haul flights, with donations from the federal government rising to almost $600 million. In addition, all of these infrastructure choices have security risks associated with their operation as they are situated in the center of heavily populated regions. Premier McGuinty is leading us toward not only climate change, and environmental degradation, through heavily polluted air, but adding to this possible, future security breaches.

In the words of the assemblers, "It's not fair, we want clean air." This constitutional right extends to all residents of Ontario. There is no greater birthright, and no politician, or political party, who has the right to take this from us. Everyone who breathes should unite to say "We do not need to build fossil fuel based infrastructure for generations to come". The Liberals will feel the loss of these votes during the next federal election - they are angering enough ridings in the GTA. These constituents will become a critical mass as they form a coalition to fight for better air quality in the GTA. It is Premier McGuinty's job which might not be safe, although in his interview responding quickly to the rally, he guarantees that the gas-fired power plant will be.

There is an excellent documentary, 'Stop The Oakville Power Plant', at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUcVB0UgSmQ for more information.

References:
Citizens for Clean Air at http://www.c4ca.org/
Ontario Power Authority at http://www.powerauthority.on.ca/
Surplus Electricity in Ontario at
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/649763 and http://www.thestar.com/article/621552
At least 5 dead in Connecticut gas plant blast at http://www.canada.com/news/least+dead+Connecticut+plant+blast/2534227/story.html
Toronto Port Authority and Air Quality Measurement at http://www.torontoport.com/airport_facts.asp
McGuinty promises Oakville power plant will be safe at http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100302/plant_protest_100302/20100302/?hub=TorontoNewHome

We Need Heroes in the Davenport Riding

"Toronto will commit suicide if it plunges the Spadina Expressway into its heart... our planners are 19th century men with a naive faith in an obsolete technology. In an age of software, Metro planners treat people like hardware‚ they haven't the faintest interest in the values of neighbourhoods or community."

- Marshall McLuhan, sometime during the campaign against the Spadina Expressway between 1959 and 1971

Sound familiar? Within the past month, I have sat across from Davenport Riding's MP Mario Silva, and MPP Tony Ruprecht, and discovered a void of leadership for my riding. It was like talking into a well, in which concerns echoed, but no resolutions were made, no actions taken, and the paper trail of contracts leading back to the Liberal Party and Queen's Park was erased.

Neither MP Silva, nor MPP Ruprecht, had made the slightest effort to prepare for this community meeting, or attend the Human Train Rally, and neither made any effort to pretend they had. MP Silva blamed the City of Toronto, and said that had the City of Toronto done more, this would not be happening. His buck passing met with a stony silence. Everyone at that table knew better, and had been working with Councillor Giambrone's office in different capacities, and his assistant made their involvement known - very well. The residents present were far more knowledgeable than either politician.

Vacuous. A vacuum. The center cannot hold, and that center of all this rail expansion is the Davenport Diamond, and that center has had no advocacy or representation. The Davenport Diamond will be the epicenter of the traffic, a triangle created by the Newmarket and Georgetown corridors running through Brockton Village, and bounded by CP tracks above the Junction Triangle. It will have all future rail traffic, freight and commuter, hurtling through this 5 km triangle. You would think that MP Silva and MPP Ruprecht would be alarmed.

When MP Silva asked why people in the rest of Toronto should be concerned about this rail corridor, I listed the $2.2 billion a year that the City of Toronto pays in health costs due to air quality, that according to the World Health Organization, particulate matter of diesel travels 200 km, and that Toronto is competing with Los Angeles for number of smog days. I had to reiterate that his riding, the Davenport Riding, was going to most impacted by the construction, traffic, noise, and vibration, and did he know which riding he represented? When was he here last? And why is his attendance record one of the lowest in the House of Commons?

Many in the Portuguese community believe that the corridor will be electrified at the outset through their Portuguese language media sources. Europe does not run diesel trains through inner city neighbourhoods; it is considered unconscionable. MP Silva has his M.A. in International Human Rights Law from Oxford, has been Vice-Chair of the Toronto Transit Commission, and serves the Canada-Portugal Parliamentary Association. He needs to advocate for the health of his immigrant constituents for integrated, sustainable municipal and intra regional transit, and for environmental justice, or he will lose his seat. He has the knowledge - we have paid for his extended leave for his education during a time when he should have been defending us. Currently, he is in Ireland researching failed states for his PhD dissertation. Failed states, and failure of representation. How apropos.

I have learned brutal truths as I have fought for the health of my ward, Ward 18. When a community is considered to be disenfranchised, it receives the lowest engagement of leadership and protection. This community is undercut by its representatives time and time again by their absence. Politicians predict their multicultural constituents will not protest, because if English is not their first language, they will have difficulty monitoring their advocacy. We are paying for the tuition of MP Silva abroad, and MPP Ruprecht has been AWOL for a long, long time, and in the meantime, my ward is about to be severed by diesel trains and walls that will divide its neighbourhoods. Davenport Riding is not considered to be part of the public, and the definition of 'public good' simply does not apply to our health, as there is no one advocating for us at the provincial or federal levels, and quite possibly in the future, at the municipal level. It is no coincidence that both these men are Liberal. Follow the contracts to the region beyond the greenbelt, ripe for development, and Liberal votes, and add to that party enforced silence.

Like the Spadina Expressway, this Georgetown South, Air Rail Link and Newmarket expansion will be the most pressing issue of the upcoming municipal, provincial and federal electoral campaigns. It is directly tied into quality of life for the entire City of Toronto. Make no mistake - the ongoing expansion of the Toronto City Centre Airport, Pearson International Airport, the addition of this GSSE, Air Rail Link and Newmarket rail corridor, and the Gardiner Expressway- will guarantee the GTA's championship status over Los Angeles for smog days, and bring with it even higher rates of respiratory disease, and they are proving, heart attacks. There is a 40% increase in the relative risk of death from heart disease and stroke in the most polluted areas, which will include the Davenport Diamond in the near future. Electrifying by 2030, indeed.

I must say that I am non partisan, but very green, and I will vote for any candidate who advocates for electrification, consolidates the project scope of this rail expansion, and works to protect the Davenport Diamond from diesel fumes. This issue is as important to Toronto as the Spadina Expressway was in the 1960s, with a similar social and economic price tag. Where is Jane Jacobs when we need her now?

As someone at the meeting said "Does the entire rail corridor have to become NDP before someone listens to us?" Parkdale-High Park MPP Cheri DiNovo has been the patron saint of this project, and no one else has earned my respect more. If future candidates come forward for all levels of elections, municipal to federal, who can also earn my respect, I will support their candidacy with all that I have. I want people to step forward to be heroes, represent Davenport properly as MP and MPPs, and as the new Mayor of Toronto. My ward and riding are waiting for you, too. It is clear that the Liberal Party does not care about our health, but they do care about our votes, and these votes are not being earned. So let others who have integrity come forward to earn our trust. Please, step into the void, so the center can hold again, and represent the best interests of those who live in the Davenport Riding and Diamond. We need you.

Invitation: On Tuesday, March 2nd at 7pm at the Gladstone Hotel, come out for the Railbender, the First Anniversary Party of the Clean Train Coalition. Mayor Miller will speak at 8pm.

References: Mario Silva's PhD in Ireland at http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/09/03/mitchel-raphael-on-who-wore-jeans-under-his-tuxedo/

Toxic Air Increases Risk of Death at http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/579542#comments

Spadina Expressway at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spadina_Expressway

Jane Jacobs at http://www.pps.org/info/placemakingtools/placemakers/jjacobs

Fighting the System: Congratulations West Toronto Diamond Community Group

On February 3rd, the West Toronto Diamond Community Group received a ruling in their favour from the Federal Court of Appeal regarding their opposition to GO's request for a Stay of the Canadian Tranportation Agency ruling, which regulates the use of quieter methods for piledriving. Their initial request was simple - would GO/Metrolinx use vibratory piledrivers, and augers, when possible, instead of diesel hammer piledrivers, please? The diesel impact hammers are making it impossible for us to enjoy our lives, and damaging our community. The group had already received the CTA ruling in their favour, but Metrolinx found it necessary to contest it, although they had recently purchased equipment to be more considerate. Their contention? That these less intrusive methods would add to the length of the project, and costs, although these were not proven in court.

It says volumes about the integrity of Metrolinx/GO that they contested what is common courtesy, the use of quieter construction methods, and spent thousands of dollars of legal fees to fight the rights of citizens so that they could pound this project through without checks and balances. It is emblematic of the ruthless, shortsightedness of GO/Metrolinx' project design, and extends to every aspect of its implementation. Congratulations to the West Toronto Community Group, and their lawyer, David Baker, for coming forward and demanding what is right. Legal costs were granted by the Federal Court of Appeal to pay Mr. Baker, confirming that it was a vexatious appeal.

People often ask me what is wrong with Metrolinx' plan for rail expansion, and the answer is that it is Quick, Dirty, Diesel, Divisive and Destructive as opposed to building a Corridor which is Livable, Electrified and Accessible for all Neighbourhoods. Try as I might, I cannot come up with a clever acronym like CLEAN for the Metrolinx' version of transit planning as I doubt they thought through their public relations campaign in advance.

This project planning is so quick that it is not integrated with TransitCity's Light Rail Transit in the City of Toronto, so duplicates future services. It is so dirty that it requires three air monitoring stations to analyze air pollution close to childrens' playgrounds. It uses diesel locomotives, which no one else in the world would use for inner city corridors. It is divisive, so requires very long and very high walls for sound mitigation as the noise from the volume of traffic will far exceed 10 db. These massive walls will run like the Berlin Wall through neighbourhoods. Finally, it is destructive to established neighbourhoods, with beautiful historic properties, and vibrant arts communities, such as the Junction, Queen Street West, Liberty Village and Weston, and runs roughshod over residents with its lowest grade practices for its construction. GO engineers are on record saying that these twelve communities are 'marginal' to justify this corridor's frantic imposition on west-end communities.

I spend a lot of my time thinking about, and teaching, human-centered interaction design and systems theory. Whether interactive systems, or transit systems, their ultimate goal should be to serve people. The Big Move, the document upon which the GSSE/UPRL is based, has never considered anyone other than the willynilly development of subdivisions in the 905, and the running of executives through our communities to the airport, racetrack and casino. I marvel at a project which would double its ridership, efficiency and value if it included those along the corridor by being redesigned to incorporate broader, integrated, electric transit initiatives. I shake my head at project timelines which do not include a far reaching vision for environmentally sound design, coordination with municipal transit systems, and analysis of the impact of its construction and operation on surrounding communities.

The West Toronto Diamond Community Group, and their lawyers, were the courageous, first line of defense in a fight which will continue along the tracks, as Metrolinx/GO begins construction on the Davenport Diamond, which requires three times more construction than the West Toronto Diamond. Let's hope this ruling is the beginning of standards to be set for methods of quieter construction in the future, and finally includes us, those who will be impacted by every decision made, for the first time.

The Decision: This is the ruling regarding Metrolinx/GO vs the West Toronto Diamond Community Group and the City of Toronto http://decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca/en/2010/2010fca38/2010fca38.html Its brevity speaks volumes.

NEWS ALERT

THE STAY OF THE CTA RULING WAS NOT GRANTED BY THE FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL, and diesel impact hammers have been halted. For more information, go to http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/article/760276--court-upholds-order-for-go-to-halt-heavy-hammer-use

Irreparable Damage? Whose Irreparable Damage?

On Thursday, January 28th, social rights lawyer, David Baker, of Bakerlaw, represented the West Toronto Diamond Community Group in the Federal Court of Appeal. He was beyond eloquent, he was gracious. He was a force of natural justice.

The opposing argument by the lawyer, representing GO/Metrolinx, maintained that they will have irrecoverable costs, irreparable damage, and that the balance of convenience lies in their favour. 'Public good' was trotted out repeatedly, although GO/Metrolinx's definition of public good is counter to all socially responsible, environmentally sustainable transit planning initiatives.

When GO/Metrolinx boldly proclaimed that they will have irreparable damages, there were exasperated, barely audible chuckles from those who have incurred headaches and respiratory ailments, damage to the structural integrity of their houses, and lost business from the pounding of the West Toronto Diamond diesel hammer piledrivers over the past year. Excuse me- I can't hear you because of my hearing loss - who has had irreparable damage?

Stay tuned for the Federal Court of Appeal ruling next Wednesday at 6 pm, after three judges sit in Montreal to decide whether the previous CTA ruling has legs. This ruling is very important as the verdict will have far reaching implications for the cessation of noise in the West Toronto Diamond, the quality of construction methods used for the Davenport Diamond at Dupont and Lansdowne, and the future design of the overpass, or trench, on Wallace Avenue, east of Campbell.

May Natural Justice win out. What a guy.

When will they learn?

"When justice is gone,
There is always force."
Laurie Anderson from 'O Superman'

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.

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