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CCRA PRESIDENT Bob Baron: March 2001 On January 31st, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, there was a Public Open House, hosted by the City of Toronto's Economic Development, Culture and Tourism Department, "...to review the design of the proposed Port Union Village Common Park". When I first received the notice of the meeting, I was looking forward to the first open discussion in some time, about the Village Common with City representatives. A very large number of concerned residents turned out as did their respective community associations - the CCRA, the Port Union Village Homeowners Association (PUVHA) and the West Rouge Community Association (WRCA). The associations' executives were there an hour early as we had been invited to a briefing "...on the design and development of Port Union Village Common Park...". Our invitation stated that we had been invited "Based on several requests received by Councillor Ron Moeser...". I regret to inform you the briefing and open house were both major disappointments. Not only was the briefing not attended by Councillor Moeser (he did not show up until almost 9:00 pm) but it was not a briefing at all. We were simply shown the same materials as were on display for the public open house. This was not a town hall type meeting. There was no question and answer period. The city representatives were uninformed about many crucial matters relating to the Village Common and did not want discuss them. They limited themselves to presenting the design of the park itself, in isolation. In speaking with many of the residents who attended, it became obvious that the general feeling was one of disappointment. The residents were not happy. They came out braving the poor weather conditions, expecting to learn new information about the Village Common and be able to provide some feedback on how they felt about it. As one resident put it, "They could have put this [presentation] in a brochure and mailed it to us.". On January 16th, the East Community Council ordered that the issue of the amendments to the Port Union Village Common was to be returned to the community for discussion and resolution prior to being represented. The January 31st public open house did not live up to that. There is a lot to be done to get the issues related to the Village Common resolved and a lot of information has yet to be provided to the community so that informed decisions can be made. To this end, we will be working with PUVHA and the WRCA to organize public meetings where you can find out: We will soon be starting our annual membership campaign. This is a huge undertaking and one that requires in excess of 100 volunteers. If you could give up a couple of hours, one or two evenings, to canvass a neighbourhood route, we would appreciate your help. If you would like to help out, please call our Membership Chair, Marilyn Hodge at 416-284-9984. If you ever wondered why you should be a member or what happens to the fees, some of the things we do include the following: |