Junction Triangle

The Clean Train Coalition is organizing a "Human Train" to protest the huge increase in diesel trains along the Georgetown rail corridor. More information on the Clean Train Coalition website.

Sketch from the City of Toronto: Click for a larger version

At the next Toronto and East York Community Council meeting, councillors will be voting on agenda item TE27.55: the permanent closure of the short section of Paton Rd. just north of Erwin Krickhahn Park, and transferring the land to Parks and Recreation for the purpose of extending the park north.

A PDF copy of the Staff Report can be found here, as well as a PDF version of the sketch here.

The following notice came from Metrolinx today. If you have any ideas about this study that you wish to share with the rest of the community, feel free to post them in the comments.

METROLINX
20 Bay Street, Suite 901
Toronto ON M5J 2N8
Phone: 416.874.5900
Fax: 416.874.5901
www.metrolinx.com

Metrolinx is working with a Community Advisory Committee to develop the Terms of Reference to study electrification of the GO rail system.

The following event information comes from the Perth-Dupont Community Garden website. They're having a series of workshops about harvesting garlic and seeds this month, followed by a "Garlic Party" potluck on Saturday August 29th. Details and RSVP info below, and on their website.

Garlic And Seed Saving for August

Harvesting Garlic and seeds Workshop

With a bit of a Garden tour too
This is a series of workshops harvesting different varieties of Garlic. Including Russian, Mountain Top, Sweet Haven, and Music.

Where: Perth Dupont Community Garden
When: Every Saturday starting Aug 1, 2009

• Aug 1, 2009
• Aug 8, 2009
• Aug 15, 2009
• Aug 22, 2009
• Garlic Party on Aug 29, 2009 at 2:30PM

Time: All the workshops will start at 2:30PM

What: We will be harvesting some different varieties of Garlic. Including Russian, Mountain Top, Sweet Haven, and Music. We will also be talking about seed saving. And, we will show you how to bring home your harvest with out wilting, and other harvesting techniques to make the best of all your gardening work.
Workshops are free but participants should register.

For more information, and to register, please contact Susan at perth-dupontcg@frogstar.com
The Perth Dupont Community Garden is located in the Symington Avenue Playground (Map).
The entrance to the Park and the garden is from Perth Ave.
www.perth-dupont.parkcommons.ca

As you probably already know and have even possibly experienced in one way or another, Campbell Park was used as a temporary garbage dump during the recent City of Toronto workers strike.

The "garbage strike", as it was often referred to, lasted for just over one month, and our local rink at Campbell Park was used as a temporary dump site for approximately two weeks starting around July 16th. A group of residents calling themselves Friends of Campbell Park protested the use of Campbell Park as a dump.

Over the August long weekend, City Staff finally hauled the garbage away and started to clean up the rink. However, people are reporting that the site is still contaminated with the sticky leftovers of two weeks worth of garbage runoff.

Since I was away and unable to truly experience the effects of this strike on Campbell Park myself, I will leave it up to these media / blog / photo links to tell the story. If you have any of your own stories or comments about how this strike affected our neighbourhood, please feel free to share them in the comments below.

Media / Blog Links:

• Protests mark opening of new temporary dumps, CTV, July 16 2009
• Residents upset with three new dump sites, Toronto Star, July 16 2009
• Residents to protest Campbell Park dump site, The Villager / Inside Toronto, July 16 2009
• New Day, New Dump Sites, CityNews, July 16 2009 (With video)
• Campbell Park anti-dumping protest: it was a circus, Michael's Bloor-Lansdowne Blog, July 17 2009.
• Photos from Thursday's protest at Campbell Park, Michael's Bloor-Lansdowne Blog, July 19 2009
• Park fans trash dump-free CNE, Toronto Sun, July 21 2009
• Campbell Park garbage protesters chain selves, CTV, July 22 2009
• Clean up our park: Residents, Toronto Sun, July 28 2009
• Garbage pickup resumes as some steamed over dumps, CTV, August 4 2009
• Garbage gone but contamination fears remain, The Villager / Inside Toronto, August 6 2009

A few more photo links on Flickr:

• Campbell Park Garbage Park, by Martin Reis
• The Big Clean-up, by Martin Reis
• TOStrike - Human Chain, Friends of Campbell Park, by Himy Syed

Poster for the June 20 2009 Railpath parade.

The Clean Train Coalition are hosting a fundraiser movie night at the Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles Ave., 7:00pm on Sunday June 14th.

The next round of Open House meetings for Metrolinx's Georgetown South Service Expansion project has been announced. Here are the details of our local meeting:

When: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 3:00pm – 8:00pm
Where: The Lithuanian House, Hall B, 1573 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON (map).

An email update was sent out today from the Clean Train Coalition. For more information about the CTC, please visit their website.

An Update from the Clean Train Coalition!

A number of important actions have taken place in the past week that you should know of. Last week the Toronto District School Board created a motion expressing concern about the health and noise effects of the Georgetown rail expansion, particularly as it affects the health of children. The Board will vote on this motion in two parts: tonight and at the full Board meeting in June. Contact me for a copy of the motion if you’re interested (outreach@cleantrain.ca)

We had a Press Conference at Queen’s Park today that was well attended by the Press and some MPPs. This gave us the opportunity to discuss our concerns about Metrolinx’s plans and to call on the Premier to explain why he’s not showing more concern about the negative health consequences of using diesel trains to power his “Green” revolution.

Toronto City Council has again voted to demand electrification of all rail lines within the City. They are considering a bylaw that would prohibit the introduction of new sources of air pollution, in this case diesel trains, into the City.

In the near future, we will be making deputations before the City of Toronto Board of Health.

News stories about the rail expansion and electrification have been recently published in all four Toronto dailies.

The Strachan Ave Superbridge proposed by Metrolinx will not proceed. A less intrusive model replaces the original highly offensive proposal.

We hope to keep you informed of what’s happening on a weekly basis. If you have any questions or comments, please write to me (Peter Morgan) at the above address. Check our website for more info: www.cleantrain.ca.

The following email came through the DIGIN mailing list:

From: Cathy Martens
Subject: Neighbourhood green/social justice nonprofit startup meeting June 3, 10-12 noon

Howdy neighbours,