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Permalink Reply by Tuxedo on June 19, 2009 at 11:51am

I wasn't able to attend the city meetings... Could someone please post a rundown of what went on... What they said, what's next, etc...

I have attended several of these "PUBLIC MEETINGS" in the past, including: Sewer flooding homes and Lead in water. My experience is that it's all a show.. the city has already made their decisions. It's an opportunity for people to see their councillors face to face, and get a warm and fuzzy around how the city cares about their taxpayers.

How did we win the Walmart fight.... We may need to repeat the fight.

Back to the issue at hand.

We own a house on a street right next to the Greenwood yard... When I step out my front door, I see an ugly fence. Of course I also see red streetcars peeking out, and a lot of posts and cables.... My favorite part is the constant electric sparks that fly 10 feet in the air... Apparently that is a major safety violation, and would be just cause for city inspectors to shut down the yard.... Oh wait, city inspectors, city property, hmmm... I guess the sparks will keep flying... Although I must say, I now possess the power to tune out the LOUD metal on metal screeching sounds that play out 24/7.

The only benefit of having a streetcar yard in the area, is one of convenience for the city. We, taxpaying homeowners will see no benefit whatsoever. In fact, property values of nearby homes will not reach their full potential, and may even decrease in value.

Once again, the city of Toronto and Mayor Miller are showing their true priorities. Yes we should take as much money as possible from the province/country, yes the Streetcar fleet is aging and needs updating, but there must be a better location than Eastern Ave.

That land is prime real-estate and the city is quickly running out of such spaces. It should be used as an exciting space, that will bring people in, create jobs, and make Leslievillers PROUD.... A parking lot for streetcars will not do that.

Looking at the map of proposed sites, there is one on the South/East side of Lakeshore/Leslie.... Seems like a better choice to me.... No residents nearby. Stench spewing sewage-treatment plant next door. This is empty land, that will not be missed by anybody in the area.

That's my 2 cents.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on June 20, 2009 at 8:18pm

Actually, that's what she's paid to do. To listen to her constituents. I see you're anonymous. Guess you're just trying to inflame things with the phrase "constant whining", hmmm?

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Permalink Reply by Pat on June 20, 2009 at 8:20pm

No, they're planning on keeping the existing yard open, and adding a second.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on June 20, 2009 at 8:22pm

I'm opposed because it is going to add streetcar tracks and traffic where they currently don't exist: down Leslie, across Eastern, and up Carlaw. I'm opposed because although it will create some jobs, the job density for the site will be really low. I'm opposed because it's going to make a bad traffic situation on Eastern even worse. I'm opposed because it's going to have vast paved areas (where the streetcars will park, and where the employees will park).

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Permalink Reply by John L on June 21, 2009 at 1:38pm

I think if you look at the Greenwood yard, you'll see all the reasons why this new yard shouldn't be situated directly adjacent to the neighbourhood, if it can be avoided. There are other sites close by which make better sense.
There don't seem to be any businesses benefitting from the TTC Greenwood yard; in fact, that area is a bit of a wasteland. As well, there don't appear to be many people in the yard working those "high quality" jobs we were promised. Maybe that's why there are no shops around the yard: there are too few people working there to support any development.
The city should create a mixed use project for the old film studio lands. Why not allow the development of a skatepark, movie theatres, shops, offices, and housing on the land? The city wouldn't need to tear down all the old buildings, and it could probably save some money, which is always good.
I think we are kidding ourselves to think that the film industry will ever use it again; they now have the massive (and largely empty) Filmport for their future. The old studio lands don't need to be turned into some mega-project, though.

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Permalink Reply by Leigh Hanssen on June 22, 2009 at 3:34pm

FYI it appears that the storage yard site issue did not come out of the blue (as some politicians have claimed), it's been discussed since 2007:

http://www.ttc.ca/postings/gso-comrpt/documents/report/f3286/_conv.htm

Immediate Acquisition of Property for an LRT Yard in Advance of Overall Project Approvals

A critical component of the implementation plan, and a critical-path factor for the opening of the new light rail lines, is the construction of a light rail vehicle maintenance yard(s) and facility(ies). It is critical that work begin immediately on the identification of possible yard locations, property acquisition, and the construction of a yard/maintenance facility. Staff are starting work on identifying and assessing possible yard sites with an expectation of recommending the early acquisition of one or more sites in 2008. Funding for these acquisitions will be included in the 2008-2012 Capital Budget

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Permalink Reply by Pat on June 22, 2009 at 6:47pm

It wasn't really a public meeting per se, but a series of Open Houses. As Jim Neff so aptly described on the Yahoo! Leslieville group:

These 'Open Houses' are often counterproductive as a public forum, as
a public meeting is often avoided this way.

The difference, at an open house people can speak their mind to a volume of
walking professionals, who professionally smile, shake hands, answer questions,
listen politely -nodding and smiling -not taking any notes!
The community's comments are not recorded, unless people take the time to WRITE
THEM personally.

At a public meeting notes are taken of peoples comments. As a community we feed
off of one another, just as we do in a blog.
One person's comment stimulates another's thought, and thus a community
consciousness grows. There are often various opinions and it is healthy for them
to be aired and listened to.

If anyone wants to present further written comments there are only two days left
before the deadline Wednesday on the location of the 'LRT parking lot', actually
a 24 hour maintenance facility for the new style transit cars, the current yard
will remain for off-time parking.

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Permalink Reply by Andrea N on June 22, 2009 at 10:23pm

As an FYI, our neighbour went to the public open house on the 18th and spoke with Adam Giambrone and apparently he sees the Eastern location as one of the top 2 locations the other being Ashbridges!

They are planning to take it to council at city hall on July 6th and 7th.

The construction will start early 2011 ending in 2012 with streetcars running 24/7 after that.

If anyone who is on this site was in charge of the Big Box fight, I would really like to get the group going again for this cause and would love to help in any way possible. FYI I started a petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/OPPOSEdepotonEastern/index.html

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Permalink Reply by Sean D on June 23, 2009 at 1:40pm

FYI feedback on the new TTC streetcar storage facility is due by June 25. The city is considering three sites - Ashbridges Bay, Eastern Avenue, and Unwin Avenue sites. It seems that the Eastern site is the only one that is so close to residential housing. For more information, including the presentation given at the meetings last week click on the link below.

Send your feedback to LRVYard@toronto.ca (as well as Paula Fletcher councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca)

http://www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/lrv/

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Permalink Reply by Andrea N on June 23, 2009 at 2:23pm

Thanks Sean D.

I will be sending the petition results (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/OPPOSEdepotonEastern/signatures....) to both Paula and the LRV address Thursday morning.

Please encourage all you know to sign up.

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Permalink Reply by Andrea N on June 24, 2009 at 9:37am

I emailed Paula Fletcher on Monday requesting a timeline on her opposition and how/when she plans to voice this publicly. I have not yet received a reply.

Agree that she is very quiet and this is incredibly concerning coming from a politician who was so passionate and vocal about the Big Box development!

It really doesn't look good that she was so passionate about that fight and yet has barely come out with her official opinion on this project which also seriously affects the community.

Please someone let me know if you have heard anything!

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Permalink Reply by Nolin (Admin) on June 24, 2009 at 11:26am

I also emailed her yesterday morning, providing a link to this discussion thread and asking her to respond to the 500+ members of The Leslieviller with her position on the issue.

I have not heard or seen anything either.

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