April 2006 Newsletter

Citizens Concerned About the Future of the Etobicoke Waterfront April 2006

nnual

eneral

eeting

CCFEW’s Annual General Meeting will be

held on Monday, May 8

, at Storefront

Humber, beginning at 7:00 pm. 2445

Lakeshore Blvd W. (at Mimico Ave.)

Our guest speaker will be Suzanne Barrett.

She will be speaking about the upcoming

report card on the Etobicoke-Mimico

Watershed.

We will also be electing our Board of

Directors at the Annual General Meeting. The

board positions are: President, Vice President,

Secretary, and Treasurer. Serving on the board

is a rewarding experience. It does not

necessarily require a large commitment of

time, just a commitment to your community.

If you are interested in becoming more

involved, but don’t want to commit to being a

member of the executive, our monthly

planning meetings are normally held on the

second Monday of each month (except July

and August). Everyone is welcome to attend.

A special resolution will be introduced at the

AGM which will direct the board to seek an

environmental assessment of the proposed

skateboard facility at Colonel Samuel Smith

Park. For more background on this issue, see

the story on page 2.

We're Now

On The

Web!

Last October CCFEW launched our own website.

It had been considered for a while as a nice thing

to have, but it was the skateboard facility issue that

really made clear the advantage of having a means

to communicate to a broad range of people in a

timely fashion. The timing was also right because

the cost of maintaining a site has dropped

dramatically over the last few years. The cost of

maintaining a website for a year, without

advertisements, is roughly the same as printing

and mailing one newsletter. The website won't

completely eliminate printed newsletters, but will

replace them as the primary means of

communicating with our members. It provides a

very timely and cost effective means of

communication

There is currently a large portion of the site

devoted to the skateboard park issue, but there is

also an “Activities” page listing a variety of

upcoming events and meetings. The “Bird Walks”

page lists upcoming walks and has sub-pages with

information and photos from past walks. We have

a page devoted to each of the major waterfront

parks in Etobicoke. These pages will grow as we

build the site further. Our “Links” page provides

links to a wide variety of local groups and

services. In total, there are currently 31 pages on

the site with probably half that number again of

pdf files. Further suggestions and contributions of

content are always welcome.

The website has already proved useful in

CCFEW NEWS

April 2006

generating new members and making contact with

people who otherwise would never have heard of

CCFEW.

The Year In Review

CCFEW's main focus for the past year has been the

proposal to build a regional skateboard facility in

Colonel Samuel Smith Park. You can read all about it

in great detail on our website,

www.ccfew.org

, but this

is a summary of the last year's events. We first learned

of it early last spring, and we have been actively

involved in the process ever since. We have many

concerns about the suitability of this site for a

skateboard facility, but they can all be summarized in

two key points:

Compatibility - This is an active, “urban” facility

placed in a naturalized park setting. It poses risks to

the integrity of those naturalized areas.

Safety - Skateboard parks are normally located in busy

areas with good opportunities for drive-by surveillance

at all times of day, not hidden away in wooded areas.

We have never involved ourselves with questions

about whether or not this type of facility is the best

way to serve the recreational needs of our youth. That

decision had already been made. We have been

concerned only with the location.

We first met with City Parks Department staff in early

June last year to discuss this project. They were

primarily interested in Sam Smith Park from the

outset, but did ultimately short list three other sites.

There was one public meeting, on June 20

last year

when all four sites were discussed. At this meeting,

and all through the process, the other sites: Ourland,

Connorvale, and Don Russell Parks have received very

little attention. CCFEW has no objection to any of

these alternate sites.

We printed and distributed several hundred flyers to

nearby houses and park visitors in advance of the June

20th public meeting to make people aware of what was

being proposed.

Many of us left the June 20th meeting feeling very

discouraged, because the tone of the meeting strongly

suggested that it was an information meeting rather

than a consultation meeting. It certainly appeared that

the decision had already been made.

We had comment sheets available at the July 9th

Environment Day listing all four sites under

consideration. Of the 22 sheets returned to us, there

were 21 opposed to Sam Smith as the location, and

one in favour. Copies of all the sheets were forwarded

to the parks department.

At about the same time, a local resident started a

petition against locating the skateboard facility at Sam

Smith Park. The petition was sent to the City with

over 800 signatures.

During the winter, long after any public consultation,

we learned that the $500,000 skateboard facility would

be built in combination with a $2,000,000 ice skating

path. This path had been proposed when the park was

created, and now it is back. Somehow, a skating path

around a skateboard facility doesn't seem the same as a

path through the trees. It will mean a tremendous

amount of pavement adjacent to a naturalized area.

From what we've seen, even the planners are having

trouble figuring out how to squeeze it all in.

On January 6, CCFEW appeared before the board of

the TRCA to encourage them to take a strong stand in

defense of Colonel Samuel Smith Park. We were well

received by the board, and they unanimously adopted

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CCFEW NEWS

April 2006

some strongly worded resolutions which we believed

would ensure further public input on the site selection

process. It appears in the City's view, these

resolutions relate to consultation after the site has

been selected.

It was clear when the staff report was released on

March 6

, that Sam Smith Park was the only site given

thorough consideration. The report reads more as a

justification of a decision made a year earlier than an

analysis of alternatives.

CCFEW, along with the Toronto Ornithological Club,

and several private citizens made deputations when the

matter was discussed at the Parks and Economic

Development Committee meeting. The report was

“received” (approved) by the committee, and it went to

City Council for final approval in April.

So, now what? We are encouraging people to tell their

councillor, the mayor, and their MPP that they think

this is the wrong place for a skateboard facility. It is

not too late for politicians to reverse this decision.

We will also be voting on a special resolution at our

Annual General Meeting on May 8

. This resolution

will authorize CCFEW to seek an environmental

assessment of the Sam Smith Park location. We

believe there have been a number of flaws in the

process which justify this action.

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor...

After several years of continuous sponsorship, the TD

Canada Trust Friends of the Environment Foundation

decided not to fund the walks last year. All of our

walks since November have been sponsored by Birds

and Beans. Their sponsorship seems particularly

appropriate since their business is roasting and selling

Bird Friendly

, shade grown coffee. The connection

between birds and coffee isn't obvious in Canada, and

it doesn't get much attention here. The connection is

in Central and South America, where the coffee is

grown, and where many of our North American birds

spend the winter.

Traditionally, coffee was grown in the shade of larger

trees in the understory of tropical forests. This type of

farming is a polyculture which provides habitat to a

wide range of species including many birds. A more

common type of farming today is a monoculture of sun

tolerant coffee plants.

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has developed

a certification system for shade grown coffee that they

call Bird Friendly

. They describe it this way:

Simply put, "Bird Friendly®" coffee is coffee that

comes from farms in Latin America that provide

good, forest-like habitat for birds. Rather than

being grown on land that has been cleared of all

other vegetation, "Bird Friendly®" coffees are

planted under a canopy of trees. Because of the

shaded, forest-like setting created by these

canopy trees, coffee produced this way is called

shade-grown

. Not only are "Bird Friendly®"

coffees shade-grown, they are also

organic

meaning they're grown without the use of

chemical pesticides which poison the

environment.

"Bird Friendly®" coffees are the

only

coffees on

the market that are certified as shade-grown and

organic by an independent third-party inspector

using criteria established by the Smithsonian

Migratory Bird Center of the National Zoo. These

criteria are based on years of scientific research.

Companies that sell "Bird Friendly®" coffees

contribute 25 cents per pound to support

Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center research and

conservation programs.

Shade-grown coffee generally costs a bit more, but

coffee experts say its richer flavour comes from the

slower ripening of the beans. You won't find any

mention of shade-grown coffee at the major coffee

retail chains, but you can experience the difference for

yourself at Birds & Beans, 2413 Lakeshore Boulevard

West (at Mimico Ave.)

Salmon In Mimico Creek

Last October, while helping with a survey to document

fish barriers in Mimico Creek, my surveying partner

and I came across a very clear indication of the

importance of the survey. The creek is in a concrete

channel as it passes under the Gardiner Expressway.

The first barrier from the lake is a step in this concrete

section. This is were we found 15 dead salmon. One

had made it over the barrier, only to die in the shallow

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CCFEW NEWS

April 2006

waters above. The

others had all died

below the barrier.

The bottom was

littered with

salmon eggs.

Clearly these fish

want to use the

creek for

spawning. We

need to give them

back the means to

do it. This survey

is one of the

activities

undertaken by the

Etobicoke and

Mimico Creek

Watersheds

Coalition.

Keeping In Touch

Our e-mail list will be moving again! We started with

a list service from Hotmail, and then moved to Yahoo

Groups. We will soon be moving again to a new

system which will be more convenient for users and

administration. We will move everyone from the

Yahoo list on to the new list, but there will also be a

simple way to sign up on our website and of course

there will be an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each

message. There will also be an option to receive

messages in plain text (as they are now) or in html,

which allows graphics and different fonts. Watch for

the new sign-up link on our “Contacts” page.

CCFEW Annual General

Meeting

Monday, May 8th, 7:00 p.m.

at Storefront Humber, 2445

Lakeshore Blvd W. (at Mimico Ave.).

(see page 1 for more details)

Bird Walk Saturday May 27

9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Colonel Samuel Smith Park

Meet in the south parking lot

Meet at 9:00 am, rain or shine.