Friends of Sam Smith Park

FRIENDS OF SAM SMITH DEPUTATION TO SKATEBOARD FACILITY SELECTION COMMITTEE, AUGUST 24TH, 2006
Delivered by Terry Smith, spokesperson

Friends of Sam Smith are
Many and we have a supporter distribution list of nearly five hundred. All of us have family, friends and neighbors, so we are in fact more than that.
We are the many folks who wrote the hundreds of, sincere and heartfelt, mostly unanswered, e-mails and letters to our councilor, our mayor, our MPP, our Minister of the Environment that were available but were not and should have been included in this large but incomplete background package
Friends of Sam Smith are local residents and park users who have enjoyed the quiet, the solitude and natural beauty of our park for years and who want it left undisturbed to mature into its full potential.
We walk, jog, bike, fish, bird, photograph, sketch, watch wildlife, daydream, do tai chi, think, picnic, read, write poetry, introduce our children to nature, sunbathe, and snooze in the park. Passive, therapeutic, recreational use of the park as was intended in the original plan.
Friends of Sam Smith are families who care for the Lakeshore community, especially the Lakeshore waterfront. We get in the mud on park clean up days and lovingly remove the litter, the bottles and the rusted shopping carts.
We are emotionally attached to the park in a deep way. We are in awe of its breathtaking beauty and get busy and heated when our sacred place is threatened.
We are folks who, when most of us belatedly and unexpectedly find out that a half million dollar, huge, regional skateboard facility might be plopped right next to our beloved woods, wetlands and creeks, respond with bewilderment and anger that such an obvious lack of fit would even be considered. Many of us have seen large skateboard facilities on our travels and, while marveling at the goings-on, know they are never ever, never ever built in places like this. We cannot for the life of us understand why fifteen hundred square meters of concrete, with its urban/industrial, high decibel, high-energy, high intensity activity might end up here!
Friends of Sam Smith worry that, because of the noise, the clattering and the banging from a well used district skatepark, the wild things that make our park their home will have to move over yet again …. and to where? as green space ever diminishes, replaced by cement.
We anxiously wait for spring to see if our swans will raise a brood again and marvel that southern egrets and mocking birds are tentatively making a foothold in our northern sanctuary. We eagerly anticipate the magic of the incoming and outgoing migratory invasion of woodland warblers along North Creek, many threatened because of habitat loss. They are like jewels in the trees and shrubs, trees and shrubs that are literally just meters away from the proposed skateboard site, the same spot where monarch butterflies gather in large numbers on the spruce boughs before their flight south over the lake. We watch the evening activity of the beavers in the wetland pond and some of us have even surprised a deer in the woods. We fear the impact such a facility would have on all of this wonder.
We are citizens of Toronto who have more than just a limited Coney Island and condo vision of our precious waterfront, who recognize the enormous value that local, natural sanctuaries offer to frazzled city dwellers. We worry that this could be the thin edge of the wedge. Coveted concession stand privileges next to the proposed skatepark are already being lusted after. What next? A bar, amusement park, music, more bars and restaurants!
Friends of Sam Smith are residents, constituents, voters, community supporters and users of local business who understand that “revitalizing the Lakeshore” comes in many colors and is not just limited to business opportunities.
We are a community that sees the changing face and future of the Lakeshore, that sees all the young professional families moving into this area, the creative talent pool that this community and this city needs, according to our Mayor. These families say over and over again that they are here because of what our peaceful waterfront oasis adds to their lifestyle. Imagine the future, a Greater Toronto, an urban sprawl that stretches from St. Catherine’s to Pickering to Barrie without the relief of accessible, peaceful green space by the water to recharge our batteries.
Friends of Sam Smith includes Dan Brookes, a 16 year resident of the area, a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto and a member of the National Academy of Science, whose professional opinion is that the environmental assessment done by the Parks Board is seriously deficient and does not even satisfy its own terms of reference with regard to buffer zones like the meadow south of the Power House, the proposed site. According to Dan, the destruction of buffer zones can set back the development of a self-sustaining wetland area substantially. You’ve all got to pick up the brochure with Dan’s wonderful explanation of the park’s evolutionary journey, where he likens the park’s ecosystem in present time to a fragile child, full of life and energy and possibilities for the future. We wonder why this man’s impeccable expertise was never sought.
Friends of Sam Smith also includes teachers imaginative enough to wonder why the Power House cannot be used by both school boards as an outdoor education center – so many of these opportunities have been lost to our children in recent years. I used to bring my special ed students here every spring on a nature ramble, troubled kids from Regent Park. I would watch their hard faces melt as they held a garter snake in their hand or hear their excited wows as a hidden heron took wing right beside them. We have read and can relate to professional journals describing something called Nature Deficit Disorder, a condition increasingly seen in aggressive, stressed-out, anxious city kids who have lost their connection to the natural world, harmed in body and soul by our culture's sterile rejection of nature. We worry about that.
We feel bad for local skateboarders who have been presented with a concept design that is timid, watered down and not what they want nor what they were promised. Money that should have been set aside for bowls, rails, steps and ramps has instead gone to landscaping so that this ill-advised project will supposedly fit into its badly chosen surroundings. No one, skateboarders or nature lovers, ends up being even remotely satisfied with this. We believe that serious skateboarders have their own distinct, decent culture, one that is civil and desires to operate in harmony with the community.
And, most importantly, Friends of Sam Smith are passionately committed to there being a first class, safe, skateboard facility in our community

Friends of Sam Smith are not
“Against kids” as our councilor has sometimes labeled us. We have children who we know need challenging physical activity and quality facilities but we know also that they need undisturbed natural areas as playgrounds for exploration, wonderment and sensitization to the natural world in order to achieve healthy development
Friends of Sam Smith are not people who are willing to passively accept a process that has been flawed from the beginning because of its lack of transparency and proper public consultation, its unnecessary rush, it’s limited scope in imagining other more appropriate locations, the inconsistent science in the biologist’s report and the outdated criteria used for the site selection. Not to mention the fact that the opinion is widely held amongst us that this site had been chosen long before the only public meeting, long before City staff came up with their faulty postscripted paperwork to support it. We have become mistrustful.
We are not impressed by the site evaluation used by City staff to assess various locations for the skateboard facility. We are surprised, with so much emphasis on the environment these days, that the same weighting was actually given to things like storage and parking as was given to impact on natural areas. And even when these suspect evaluation criteria were tallied, Sam Smith only squeaked slightly ahead of its closest competitor by a small margin. We are astounded that the enormous up swell of public opinion from residents against Sam Smith as the site would not more than make up for this, especially considering that the City’s Parks staff stated in the site selection report, and I quote, “scores need to be considered with public input and other information”. Well, they’ve certainly received our input now!
Friends of Sam Smith are not happy at the lack of vision shown here. With its exclusive emphasis, come hell or high water, on this one extremely controversial and inappropriate site, more imaginative solutions may have been ruled out, solutions that could have made everyone happy and not ended up creating winners and losers in our community. Time and opportunity have been lost.
We are puzzled as to why our councilor changed his mind. The Etobicoke Guardian quoted councilor candidate Mark Grimes as stating at an all-candidates’ meeting during the 2003 municipal campaign that he “would advocate putting a skateboard park on the vacant industrial lands in our community”. We do not understand why a commonly accepted, levelheaded and realistic idea like that has morphed into one that nobody can make sense of, one that makes the skeptical ones amongst us think that we might not have been given the whole picture.
We are not people who have a short memory. We are not forgetful of the excitement generated in our community when this park was first established, this jewel that we thought would be the City and ours forever. We are baffled and angry that so much of our tax money, many millions in fact, was spent by the Conservation Authority to naturalize what started out as nothing more than building-site lake fill. Over the years we watched the trucks bringing out debris and we marveled at the miraculous regeneration and naturalization that followed. We feel strongly that this misguided proposal will put our wisely spent financial outlay in jeopardy, that it will waste what we have already invested at great cost.
We are not impressed by City Council’s decision to keep their hands off this matter, a matter that involves Toronto’s Green Plan and our city’s waterfront as a whole. Something like this should not have been left to only a local councilor, a junior councilor in his first term, to relentlessly force a pet project through against widespread opposition, like the ward bosses of old. We are not sure why our so-called green mayor remained silent and never stepped in.
We are not filled with enthusiasm at what appears to be the growing demise of local democracy at City Hall with its unwieldy, rubberstamping council and its reluctance to embrace reasoned, intelligent input from on-site community groups. Neighborhood activist groups all over the city complain about this same problem.
We are not in any way assured that the currently proposed location, tucked out of the way in isolated wooded parkland, without supervision, lights or telephone, watched over only by occasional users of the park access road and the rare passes by overworked local police looking after a high crime area like ours would even come close to providing the safety and guardianship, passive and direct, that we want our children and youth to have. We have all seen the uncontrolled vandalism already present in the park, the burnt-out wildlife viewing platform, the destroyed interpretative signs, the graffiti and tags, the broken beer bottles, the litter, the Power House washrooms perpetually closed because of vandalism – we cannot see any of that getting better if this goes through.
Friends of Sam Smith are not NIMBY’s. We want that first class facility built in our front yard, in an open, visible area, where these things are always built, no matter in whatever jurisdiction you wish to look. For example, the comparable skateboard facility they are building near Asbridges Bay is on open land right at the intersection of two busy main roads, Lakeshore Blvd. East and Coxwell. Incidentally, that project went through a proper public consultation. It was comprehensive and unrushed; it considered and valued public input, did not rely on the petition game and, guess what was the result – widespread community and skateboarder approval.
And lastly, we are not happy about what has been poor and time-delaying dialogue between the local skateboarding community and the planners. We feel bad that the skateboarders may have to wait even longer for what they were promised.

So, because of who we are and because of what we are not, Friends of Sam Smith emphatically says no to there being a regional skateboard facility at the proposed location in Sam Smith Park and urge the Selection Committee to proceed as fast as it can to get the promised facility built without delay in a location and with a design that meets the needs of everyone in our community.

Please accept this letter as an invitation for the Friends of Sam Smith to participate in a review of the proposed skateboard park in Col. Sam Smith Park.

Councillor Grimes has asked me to review the decision reached by City of Toronto staff to locate the new skateboard park within Col. Sam Smith Park. Specifically, I will answer:

1.) Is Sam Smith park the best location to build the new skateboard park – yes or no, and:
2.) If no, where should the new skateboard park be located.

The first two meetings I have scheduled are:

1.) Thursday, August 24, 2006
Meeting to receive input from community groups
7:30 p.m.
Location: Power House
Directions: 65 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive

2.) Thursday, September, 14, 2006
Meeting to receive public input from individuals
7:30 p.m.
Location: The Assembly Hall
Directions: 1 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive


I am asking each group, including yours, to attend the Thursday, August 24th meeting and present me with your groups thoughts, opinions and ideas with regard to the two questions outlined above. I’m also inviting each group to attend the Thursday, September 14, 2006 meeting to hear individual members of the public provide their input as well. Both meetings are open to all members of the public.

I would not normally call a public meeting in the month of August - when many of us are on holidays - but given the urgency of this issue, I wanted to assure everyone in the community that work is being done to resolve this issue.

Councillor Grimes has stated to me that he will support the findings I present to him – whichever way they go. So I would encourage your group to continue to provide public input on this issue. Councillor Grimes has been listening closely to public input so far – that’s why he’s asked me, a well-known environmentalist, to step in and review the city staff recommendations – and I know he will take my recommendations seriously as well.

For my part, I can guarantee you that I will listen closely to everything that you say. I will do my very best to ensure that any decisions made respect the environment, the community and our local skateboarders.

Please send me a letter from your organization letting me know if your group can participate as well as who your group’s designated representative is (and who that person’s “alternate” is in case your designated person cannot attend a meeting). If you have any questions regarding my review please feel free to contact my office at 416-392-0204.

Cheers,



Glenn De Baeremaeker
Councillor, City of Toronto
Ward 38, Scarborough Centre

P.S. While some of the material will be familiar to you, I will be sending everyone a background information package to review before the August 24th meeting.

Groups Invited to Join the Advisory Group:

Friends of Sam Smith
South Etobicoke Skateboard Association
Good Neighbours of New Toronto
Lakeshore Planning Council
Alderwood Residents Association
Mimico Residents Association
Long Branch Business Improvement Association
Etobicoke Yacht Club
Humber Bay Shores Association
Lakeshore Area Multi-Services Project
Toronto District Catholic School Board
Toronto District School Board
Citizens Concerned about the Future of the Etobicoke Waterfront
Lakeshore Village Business Improvement Association
Long Branch Residents Association
Rotary Club of Etobicoke
Lakeshore Lions Club
Ruth Grier (Former Ontario Minister of the Environment)

Hi Folks,

There are three things you can do to help:

1. Please send letters to the Editor they are Very Effective. They generate media interest in this issue. We need all the coverage we can get.

Each day all the City Councillors and Mayor receive an envelope of newspaper clippings on City issues. Please e-mail each newspaper separately - if you send your letter and copy all the newspapers on the same e-mail there is a good chance it won't get picked up.

Letters to the Editor must include name address and daytime phone number, so that the newspaper can contact you and verify that the letter came from you.

The Toronto Star
lettertoed@thestar.ca
Fax: 416-869-4322

The Etobicoke Guardian
etg@insidetoronto.com

Now Magazine
letters@nowtoronto.com
Fax: 416-364-1166

The National Post
letters@nationalpost.com

The Globe and Mail
letters@globeand mail.com

The Toronto Sun
editor@tor.sunpub.com

2. Please continue to e-mail the councillors asking them to make a Notice of Motion at the Next City Council Meeting on July 25th to defer construction on the skateboard park pending an open public consultation process. I have provided the e-mail list of City Councillors and staff we should be e-mailing and I have included Howard Moscoe's e-mail address

Send the e-mail to Councillor Grimes:
Councillor Mark Grimes: mgrimes@toronto.ca Fax: 416-397-9279

Copy the Mayor:
Mayor David Miller: mayor_miller@toronto.ca Fax: 416-696-3687
Carmen Smith, Mayors Office: csmith7@toronto.ca

Copy Etobicoke-York Community Council:
Councillor Rob Ford: rford@toronto.ca Fax: 416-397-9238 Councillor Doug Holyday: dholyda@toronto.ca Fax: 416-392-4121 Councillor Suzan Hall: sjhall@toronto.ca Fax: 416-696-4207Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby: glindsa@toronto.ca Fax: 416-696-4138Councillor Peter Milczyn: pmilczy@toronto.ca Fax: 416-392-4127
Councillor Frances Nunziata: councillor_nunziata@toronto.ca Fax: 416-392-4118
Councillor Cesar Palacio: councillor_palacio@toronto.ca Fax: 416-392-0212
Councillor Frank Di Giorgio: councillor_digiorgio@toronto.ca Fax: 416-392-1675
Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti: councillor_mammoliti@toronto.ca Fax: 416-696-4218
Councillor Bill Saundercook: councillor_saundercook@toronto.ca Fax: 416-338-5211

Copy the Skatepark Consultation Committee:
Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker: councillor_debaeremaeker@toronto.ca Fax:416-392-7428

Councillor Howard Moscoe: councillor_moscoe@toronto.ca Fax: 416-392-4141

Copy City Staff:
Susan Corke, City Manager: scorke@toronto.caBrenda Liebrecz, Parks and Recreation: BLibrecz@toronto.ca
Steven O'Bright, Parks and Recreation: sobright@toronto.ca
Brian Rutherford, Parks and Recreation: brutherf@toronto.ca


3. Please write or e-mail the Minister of Envrionment and ask for an Environmental Assessment to designate the skateboard/ice skating facility in Colonel Samuel Smith Park a project to which the Environmental Assessment Act applies."

Laurel Broten, Minister of the Environment
e-mail: minister@ene.gov.on.ca Fax: 416-314-7337

Thank you for your continued support, and your hard work.

Jemon behalf of New Toronto Good Neighboursgoodneighbours@gmail.com www.newtoronto.ca

>From: "Councillor Grimes" <councillor_grimes@toronto.ca>
>To: "Nadeem Khan" <nkhan2@toronto.ca>
>Subject: Councillor Grimes Announces Formation of SkateparkConsultation
>Committee
>Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 17:12:11 -0400
>

---

Dear Residents,

Thank you for contacting me with your request for more information
pertaining to the skateboard park.

Some community groups and concerned residents have asked for additional
consultation on the skatepark project. To accommodate their concerns, I
believe further work is needed to ensure the creation of the right facility
in the right location for the community and for skateboarders.

I am proposing the formation of a consultation committee to address location
issues and other concerns surrounding the construction of a proposed
skatepark in South Etobicoke.

Since the start of my term, I have always advocated on behalf of the youth
and I have secured half a million dollars for a new skateboard facility in
Ward 6 during the 2005 budget process at City Hall. To pave the way for the
facility's development, I have taken steps to ensure an open discussion with
all stakeholders and residents and provided regular updates in my ward
newsletters.

The consultation committee that I have proposed will include a cross-section
of Ward 6 residents and community groups. Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker
(Ward 38 --- Scarborough Centre) has agreed to assist in the formation and
functioning of the committee. Councillor De Baeremaeker brings a wealth of
experience in community and environmental issues to the committee. He is a
member of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and was a key
part of grass roots organizations to save the Rouge Valley and Oak Ridges
Moraine.

I believe in transparency with all development projects, and this proposal
is no exception. This transparency extends from beginning to end throughout
the process. Through discussion and consultation, the committee will come to
a consensus on a location for the facility, and help to get the project
underway.

At the completion of the consultation process, I will expedite the
committee's findings and move towards completing the skatepark in South
Etobicoke.

Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my
office at 416-397-9273.

Regards,
Mark Grimes
Toronto City Councillor
Ward 6 *-Etobicoke-Lakeshore

ccfew.org
Here is the link for: Citizen's Concerned about the Future of Etobicoke Waterfront

FYI.. from Dan Brooks & Deborah McLennan It's amazing what I m learning from this group Angela
-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel R. Brooks FRSC [mailto:dbrooks@zoo.utoronto.ca]
Sent: July 13, 2006 9:21 AM
To: Paul and Angela Giraudy
Subject: Re: Skateboard Park in Sam Smith Park - PUBLIC INPUT CRITICAL
> Hi Dan,
> Can I send this out to the bigger group of people, just so they can
> understand the importance of the meadows? I didn't.
Absolutely -- this is the major take-home message for Saturday's little hike. Deborah has also done a lot of work on documented and traditional uses of various species. There's a bit thistle out there called teasel, for example, and the name comes from the fact that in England, it was used to tease wool apart in processing it. The plant was introduced here for the same reason. There is St. John's wort, a good sedative, camomile, a nice herbal tea, deadly nightshade, very poisonous, colt's foot, whose leaves are carcinogenic, some very nice-looking decorative grasses that can cause severe discomfort to dogs that wander into them, and so on. Every species has a story, and every species has value in some way.
> Also Ruth Grier phoned me on the Wednesday afternoon and was thrilled
> with everybody taking such an active role.
Excellent.
dan
> Angela
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Daniel R. Brooks FRSC [mailto:dbrooks@zoo.utoronto.ca]
> Sent: July 13, 2006 8:56 AM
> To: Good Neighbours; Paul and Angela Giraudy; Alexandra Gillespie;
> McLennan, Deborah
> Subject: FW: Skateboard Park in Sam Smith Park - PUBLIC INPUT CRITICAL
>
> Additional support. I don't think Mr. Grimes has many friends.
>
> dan
>
>
> Daniel R. Brooks FRSC
> Department of Zoology
> University of Toronto
> 25 Harbord Street
> Toronto, ON M5S 3G5
> Canada
> tel: 416-978-3139
> FAX: 416-978-8532
> email: dbrooks@zoo.utoronto.ca
> Home Page: http://www.zoo.utoronto.ca/brooks/
> Parasite Biodiversity Site: http://www.parasitesrus.com
>
>
> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: "Daniel R. Brooks FRSC"
> Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 08:53:43 -0400
> To: Ruth Grier
> Conversation: Skateboard Park in Sam Smith Park - PUBLIC INPUT
CRITICAL
> Subject: Re: Skateboard Park in Sam Smith Park - PUBLIC INPUT CRITICAL
>
>> I have been away and have missed the incredible work being done by
you
>> and lots of others to stop the Sam Smith skateboard. Thank you,
>> thank you! I knew my emails would be full so drove down today to
>> check them all!
>>
>> The biologist with Marshall, Macklin etc. was Jeff Warren. When I
>> was doing the EA submission I tried to find someone to critique it
and
>> one consultant I talked to described it as a planning rather than a
>> biological document - which I thought was apt! I also tried to
> find
>> an expert on monarch butterflies as I am convinced they use the site
-
>> perhaps you could help with that aspect?
>
>
> Dear Ms Grier,
>
> Many thanks for your reply. As Deborah McLennan (my spouse and
also
> a
> biology prof at the U of T) looked closer and closer at the
"biologist"
> report, we became more and more displeased with it. I think that
calling
> it
> a planning document (i.e., justification rather than evaluation) is
> exceptionally nice.
>
> What we have done is our own assessment of the area, which we have
> made into a short guided tour for interested citizens this coming
> Saturday during environment Day at the park. We have also put together
> a screen saver
CD
> of
> images of the park and some of its inhabitants.
>
> The bottom line, as far as we are concerned, is this: The park
> supports a large number of species of plants, most of which are
> members of the aster and the legume families. These are plants that
> thrive in disturbed and poor quality soil. The legumes in particular
> are the vanguard of biological reclamation -- they host
> nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their roots that actively improve the soil
> quality, thus paving the way for more permanent species of plants.
> This means that the park, while showing great signs of life, is still
> in its infancy, and is fragile. This means that every patch of land
> associated with the wetlands and their margins needs to be protected.
> One thing we will point out to people who take the tour
with
> us
> is that each patch of meadow/field in the park has a slightly
different
> appearance, due to having different species of plants and different
> abundances of each species. If the conserved habitat is not a large
> contiguous piece, the various patches (fragments) become even more
> important with respect to conservation and development. So, the
> primary
statement
> by
> Mr. Warren, that losing one patch of meadow was not a problem because
> there are others in the area is a statement that we would give zero
> marks to on an examination in first year biology.
>
> We are also seeing birds, such as the great egret and the black
> crowned night heron, setting up shop in the park for the first time.
> These are birds that have begun moving north as global climate change
> proceeds apace.
> While
> they are an indication of climate change on the one hand, they are
also
> species that are native to North America, so their moving in will help
> guard against unwanted invasions by warm-adapted species from other
> places.
>
> I also want to thank you personally for your actual personal reply.
I
> know you received an enormous number of messages. But given that all
we
> received from the Mayor's office was a form email response from one of
> his relatives (Joanne Miller - wife, sister, daughter, mother?), your
reply
> is
> truly a breath of fresh air. I am at your service if I can be of help
in
> ay
> way in the future.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> dan brooks
>
> Daniel R. Brooks FRSC
> Department of Zoology
> University of Toronto
> 25 Harbord Street
> Toronto, ON M5S 3G5
> Canada
> tel: 416-978-3139
> FAX: 416-978-8532
> email: dbrooks@zoo.utoronto.ca
> Home Page: http://www.zoo.utoronto.ca/brooks/
> Parasite Biodiversity Site: http://www.parasitesrus.com
>
>
> ------ End of Forwarded Message
Daniel R. Brooks FRSC
Department of Zoology
University of Toronto
25 Harbord Street
Toronto, ON M5S 3G5
Canada
tel: 416-978-3139
FAX: 416-978-8532
email: dbrooks@zoo.utoronto.ca
Home Page: http://www.zoo.utoronto.ca/brooks/
Parasite Biodiversity Site: http://www.parasitesrus.com

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