An Environmental Plan for the New City of Toronto: How to Make It ...

commitment to “follow the principles and work toward the sustainable community set out
in Vision 2020 and to request the community partners and the Area Municipalities to
endorse the revised Strategies for a Sustainable Community “ (Hamilton-Wentworth,
1998).
Vision 2020 has had direct impact on the legislative and guiding policies of the region.
Two-thirds of the strategies found their way into the Official plan and a new
Transportation Plan and Economic Strategy have been prepared based in sustainable
strategies. It has also impacted the way decisions are made in Hamilton-Wentworth. All
reports to Council must address how the proposal will impact the social, economic and
environmental well being of the community. A Sustainable Community Decision-Making
Guide has been prepared to assist departments in making decisions on all new and
existing policies, programs and projects (Region of Hamilton-Wentworth, 1996). The
Region also requires that submissions for grants address how the project will achieve
the goals and objectives of Vision 2020 . The idea of performance contracts referencing
the goals and objectives of Vision 2020 has been discussed but not implemented
(Ragetlie, pers. com.).
Other initiatives attributable to the actions identified in Vision 2020 include conversion to
transit buses powered by natural gas, a newly completed bicycle network, doubling the
number of Environmentally Sensitive Areas, reducing the amount of urban sprawl, and
firming up the urban boundaries (Ragetlie, pers.com.). The biggest change, noted by
both region staff and the community representative, is the increased awareness of
sustainability (particularly environmental) issues. This perception is supported by a
survey conducted by Hamilton-Wentworth two years ago which revealed that 1 out 5
citizens were aware of the Vision 2020 project. Vision 2020 makes it clear that
implementation involves commitment of every citizen and gives examples of how each
citizen can contribute in A Citizen’s Action Guide.
What were the barriers to preparing /implementing this plan
One of the difficulties, common to most general, comprehensive planing exercises, is
how to operationalize general actions, Although the Vision 2020 initiative has been fairly
successful in raising awareness of sustainability in general and everyday actions the
individual can undertake, real success requires the active participation of all sectors of
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