#9108 - Dec 1991

Digital Archiving Completed by the Ethnography Lab, A University of Toronto Anthropology Initiative
and Produced in Collaboration with David Perlman/Wholenote Media Inc between July-December 2015.
Page four, Kensington Market Drum
December 12 1991
W est ern incinerator, concern spreads
!Jy Deborah Cowman
The last issue of Drum earned
an article "A Burning Issue"
which outlined concerns about
toxic emission from the Toronto
Western Hospital incinerator.
This incinerator has no pollution
controls and burns medical
waste from several downtown
hospitals for 14 hours a c;Iay. It
produces emissions with
unacceptably high concentrations
of dioxins, lead, mercury and
other substances known:,to be
toxic to people and the environment.
In response to the last article,
a number of community members
have commented that the
stack frequently belches plumes
of black smoke. Black smoke is
the most visible sign that the
already lax provincial guidelines
are being violated. Questions
have also been raised about
concentrations of PCBs reported
in the Ministry of the Environment
study of eritissions from
this, and other, facilities. Where
are they coming from? Since the
publication of "A Burning
Issue ...",
our MPP Rosario
Marchese and city counsellor
Liz Amer have both written
letters to the Ontario Minister of
Health, Ruth Grier, in support
of our concerns about the health
hazard the incinerator imposes
on this area which includes
schools and the largest open air
food market in the city.
The MOE is proposing
regional incineration facilities
which would eventually replace
these on-site incinerators. Such
facilities would take many years
to establish as target communities
battle to resist the legacy of
pollution in their own homes. In
the meantime, the risks associated
with the present operation
~ -'\
" of the TWH incinerator are
unacceptable. Cost effective
alternatives to incineration of
biomedical waste do exist and
must be evaluated quickly.
On December 5th Liz Amer
invited -some concerned community
members to meet with
herself, councillor Martin Silva,
and trustee Fiona Chapman. It
was agreed the TWH incinerator
must not continue to operate in
the present mode and that each
of these people will lend support
to help the community deal with
the problem.
If you have any thoughts or
concerns about this issue please
contact Deborah Cowman or
John Wilbur, c/o Kensington
Drum (phone 363-DRUM).
Watch for an update in the next
issue.
Not pressing, but not giving up
$3.2 million suit tetnporail·y shelved
by David Perlman
Last issue we reported a $3.2
million lawsuit filed by Kensington
Metro candidate Zoltan
Fekete against the City. The
suit, supported by the Kensington
Businessmen's Association,
was intended to compell the City
to provide the community with
information on how the City
spends money.
In the heat of the election, the
lawsuit seeme the only way to
go, but now the filers of the
lawsuit are taking a more cau~
tious approach. As they see it
now, it's worth waiting to see
whether the new council will
support the community's right,
through the local task force, to
request the city's planners to
preparee reports on matters of
community concern.
At_!lll informal meeting of task
force members in late November,
the "wait and see" attitude
to the law suit was endorsed.
WHERE ON EARTH?
CAN YOU
eGET
UP-TO-DAlE & COMPREHENSIVE
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
ON SOUTHERN AFRICA?
e HEAR
THE MUSIC UVE AND RECORDED?
e BUY
QUALITY, 1RADmONAL
CRAFI'S, BEAD WORK. &. C..OTHING
THAT SUPPORTS
GRASSRootS ENiERPRISE? ·
e PLACE
YOUR ARTS, CRAFI'S & POETRY
ON CONSIGNMENT?
CENTRE276
IS NOW OPEN
' 276 AUGUST A
After all, it was Councillor
Jakobek, the City's new budget
chief,. who originally supported -
the task force's right to financial
information. And local ward 5
Councillor, Elizabeth Amer went
on record at least a couple of
times during the campaign to say
that she would support the reestablishment
of a Kensington
Task Force with formal t ies to
council. '
In a meeting with area residents
last week, she confirmed
her willingness to support the
reestablishment of the task force
if that is what the people of
Kensington want. She
emphasised that it would be up
to the associations involved to
consult with their member-ship
both in regard to who would be
task force members and in
regard to a -specific agenda.
Task forces are ·strongest, she
s~ted, when they have an achievable
program of work.
Best belcher contest:
DRUM will publish the 5 best
photos of the twh incinerator
stack in action. Your photo
can be black and white or
colour and must document
date and time of emission.
Entries by March ., 1992.
U of T LRT investigation puts too much faith
in TTC urban design study
by David Perlman
At the end 1 of a three month .
investigation to decide if there
should _be a Spadina LRT environmental
hearing, the "minister
of the environment" called in a
mediator. After three hours, the
mediator said if mediation could
not continue, then a hearing
should be called. And there was
no more time for mediation,
because this wasn't the real
world--only the end of a three
month research project by U of
T geography students.
MINISTER, MEDIATOR,
MANY ROLES
The "minister of the environment"
was Prof. Joseph Whitney
who teaches the urban geography
course; the mediator was
also a professor Virginia Mc-
Kenna who teaches mediation
skills. And the other people
there (represen~ing CN Real
Estate, the Fashion Industry, the
City, TIC, Spadina Avenue
communities and business associations,
an environmental coali-
_ti~n, cyclists, a group concerned
With women's safety, advocates
.IN TJili HEART OF KENSINGTON MARKET forth~ disabled, ~d the Sp~dina ·
. · · Trans1t Consultative Cmruruttee)
(416) 966-4059 FAX (416) 966-4051 were students playing well-
. · · researched· roles .
URBAN DESIGN PROMISES
However the "TIC" had managed
to persuade several groups
to back off on their demand for
a hearing. TIC promised to
address these groups concerns in
a detailed "urban design study of
Spadina Avenue". They assured
these gro1,1ps that the urban
design study would look at such
things as not narrowing sidewalks,
increasing the number of
stops, and full accessibility from
the start.
· It's a pity the role-play could
not continue, because some very
interesting things were starting
to happen. A bond seemed to be
forming between the environmental
groups and the Spadina
A venue communities in favour
of a streetcar, and critical of the
LRT because while it might
slightly encourage transit use on
Spadina Ave, it would encourage
auto use as much if not
,more. After the -three hours,
these groups were still insisting
that a hearing wo_uld be neCessary.
But unfortunately the session
was over before the
community/ environmental
groups had a chance to negotiate
_directly . with the "TIC." So
we'll never know if the U ·ofT
TIC wculd have been willing to
make its urban design study
comprehensive enough to look at
fundamental objections to the
LRT as well.
AND IN THE REAL WORLD
Coincidentally, the very day of
the U of T exercise was also the
first meeting in the real TIC
urban design study for the College
- Queen area. And the
scope of the real study seemed
to fall far short of the one that
the student TIC was willing to
offer. Consultants at the real
meeting made it clear that they
were not hired to study issues
like the width of the street or the
sidewalks, the number and
location of stops, or the use of
signs instead of fences to keep
motorists off the tracks.
So it looks like someone needs
to mediate in the real world too­
-to give the real TIC's urban
design study some teeth. If the
study stays just "cosmetic," as
one person at the meeting
described it, the people wanting
.a full environmental hearing will
have no reason to change their
demands. -
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