Jane- Finch wants promise for hub
Metrolinx says plan not approved, but province vows centre will be built
Local leaders in the Jane-Finch area are demanding a written commitment from the Ontario government and Metrolinx pledging to donate land for a new community centre in the disadvantaged northwest Toronto neighbourhood.
At a press conference Monday afternoon near the site of the f future maintenance and stor- age facility for the Finch West LRT, elected officials and commmunity groups said they were encouraged by recent statements from Metrolinx officials pledging the provincial transit agency will work to make sure he community centre gets built.
“But we’re also wary of vagueness and these remarks,” said Butterfly GoPaul, a resident member of Jane Finch Action Against Poverty.
“We need honest partners and clear commitments,” she said, arguing that Jane-Finch has suffered from “a history of systemic, structural, anti-Black racism” that has included a lack of investment in public services, and its residents urgently need new community and recreational spaces.
Local groups say Metrolinx had repeatedly promised to provide a 32-metre strip of land near the new LRT facility to the city for a nominal fee once the construction of the $1.2-billion transit line is complete, now scheduled for 2023. The groups have spent at least five years planning the community hub and a ng arts to preliminary centre, which designs accord- wwould feature a theatre, record- ing studio, swimming pool and community kitchen, as well as a business incubator, youth lounge and mental health services.
But earlier this month, Metrolinx sent a letter to area councillor Anthony Perruzza (Ward 77, Humber River-Black Creek) telling him that although “wellintentioned,” the plan to donate the land had never been properly approved and the agency intended to sell it instead.
Since news of Metrolinx’s reversal became public, the agen- c cy and its political overseers at Queen’s Park have come under pressure to follow through with the plan to donate the land.
On Saturday, Premier Doug Ford and Transportation Min- ister Caroline Mulroney released an open letter to Metrolinx saying they supported the agency’s commitment to “providing the parcel of land required to build a community hub” near the LRT garage, at no cost to the City of Toronto or community groups.
However, neither Metrolinx nor the province has backed off their intention to sell the property, which the city values at between $7 million and $9 million.
Anna- Kay Brown, co-chair of tthe Jane Finch Education Ac- tion Group, said groups like hers want Metrolinx to commit to the original vision of a purpose-built community hub, not a new version of the plan “filtered through (Metrolinx’s) commercial interests.”
Ernestine Aying, community design co-ordinator for the Jane/Finch Centre Communi- tty and Family Centre, noted t that it was local advocates who years ago successfully pressed Metrolinx to include the 32metre setback in plans for the LRT facility.
“This land that Metrolinx now wants to sell and profit on wwould not exist had it not been f for the community’s ideas, la- bour, and leadership,” she said.
Metrolinx has sought to frame tthe Jane-Finch controversy as the result of a misunderstand- ing. In an open letter to Perruzza issued late Friday afternoon, Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster apologized but said despite any assurances given to the commmunity, the agency never had firm plans to donate the land f for the hub.
Verster said that “unfortunately” an agency official “several years ago, committed to this idea without proper approvals.”
He didn’t name the official but said “despite this oversight, tthere is a solution to facilitate t the use of this land” for the community hub.
Asked at an unrelated press conference Monday how Metrolinx and the provincial government could allow such a misunderstanding to persist for years while community groups worked to plan the hub, Mul- roney said it was “unfortunate, to say the least,” that an agreement about the land “wasn’t formalized and it fell through the cracks.”
She said the government is committed to getting a hub built and has asked Metrolinx “to provide options for us on paths forward.”
“This community hub will be built. It’s going to be part of the plan, and we’re just waiting for options,” she said.