Readers look to turn outrage into action
Who knew Jane-Finch had so many allies, so many people rooting for this hard-scrabble, down-in-the-dumps symbol of a place the politicians forgot.
All it took to uncover the love was a devious double-cross that had the province and its transit-building agency promise — then renege — on a plan to build a community hub, a recreation and arts centre fit for a real neighbourhood of real people that we love and respect.
Metrolinx, it seems, felt it could diss the people of Jane-Finch and few Ontarians would notice — no one would object. Oy, were they wrong.
From Faye in Thornhill to Jane in Toronto, ger in Brighton, Gary in Whit-by and Roger in Brighton, the general clamour from readers in response to last week’s column on the broken promise settled on one question:
To whom do we voice our outrage? How do we get Jane-Finch the beautiful, transformational, game-changing community hub, recreation and arts centre that its residents dreamed about, after it was promised for years?
Lee, a doctor who has worked in the Firgrove neighbourhood, wrote succinctly: “We love this community. It is critically important not to let this slide as is the usual case oo often there.”
“It just seems so wrong and short-sighted,” said Kaelene in her email. “Is there someone I can write to about this? This is an important initiative.” The reactions are not the cookie-cutter variety. They come from a deep place. Readers responded with words like “treachery … outrage … disgusting … disappointment … saddened … heartbreaking.”
“I am a 60-year-old white woman, living in the Beaches,” w health issues, but a strong core. I don’t have political or powerful connections, but I can be a dog with a bone when I am angry. I am angry. I want to take action on this Metrolinx story … What can I do to put further flame to the feet of Metrolinx?” For some reason — maybe because of years of press reports of social dysfunction in that quadrant of the city — readers think of the neighbourhood and conclude: Give them a break. Many respondents have worked at schools in the area, attended York University, some still have family there and have watched in consternation for years.
“I taught high school on Norfinch Drive then, and am consistently saddened and angered by how poorly my former students, their families and their neighbours continue to be treated,” wrote Sharon.
“People like to root for the underdog. We are the classic underdog,” said area Coun. Anthony Perruzza. You sense that in Cicely’s email:
“I am white and live in a privileged neighbourhood — I never had to deal with my children and grandchildren being unfairly treated, being treated as less-deserving, not getting an opportunity, not being safe. It breaks my heart to think of children not having hope, believing they aren’t worthy of more, not having a chance.”
A quick background. In the 1980s, then-mayor of North York Mel Lastman promised Jane-Finch a fantabulous rec centre. Provincial money didn’t flow as anticipated and all they got was a gym and a few meeting rooms on Oakdale, south of the Jane-Finch mall.
When Toronto Mayor David Miller unveiled Transit City, a network of LRT lines, the Finch LRT was at the top of the list, stretching from the Yonge subway at Finch, west to Humber College at Highway 27. It got shortened, then nearly fell off the list — excoriated by the Mayor Rob Ford, his brother (now premier) and area Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti.
Transit City needed a maintenance yard for the LRT cars. Jane-Finch residents and area councillors like Perruzza agreed to house the yard — not a gem — in exchange for community benefits: the community hub and arts and rec centre at the front of the maintenance yard
A new provincial government then took over transit building, created Metrolinx to build it, bypassed the city and the TTC who birthed Transit City, and things got muddled. Still, Metrolinx gave assurances that the deal was solid.
Until now.
The explanations are many. Provincial policy requires agencies like Metrolinx and school boards, for example, to dispose of excess real estate at market value — a claim Metrolinx is making with Jane-Finch.
Politicians know how to mitigate that effect. The Kathleen Wynne government, for example, created a fund that communities could draw on to pay the “fair market value” for lands needed in the public interest.
Doug Ford’s government either closed the fund or constrained it. And some claim that may have triggered Metrolinx’s move to say, “Oops, we can’t do this deal anymore because the money isn’t there to get us market value.”
We don’t care. It’s all politricks.
Honour the promise. Don’t use weasel words to suggest the community hub will be built when you mean a whittled-down rec space will be shoehorned at the base of a condo tower in some future development deal. That will not cut it.
The hub is to be a landmark along Finch, at this providential spot that is on neutral ground where warring community factions can interplay. It must be significant architecturally, reflecting public investment and a desire to ele-vate the space to a position of place-making.
“People in this area are craving for a symbol — something they can point to and say, ‘That’s our place. Finally we got something we can be proud of. Finally, somebody remembered us,’ ” Perruzza said.
Metrolinx is governed by provincial policy and politics. Premier Doug Ford and Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney hold the power to fix this. So, if you want to holler at someone, call or write them.
Wise politicians don’t need polling or letters to the editor to tell them what is obvious to the brain and restful to the heart. This one is easy. Deliver the promise to Jane-Finch and you are a hero, Mr. Premier. Don’t leave the community twisting in the wind, wondering, hoping, forced to protest to get what is rightfully theirs.
Get ahead of the parade and deliver title of the land, and people across the province will exhale. They won’t crown you king because this should never have gotten to this point. But it will remove the bitter taste in their mouths and the bile in their gut.