Updates on Development at Woodbine Station and 2359 Danforth Avenue (Morris Auction site), plus a petition about the Woodbine fire truck at the end.
Woodbine Station
You’re invited to a pre-construction open house, on Monday, January 27, 2014 at Danforth Mennonite Church.
2174 Danforth Avenue from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
2359 Danforth Avenue Development
Back in November, a community consultation was held on the development proposal at 2359 Danforth Avenue, the Morris Auction site. DECA is not taking a position at this time, but we are committed to conveying information as it is available. Councillor McMahon’s report on the meeting is below – send her an email if you would like more information. (We are not forwarding emails to her about this – please send them to her directly)
Save the Woodbine Fire Truck
You don’t think much about first responders until you need them, and believe me that when you need them, you want them there as fast as possible! Please consider signing this petition.
From Councillor Davis:
The 2014 City Budget includes reallocating one pumper truck and crew from Station #224 Woodbine (Woodbine and Holborne Avenue) to a new station in Scarborough. This would leave only one truck in our local station. I am concerned about what impact this will have on response times and safety in our community.
Neighbours have started a petition calling for the City to hire additional staff for the new station and to maintain the current level of fire service in our community.
Please sign the online petition < https://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/maintain-the-current-vehicles-and-crew-at-fire-station-224-woodbine > and ask your neighbours to sign as well.
If you would like to take further action on this, write to Clerk@Toronto.ca and ask for your email to be sent to all Councillors, or contact Councillor Davis councillor_davis@toronto.ca for more information.
It is time to get the process right. We need to decide what a livable, workable city looks like and hold our elected representatives accountable to that. My city is safe, accessible and equitable. I don’t want to nickel and dime my taxes to keep an extra couple of dollars in my pocket while my neighbours are struggling and we keep cutting services.
It would be nice if someone could give us the information (I’m looking at you, Councillor Davis) about why it’s this fire truck being pushed for change. Is it volume of calls, need, best of a bad situation, too many out-of-control euchre games? Details from a staff report (I couldn’t find one) justifying the proposal would help us understand if it’s justified or not.
Hi Rob,
Have you asked Councillor Davis for more info? We did, and her office was very forthcoming. Here is what they said:
Every department is being forced to make service cuts to meet the budget reductions demanded by this administration. The Fire Chief has said publicly that he does not support the recommendations in the Fire budget. Toronto’s overall density is increasing, not decreasing, so any reduction in fire response capacity is ill advised. This neighbourhood is stable, but population density is increasing here too with 3 new condos and some new townhouse developments too. However staff are being forced to make cuts. So staff recommended closing a high park fire station and transferring 4 fire trucks, (each with a crew of 21 fire fighters), from 4 central fire stations to serve new fire stations in the suburbs, rather than buying new fire trucks and hiring new staff for the new fire stations.
Rob, I think your queries would be best addressed to Cllr. Davis or one of her constituency workers in an e-mail rather than in this forum. No doubt someone would be happy to provide you with the background to the decision. When I saw Ms. Davis in front of the Valu-Mart in December collecting signatures, she said then that the decision was partly predicated on a resistence to equipment purchases as a result of budget issues at the City. I find the issue concerning because a vast majority of the 100-year-old homes in our neighbourhood are wood frame on the upper storey. And increasingly those wooden structures are covered in PVC siding which emits poisonous smoke when burning (as I understand). Slower response times from the fire department — the upshot of moving fire equipment from the neighbourhood –could be deadly for anyone exposed to the smoke. And even if our houses never catch fire (please God), Ms. Davis also pointed out that slower response times are already leading to higher insurance premiums for all of us. Sounds like a compelling argument to me. Of course if you are able to find more information, no doubt you will share it on this forum.