Winning back trust
BEFORE Christmas, the mayor and several councillors met with available community representatives. The mayor opened the proceedings with a question: How can we regain the trust of the Toronto community?
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Before the meeting, the Toronto Foreshore Protection Group (TFPG) had researched other council land holdings within the Toronto town area. They suggested that there were two areas in Brighton Avenue that could be used for the development of residential and tourist accommodation.
One site is opposite the library, the other is between the Aldi car park and the Anglican Church. In January, council advertised that the two areas suggested by the TFPG in December had been rezoned from “community” to “operational”.
To make up for the loss of community land in Brighton Avenue, the council should now rezone two sites currently listed as “operational” to “community”. The two sites? Bath Street and Victory Row.
Then our heritage would be returned to the community. That is the way the mayor could regain the trust of the Toronto community.
- Wendy Davidson, Toronto
Garbage problems
LAKE Macquarie City Council has been harassed by anxious residents complaining about the three-bin collection system.
Some residents are calling for a return to the weekly collection of the red-lidded bins for general waste. They claim that it is unsuitable to have smelly waste such as dirty nappies sitting around in these bins, attracting flies, for two weeks. I don't know about elsewhere, but my green bin with food waste is serviced weekly, with the general waste (red bin) and recyclables (yellow bin) collected fortnightly, on alternate weeks.
Maybe people are using the wrong bins, or placing the wrong bins out on the kerb? l use all three bins without problems, but l don't have dirty nappies. Otherwise, the system seems to be working.
- Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
Morisset Hospital gates
WHILE I am in favour of preventing the public from feeding kangaroos or interfering with Morisset Hospital patients, I do not support the plan to use gates on the access roads, for two reasons. Firstly, I am a member of a group of cyclists which regularly goes through the grounds. Secondly, I don't want to lose access to the road which could provide an alternative escape route in the event of a fire on the peninsula.
- Richard Edmonds, Balcolyn
Climate data is in
NINE of the 10 hottest years globally have occurred this century. The world’s highest annual global ocean temperatures occurred in 2017.
NASA data shows two of the world’s largest ice masses, Antarctica and Greenland, have collectively lost almost 6,000 billion tonnes of ice mass since 2002. Not surprisingly NASA coastal tide gauge records show ocean levels rising around 230mm from 1880 to 2017.
Forget climate scientist conspiracy theories, anyone who analyzes the massive amounts of climate data now available will confirm these changes are not normal variation. And worrying. Rising global average atmospheric temperature might only be two degrees over a century but local extremes, below and (particularly) above, the average can be many times that.
These local extremes will lead to increasingly severe droughts, and record low soil and vegetation moisture levels which contribute to uncontrollable wildfires. Rising global atmospheric temperatures increase ocean temperatures. Both then drive increasing ice mass loss and, consequently, rising ocean levels.
Ocean temperatures are also the main source of energy for cyclones and hurricanes.We need to act to address global warming, and quickly.
- Richard Mallaby, Wangi Wangi