Dear Neighbours, Thorncliffe Park Needs Your Help
Dear Neighbours,
Thorncliffe Park needs your help to move the Ontario Line Train Yard.
First, thank you for taking the time to notice that Thorncliffe Park needs space and opportunity for prosperity.
We have the following demographic issues:
Minority community of approximately of 30,000 renters living in dense high rises, in some cases multiple families in a single unit.
Thorncliffe Park residents’ daily focus is looking after our children and putting food on the table. We come from countries where political advocacy would bring harm, so we prefer to keep our heads down and avoid speaking up. While the negative impacts and the clear misplacement of the train yard may not the focus of this community – the community should not be railroaded, not in 2022.
As we have seen from the people in position of power, renter’s concerns are ignored. Therefore, we need your influence.
What is Metrolinx, the Liberals, the PC’s and the City of Toronto, doing? They are placing a train yard in the heart of our community.
Metrolinx will take the little space we have, displacing local businesses that we have been using and supporting, and putting up a wall. A wall will be both a physical and psychological barrier, further confining this community and physically separating us from the perception of opportunity. This will have detrimental effects on our community, and ultimately the City and Province who will be consumed by the problems that will eventually result.
Our community provided a well-reasoned alternative to the location of the train yard that would not impede the progress of both the construction timeline and the passenger route of the line. Metrolinx was so fixated on cementing their arbitrary decision, that they manipulated their own site selection criteria for the purpose of quickly discrediting our alternative.
Our local Mosque was bought off by Metrolinx, to the tune of approximately $50M. To qualify for the cash payout, the Mosque shamelessly agreed to not being called a Mosque, so that their property could be demolished to serve as a laydown area. In Islam, it is a universal belief that once a property has been consecrated for the purpose of establishing a Mosque, it cannot (and should not) be sold, demolished, or otherwise repurposed to be used by anything other than a Mosque.
Mayor Tory and Phil Verster have gone out of their way to have numerous photo ops with the Mosque and their leadership to ensure the placement of the train yard is not challenged.
According to Metrolinx, the placement of the train yard was determined by back-office staff using desk-top analysis. They also excluded viable alternatives based on dubious employment statistics provided by City of Toronto back-office staff. This is no way of spend $12B taxpayer dollars.
This Mosque only speaks for themselves, not the broader community. They certainly do not have the desire or capacity to understand the long-term impacts of large mega projects.
Dumping the most unsavoury elements of major infrastructure projects in minority communities is always viewed as the path of least resistance. This needs to stop. This is Environmental Racism at work. This needs to stop.
Our ask of you is:
We ask that you help us and email the Don Valley West MPP candidates (Bowman, Elman, Saunders and Sharp) to instruct Metrolinx to hit the pause button on the location of the train yard.
Tell them to stop taking advantage of communities like Thorncliffe Park, do the right thing, and find another location for the train yard. This will provide Thorncliffe Park with much needed Transit Oriented Development opportunities that every other (non-minority) community along the Ontario Line is receiving and set Thorncliffe Park up for long-term success.
Thank you,
SaveTPARK
Attached:
1. SaveTPARK Re-Analysis of Metrolinx Shortlist Evaluation – Thorncliffe ranks as the worst site for train yard.
2. What Thorncliffe Park will look like with a train yard.
3. What Thorncliffe Park SHOULD LOOK LIKE with transit oriented development
SaveTPARK exists to be that voice of advocacy, with a view of looking out for those without the ability to voice their views or pay attention to the long-term impacts of mega projects like the
Thorncliffe Park Train Yard Rendering - Looking North
Thorncliffe Park Train Yard Rendering - Looking South – 30,000 people are within 800 meters of the train yard.
Thorncliffe Park Wall - View from Current Tim Horton's Intersection – The Tim Horton’s will be gone – replaced by a big wall.
Thorncliffe Park North: Transit Oriented Development Opportunity – With the Ontario Line and a train station, this is what Thorncliffe Park should have the opportunity to develop.
SaveTPARK.ca
Ontario Line train yard. SaveTPARK has received over 10,000 signatures in opposition of the train yard being placed in Thorncliffe Park. Visit
www.SaveTPARK.ca for additional information.
DON VALLEY WEST MPP CANDIDATES
Stephanie Bowman – Candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party - info@stephaniebowman.ca
Irwin Elman – Candidate for the Ontario New Democratic Party - irwin.elman@ontariondp.ca
Mark Saunders – Candidate for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party – campaign@votemarksaunders.ca
Sheena Sharp – Candidate for the Ontario Green Party - sheenasharp@gpo.ca
Other People with Influence
Premier Doug Ford – doug.fordco@pc.ola.org
Chair of Metrolinx Board Donald Wright - chair@metrolinx.com
Whoever else you think can help us.
Please cc SaveTPARK in your emails: notrainyard@savetpark.ca