StratfordToday received the following Letter to the Editor from reader Larry Baswick, in regards to the long-term care proposal for Vivian Street:
I read with interest the article regarding the long term care proposal for Vivian St.
I'm reminded of the disastrous decision by the Ford government to desecrate the green space across the top of Toronto using the clarion call of 'building homes' not unlike the heartfelt cries by our mayor and council to 'house seniors'.
When phraeseology like "room to manoeuvre" around green space and building density and blocking sunlight and "I would have put my parents there" (which doesn't have to be acted upon) creep into the conversation which was alluded to as ongoing you know that minds have been made up camoflauged by ameliorative words. Imagine this council aligning itself with Ford tactics. I'm also reminded of the Xingyi (?) project being strenuously opposed by the electorate based upon similar environmental concerns.
Is there a difference? Will this council which was shredded over secret meetings and autocratic provincial zoning interference take the same route as its predecessors?
Many more things escape me as I age than in the past but one shouldn't; why isn't this proposal aimed at the property which was recently razed across the street from the hospital or where we used to repair locomotives or where the church was across from the Y?
I'm sure there are reasons why a property isolated on the edge of town is preferable to one adjacent to a hospital (time is of the essence in an emergency) or near shopping amenities or exercise facilities or where the energizing dynamic of city life is on display. But the whole thing is characterized by the municipal way of doing business where decisions have been made and rationalizations are used to justify same a la Sebringville.
Good luck to those current residents of the Vivian and Romeo intersection with a population density approximating Beijing on their horizon and to the future inhabitants of People Care who die on the extended trip to hospital or can't face the prospect of the excursion needed to buy a loaf of bread.
Larry Baswick,
Stratford, Ont.
