The Orchard View and Duplex saga started in 2002 but didn't make it to Toronto Council until August 27th, 2010. In the final minutes of that last four year Council meeting, in fact. That's a story worth telling too but here's a shorter one. One that's just as enlightening as to what's wrong in Ward 16.
Why Councillor Stintz didn't deal with the Orchard View and Duplex item in the first few minutes of Council on August 25th is a startling story. Over the course of the 3 day Council, the Ward 16 Councillor looked visibly agitated. She was reluctant to deal with the Motion she had committed to present.
This was quite understandable of course. Nobody in the Orchard View and Duplex community supported the proposal but she had yet to do the final deed. What they did support was a set of amendments to the development application that the community had unanimously agreed on.
Here's a link to Terry Mills's presentation to the Community Council on August 17th. It's about 14 minutes long but the other three presentations are less than five minutes each and clearly show how united the community was on the issue.
Terry Mills - presents the Community Solution -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0FJ_IxaIB0&feature=related
Tom Cohen - a Board Member in one of the two local community associations that strongly objected to a building that is more dense than any in the Yonge-Eglinton Growth Centre -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIabYXGZd-4&feature=related
Lydia Levine - another EPRA Board Member also supporting Terry Mills -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gNk611Uwe8&feature=related
These deputations lasted for about 90 minutes after which Councillor Stintz presented her own version of the amendments. Ones she had agreed with the developer days before the Community Council but forgot to mention to the community or the Working Group.
