Citizens Speak Out On Comrade Miller's Green Plan

Voices: Greening Toronto TheStar.com - News - Voices: Greening Toronto
April 26, 2007

We asked readers to look at the city of Toronto's 27-point plan for a greener city ahead of April 29's public forum, and to give us your thoughts. Here is a selection of responses:

I think it's great to implement green plans for a greener city. Gov't made many suggestions on increasing taxes and/or per user fees to encourage the general public to be more environmental conscious. My husband & I are diligently recyclying, using green bins, all the lights in the house are changed to energy saving bulbs, we don't use the dryer for our clothes, etc. However, we find that it's inevitable when we buy groceries and/or take out foods. There are so much containers that are not recyclable. ... Can the gov't enforce the retailers/foods distributors to be more environment conscious as well? If styrofoam is so bad, why didn't the gov't ban the use of it? For example, can the city gov't come up with some reusable containers for people to use when they're buying take out? ... Enforcing (the) general public to save (a) certain amount of energy is important, but the same should also apply to the BIG corporations as well.
G Truong, Thornhill

I think the city should be more concerned with its budget. Without moulah the environment won't matter.
Micheal Frank, Toronto

I really don't mind adding fees etc. for parking and fully support all directions towards a "Green Toronto", but what I don't understand is why David Miller is changing the median complete with green grass and trees along Lakeshore (close to Parkside Dr.) into a parking lot? Not only will it make Lakeshore an eye-sore, it will increase congestion (MORE pollution) and potential accidents from people running across the eastbound lanes, to get to the walking/bike paths. Sometimes I really wonder who makes these types of decisions and/or why we are spending money on these endeavours.
Patricia L, Toronto

The day that I walk along Yonge Street and don't have to pick up other people's tossed away recycables, will be the day I believe we might be able to solve some of the city's pollution problems.
John Stratton, Toronto

It's hard to chose which level of government (is most responsible for improving Toronto's environment), municipal, provincial ... or local citizens. It seems to me that one can't do it without the other. I would say that the mayor and city council should lead the way, with the support of local citizens and working with and pressing Queen's Park and the federal government. People need help to retrofit their houses for solar panels, we need more wind turbines, we need help to finance buying hybrid cars, and we need federally funded transit systems that are good. It should be easier to take the transit. It takes too long to get to where you want to go. I have to admit I never use it although I would if I had a job downtown, where I wouldn't want to park my car.
Pamela Ewen, Toronto

The choice of priorities given in your survey really are all equally important. We should be concentrating on all of them! If we don't, we won't have any choices in the end.
Heather-Ann Brown, Toronto

The city's highest priority should be within (its) control and many of your choices go beyond that. Who's going to check every toilet? What service will be sacrificed or how high will they raise taxes to pay for extra trees? Will we save money when we save electricity so that we can fund other initiatives or will they just raise the kw/h rate? I support anti-car measures (even though I live here, own one, and sometimes drive downtown) but what's the use of punishing the Torontonians when most of our car traffic comes from 905? If we're going to do anything regarding cars, we need to make it convenient for people to park on the outskirts and take transit downtown while also making it inconvenient for them to overlook this option and just drive in.
Brett Tremblay, Toronto

The greening of Toronto needs to be addressed by all levels of government and all people in the GTA. One major contributor to water consummtion levels are the golf courses which use vast quantities of water for the use of the wealthy few. There are some trees there but nowhere as many as there could be if they were converted to Parks like Stanley Park in Vancouver. ... Parks do not require constant watering and fertilising, which depletes the water supply and toxify what water is left. All told, golf courses neither add to the "green canopy" nor to the green consciousness of Toronto, nor serve the people at large.
Christine Boldt, Scarborough

Cutting emissions that cause asthma as presented by the conservatives should come first. They are the only ones to address human health in this regard. Let's get over the baloney the world will end, and take some reasonable steps to (improving) our health with out causing us to be unemployed.
Wade Ens, Toronto