|
Residents beat the heat at new ... splash pad | Scarborough Mirror |
| Sept. 2, 2010 – Trudelle Park has received a $400,000 make-over, which includes a large new splash pad for the community to enjoy in the sweltering days of summer. Located just north of Danforth Road and Eglinton Avenue, the addition was officially opened by Scarborough Centre Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker. “There are very few recreational facilities and there are certainly not any community centres near by,” said De Baeremaeker. “In the middle of a summer heat wave, this is an amazing gift to all the little kids that live in that area.” The splash pad features water jets disguised as frogs and bulrushes that are run on a five-minute timer. Kids need to push a button to activate the timer, which ensures water isn’t wasted when nobody is there. In addition to this water-conserving mechanism, the councillor explained a few other details that are conserving electricity and finances. “It’s just great news, because it was built without the use of taxpayers’ money,” said De Baeremaeker. Condo developers near the Scarborough Town Centre were obligated to hand over money to the city for community development as part of Section 37 rules, which wholly funded the park upgrades. It also paid for solar panels powerful enough to run the entire water pump system with any drain on the electricity grid.
|
| | |
|
Taming the city’s wild cats | Scarborough Mirror |
Scarborough spay-neuter clinic a first in Canada
Aug. 20, 2010 – The first municipally funded feral cat spay and neuter clinic in Canada has officially opened its doors in Scarborough. The free clinic is trying to reduce the feral cat population across Toronto. Scarborough Centre councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker estimates 20,000 feral cats roam the city, but admits it could range up to double that amount …. The myth that a feral cat is a happy cat isn’t true,” said De Baeremaeker. “It’s not a happy life. It’s a harsh and horrible life.” … Spaying and neutering prevents more kittens being born into such harsh conditions, which De Baereamaeker thinks is an easy sell regardless of a person’s opinion about cats. “Even if you don’t like cats, you should still love this program because it keeps the cat population down.”… He was also proud to say the $600,000 price tag on the clinic was covered by a condominium development near the Scarborough Civic Centre, which had to pay a community improvement fee under Section 37 of the Municipal Code. The operations themselves are paid for by public donations at a cost of about $200 each and the staff are paid directly by the city.
|
| | |
|
Road hockey ... closer to be legalized… | Scarborough Mirror |
| June 17, 2010 – Toronto took a step to the long-awaited legalization of a popular but illicit pastime of Canadian youth this week, when the city’s public works and infrastructure committee asked staff to look at the consequences of legalizing street hockey on residential streets. [O]n Tuesday, members of the … committee faced the reality that they had all spent some of the happiest moments of their youth as law-breakers. “I look around the room and think this is a whole room full of bylaw violators,” said Glenn de Baeremaeker, chair of the committee. “We need to change the bylaw - the bylaw is just plain silly. The bylaw says you can’t play hockey on the street…”
|
| | |
|
On the road with cycling councillor | Scarborough Mirror |
De Baeremaeker shares Scarborough-to-downtown commute with Mirror reporter
June 4, 2010 – It’s a nice day for a bike ride in Scarborough Centre Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker’s neighbourhood. The previous night, the city was pummeled by a late spring rainstorm, washing away the dusty remnants of the late May heatwave. And this morning, just after 7, it’s still overcast – and cool enough that De Baeremaeker feels the need to wear a fleece over his regular summer cycling uniform. The fleece will come off shortly, stuffed into one of the battered panier bags on the back of De Baeremaeker’s racing bike with the rest of his commuting gear. Most of the 20-kilometre ride he makes from Scarborough to City Hall – four days a week, eight months of the year – will be a shirtsleeve affair. … Every day I can, I’m on my bike because I love it,” he says. “I was a member of the Scarborough YMCA, but when I got elected in 2003, the hours at City Hall were so long I found it impossible to work out at night and on the weekends I had events. By cycling to work an hour in the morning and an hour home in the evening I got two hours of exercise every single day because I have to go to work anyway. If I drive, it’s 55 minutes. If I take the TTC it’s an hour. If I ride my bike, it’s an hour. And if I drove my car to work, I would get no exercise and grow and grow like a mushroom.”
|
| | |
|
Trees used by hawks to nest saved from axe | Scarborough Mirror |
Oaks threatened by construction of library near civic centre
March 11, 2010 – Photo-blogger Ann Brokelman has friends in high places. In the past year or so, she has been watching a family of red-tail hawks that have taken up residence in the woodlot just outside her office at the Scarborough Civic Centre. Brokelman has snapped pictures of these birds during her lunch break ever since her colleague noticed them flying outside the building. On her website, she has more than 1,000 pictures of these birds and has documented the feathered family throughout various stages of their life. She started taking pictures when the parents began to build a nest for their eggs, and continued to watch when the fledglings emerged from the nest and started their branching phase, a precursor to flying in which they jump from tree branch to tree branch. But a feeling of dread came over her when she learned that a 15,000-square-foot library would be built in the vicinity of one of the oak trees the hawks had nested in. “When I walked up to some of the trees they were marked red and were tagged,” she said. “I know in the area I live that this means they are coming down.” It turns out her concerns had merit. Scarborough Centre Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker has been aware of these hawk sightings in the past, but it was only a couple of months ago that he found out about the nest in the trees on the north side of Borough Drive. Read more.
|
| | |
|
Push for Brimley station continues | Scarborough Mirror |
Scarborough Community Council prepares to make business case to TTC
March 11, 2010 – With the $1.4 billion redevelopment of the Scarborough RT on the horizon, Scarborough councillors and staff want to make sure a Brimley station is included this time around. … A station at Brimley Road south of Progress Avenue was envisioned 25 years ago when the SRT line was built. It never materialized then and councillors want to make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen again. … Scarborough Centre Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker has been advocating for the station for years. … “If the Brimley station had been built 20 years ago we’d have (fewer) cars on the road today,” he said.
|
| | |
|
Plans for zoo biogas plant move forward | Scarborough Mirror |
| Feb. 5, 2010 – A plan to power the Toronto Zoo with animal waste in a new, privately built biogas plant went before Toronto’s executive committee this week. The proposal has been in the works at the zoo for more than a year, and only needs council approval before the zoo management can issue the request for proposal to involve the private sector. … If it goes ahead – and if the zoo manages to find a private sector builder-operator – it could make the zoo entirely carbon neutral, removing the equivalent of 15,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. “This new facility takes us to the next step,” said zoo board member and city councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker. … The plant would cost the zoo and the city nothing, which means it only requires formal approval from council – if successful, it won’t impact on any city budgets.
|
| | |
|
Councillor finds $373,000 in old ... account | Scarborough Mirror |
| Sept. 16, 2009 – Some people find change under cushions. Glenn De Baeremaeker just found $373,000 the City of Scarborough put in a bank account 21 years ago and never spent. The surprise news of his discovery – money likely totalling more than $500,000 with interest – set off arguments at Scarborough Community Council on where it should be used. … De Baeremaeker asked colleagues to let him use the money and interest on park improvements, tree planting and playground equipment in his Ward 38. … Asked how the funds could stay undiscovered so long, (Ed) Watkins blamed “some confusion about transfer of funds (from Scarborough to the new megacity of Toronto) at amalgamation.” … De Baeremaeker said residents had complained to him about the unspent money. If he hadn’t “bugged” staff about it, the cash may have sat untouched for another 20 years, he added.
|
| | |
|
National park status sought for Rouge | Scarborough Mirror |
| April 8, 2009 – Calling on Ottawa to create a national park “that will be the envy of cities around the world,” Glenn De Baeremaeker said Friday he hopes to see the Rouge Valley form part of a 40,000-acre “landbank” on Toronto’s eastern doorstep. The Scarborough Centre councillor was backed in his appeal by Conservative MP Michael Chong … and Pauline Browes, a former Scarborough MP who in 1990 secured a House of Commons promise to protect the valley with a “wilderness reserve or heritage park.” It’s time to recognize the Rouge is nationally “significant” and needs to be formally protected, she said. This is an opportunity we must grasp at this moment,” said Browes who, like De Baeremaeker and Chong, are members of the Rouge Alliance governing the present Rouge Park. The park has grown since 1995 to cover 12,000 acres in Scarborough, Markham and Pickering, but Alliance members, including chair Alan Wellsl, say the park’s own nature – informal, no legal power, a tiny budget – must change to meet its conservation goals.
|
| | |
|
National park status sought for Rouge Valley | Toronto Star |
| April 3, 2009 – A 16,000 hectare national park should be created on Toronto’s eastern boundary, stretching from Lake Ontario to the Oak Ridges Moraine, according to a coalition of politicians and environmentalists. The proposed Rouge Valley National Park would cover a huge swath of York and Durham Regions and a north-east corner of Toronto, along the Rouge River and its tributaries, according to a plan being unveiled today. Best of all, says Toronto Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, the park area is already in public hands: it’s owned by the federal and provincial governments, or held by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. De Baeremaeker, who has long fought to protect the Rouge River, says turning the whole system into a federal park has several benefits. “By designating it a national park, it’s recognized as one of the most ecologically sensitive and important areas in all of Canada,” he said. “And once it becomes a national park, it would be virtually impossible for the land to be sold off for development.” Then there’s the money: “We’ve had a problem with poaching in the Rouge Park, and with illegal dumping. Right now, municipalities don’t have the money to properly patrol the park,” he said. “With the federal presence, you would have federal parks staff on the ground protecting the park.”
|
| | |
|
Prompt pothole repairs promised on city streets | Scarborough Mirror |
| April 1, 2009 – Whether they’re as big as a baseball, a soccer ball – or a baby – Toronto’s chair of the public works and infrastructure committee Glenn De Baeremaeker wants to hear about the potholes on city streets. … “We will fix that pothole you call in within five working days,” said De Baeremaeker, facing reporters over a pothole on a Scarborough residential street that he described as “baby-sized.” That pit was one of about 88,000 potholes city workers have repaired since the beginning of the year. The work is up significantly from this time in 2008, when the city had just gotten to 49,688. This year, the city has budgeted $7 million for the job, and expects to have filled between 300,000 and 400,000 potholes by the end of the year. That number will be bolstered, said De Baeremaeker, if members of the public help out. “…If you call a pizza hotline, you’ll fill your stomach, and if you call a pothole hotline, we’ll fix your pothole,” said De Baremaeker….
|
| | |
|
City wants to put lid on dumping of junk in park | Toronto Star |
300 tonnes of rubbish hauled from Rouge Park at cost of $1M in 2006
June 27, 2008 – Toronto wants to put an end to the illegal dumping that has turned one of the city’s last rural areas into a roadside landfill. The works committee will today consider a plan to stop the dumping on Sewells Rd. in Rouge Park. Tucked into the northern corner of Scarborough, the area has largely escaped developers. But its isolation has made it popular with people junking everything from shingles to tires and toilets. “It’s just outrageous – it’s disgusting the way one of the largest urban parks in North America has become a garbage dump,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker, councillor for Scarborough Centre. The plan recommends removing lay-bys – small paved indents along Sewells Rd. – and installing barriers making it harder for dumpers to gain access. Littles Rd. would also be closed, eventually permanently, with a gate to block access. The city also wants to install security cameras, increase the presence of enforcement officers and hike fines for dumping.
|
| | |
|
Push on for new Brimley RT station | Scarborough Mirror |
| April 11, 2008 – The TTC shouldn’t pass up an opportunity to make transit easier for thousands of people who will call the Brimley Road area home in the coming years, said one Scarborough councillor. Ward 38 (Scarborough Centre) Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker said when the Scarborough Rapid Transit line is updated in the next few years a station should be built at Brimley Road, just north of Ellesemere Road. … “A Brimley station should have been built 25 years ago. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice,” he said. De Baeremaeker brought forward a motion at Scarborough Community Council on Tuesday to direct appropriate staff to attend the next TTC meeting to express support for the station. “I want us to send a signal that we think it’s time that we get an RT station,” he said.
|
| | |
|
New library may be in Scarborough’s future | Scarborough Mirror |
| Jan. 30, 2008 – The Scarborough Civic Centre could be seeing a new library if city officials go along with a proposal from library planners and a local councillor. … It’s not going to be a little add-on or pimple on the side of the building.” De Baeremaeker said. “I want something grand that will complement the Scarborough Civic Centre, because that’s a masterpiece….” The library board has established some parameters for the new library. It will be a single storey and 15,000 square feet.
|
| | |
|
Council pay hike should be an election issue | Scarborough Mirror |
| Sep. 23, 2006 – There will be no shortage of issues for Scarborough voters to chew on in this year’s municipal election, and exactly how much taxpayers will cough up in salaries for our municipal representatives is certainly one of them. … The Scarborough councillors who voted against the pay hike were Michael Thompson (Ward 37, Scarborough Centre), Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre), Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt) and David Soknacki (Ward 43, Scarborough East).
|
| | |
|
Revamp set for RT line | Scarborough Mirror |
Upgrade plan of $360 million announced
Sept. 1, 2006 – The Scarborough RT will undergo $360 million in upgrades, after the Toronto Transit Commission approved a plan to revamp the line Wednesday … “We have come to a hard position, but it’s a position that offers the greatest good for the greatest amount of people,” TTC commissioner and Ward 38 councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) told his colleague … The RT proposoal put forward by staff will triple the capacity of what we have now and that’s good,” he said.
|
| | |
|
Pint-size bikes spell giant nuisance | Toronto Star |
Kids ride them illegally in parks, street
Toronto pushes province for crackdown
Aug. 01, 2006 – From a distance, they look like they could be a cute little toy for a child. But pocket bikes, miniature motorcycles that are the rage with boys in their teens or younger, are becoming a large-sized nuisance in some GTA neighbourhoods, critics say. … “One pocket bike buzzing up and down residential streets will disturb 500 families,” said Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre).
|
| | |
|
City to buy Wanita Land | Scarborough Mirror |
| May 26, 2006 – Toronto Council has voted to spend $5.3 million to buy an 8.1-acre property from the Toronto District School Board on Wanita Road in Scarborough. Councillors voted 26-4 in favour of the purchase in a closed-door session Wednesday evening, capping a long debate over whether the city ought to try and buy the surplus school board land or simply let the board sell it for re-development. Local residents and environmentalists argued that the land needs to be preserved in a semi-natural state. Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) took leadership of the campaign because the local councillor, Ward 44 Councillor Gay Cowbourne (Scarborough East), lives near enough to the property to have a conflict of interest. He was elated with the vote. … “The city is investing to support magnificent parkland in Scarborough and the headwaters of the Centennial Creek.”
|
| | |
|
Permit parking plan firmly rejected | Scarborough Mirror |
Status quo is just fine with residents, local politicians
Apr. 05, 2006 – Scarborough’s community council has decided it likes the former city’s current on-street parking arrangements just the way they are. In voting for the status quo on on-street parking, councilors articulated a firm no to the prospect of implementing paid permit on-street parking to communities in Scarborough, at the same time as it urged that about 18 streets in the southwest of Scarborough continue to permit 12-hour overnight on street parking for free. … “The Pandora’s Box will be open if we allow permit parking,” said Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre). “We now have illegal absentee landlords stuffing people into houses. One of the things that restricts these people is they can’t have parking. … I think the absentee landlord problem will explode if we allow on-street parking.”
|
| | |
|
Local councillor wants more free green bins | Scarborough Mirror |
| Nov. 16, 2005 – Toronto’s works committee wants to give out extra green bins to composting Torontonians for whom one is not enough. The plan, hatched by Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) would see the city budget an additional $160,000 to subsidize 8,800 free green bin composting kits to be given free to residents who need an extra bin to accommodate all their weekly organic waste. … De Baeremaeker argued that it made no sense to make people purchase the additional green bin when doing so helps Toronto achieve its waste diversion targets. “Do we want to send more garbage to Michigan?” he said. “When we’ve got people saying I’ve got two dogs and three kids and a huge need for the green bin, we should encourage them to get a second. We should reward people for doing the right thing. The guy who doesn’t put out green bins should be fined.”
|
| | |
|
500 acres protected in new Rouge park | yorkregion.com |
Area named after Greenpeace founder
Nov. 01, 2005 – The provincial government has named 500 acres of land in the Rouge Valley a protected park, but local environmentalists believed the government needs to protect more land in the area. “This is a giant step forward but we need more giant steps,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker, president of Save the Rouge Valley and a Toronto councillor for Scarborough-Centre. … “Another 3,000 acres should be in Bob Hunter Memorial Park that is not in it yet. If you left it to developers and planners, every acre would be destroyed,” said Mr. De Baeremaeker, who has lobbied for protection of the Rouge Valley area for 17 years. “We should be protecting all (environmentally sensitive) land north of Steeles … we own thousands of acres. Why not protect it all? We’ve got houses coming out of our ears … we need (to draw) a line in the sand,” he said.
|
| | |
|
Lobbyist registry a flop? | Toronto Sun |
| Oct. 25, 2005 – About two-thirds of city councilors have failed to take part in a voluntary lobbyist registry. … Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker filed most often – every month except December 2003, says the report from City Clerk Ulli Watkiss. … “Why not let your own constituents know who you’re meeting?” [De Baeremaeker said.]
|
| | |
|
Golden Mile garages get the gears | Scarborough Mirror |
| Oct. 23, 2005 – Scarborough Community Council put the brakes on a request to legalize five auto repair shops in the Golden Mile district, after hearing from other business owners in the area, arguing that the shops do nothing but detract from their own efforts to rejuvenate the area. … Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) called the decision “government 101.” … “This is the base that in government 101 you want to protect. You want to value these businesses, support them and assist them. They practiced due diligence, looked at the property, invested and followed the rules. Nothing undermines peoples’ faith in government more than having people following the rules and one person comes along and breaks them. We should reward people who follow the rules.”
|
| | |
|
Big stink over ‘big pipe’ | Globe and Mail |
| Oct. 21, 2005 – A Toronto city council committee has passed a resolution against the building of a giant sewage pipe through the city, starting what could be a full-fledged battle against most of York Region’s mayors. The motion, which Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker led through last night, bluntly opposes York Region’s proposed “big pipe” – which would send hundreds of millions of litres of York Region’s sewage a day through Toronto to a treatment centre in Pickering. … Last night, Mr. De Baeremaeker said the motion was a big win for the city, the environment and residents of York Region. “The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario came in and lambasted York Region for their grotesque failure to follow the Environmental Assessment Act,” he said. … “York Region has purposely, willfully, knowingly avoided the law. They have tried to escape from what they were legally required to do. They got caught at this meeting and they got busted.”
|
| | |
|
Former boxing champ plants a knockout | Toronto Star |
Scarborough couple’s garden rooted in love
Sep. 29, 2005 – Barrington Francis won numerous accolades as a champion boxer but he’s just as thrilled with the latest award bestowed on him and wife Ruffina Chombo. This time though, the honours aren’t for his pugilistic prowess … but the aesthetic quality of their garden. Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre) gave them the commendation as a thank you for creating an eye-catching front garden at their Scarborough bungalow. … He said that in the 18 months since being elected, his office has fielded many calls complaining about poorly kept properties, some stacked with old tires and garbage, others overgrown with weeds. “I thought it was time to thank the people who didn’t do things like that,” he said.
|
| | |
|
War of the weeds in West Hill | Scarborough Mirror |
| Sep. 21, 2005 – It wasn’t exactly the War of the Roses when irate homeowners from West Hill showed up at Monday’s meeting of Scarborough Community Council to talk about Sidney Ledson’s yard. It was more like a war of the weeds. Ledson … was at community council asking that a staff recommendation to not allow his property to be classified as a natural garden be overturned. His neighbours put forward a different view. … Finally, councilors turned down his request. Even Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre), an avowed environmentalist, was unable to support Ledson’s yard. “I’ve been with the group Save the Rouge Valley in the past and our motto was always, ‘Wild in the City.’ But not this wild,” he said. “There’s a difference between a natural wild garden that improves the aesthetics of the city and a garden that’s just wild. This is not a natural garden in my opinion.”
|
| | |
|
Walk of Fame planned for Scarborough | Scarborough Mirror |
| Jul. 13, 2005 – Scarborough will have its own Walk of Fame. … “I’m very excited about the event,” De Baeremaeker said. “As someone who has lived in Scarborough all his life, I think we live in one of the best cities on planet Earth. We have a lot to celebrate and brag about and this is one really good opportunity to do that.”
|
| | |
|
Council takes steps to protect migrating birds | Scarborough Mirror |
| April 20, 2005 – When it comes to protecting winged wildlife at city hall, birds of a feather do flock together. In a unanimous decision late last week, city councillors backed calls for a report on ways to prevent the needless deaths of thousands of migratory birds that fly into lit office towers windows at night. The report is expected to be the first step toward city bylaws regulating how towers are lit at certain times of the year. “This passed unanimously which means the voice of Toronto says we don’t want to be killing thousands upon thousands of birds for no reason.,” said Ward 38 councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker…who proposed the move. De Baeremaeker said the target is to cut in half the number of bird deaths, estimated to be about 10,000 a year.
|
| | |
|
Councillors hope plan to protect birds in city takes flight | Globe and Mail |
| Apr. 08, 2005 – The media turned up in droves to see the star of the show at a press conference held at City Hall yesterday. But it had nothing to say. Instead, Flapjack, a three-year old saw-whet owl, let the politicians do the talking. Councillors Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) and Joe Mihevc (St. Paul’s) announced they will lobby council, which meets next week, to develop bird-friendly policies to reduce the “needless deaths” and injury of migratory birds like Flapjack. The owl was injured, and rescued, after hitting the window of a downtown office building last fall. “Birds don’t pay taxes, but they make the city a beautiful, livable place,” says Mr. De Baeremaeker…. So will this motion find favour next week? “It will not only fly, it will soar,” predicts Mr. De Baeremaeker.
|
| | |
|
Lights take toll on birds | Toronto Star |
Thousands of migratory birds hitting windows
Apr. 08, 2005 – It’s not as bird-brained as it sounds. Turning out the lights or closing blinds in office towers and other tall buildings throughout Toronto at night could save thousands of migratory birds from crashing into them, causing death and injury, say councillors and a citizens’ group. Councillors Glenn De Baeremaeker and Joe Mihevc will ask city council next week to authorize a staff report to look at ways – voluntary or mandatory, including a possible bylaw – to save more than 10,000 birds that die across the city annually. “In this big, big, beautiful city of ours we have this silent, invisible, needless tragedy of migrating birds coming through our city and meeting their deaths,” said De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre).
|
| | |
|
Summit findings unveiled | Scarborough Mirror |
| Apr. 03, 2005 – Improved public transit, more and better recreation programs, and tidier streets are what local residents want of their part of the city, according to the findings of the second annual Scarborough Summit released last week. … Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) attended the summit and said he heard “a lot of positive solutions.” “There was not a lot of nay saying and nit-picking,” he said.
|
| | |
|
Battle set over Scarborough sidewalk repairs | Scarborough Mirror |
Budget committee may cut planned work to trim costs
Jan. 27, 2006 – Local councillors are gearing up for a budget battle over plans to pare back planned increases in sidewalk repairs and street sweeping in Scarborough. “It really bothers me that they’re talking about taking it out so I’m going to fight to keep it in,” said Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre). … De Baeremaeker is a member of the budget committee, which added $200,000 for sidewalk repairs and $300,000 for increased street sweeping in an effort to bring levels up to those in other parts of the city. “We’re saying we don’t want more than anyone else, we want our fair share, we want an equal level of service,” he said. “Like it or not, we’re all part of the megacity and so we have to have this sense of fairness and equity.”
|
| | |
|
Front St. extension put on back burner | Toronto Star |
Decades-old project to revamp waterfront hits major snag
Jan. 07, 2005 – After more than 20 years on the drawing board, it might be the beginning of the end for the Front St. extension. … “Staff told us (recently) that Front St. extension does not take one single, solitary car off the road. A quarter of $1 billion of taxpayers’ money and not a single car gets off the road and not a single person gets to work any faster. That thing will be jammed the day it’s opened,” De Baeremaeker said. [He] said the benefits of redirecting the money from a “stub of a road” to other waterfront projects would be enormous.
|
| | |
|
Greenbelt delay adds to worries | Toronto Star |
| Dec. 12, 2004 – Queen’s Park is putting its proposed greenbelt on hold for up to three months while it consults with municipal leaders and considers comments from stakeholders and the public, says the minister responsible for the legislation. But some local politicians are crying foul. “It’s like the government blinked. And shame on them,” said Toronto Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, co-chair of a 24-member coalition of municipal politicians from Hamilton to Oshawa who want the province to make the greenbelt larger. “The longer it’s delayed, the more developers will squeeze the government and the greenbelt will get whittled away,” he said of the legislation that had been scheduled to become law this week.
|
| | |
|
GTA leaders urge greenbelt expansion | Toronto Star |
Politicians tell Ontario to boost protection
Dec. 04, 2004 – GTA politicians yesterday urged the Liberal government to expand its proposed greenbelt protection area to keep developers off environmentally sensitive land. A new group, Municipal Leaders for the Greenbelt, released a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty asking to expand the planned 720,000-hectare greenbelt, stretching from the Niagara Region to the Holland Marsh south of Barrie, by another 324,000 hectares. “We have elected officials from every part of the GTA calling on the Premier to strengthen the greenbelt act,” Toronto Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre) told a Queen’s Park press conference. “It is our very real fear based on our own personal experiences in fighting urban sprawl and dealing with the development industry … if these forest, wetlands and river valleys are not included in the greenbelt today they will be lost forever.”
|
| | |
|
Scarborough Councillor mounts campaign to protect ... rivers | Scarborough Mirror |
| Nov. 17, 2004 – Old habits die hard for rookie councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker of Scaroborough, old causes die even harder. The former environmental crusader who made a career of saving the Rouge River Valley and the Oak Ridges Moraine is mounting a campaign to have the city start investing in protection of the headwaters of Toronto’s three major rivers: the Humber, the Don and the Rouge. His plan is to get the rivers so clean that the city’s polluted Lake Ontario shoreline will become clean enough to swim in. “The beaches in Toronto will never be clean until we start looking at the river sources,” De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre) said.
|
| | |
|
Council Insider | Toronto Star |
| Jul. 23, 2004 – “When people walk from A to B to go shopping or go to their homes, if they fall on the sidewalk, hopefully the sidewalk should be big enough so that if they have a heart attack or if they break their hip, that their legs aren’t sticking out into traffic.”
- Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker on the benefits of having wide sidewalks
|
| | |
|
Thousands attend Scarborough Job Fair | Scarborough Mirror |
| May 19, 2004 – More than 4,000 job seekers attended a Job Fair and Career Training Exposition at the Scarborough Civic Centre last Friday. The event was organized by City Councillors Michael Thompson and Glenn De Baeremaeker, and was sponsored by the Progress Career Planning Institute (PCPI) and Toronto Community News.
|
| | |
|
OMB adjournment could save moraine land | yorkregion.com |
| Mar. 28, 2004 – A decision by the Ontario Municipal Board to adjourn a hearing into a massive housing development in Richmond Hill has likely saved an important part of the Oak Ridges Moraine forever, a leading environmentalist said. “It’s a huge step forward,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker of Save the Rouge Valley System. “It’s an amazing and wonderful change for all of us.” … “These developers were trying to rush forward with their approvals before the government’s legislation is passed. It is a very dishonourable way to conduct business,” Mr. De Baeremaeker said.
|
| | |
|
Scarborough fights for right to fly its flag | Scarborough Mirror |
| Jan. 09, 2004 – When it comes to civic pride in Scarborough, everything old is new again. At its first meeting since the boundaries of the local community councils were redrawn and since the November election, the political body that represents the former city of Scarborough opted Monday to call itself just that: the Scarborough Community Council. It even went so far as to ask full city council for permission to fly the old Scarborough flag alongside the Toronto flag at public buildings and events in the former municipality. … Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) said there’s no reason the flag shouldn’t be dusted off and re-instated on a semi-official basis.
|
| | |
|
Eco-councillor calls clear-cutting ... a ‘chainsaw massacre’ | Scarborough Mirror |
| Jan. 07, 2004 – The clear-cutting of 82 majestic trees to make room for a new residential subdivision is being decried as a betrayal of the city’s tree preservation bylaw. “This is a chainsaw massacre,” Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) said Monday after his colleagues narrowly voted to approve the clear-cutting during the meeting of the Scarborough Community Council. “We should be telling developers that if they can’t meet the bylaws they can’t build.” … He said the threat of OMB action has “paralyzed” politicians and staff who recommended the clear cut. “They’re scared to do what’s right,” he said.
|
| | |
|
A vegan golden retriever kind of guy | Toronto Star |
Save the Rouge activist likes compromise
Former black sheep swept Scarborough ward
November 17, 2003 - Glenn De Baeremaeker has been back in his office every morning since he won a seat on city council in last Monday’s election. He calls the triangle of green signs propped up like cards around his legs at the barren corner of Markhkam Rd. and Brimorton Dr. in his Scarborough Centre ward his “corporate headquarters.” And he’s doing what he’s been doing every morning throughout his seven-week campaign – waving at cars. “It’s just my way of letting people know who are going to work at 7 o’clock in the morning that so am I,” he said Friday morning as tears beaded from his olive eyes. A bitter wind blew snow into his face….Last week his green signs read: “Voteglenn.” “Now, they say: Thank You!” Read more.
|
| | |
|
Rouge environmentalist seeks ... seat in Ward 38 | Scarborough Mirror |
| September 17, 2003 – One of the leaders of the fight to create Canada’s largest urban park in the Rouge Valley has set his sights on the jungle that is City Hall. Scarborough resident and longtime Save the Rouge Valley System president Glenn De Baeremaeker registered yesterday to run for the Ward 38 seat on city council. Read more.
|
| | |
|
Save the Rouge Valley System | Canadian Geographic |
| Spring, 2003 – Today, the rallying cry of Save the Rouge Valley System is “It’s Wild in the City!” and as stewards of the largest urban park in North America, SRVS members have good reason to be excited. But back in 1975, when 17 citizens in the Rouge River area got together to take on a Goliath – urban sprawl on the northeastern outskirts of Toronto – their task was formidable. Read more.
|
| | |
|
OMB ruling has Rouge group concerned | Scarborough Mirror |
| March 12, 2003 – The Ontario Municipal Board has ruled an ecological plan designed to protect the Rouge Park from the impact of development to the north has no standing in an upcoming hearing. And the ruling, handed down late last week by OMB member Wilson Lee, effectively clears the way for the wholesale destruction of woodlots and wetlands that work together as a filter for fresh water flowing out of the Oak Ridges Moraine and into the Rouge River system which runs through Scarborough, and into Lake Ontario, environmentalists fear. “They’re pretending the Rouge Park doesn’t exist,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker, president of Save the Rouge Valley.
|
| | |
|
Environmentalist wants kids to have tadpoles tales | Markham Economist |
| May 14, 2002 – As a young boy, Glenn De Baeremaeker remembers a little spot near his home where he could go and watch tadpoles. He describes those moments as the most cherished days of his boyhood. When a friend called to ask about a place where he could bring his children to appreciate such natural wonders, Mr. De Baeremaeker was saddened. “Almost all the wetlands in Scarborough have been destroyed,” he said. Read more.
|
| | |
|
Oak Ridges development called a threat to Rouge | Scarborough Mirror |
| March 17, 2002 – A “sweetheart deal” that would allow developers to build 4,000 additional housing units on the Oak Ridges Moraine could spell ecological disaster for Toronto’s three main rivers, environmentalists warned this week. Glenn De Baeremaeker, president of Save the Rouge Valley System, accused the provincial government of reneging on a protection plan that would have severely restricted construction on the moraine.
|
| | |
|
Construction on moraine sparks anger | Globe & Mail |
Nothing said about “massive” development under new act, environmentalist charges
March 11, 2002 – Politicians and environmentalists are fuming that the province will allow thousands of homes to be built on a section of the Oak Ridges Moraine in Richmond Hill they thought was protected from development. … “Nothing was said about allowing development on such a massive scale,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker, president of Save the Rouge Valley System Inc., which had waged a legal battle against the developers
|
| | |
|
Land swap proposed to save native village site | Toronto Star |
| February 13, 2002 – A piece of urban wasteland in Toronto’s west end could come to the rescue of a 700-year-old Iroquois village site slated for development in the east end. Environmental and native protesters want city councillors to swap part of a vacant city-owned property in Etobicoke for the native site, which is located on private property at the western edge of Scarborough’s Rouge Park. …. “This is a win-win situation for everyone,” Glenn De Baeremaeker, president of the environmental group, Save the Rouge Valley System, said about the plan.
|
| | |
|
Salamander sparks challenge to Oak Ridges road | Toronto Star |
| September 7, 2001 – An environmental group has launched a legal challenge intended to halt construction of a road on the ecologically sensitive Oak Ridges Moraine. Construction of the road in Richmond Hill, north of Toronto, not only threatens a forest and nearby wetlands, but would also destroy the habitat of the Jefferson salamander, a nationally threatened species, the president of Save the Rouge Valley System said Friday. “The salamander is like the panda bear, it’s an indicator species of the health of the forest,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker.
|
| | |
|
Park to double: Feds designate 8,000 acres of moraine | Toronto Sun |
| March 23, 2001 – Ottawa will officially announce today that it’s dedicating almost 8,000 acres – once slated for an international airport – as parkland on the Oak Ridges Moraine. The announcement will double the size of the Rouge Valley park, already the largest urban park in Canada. “It’s spectacular news,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker, president of Save the Rouge Valley System. “It’s going to be protected forever.”
|
| | |
|
OMB quashes high-rise deal to preserve Rouge link Scarborough Mirror |
| November 26, 2000 – A crucial link between Scarborough’s Rouge Park and adjacent natural areas in Pickering has been preserved. The Ontario Municipal Board has quashed a proposal to build high-rises near the provincially significant Amos Ponds, located on the Scarborough-Pickering border. “We’ve beaten the odds and saved thousands of trees,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker, president of Save the Rouge Valley. “This is one of those rare occasions when residents win.”
|
| | |
|
Ontario Municipal Board draws citizens’ ire | Globe & Mail |
New version of provincial appeal tribunal called secretive, costly, inaccessible, legally complex and rubber stamp for developers
May 29, 2000 – Audrey Daga has a simple description for the board that has the final say on development in Ontario. “It’s a kangaroo court. It is all rigged against citizens,” said Ms. Daga, who opposed a subdivision she felt was being built too close to the bank of the Rouge River behind her home in Markham. … “The system is broken if citizens can’t go to the OMB and get a fair hearing,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker, of the group Save the Rouge Valley System, which is opposing the Oak Ridges development plans. “You don’t win or lose based on the merits of your case. It comes down to who has the most money to bring testimony in front of the board.”
|
| | |
|
Natural Heroes | Toronto Life Environmental Guide |
We honour some of the extraordinary people who are helping Toronto become a better place to live
May 2000 – Things happen in odd ways. Glenn De Baeremaeker now fights to preserve and protect fields, forests and rivers near Toronto because in 1987, when his university volunteer job took him to the deserts of Ethiopia, he saw graphic proof that a healthy land can be critically wounded. The people there described a time when the land was treed and lush. But burning of the countryside during the civil war and deforestation caused ecological disaster.
|
| | |
|
Moraine ecological disaster feared | Toronto Star |
| January 8, 2000 – A Richmond Hill proposal to approve housing for as many as 50,000 people on the Oak Ridges Moraine is an “ecological catastrophe” in the making, environmentalists say. “The headwaters of rivers affecting millions and millions of people will be polluted by this wave of development that town councilors seem afraid to stop,” activist Glenn De Baeremaeker said as he dumped 30 trash bags full of woodchips in front of Richmond Hill’s town hall yesterday.
|
| | |
|
Rouge supporters cheer as talks revive land swap | Scarborough Mirror |
| May 12, 1999 – A nearly doomed deal to save a Rouge Park vista has been rescued. And environmentalists are claiming a double victory in a deal that will save the park lookout and thousands of mature trees…. SRVS president Glenn De Baeremaeker said his group could not support the clearing of trees despite the potential loss of the Glen Eagles site. “It would have gone against everything we stand for,” he said. “The view from Glen Eagles is something we have worked very hard to preserve but the trees on the other site are important, too.”
|
| | |
|
Province doubles length of Rouge Park | National Post |
| April 15, 1999 – Ontario is handing over millions of dollars worth of prime land to expand North America’s biggest urban park, the province is expected to announce today. The addition of 660 hectares will double the length of the Rouge Park. … Activists who have long fought to expand the unusual city park were ecstatic at the news. “This is a nationally significant announcement,” said Glenn De Baremaeker. “In the tidal wave of urban sprawl, it’s a miracle that we have saved this land. This is happening nowhere else that I’m aware of.”
|
| | |
|
Environmentalists hail land plan | Scarborough Mirror |
| March 28, 1999 – Toronto should help fund the purchase of a scenic Rouge Park look-out point, a city committee decided Thursday. But any contribution to the $6.5 million purchase will be contingent on matching funds from the provincial and federal governments. “I’m very excited,” Glenn De Baeremaeker of Save the Rouge Valley System said. “We really needed this.”
|
| | |
|
SRVS commitment led to park in Rouge | Scarborough Mirror |
| April, 1990 – The provincial government’s decision to create a park in the Rouge River Valley culminated in a remarkable effort by the Save the Rouge Valley System organization to turn a local environmental concern into a national issue. … Anyone who has ever met [Glenn and several other Rouge leaders] cannot help but be impressed by their knowledge and commitment of the environmental, ecological and economic aspects of the issue. They raised with me the many threats that could destroy the valley: a freeway, a dump and plans for million dollar mansions.
|
| | |
|
Saving the city’s wild frontier | NOW Magazine |
A wilderness home of deer, foxes and coyotes may soon be bulldozed for luxury housing
Oct. 15, 1987 – Last month, Scarborough politicians witnessed a rare sight – a united community at the seat of government demanding political accountability. At a meeting to discuss the fate of the Rouge River Valley, the last undisturbed green space in Metro Toronto, the 300-seat Scarborough city council chambers were packed, and an overflow crowd of close to 500 filled the hallways surrounding the glassed-in, fish-bowl-shaped political arena. … Given the split option that divides homes and wilderness, [Save the Rouge] fears that once moves are made on the valley, none of it is safe. De Baeremaeker says the valley is “a living, breathing ecosystem. If you chop off the arms and legs of the Rouge Valley, it will bleed to death.”
|
