Greetings to all our subscribers, old and new. This indeed is our first newsletter in a very long time. Because of time and other pressures and conflicts, we had previously announced that our newsletters and website updates would be infrequent.

But we have not completely disappeared. While our communications may be less frequent than in the past, we are still very much committed to, and concerned about our community and city. Therefore, the news and happenings at and around City Hall have concerned us enough to revive our communications with the community -- a community which we know is also concerned about the health of their City and neighbourhoods.

While world19 has been involved in a number of issues over the years, we originally came together in 1997 over concerns about Toronto in the face of the forced amalgamation of the old cities, and the subsequent structural and financial changes coming from Queen's Park -- changes we felt would negatively impact city and its residents. Another priority of ours over the years has been to promote the need for public information and involvement. It was for this reason we created this electronic newsletter back in 1998, and our website soon after.

Although we had to "semi-retire" both recently, the crisis surrounding the future of Toronto has prompted us to revive the world19 network.

Below is an open letter to Ward19 Councillor Bill Saundercook, summarizing some of our concerns, and calling on him to explain his views and his ideas for Toronto.

In keeping with our commitment to public information and involvement, we plan to hold a public forum on this issue in the very near future. .

Please stay tuned... you will hear from us again soon. Meanwhile, we would love to hear from you: your thoughts on this situation.

 

For world19,

John Leeson

 

Sept. 5, 2007

Dear Councillor Saundercook,

As summer draws to a close and the serious fiscal situation facing our city weighs on us all, we are compelled to express our ongoing disappointment at your decision to support deferral of the council vote on the proposed levy of new taxes. That the city is in a financial crisis is not in dispute and deferral has already prompted cuts to important city services and fostered uncertainty in regard to Toronto's financial future.  As we write this, local community groups across the city are being forced to adjust to this most unfortunate and quite unnecessary new reality.

Further, we do wonder if your support of the deferral means that you are opposed to the two new taxes in and of themselves. If so, we are interested to know what your solution to the massive budget shortfall might be.

Of course we all look forward to the day when the provincial government reassumes its full responsibility for the funding of provincially mandated programs and 'uploads the download'. But clearly that time is not near, and regardless we believe that Toronto needs to establish new and ongoing revenue streams that are under its own control in order to ensure a future that we can all look forward to and be proud of.  Scratching about each and every year to find 'just enough' is simply not enough.

The October council vote will be the most important vote to face the amalgamated city to date.  We believe the future of the city is at stake.  Unfortunately, our future has already been needlessly undermined by the deferral.  Without doubt, your constituents deserve to know your thinking on this very important matter well before the October council vote is upon us. 

Between now and October 22nd, we will be working to see that Toronto's fiscal situation and possible solutions are clearly presented to the community in Ward 13 and beyond.  Among our strategies, we plan to hold a public meeting to provide a local forum for discussion of the issue.  We will be in touch with further details as our plans develop. 

In the meantime, we hope you will respond to the concerns we've outlined above. 

Sincerely,

For world19,
John Leeson
Elizabeth Lines
Christopher Holcroft

World19 is a Ward 13-based community group founded in 1997 and committed to citizen engagement and participation.