Sad news. We heard this afternoon that Allan Sparrow died after a long fight with cancer.
Allan gave a great deal to the City of Toronto. He was a Toronto City Councillor from 1974 to 1980, representing one of the downtown wards. Always an independent member of council, Allan, perhaps more than any other practicing politician of that day, worked to realize the values of environmentalism. On council he promoted and helped to implement the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood, stopped the widening of Bathurst and Wellesley Streets and was a founder of the City Cycling Committee. At great personal cost, he founded the Citizens Independent Review of Police Activities that insisted that police must be accountable to the community.
Allan was a politician driven by reason, rationality and intellect who could persuade with the logic and sheer good sense of his arguments. His position was always clear. He supported livable neighbourhoods, controlled development, community facilities that helped and sustained people and opposed the arbitrary power of governments. The clarity of his arguments, his persistence and his knowledge of the political system and its players, was what helped him prevail in issue after issue.
After he left politics, Allan established Domicity, a business consulting firm, with his partners Sue Sparrow and Marc Brien. In 1998 they moved to Toronto Island in order to live a more relaxed life only to find that the newly formed Toronto Port Authority planned a major expansion of the Toronto Island Airport. Allan immediately knew that an expanded Island Airport would be a disaster for the City of Toronto and its plans to create a clean, green Waterfront. Not only would it threaten the very dream of rejuvenating the derelict industrial lands in the central part of the city, but an increase of air traffic would bring substantial increases to air, water and noise pollution to one of the most densely populated part of the city. In his focused, deliberate way, Allan decided that he would do everything in his power to stop it. He founded CommunityAIR in 2002 and was the group's spokesperson in the formative years of the fight.
The Toronto Port Authority and the supporters of airport expansion had not reckoned on Allan Sparrow. He began meeting with community groups that had formed along the Waterfront, telling them in his calm, rational manner what an expanded Island Airport would do to their neighbourhood and its quality of life. Allan used every opportunity to underline the foolishness of expanding the airport. As the numbers of people involved in Community AIR grew, the group took on the Toronto Port Authority at their Annual General Meetings. Questions were raised, pointing out how the Port Authority failed to fulfill its mandate. The group challenged the Port Authority on its Environmental Assessment process for failing to adequately address the scope of the plans of airport expansion. At elections Community AIR held all-candidates meetings and disseminated information about the airport and the position of candidates on expansion. Fighting the bridge to the Island Airport, led by Community AIR, became the defining issue in the 2003 municipal election and played a significant role in the election of David Miller as Mayor.
Even before that election Allan had to drop out of his role as Spokesperson for CommunityAIR because of ill health. He was badly missed but by that time he had inspired the rest of us to the point where the organization was 2,000 strong, and fully equipped and motivated to take on the Port Authority and work to close the airport.
Every political movement is built on the shoulders of those that came before, but Allan's leadership and personal style has made an indelible mark on our organization. We will miss him, but we all know that he would want us to keep up the spirit and finally "shut that airport down."
What's not to like... would've liked to see a bit more about Sue and Marc... a bit more about the Island community and downtown neighbourhood preservation, a bit more about his and their friendship with Jane Jacobs, the ugly story of Allan's struggle for civilian oversight of the police... and more about his novel... and more about stuff about him that I don't know about... but hey, I liked it... heck... Allan probably wrote it! I am looking forward to hearing more about what is planned for September 5th. Btw, 32 years ago, Allan was my Best Man... what more can I say?
Comment by Peter Holt on Allan Sparrow
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