Mayor Miller: I am writing you in despair
Dear Mayor Miller:
I am writing to you in despair.
I have lived at Arcadia (680 Queens Quay West) with my family since 1986. I have worked in the office at Arcadia since 1990. It now seems that I will be forced to move from my home and find another job.
The Island Airport has always been just across the channel from me. However, there is a Tripartite Agreement that was supposed to protect me and my family. For years it seems to have done that, but in recent years this agreement has not been upheld. I have logged complaints with the Toronto Port Authority and protested against the breaches of this agreement. My neighbours have done so as well. We are not treated with respect. We are not answered. Instead, the airport is allowed to expand and the breaches go unresolved.
When we elected you as Mayor we were convinced that you would help us to ensure that the bridge to the Island airport would not be built, and that there would be no airport expansion. I was at City Hall when the vote came down and we were ecstatic. We thought we had finally won the battle against the Toronto Port Authority. We had the support of the majority in the City of Toronto, and we had you at the helm to ensure that the Tripartite Agreement would be upheld.
And yet, here we are only a few years later with more air traffic than ever before, more pollution, more noise. Porter has been allowed to takeover operations at the airport and is again expanding with promises of many more flights. The residents of the Quay and the Islands have become the targets of massive negative advertising which has inspired hatred. (Evidence: The Toronto Sun cartoon on Wednesday April 29th which is disgraceful.)
It is acknowledged that the curfew is often broken. It is acknowledged that the Q400 (Porter's fleet) breaches the Tripartite Agreement regarding sound. No one has done appropriate environmental testing to ensure that the people who live in this neighbourhood are not at risk from the pollution from all sides. No one will respond to our requests for this.
We look to you as Mayor to uphold your values to ensure that our neighbourhood is not destroyed by this issue. Our children are at risk everyday from the taxis that charge through the red lights at the school intersection to get to the airport on time. Our children are at risk everyday from the pollution from both the airplanes and the additional taxis (always idling right in front of the school), and the additional car and bus traffic. These children are exposed to this pollution almost 24 hours a day because they live and go to school in close proximity to this airport.
We all live in fear of the moment when one of these planes crash into either the school, the park or one of our homes.
As for me, I work and live in the same building (right across the park from the airport). I firmly believe that my health has suffered over the past several years because of the additional pollution, and the sleep deprivation. I do not believe that I can continue to live and work here if the airport continues to expand. My health is at risk, my children's health is at risk and my friends and neighbours health is at risk.
I do not understand why the desires of some are allowed to destroy the lives of others. The victory of 'No Bridge' will become empty if the airport is not curtailed.
I urge you to please help us. Please speak out on this issue again.
Thank you,
Rebecca Quigley
I am writing to you in despair.
I have lived at Arcadia (680 Queens Quay West) with my family since 1986. I have worked in the office at Arcadia since 1990. It now seems that I will be forced to move from my home and find another job.
The Island Airport has always been just across the channel from me. However, there is a Tripartite Agreement that was supposed to protect me and my family. For years it seems to have done that, but in recent years this agreement has not been upheld. I have logged complaints with the Toronto Port Authority and protested against the breaches of this agreement. My neighbours have done so as well. We are not treated with respect. We are not answered. Instead, the airport is allowed to expand and the breaches go unresolved.
When we elected you as Mayor we were convinced that you would help us to ensure that the bridge to the Island airport would not be built, and that there would be no airport expansion. I was at City Hall when the vote came down and we were ecstatic. We thought we had finally won the battle against the Toronto Port Authority. We had the support of the majority in the City of Toronto, and we had you at the helm to ensure that the Tripartite Agreement would be upheld.
And yet, here we are only a few years later with more air traffic than ever before, more pollution, more noise. Porter has been allowed to takeover operations at the airport and is again expanding with promises of many more flights. The residents of the Quay and the Islands have become the targets of massive negative advertising which has inspired hatred. (Evidence: The Toronto Sun cartoon on Wednesday April 29th which is disgraceful.)
It is acknowledged that the curfew is often broken. It is acknowledged that the Q400 (Porter's fleet) breaches the Tripartite Agreement regarding sound. No one has done appropriate environmental testing to ensure that the people who live in this neighbourhood are not at risk from the pollution from all sides. No one will respond to our requests for this.
We look to you as Mayor to uphold your values to ensure that our neighbourhood is not destroyed by this issue. Our children are at risk everyday from the taxis that charge through the red lights at the school intersection to get to the airport on time. Our children are at risk everyday from the pollution from both the airplanes and the additional taxis (always idling right in front of the school), and the additional car and bus traffic. These children are exposed to this pollution almost 24 hours a day because they live and go to school in close proximity to this airport.
We all live in fear of the moment when one of these planes crash into either the school, the park or one of our homes.
As for me, I work and live in the same building (right across the park from the airport). I firmly believe that my health has suffered over the past several years because of the additional pollution, and the sleep deprivation. I do not believe that I can continue to live and work here if the airport continues to expand. My health is at risk, my children's health is at risk and my friends and neighbours health is at risk.
I do not understand why the desires of some are allowed to destroy the lives of others. The victory of 'No Bridge' will become empty if the airport is not curtailed.
I urge you to please help us. Please speak out on this issue again.
Thank you,
Rebecca Quigley
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