ALL TORONTO HAS THE RIGHT TO A CLEAN GREEN WATERFRONT!

Join us this Monday February 22, 2010 from 8 a.m. - 9 a.m.

South side of Queen’s Quay at Eireann Quay

 Porter opens its new Terminal at the Island Airport Monday morning.

The Port Authority has announced that they are doubling the capacity of the Island Airport without any documentation or proper prior consultation 

 We need to tell Porter, and the TPA, that airport expansion is destroying the liveability of our waterfront.

 And that it is utterly incompatible with all the wonderful activities that the people of Toronto, and our many guests, enjoy and look forward to on the Waterfront.

 CommunityAIR has worked diligently to obtain enforcement of the rules negotiated by the City in 1983 to protect our communities and our waterfront from excessive airport noise and pollution. 

 To make the point that jamming a busy and drastically expanding airport into our community just doesn’t work, we will be crossing the two-lane Eireann Quay (a local road the is the only access to the airport)– on the green (walk)  light from the south corners of Queen’s Quay and Eireann Quay from 8:00 til 9:00 a.m.

The Tripartite Agreement was negotiated by the City to protect the waterfront from over-expansion. 

 Tripartite Agreement not upheld:  The City has failed to uphold the Tripartite Agreement, and the Port Authority has run amok, taking advantage of this lack of opposition.  Their latest ploy?  The Port Authority has announced, with no justification, that they are going to ramp up the flights to 212 daily, when the original study set a limit of 97 . (Porter’s already past that)  This will mean a flight every 4 minutes.  Why aren't they being stopped? 

 Cost to taxpayers: Millions of dollars of tax-payers dollars have been poured into this facility--the latest being $900,000 for a planned "noise barrier" that will have highly questionable success.  Hundreds of thousands more Federal dollars will be spent on added security and fire service requirements.  This is a total duplication of resources, as Pearson is not at capacity. All this to support a private company from which the public will never financially benefit. 

 Social Costs:  This expanded airport business is ruining the Waterfront for all.  And the impact on the local neighbourhood is devastating:  A mess of dangerous traffic funneling down what was once a quiet neighbourhood street past a school, day care centre, community centre and park, and horrendous additional air, water and noise pollution (the Board of Health is very concerned) is spreading across the waterfront.  

 Mismanagement:  We have a  Port Authority that cannot manage its tenant:  airport curfew hours are regularly breached, extended engine run-ups occur even at 3 a.m., overflights of noise sensitive areas have occured regularly for years, in spite of complaints. 

 Security:  How can this airport possibly ever be adequately made "secure"?  It is surrounded by recreational and residential uses, right up to its gates, with water access on all sides.  Flights are now regularly coming to and from the US.  Downtown is a mere adjustment to the flight path. 

 The costs to the citizens of Toronto are enormous and at the expense of our promised "Clean, Green Waterfront". 

 We call on the City to protect us from this rogue agency.