Porter no "reason to love Toronto"
The following is a letter to Toronto LIfe magazine. An edited version appears in the current issue.
The piece written by Courtney Shea, ("Reason to Love Toronto", Feb. 2011) shills for the Toronto Port Authority and Porter Airlines instead of providing some decent journalism. But I guess that's the quid pro quo for a full page Porter ad in the same Toronto Life issue.
Seems she can't see past the foam on her Porter-supplied cappuccino.
What she could have told us is what thousands of waterfront Toronto residents must endure living next to a dirty, noisy and unresponsive little airport.
Try multiple turboprop engines that awaken the waterfront at 6:40 in the morning, deafening engine run-ups that can occur anytime of the day, kerosene smells wafting by or interruptions of performances at the Toronto Music Garden by the reverse-thrusts of multiple airliner landings. Then, there's the constant queuing of dozens of idling taxis waiting for airport passengers, directly across from the playground and basketball courts of the JK-8 Waterfront School and Harbourfront Community Centre. The Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association survey reports residents' health concerns of how the airport contributes to respiratory illnesses among children and the elderly. But journalist Shea can wave these off as inconsequential complaints to what is really important to Toronto, a boutique air service for latte sipping yuppies.
Why should she and Porter customers care that neither the airline nor the landlord, the Toronto Port Authority have engaged in any meaningful discussions with waterfront neighbourhood groups who are increasingly losing the enjoyment of their homes and waterfront. Dismiss it as carping from a bunch of NIMBYS , "...Because it's never been easier to get out of town."
George Prodanou
The piece written by Courtney Shea, ("Reason to Love Toronto", Feb. 2011) shills for the Toronto Port Authority and Porter Airlines instead of providing some decent journalism. But I guess that's the quid pro quo for a full page Porter ad in the same Toronto Life issue.
Seems she can't see past the foam on her Porter-supplied cappuccino.
What she could have told us is what thousands of waterfront Toronto residents must endure living next to a dirty, noisy and unresponsive little airport.
Try multiple turboprop engines that awaken the waterfront at 6:40 in the morning, deafening engine run-ups that can occur anytime of the day, kerosene smells wafting by or interruptions of performances at the Toronto Music Garden by the reverse-thrusts of multiple airliner landings. Then, there's the constant queuing of dozens of idling taxis waiting for airport passengers, directly across from the playground and basketball courts of the JK-8 Waterfront School and Harbourfront Community Centre. The Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association survey reports residents' health concerns of how the airport contributes to respiratory illnesses among children and the elderly. But journalist Shea can wave these off as inconsequential complaints to what is really important to Toronto, a boutique air service for latte sipping yuppies.
Why should she and Porter customers care that neither the airline nor the landlord, the Toronto Port Authority have engaged in any meaningful discussions with waterfront neighbourhood groups who are increasingly losing the enjoyment of their homes and waterfront. Dismiss it as carping from a bunch of NIMBYS , "...Because it's never been easier to get out of town."
George Prodanou
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