They call it the "Tipping Point"
Or at least that used to be the trendy term to describe the moment when problems accumulate to the point where change is essential. When I was a kid we used to call it by a more colourful term: "the straw that broke the camel's back." Whatever the term, the noise at the Island Airport is reaching an unbearable level.
From the end of curfew at 6:45 in the morning until the time the curfew is reimposed, at 11:00 pm, the airport is a constant hum of activity. I was out for a walk this evening and for the half hour that I strolled around the community there was constant noise coming from the airport. Sometime it was the sound of a plane taking off or landing but more often it was an unending barrage of sound from engines warming up on the tarmac.
Why, all of a sudden are we reaching the tipping point for noise at the Island Airport? There can only be one explanation. The number of aircraft and their take-offs, landings, engine run-ups and constant taxiing are now causing so much noise that it has gone beyond the unbearable.
Porter presently has 24 Bombardier Q400 planes that are operating out of the Island. Robert Deluce, Porter's CEO, said in a recent interview that another two aircraft will be delivered this month. He also said that more planes are on the way. Air Canada also operates two planes out of the Island. Do the addition. That makes 28 planes now and more to come. It is more than a tipping point. The noise is off the scale.
A busy airport in the centre of the largest city in the country violates every planning principle that has been developed. It deteriorates the quality of life, adds substantially to air pollution and is fast ruining the Waterfront, the jewel in the crown of the city's part system and the largest, most accessible, recreation area in Toronto, possibly the GTA.
And it is not like there are no alternatives. Pearson International Airport is underutilized. Recently the Greater Toronto Airport Authority invested $4 billion in improving the runways and terminals at Pearson. That is where Porter should go. The company can carry on its business at Pearson.
When are we going to have rational planning in the City of Toronto? When are we going to build on the city's greatest asset, its quality of life? When are we going to close the Island Airport?
We are well beyond the tipping point.
Bill Freeman
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