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November
2002 Newsletter
Secrecy
and Democracy Update
On
September 25, Friends of Red Hill appeared before
City Council. On the same day, the City provided three of
the long secret expressway consultant studies and promised
that additional reports would be released in October. The
three studies contained references to at least six additional
reports that were completed as far back as February 1999
but not released to the public. The reports obtained in
September and October provide the information for articles
in this newsletter about flying squirrels and creek re-location
plans.
Some additional reports were released in mid-October, but
at least 20 others still remain secret and are not scheduled
for release until "early next year". The Mayor,
however, says construction of the expressway will start
in March, suggesting that there will be little or no opportunity
for public review or comment, much less questions and answers.
The City is demanding that any comments on the ten reports
released so far be completed within 45 days (by November
28). Dumping out 2000 pages of material all at once and
imposing such deadlines is apparently their confused idea
of democracy. Two of the reports have been in the hands
of the full-time staff of the federal fisheries department
since July, showing that the highly restrictive deadlines
imposed on citizens don't apply to others.
The reports released so far can be found on the City's website
at http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/CityDepartments/toe/rhvp/default.htm
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