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February
1998 Newsletter
Updates
Since the Last Newsletter
Things
are moving quickly. Here are some of the highlights
since the last newsletter.
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Over 80 people attended the membership meeting
on January 5 at the new storefront office of Friends
of Red Hill. Many of the plans and decisions coming
out of that meeting have been implemented, and
we already require another membership meeting.
We are holding it twice so if you can't make one
date, hopefully you'll be able to make the other
one. The two times are Friday, February 20 at
7 pm and Tuesday, February 24 at 7 pm. Both meetings
are being held at 473 King Street East. Please
try to attend one of them.
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We
launched joint action with our lawyers to demand
a federal environmental assessment of the expressway
project. On January 14, Paul Muldoon of the Canadian
Environmental Law Association (CELA) wrote to
the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on
behalf of Friends of Red Hill. The letter pointed
out that the Minister is required by law to immediately
start this assessment.
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On
January 19, a large public meeting at Lakeland
Pool unanimously rejected the plans of the Region
and the Ministry of Transportation for a new Burlington
Street interchange. Changes to this interchange
are required in order to accommodate the proposed
interchange of the north-south expressway with
the QEW. If that is to be jammed into the area
between Highway 20 and Burlington Street, then
the Burlington interchange must be moved or a
collector road system must be set up. One "option"
will wipe out Lakeland Pool, while a second will
essentially do the same to Hutch's Restaurant.
The third "option" will widen the QEW to 12 lanes
over top of the provincial class one wetlands.
All of the citizens who spoke at the meeting declared
that every one of the three "options" is unacceptable.
This position was echoed by Councillor Geraldine
Copps and Mayor Bob Morrow of Hamilton. Friends
of Red Hill and the Canadian Environmental Law
Association have now written to the Minister of
Transportation of Ontario pointing out that he
is legally obligated to hold a full environmental
assessment of the proposed changes.
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More
than 100 people protested at Regional Council
on January 20 and delivered a petition of 1500
names from Ward Five opposed to the expressway.
The door-to-door petition survey found that 64%
of the homes opposed the expressway, 22% supported
it, and the rest were undecided. On the same day,
a feature article in the Spectator pointed
out that the expressway is a "NAFTA bypass" and
that it cannot be afforded by the Region.
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We
have reason to believe that more councillors are
abandoning their support of the expressway, and
that some newly-elected councillors are also opposed.
We will report on this progress at the upcoming
membership meetings.
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CHML
radio station has taken a much greater interest
in the expressway. Several phone-in shows have
focused on the subject with the majority of callers
opposed to the project. The spokesperson for Concerned
Citizens of Ward Five was on the air three times
in January alone. Several announcers at the station
have recently indicated their opposition to the
expressway.
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Several
thousand copies of the air quality leaflet have
been distributed.
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©
Friends of Red Hill Valley 1991-2005
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