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October
28, 2003
CRUNCH TIME IN VALLEY FIGHT
Protesters thwart attempts to begin expressway tree cutting
By Eric McGuinness, The Hamilton Spectator
Alessandra
Brown shivers in the cold while chained to a tree
in the Red Hill Valley yesterday. Photo by Gary Yokoyama,
the Hamilton Spectator.
[banner on tree reads: "I live, U breathe"]
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Protesters
chained themselves to trees to stop cutting at the top of
Red Hill Valley yesterday, again frustrating city attempts
to push ahead with construction of a $200-million expressway.
Forty
protesters, six of them chained to the trunks of trees,
turned back workers ready to start cutting hundreds of mature
trees on the face of the Niagara Escarpment west of Mount
Albion Road.
Members
of the group then moved a short distance east to confront
another tree-cutting crew ready to clear a detour route
for Mount Albion Road through a wooded area north of Mud
Street.
There
was a brief roar of chainsaws and the rhythmic beat of a
native drum as expressway opponents stopped work that would
irreparably change the valley, work that could not be undone
if a majority of councillors elected in the Nov. 10 municipal
election decided to cancel construction of the road.
Meanwhile,
a native group continued to occupy a bridge construction
site farther down the valley at Greenhill Avenue —
where protests have managed to stop work since early August
— and Hamilton city council voted at a special meeting
to enforce a court order prohibiting anyone from interfering
with the Red Hill Creek Expressway project.
It's
not clear, however, how quickly the city will act.
Don
McLean, chair of Friends of Red Hill Valley, accuses council
of trying to sabotage efforts to elect anti-expressway candidates
in the Nov. 10 municipal election.
He
compares it to Toronto-area developers who cleared land
on the Oak Ridges Moraine during the provincial campaign
in which Liberals were pledging to protect the environmentally
sensitive area.
"To
try to take action that would potentially mean the issue
is taken off the plate seems to me to be a provocation
and fooling with an election and should not be permitted.
On one side, you have people breaking the law to protect
the valley. At the same time, people are trying to change
the law by changing council and it appears that is going
to be sabotaged."
Larry
Di Ianni, incumbent councillor and chair of the expressway
implementation committee, said: "I'm clearly, in very
strong terms, asking that we enforce the law. I think we
need to complete the project. That's my position and council's
position. We cannot allow the community interest to be blocked
by special interests."
Yesterday's
council vote directs Mayor Bob Wade, city manager Bob Robertson
and public works general manager Peter Crockett to enforce
the court order and proceed with construction.
Di
Ianni said he assumed that applied to both the native protesters
at Greenhill and the mix of native and non-native protesters
at the tree-cutting sites.
At
the end of city business hours yesterday, project manager
Chris Murray said he did not yet know if he would ask construction
contractors to try again to start removing trees this morning.
Police
Inspector Ken Leendertse said officers advised protesters
yesterday they were trespassing on a fenced construction
site and were violating a court injunction the city obtained
in August. He said it would be up to the city to call in
the sheriff, a provincial official, to enforce the injunction.
Robertson
said yesterday's vote "provides us with the latitude
to move forward and have the order enforced if we feel it
is necessary." He wouldn't say how long the city would
wait to force an end to the protests.
Murray
said Dufferin Construction of Oakville has contracts for
both the Greenhill bridge and the escarpment-face tree removal.
Ottawa-based W. A. Laflamme Ltd. has the contract to clear
trees to re-route Mount Albion Road for the Mud Street interchange,
where Laflamme has been working for several months.
Robertson
said the city is in a hurry to cut trees on the escarpment
face so it can bring in drilling machines to take core samples
engineers require to design footings for a viaduct —
a bridge — that will carry the expressway from the
escarpment brow to the valley floor, leaving open space
beneath the road for hikers and animals.
Murray
has also said the city wants to cut now because birds have
finished migrating and flying squirrels in the area have
not yet built winter nests. McLean says the birds won't
be an issue until May, and the squirrels don't nest until
February.
Robertson
said tenders close next week on another contract for tree
removal all the way down the valley to Barton Street.
ACTIVISTS
CHAIN SELVES TO TREES
Construction again delayed, police warnings issued
by the Hamilton Spectator
Red
Hill Valley protester Barbara Smith, chained to
a tree, receives a warning from Hamilton Police
Sergeant Dave Place. A recently-obtained city injunction
bars activists from the construction zone. Photo
by Gary Yokoyama, the Hamilton Spectator.
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Construction
workers arrived early with their chainsaws.
The
plan was to do an end run around anti-Red Hill Expressway
protesters and begin taking down trees to speed construction
at the south end of the route.
But
environmentalists beat them to it. They had anticipated
the move and chained themselves to trees in the construction
zone.
Canadian
aboriginals arrived early as well, erecting a teepee and
watching events unfold.
Score
one for foes of the expressway.
The
tree cutters turned off their power saws and headed home
early. No trees were felled and the incident ended without
confrontation.
Dr.
Guy Mersereau, a retired psychiatrist who formerly worked
at the Barton Street jail, was one of six who chained themselves
to mature red maple trees.
He
said he wants to save the valley and protect the trees because
an expressway would harm Hamilton's air quality.
"It's
a health issue. This valley is the lung for this air. It
cleans the air.
"We
need this valley. We need the trees to clean the air,"
he said.
Mersereau
added that the protest makes him feel good about himself.
"I
would feel bad if I didn't do this. It's good for my mental
health," he said as he cradled his dog Chico with his
free arm.
His
other arm and leg were chained together at the base of the
tree. Mersereau planned to make a stand against the tree
cutters "for as long as it takes."
It
didn't take long yesterday. When the workers left, protesters
unchained themselves and headed home. It was around noon.
They
expect to be back today if the city presses forward with
tree-clearing.
And
that could be the test of their commitment.
About
40 people occupied the area of the Mount Albion detour and
the path of the bridge that will travel down the valley.
Hamilton
police officers warned the group that they were breaking
the law and also described the city injunction that bars
them from the construction zone and told them they were
trespassing.
They
wrote down several names but didn't order anyone to leave
the scene.
That
could change if city council decides to force the issue.
The mayor and two senior staffers have been given the authority
to enforce the injunction.
If
that decision is enforced, a provincial sheriff will intervene,
aided by police, to charge and remove the protesters.
That
possibility left a few of the environmentalists concerned
yesterday.
They
were happy to make their point, but the possibility of going
to jail wasn't in their plans.
ARRESTS WOULD HEAT UP VOTE, PROF SAYS
By Dan Nolan, The Hamilton Spectator
A
McMaster University professor says a move to eject protesters
from the Red Hill Valley to build an expressway will significantly
affect the Hamilton municipal election.
Henry
Jacek, a political science professor, said the move will
likely increase voter turnout because it makes the election
more interesting.
He
also said it will focus attention on where a candidate stands
on the expressway more than on other issues and might lead
some to change their vote.
Arrests
have been raised as a real possibility after protesters
chained themselves to trees to stop work crews from cutting
them yesterday where an interchange at Mud Street is to
be built.
"No
matter how you feel, when you start arresting people, that's
an exciting event," Jacek said.
"It
will get people interested in politics. And, by making this
a big issue, it will help those who have taken a strong
stand on the issue versus those who have not taken a strong
stand."
The
two frontrunners, David Christopherson and Larry Di Ianni,
are on opposite sides of the issue. Christopherson is opposed
to the expressway while Di Ianni, the Ward 10 councillor,
is all for it.
Yesterday,
Christopherson said the city has no option but to enforce
a court injunction to clear the valley of trespassers to
make way for construction.
Di
Ianni said he welcomed his opponent's statement, but claimed
the stand was "inconsistent" since Christopherson
had visited the valley and was encouraging people to block
construction.
"What
will he say next week?" Di Ianni asked.
Christopherson
shot back that he attended a rally in the valley against
building the expressway in August, well before the injunction
was granted by the courts.
"It
was perfectly legal."
Christopherson
said once the injunction was granted, "I believe the
courts have to be obeyed and anything that violates that
can't be deemed appropriate."
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