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发表于 2013-12-29 13:02:08
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下面文章登载于2011年:
http://www.mytowncrier.ca/trees-trimmed-in-budget-proposal.html
Trees trimmed in budget proposal
Local councillors concerned about implications of plan on their wards
Tags: Politics, City Hall, City Council, Budget Proposals, Service Cuts, MAry Fragedakis, Mary Margaret McMahon, Toronto-Danforth, Beaches-East York, Ward 29, Ward 32, Emerald Ash Borer, Toronto Transit Commission
By Karolyn Coorsh
December 29, 2011
Neighbourhoods: Beach / Upper Beach Todmorden Village / Playter Estates / Danforth Village / Central East York
Originally published in our Riverdale-East York print edition(s).
Two east-end councillors say they will fight to keep the city’s tree canopy program on course, despite possible budgets cuts.
Days after the 2012 draft operating and capital budgets were unveiled, Ward 32 councillor Mary Margaret McMahon said she was concerned about how cuts to Toronto’s tree maintenance program will impact neighbourhoods in her ward.
The draft budget proposes merging two parks and rec tree canopy programs into one, saving almost $1 million, and reducing the hazardous tree abatement program by returning to a previous reactive approach to responding to dangerous trees in parks and natural areas.
Also recommended in the operating budget is extending a multi-year implementation and financing plan for tree maintenance, protection and planting from eight to 10 years.
“Right now as it is, the staff can’t keep up with the tree maintenance, so we really need to be looking at new, innovative ideas,” McMahon said.
She suggested looking into expanding citizen-led tree stewardship programs, like those currently operating in Leslieville.
Councillor Mary Fragedakis, whose Ward 29 is kitty-corner to McMahon’s, echoed the same concerns. She said in the days since the budget’s launch, she’s been receiving many emails from those concerned about cuts to urban forestry.
“That is a huge no-no for me personally, and for a lot of people in the east-end,” Fragedakis said. “With climate change and the severity of the storms that we’ve been getting, our tree canopy has been under attack for a good five to 10 years.”
Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests’ executive director Janet McKay said though its unclear how the 2012 cuts could affect the overall target to double the tree canopy by 2050, incremental cuts to maintenance are a step backward.
“What I see in this is immediately less scary than I thought it would be, but I think it’s just the first step,” she said. “I think overall, maintaining that target and timeline is really important because if we start to chip away at that gradually, we’re heading backwards.”
McKay pointed out the city’s loss of trees to the Emerald Ash Borer problem as further indication the city should be accelerating the tree planting program in order to offset a reduction in the overall tree canopy.
“We shouldn’t be weakening our efforts, we should be strengthening them because we’re facing this huge loss,” McKay said. “Over eight percent of the canopy is going to be gone.”
Despite concerns, McMahon said the 2012 draft city budget could be far worse.
“There’s not an awful lot of blood on the floor, that’s what people are saying,” she said.
The proposed budget calls for a 10-cent TTC fare increase, about 2,300 in city staff job cuts and a 2.5 percent tax hike.
McMahon, considered a member of council’s centrist clan, says she was expecting to see a higher jump in property tax.
“That’s a modest increase compared to other municipalities in the GTA and the province,” she said adding she was pleased to see the possibility of shuttering city-owned museums is off the table.
Citizens worried about mass cuts were bracing themselves after Ford’s call to reduce city department budgets by 10 percent across the board. The budget’s launch followed months of unprecedented public consultation, with many voicing outrage at the prospect of cuts to what they saw as key city services.
McMahon acknowledged the 2012 budget includes other cuts she will oppose, especially regarding the proposed slashing of library hours and aquatic programs, and a reduction TTC service.
“There shouldn’t be cuts in transit, we should be expanding it,” she said.
McMahon was optimistic that council will find a happy compromise during the budget vote, set for Jan. 17–19.
“Anything can happen (at council), but everyone has their little pet projects that they want to save, and I think if we have good ideas as to how to make them sustainable, how to get a cost recovery model for some of them and some we fund with the surplus, I think it’ll look better.” |
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