Volume 29 Number 2 Newsletter of the Swansea Area Ratepayers' Association

Meeting Notice
Annual General Meeting
7:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 14, 2001
SWANSEA TOWN HALL
95 Lavinia Ave
in the Rousseau Room
7:30 p.m. President's Report; Treasurer's Report; Other Reports; Election of Officers
8:00 p.m. City of Toronto Draft Official Plan presented by a Representative from the City of Toronto Planning & Development Department
8:30 p.m. What's Ahead for Swansea; Community Council Boundaries & Services; Budget -- Traffic Calming; Swansea Town Hall; Other Business
Current & prospective members welcome!
Refreshments will be served.

EXECUTIVE MEETINGS
Please note that Executive meetings are public and held normally on the third Tuesday of each month, excluding July and August. There may be seating limitations, so contact the Executive before you come to a meeting.

GARDINER LAKESHORE TASK FORCE
SARA continues to monitor this committee's work. Bill Roberts is our contact on this body, and S. Wilkinson the alternate. There is a proposal before the Gardiner-Lakeshore Taskforce to bury the Gardiner. It is likely the public meeting will be held sometime in June in the West End. Keep your eyes open for this, since the proposal is tied into the issue of tolls starting at the 427 and going East.

MEMBERSHIP
If you have not yet done so, renew your membership for 2001 now. May 2001 THE FOLLOWING ARE THE FEES FOR 2001: Single membership ....... $10.00 Family membership . $12.00 Business membership $14.00 Please contact L. Gris at 416-766-2792 to renew. Membership inquiries may be sent to Swansea Area Ratepayers' Association, c/o Swansea Town Hall, Box 103, 95 Lavinia Avenue, ToroIlto, Ontario, M6S 3H9. Please note that all of our Executives are volunteers.

HOURS OF OPERATION OF GAS BARS
SARA continues to press the City to enforce its by-laws. We will keep you advised.

MEGACITY COMMUNITY COUNCIL
SARA is concerned that the attempt of City staff to create four departmental divisions instead of six, represents an ongoing threat to the decision of City Council to have 6 community councils. Staff appear to prefer greater separation rather than closer contact with the new communities. SARA will continue to monitor this matter. Our position is that, just as we fought for six instead of four committee of adiustments, there should be six departmental divisions, unless there is compelling evidence that a lower or higher number is more appropriate.

BILLY BOB'S
The Alcohol & Gaming Commission refused Billy Bob's application; however it is our understanding they have appealed the ruling.

MEOW CLUB
The City was successful before the courts seeking an injunction to stop the operation of the Meow Club for the breach of City By-laws. However, the owners have appealed, and until the process is completed they will continue to operate. For updates please contact J. Bell at 416-604-7421. GUARDIANS OF THE GATES
Our last newsletter spoke about the death of Jean Roberts. Regrettably we now have to advise you that G. Martinsons, who was a key player for so many years has also died. His loss is keenly felt by our Association. Right now with the concerns over the preservation of the Joy Oil station and the issue of hydrology of Stelco his knowledge would have been very helpful.

HIGH PARK ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Jean McMullen is our representative.

SWANSEA MEMORIAL LIBRARY
We continue to keep an eye on the Library. Please remember if we do not use it we will loose it. Remember it is as a living memory to those from the Village of Swansea, who died in the First World War. Also do not forget you can arrange for any movie, book or any other library material to be delivered to the Swansea branch for pickup. LIBRARY HOURS ARE NOW: Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: . Friday: Saturday Sunday: . Closed The hours have been changed. The Library used to be open from 1:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday and from 10:00a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Saturday. SARA and the Friends of the Library would like to know if the new hours are acceptable or not. Please contact G. Dubauskas at 416-762-6413. Closed 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. 10:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. 10:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. Closed 9:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Closed

1947 BLOOR STREET WEST
The appeal to Divisional Court for leave to appeal was refused. There is still pending the matter of a request for an Environmental Assessment.

COMMUNITY POLICE LIAISON COMMITTEE
Bill Haines is our representative on this committee.

FUNDRAISER
Please note that next Fall we will again attend at the Village Players. Contact: L. Gris at 416-766-2792 for advance tickets.

STELCO
SARA is carefully monitoring this other City initiated changes to our community. There was a public meeting and the SARA executive will be considering its position at the time this newsletter is going to press. (Note as an aside the AGM will have a representative from the Planning & Development Department talking about some of these other issues.]

306 WINDERMERE AVE.
The OMB turned down the applicant's request.

TRAFFIC CALMING
This has become a major issue in Swansea, with discussions concerning Ellis Park and Windermere being raised. SARA supports the proposed changes to the process which will ensure greater community involvement including those living on other streets that may be impacted. SARA remains concerned that this is a piecemeal process which will result in more and more streets being "calmed" with traffic being concentrated on one or two streets. Or, in the end, traffic will simply return to the streets, once all the streets have been calmed. In addition there are issues of pollution being increased by the stop/start nature of traffic. This was an issue raised many years ago by the late Mr. Gunars Martinsons.

Advisory Committee - Jamie Bell & Louis Gris