Map and directions to 33 Avenue Rosemount, Westmount, QC, Canada
Welcome to Wednesday Night #1316 May 23, 2007
PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN BE WITH US - IT MAKES THE CHAIRMAN'S JOB EASIER
See posting of the account of the Wednesday Night #1315. It is a good read!
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A very interesting evening last week Wed1315page2, which was a continuation of the previous week's discussion of nuclear energy, this time in the company of John Jonas and Peter Ferst, along with the Lightfoot family enterprise. Meanwhile, Diana was launching the Year of the Dolphin in Washington while making sure that Tony Blair enjoyed his last visit with a class="b2" href="http://www.wednesday-night.com/GWBush.asp" onmouseover="return overlib('click to wednesday-night.com/GWBush', LEFT);" onmouseout="return nd();" target="_" >President Bush and Paul Wolfowitz departed the World Bank
This week, we will turn to a more local topic, albeit one with environmental focus, the Turf Wars in Westmount and the proposal to lay artificial turf on the soccer field in Westmount Park. Patrick Barnard has ably led the citizens' group opposed to this idea savewestmountpark/a>and will be with us along with McGill Psychology Professor Gillian O'Driscoll who speaks on this topic as a scientist, mother, teacher and representative of Narnia Daycare. Whether or not you have soccer-playing children in Westmount, the topic touches myriad issues of environmental planning, municipal responsibility and health and safety.
We also look forward to a special treat - a visit from our very favorite diva, Susan Eyton-Jones, and Shem Guibbory. We look forward to their insider's view of the success of the Metropolitan Opera's telecasts and outreach programme of the past season.
World events will not, however, go unremarked. The Cabinet introduced last week by France's new president (he's allowed to use that title for a few weeks) is indicative of new directions, as is Mr. Sarkozy's early position on the environment
We are saddened and concerned by the outbreak of violence in Lebanon between the government and islamist militants, which does not show signs of abating despite pronouncements from the UN Secretary-General and the Arab League. The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. It looks like the beginning of yet another long hot summer in the Middle East, but we are encouraged that the Democrats are in the process of backing away from the forced withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
As Wednesday Night has agreed in a rare moment of consensus, setting the deadline was an invitation to the insurgents to retrench and rebuild until the deadline was reached. This change is particularly important with increased fears that Iran is preparing to orchestrate a summer offensive in Iraq in alliance with Al Qaida and Sunni insurgents
On a happier note, we applaud the initiative of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum in setting up an endowment of $10 billion for education and research - he obviously "gets it" in a country where the illiteracy rate for women is 40%. - educated women mean a major and beneficial paradigm shift in traditional societies - even notable at Wednesday Night!
Today's bomb blast in Ankara is indicative of the delicate political situation in that country and the deep split between the secularists and the governing AKP What, if any, effect will this have on Turkey's candidacy for membership in the European Union?
The European Union has other problems given the disastrous outcome of last week's summit meeting aiming to bring Russia into a grand alliance with the EU.
So, despite the onset of magnificent summer weather, perfect for walking or cycling during the mass transit strike, all is not right with the world and there is much to review and reflect upon. Please join us. And be sure to check back here for new developments and links to what you need to know - or at least, what some of us think you need to know!
Since sending the invitation for tomorrow night, we have learned with great pleasure that Johanne Gélinas, former federal Environment Commisioner, will be with us. She has now joined Deloitte's Montreal-based Enterprise Risk Group
We are also pleased to forward below a short version of the communiqué received from Patrick regarding the Save the (Westmount) Park meeting of last Wednesday.
"Last Wednesday evening, 300 people packed Victoria Hall, with 30 more in the balcony. Attending were the Mayor, Council, the President of FieldTurf, the Green candidate in the last election, the head of Montreal’s Urban Ecology Institute, and many others. After the presentation by Director General Bruce St. Louis and 3 consultants, the briefs began, with 14 presenters criticizing the City’s plans and 4 in favour. The presenters were concise, articulate, extremely well-informed, and many of them had scientific training. Perhaps one among them seemed to symbolize the sheer excellence of the park’s defenders – Gillian O’Driscoll, distinguished Professor of Psychology at McGill, scientist, and mother of children at Narnia daycare. She and her fellow park defenders produced an extraordinary portrait for the audience – the spectre of synthetic fields formed from 30,000 recycled tires each, tires so toxic that in the words of the City’s landscape architect, Marc Fauteux, “it is practically impossible to determine the disposal cost of this artificial surface.” Kathie Collin, a Yale doctoral candidate, pointed out that this last phrase of warning appeared in a French-only footnote at the bottom of P. 8 of Fauteux and Associates report ; “Westmount Park Soccer Fields: Design Options and Cost Estimates.” Speaker after speaker pointed out contradictions in official information. Perhaps the greatest surprise in the evening came when Westmounter Camilo Perez Arrau, a geographer at UQAM, projected his infra-red, satellite images from the summer of 2005. At that time – before there was any mention of changing the southern fields – Arrau had used Westmount Park as his standard against which to highlight the extremely hot surfaces of Montreal’s synthetic fields. He showed the audience that from high above, Westmount Park’s fields show a clear, cool blue…. But Montreal’s synthetic surfaces, such as McGill’s Forbes Field, and Concordia’s Loyola field glow with a deep, hot red. Mayor Marks, after she saw the images, was heard to say:” I was glued to my chair.” The President of FieldTurf, Westmounter Jean Prevost, commented that he had never seen these pictures before and that his company was working on the problem which he acknowledged, reminding listeners that many municipalities play at night to avoid this heat effect. He even added: “This [his own product] is not for everyone.” The audience agreed. The major points of May 16th are:
The overwhelming rejection of artificial turf.
The defense of the park as a natural greenspace.
The support for unfettered access for all the users – soccer children, daycare toddlers, students of Westmount Park School, and the 20,000 residents of Westmount to whom the park belongs.
At the end of the meeting the President of the Westmount Municipal Association, Dr. Henry Olders, stressed the need for a more comprehensive, transparent process of analysis and decision-making. He also outlined alternatives – particularly for soccer players. The economist Jon Breslaw presented his own suggestion – to construct a true sports area in the vacant land south of the abandoned train station. This event was unprecedented because never has a municipality in Canada examined urban environmental questions in such depth and with such focussed community attention."
PS
(Nous avons jugé important que vous ayez cette information au plus vite; une version française suivera sous peu.) Last Wednesday evening, 300 people packed Victoria Hall, with 30 more in the balcony. Attending were the Mayor, Council, the President of FieldTurf, the Green candidate in the last election, the head of Montreal’s Urban Ecology Institute, and many others. After the presentation by Director General Bruce St. Louis and 3 consultants, the briefs began, with 14 presenters criticizing the City’s plans and 4 in favour. The presenters were concise, articulate, extremely well-informed, and many of them had scientific training. Perhaps one among them seemed to symbolize the sheer excellence of the park’s defenders – Gillian O’Driscoll, distinguished Professor of Psychology at McGill, scientist, and mother of children at Narnia daycare. She and her fellow park defenders produced an extraordinary portrait for the audience – the spectre of synthetic fields formed from 30,000 recycled tires each, tires so toxic that in the words of the City’s landscape architect, Marc Fauteux, “it is practically impossible to determine the disposal cost of this artificial surface.” Kathie Collin, a Yale doctoral candidate, pointed out that this last phrase of warning appeared in a French-only footnote at the bottom of P. 8 of Fauteux and Associates ' report ; “Westmount Park Soccer Fields: Design Options and Cost Estimates.” Speaker after speaker pointed out contradictions in official information. Perhaps the greatest surprise in the evening came when Westmounter Camilo Perez Arrau, a geographer at UQAM, projected his infra-red, satellite images from the summer of 2005. At that time – before there was any mention of changing the southern fields – Arrau had used Westmount Park as his standard against which to highlight the extremely hot surfaces of Montreal’s synthetic fields. He showed the audience that from high above, Westmount Park’s fields show a clear, cool blue…. But Montreal’s synthetic surfaces, such as McGill’s Forbes Field, and Concordia’s Loyola field glow with a deep, hot red. Mayor Marks, after she saw the images, was heard to say:” I was glued to my chair.” The President of FieldTurf, Westmounter Jean Prevost, commented that he had never seen these pictures before and that his company was working on the problem which he acknowledged, reminding listeners that many municipalities play at night to avoid this heat effect. He even added: “This [his own product] is not for everyone.” The audience agreed. The major points of May 16th are:
- The overwhelming rejection of artificial turf.
- The defense of the park as a natural greenspace.
- The support for unfettered access for all the users – soccer children, daycare toddlers, students of Westmount Park School, and the 20,000 residents of Westmount to whom the park belongs.
<.ul>
At the end of the meeting the President of the Westmount Municipal Association, Dr. Henry Olders, stressed the need for a more comprehensive, transparent process of analysis and decision-making. He also outlined alternatives – particularly for soccer players. The economist Jon Breslaw presented his own suggestion – to construct a true sports area in the vacant land south of the abandoned train station. This event was unprecedented because never has a municipality in Canada examined urban environmental questions in such depth and with such focussed community attention. A small piece of history was being made before our eyes – yet the one TV station present carried a woeful report which barely touched the issues so intelligently raised. And up to now, the local print press in on-line articles almost gives the impression of a house evenly divided. The striking pictures, so graphic in their importance, appear not to exist. Hopefully, these shortcomings will be corrected – especially since Westmount municipal employees left the room saying: “90% against!” If you attended the meeting or have heard about it, write the Mayor, write your councillor, write The Examiner and The Westmount Independent. Complain to CTV if you found their coverage wanting. And post your comments on the web-site of the Westmount Municipal Association.
Preparing the decision
What happens now? Probably nothing immediately. After last week's Victoria Hall consultation, Director-General Bruce St. Louis and the City Hall team working on the Park playing field project have a heavy workload still ahead before they can give any recommendations to Council. ?We are making an executive summary from the tapes of the presentations and the questions,? he said. ?We...
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Diana & David Nicholson
dtnicholson@wednesdaynight.net
Tel: +1 (514) 934-0023
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