Volume 46 No. 7
May 30, 2017
Province promises OMB reform By Lara O’Keefe
THE ONTARIO Municipal Board (OMB) has long been an issue in Toronto city and development politics, with many residents and politicians calling for a major overhaul of the system they say is unaccountable to the public and built to favour developers. According to Beaches-East York MPP Arthur Potts, that major overhaul is on the way. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs announced May 16 that the Ontario government will be introducing new legislation to reform the current land use planning appeals system and Potts is confident that the proposed legislation will pass without issue. “We do have a majority in the government and we presume passage,” he said. “I’m pretty confident we’ll have it done before Christmas.” Potts said he plans to hold a town hall at some point in order to gather feedback from the pub-
lic once people have had a chance to review the legislation more thoroughly. The legislation “achieves the result we want, which is more local planning decision making,” he said. One of the neighbourhood groups that has pushed for OMB reform, and was involved in the recent provincial review, is the Greater Beach Neighbourhood Association (GBNA). They are cautiously optimistic about the proposal. “We’re hopeful,” said Uwe Sehmrau, president of the GBNA. “We feel it’s an ambitious process. We encourage the government to go fast on it but we’re waiting for detail to really know whether the local community is benefiting from this.” Among the proposed changes is to replace the OMB with a newly established Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. Continued on Page 3
Beaches Lacrosse U11s win provincials
PHOTO: PHIL LAMEIRA
They grow up so fast Violet Connolly, 2, was all set to buy her plant from Michael Erdman and the Cantemus Singers on May 20. The sale raised money for the Emergency Food Bank at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Regent Park- part of the Daily Bread Food Bank network.
An appeal to our readers By Beach Metro News Board
the gold with a score of 7-2. The team’s experience helped. THE BEACHES Lacrosse Club’s The team of 19 was mainly U11 boys field lacrosse team is made up of the older eligible age now the top team in Ontario for group, a factor which can have a their age group after a decisive big effect on teams this young, first place win at said Coppinger. the A provincials “It’s always in Guelph over hard when you the May long have minors on weekend. the team, so I “They were rethink if you’re ally excited,” said going to win a coach Luke Copchampionship it’s pinger. “They’ve best if you have won a fair amount as many of the of games over older age group – Coach Luke their time togethas you can have,” Coppinger er over the years said Coppinger. but I think they While all but were happy to go three of the curover the hump and finish the job rent players will be graduating to the next age group for the next this year.” The team played six games season, Coppinger said that the over the May 20-22 weekend, fac- same group would likely be toing each of the five other teams in gether again in two years in the the division once before advanc- U13 division. ing on to the final. The team then Continued on Page 23 faced off against the Orangeville Northmen in the final, snatching By Sophie Sutcliffe
“” “They just love lacrosse, they can’t get enough.
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ince 1972, Beach Metro News has been proud to be the voice of our community. Our team has worked hard to bring you the stories, pictures and opinions of our neighbourhood. We have been through ups and downs, the booms and busts together as change happens along the lake as often as the Queen streetcar is short-turned. One of those changes is now hitting us at Beach Metro. Despite the wonderful support from our thousands of readers, hundreds of volunteer carriers, and financial support from our loyal advertisers – many of them your neighbours and friends who have made one of their many local investments through us – the change in the news industry has now hit our newsroom, too. Where once we couldn’t take any more ads as the paper was bulging at the folds, we have seen a lot of that revenue move away from us, as it has from the biggest media players in our city and
country before us. Thanks to our loyal advertisers, we’ve been able to hold off on cutbacks longer than many of our mainstream media friends in the city and country. We’ve been aggressively renegotiating our contracts and commitments to bring our costs down, reducing expenditures by more than 30 per cent over the past five years. But that is no longer enough. Our team is looking for new sources of revenue to augment the advertising – both in paper and now online -– that has continued to allow us to be delivered to your door or a neighbourhood drop-off place for 45 years. So starting this week, we’re making an appeal to our readers. We’re launching a voluntary subscriber program to Beach Metro News. We’re asking our readers to make an annual contribution to their neighbourhood paper. At $20 a year, that’s 86¢ an issue, a fee we hope will be palatable. This isn’t a charitable donation, as we aren’t a registered charity. What we are is one of the few
remaining non-profit, independent, community newspapers in this province. We are your local voice. Our intention is to continue to bring you the stories from our neighbourhood, both in the paper and online, and on your mobile devices, that the big, city-wide publications can’t tell. We are looking to use these contributions to continue building and staying on top of the changes in the industry. We’ll use this revenue to continue to upgrade our technology, improve our online and print content, and most importantly avoid the staff cuts that have decimated the ability for many media outlets to provide the content readers want. We hope we can count on your support. To contribute, please fill out and mail the form found on Page 7 of this issue or alternatively you may securely contribute online at www.beachmetro.com/subscribe. The Board and staff members thank you for your continued loyalty and support.