May 24, 2009 The Corporation of the City of Toronto Attention: Mayor David Miller and Councillor Karen Stintz Havergal College was founded in 1894 and has been located at the corner of Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue West since 1926. Our school motto is “Preparing young women to make a difference,” and the Institute at Havergal College infuses this mission into our curriculum and into our lives. In 2006, we responded to Canada’s commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals by directly addressing water quality and environmental sustainability on our property. The Burke Brook, part of the Don Watershed, runs through our several acres of wooded ravine. We have undertaken to restore our ravine area as a contribution to the well being of our community, our city and our world. We received approval from Urban Forestry Ravine Protection for our draft plan in 2007, and we have followed it to the letter under the supervision of a professional arborist. We have raised and invested thousands of dollars and thousands of hours. We have provided care for hundreds of native, local, Carolinian trees and plants including endangered species. We have installed sanctuaries for butterflies, bees, birds and other biodiversity. Our ravine has become an arboretum of Carolinian species and we have planted species to stabilize the eroding banks of the brook. We are in the process of registering at least two official Heritage Trees under legislation soon to be passed by the federal government. Having created an environment that both attracts biodiversity and protects endangered species, in accordance with both Ontario (MNR) regulation and Ravine Protection by law, we are very concerned that 24-hour electronic billboards will damage or destroy the very biodiversity we seek to encourage and protect. We know that the effects of 24-hour light will be harmful to our trees and plants too, and worry especially our endangered species: the butternut, the American chestnut, the cherry birch and the shumard oak, trees, and the New Jersey Tea and Mountain Mint plants that are almost extinct and yet form an important skirt for our forest. Please reassure us that you will address this inconsistency by NOT allowing or enabling electronic billboards anywhere near Toronto’s green space. We have invested in Toronto’s natural capital. We ask you to do the same. We ask City Council to act in accordance with Canada’s commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, Ontario’s Endangered Species Act and the spirit of your own Ravine Protection bylaw. Not only would such signage offend environmental legislation, it would most certainly constitute a nuisance. We speak for those who have no voice and no vote. Help us do the right thing. Sincerely, Concerned members of the Havergal College Community
Letter to the City of Toronto concerning the Ravine at Havergal College May 24, 2009 _________________________________
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