Hey, Mark Grimes! We're not going away

The South Etobicoke Youth Alliance presented Ruckus For Recreation Wed. Jan. 16 at The Assembly Hall at Kipling & Lakeshore. The purpose of this rally was to inform the community about the lame excuse for a community centre that the City Of Toronto plans to foist upon this community and what should be done about it. The 200 people in attendance heaped most of their scorn upon Councillor Mark Grimes. His silence brands him as the primary culprit. One would have thought that this dope would have learned his lesson with that skateboard park a couple of years ago. Some people are slow learners. He must think that if he says nothing and lets Parks & Rec. take all the heat, we'll forget about it and accept it. He's an idiot.

The best news to come out of this rally came from Toronto District School Board Trustee Bruce Davis. As many of you are aware, the Toronto Maple Leafs will move into their new practice arena in Sept. 2009. The Lakeshore Lions Arena will become the property of the TDSB. One of the conditions is that the arena can no longer have a skating rink. At the rally, Davis told us that the TDSB has agreed to allow the Lakeshore Lions Arena to be used as a community centre. So why is the city insisting on building this inadequate extension to the Father John Redmond School and a pointless skating rink when something better is clearly available? The money from the Daniels Corp. is not the city's money. It's our money but the unstated Parks & Rec. agenda is they want control and the bureaucratic status quo. Their plans will not improve access to Parks & Rec. programs. And they lose control if the plans change. We don't need them. They can take a hike. So it's all about bureaucracy.

So I think it's time to concentrate on Councillor Mark Grimes and his silence. We have to keep promoting the community agenda to the media. Councillor Grimes obviously believes that if he ignores the issue, it will go away. He should fire whoever is telling him that. And that's the reason I have put his name in the subject title of this post. His flunkies should get a Google Alert very soon. This isn't over until they start building the addition. That won't happen for a couple of years. So we're going to keep the pressure on that coward Mark Grimes until he comes to his senses. On behalf of SEYA, LAMP and the workgroup I am part of, I want to thank all the folks who came on Wednesday. We greatly appreciate it and we are going to keep working to benefit the community until we get what we want and need, a REAL community centre.