Save Union Station

Bulletin

SAVE UNION STATION - Bulletin No. 1, October 4, 2002.

This first newsletter has been prepared by John Sewell to get things underway.

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In this issue:
1. Following up on our first meeting, September 30
2. Current threats to Union Station
3. The status of city negotiations and approvals
4. Our first action - please participate
5. What's next
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1. Following up on our first meeting, September 30

Almost 400 people attended our first meeting on Monday September 30 at Church of the Holy Trinity. Information and views were provided by five speakers - historian Steve Otto, architectural historian Douglas Richardson, writer Anne Michaels , architect A.J. Diamond, architect Catherine Nasmith, and councillor David Miller - followed by discussion of next steps.

It was agreed we should establish some structure to make our views known and to influence council, and John Sewell (who chaired the meeting) agreed to pull together a steering committee to help make decisions and ensure a web site was established to ease communications. This Bulletin is the first result of these actions.

About a dozen people who attended the meeting have been approached to be on the Steering Committee which will help provide general direction and decision-making for the group. While membership is not final, the hope is that it will represents the wide variety of interests wishing to save Union Station. It was also agreed on September 30 to establish a web site. The name www.saveunionstation.ca has been secured. Liz Rykert and Barry Veerkamp of Meta Strategies Inc. are preparing the site on a pro bono basis. It is hoped the site will be up and running by October 10. In the meantime, communication will be through my office at j.sewell@on.aibn.com.

Those asked to serve on the Steering Committee have been consulted about the action proposed in Section 3 of this newsletter and have generally agreed with it. Please participate. As the proposed action makes clear, saving Union Station depends not on an organization's name, but on individual people taking action in a concerted fashion. That will be the strength of all of us - working together, everyone playing a part.

2. Current threats to Union Station

Union Station is one of the city's most impressive and revered structures, but Toronto's a place where words like `impressive ' and `revered' provide little protection for a heritage building. Only through massive citizen pressure was the building saved from demolition in the early 1970s, and again in the mid-1970s from inappropriate redevelopment.

Once again the building is under threat from city council and the development industry. Once again, the plight of the building depends on massive citizen pressure. Here are the four current issues:

**Shrouded in secrecy
The proposal call for control of the station has been shrouded in secrecy. The public has been denied the opportunity to review or comment on either proposal submitted by the two developers, or to set the terms of the legal agreement which is now being negotiated with one developer, Union Pearson. There is a great fear that the public will be presented with a signed contract which it will be told cannot be undone.

**Wasting the transportation opportunity
There seems little chance that the agreement city council wants to sign will ensure that Union Station is renovated to be used as the city's central transportation terminal. Instead, it seems likely GO transit passengers will continue to be forced to use the basement beside Union Station and that no serious and elegant linkage between important transportation modes and systems will be accomplished.

**The developer profits on rezoning, not the public
City council wants to give developer Union Pearson a long lease on the property - and then allow it to get approvals for massive redevelopment. That process is backwards: any development proposals should be finalized while the property is in public control (it is owned by the city) so that the public receives the full benefit of any increase in land value because of redevelopment potential.

**Heritage not protected
Union Station is one of the most impressive heritage buildings in Toronto, yet there are no guarantees that heritage aspects of the structure or site will be protected or will be subject to public review and control.

3. The status of city negotiations and approvals, as of October 4, 2002.

The city's Administration Committee will be receiving staff reports on the current status of Union Station - and in all likelihood the legal agreement to be signed with Union Pearson - on November 5. Probably the committee will attempt to forward the matters on to council for final approval on November 26. It is unclear whether the committee and/or council will deal with this matter in public before holding critical discussion and straw votes in private. All aspects of this matter must be made public immediately, and council's priorities challenged and reversed, if the station is to be protected.

4. Our first action

Our first action must make the point that the secrecy must end. Each person should write a letter to Mayor Mel Lastman stating that the secrecy must end, and that full details of the submission of the two developers by made public without delay, and preferably by October 15. It makes no sense to keep this important information from the public. As many of us as possible should bring our letters in person to the Mayor's office, 2nd floor, City Hall, on Thursday October 10, at 1.45 pm. Please draft the letter as you see appropriate (each person using his/her own words is the most effective way.) If you are unable to attend, please arrange for someone else to bring it, or fax it to the mayor at 416 395 6440.

We hope that at least 20 people (maybe as many as 40) will be able to attend to present letters. Once we have an idea of numbers of people interested and bale to attend, we'll send out another Bulletin, and invite the media, as well as tell the mayor we will be there. Please e-mail a copy of your letter to j.sewell@on.aibn.com so we have a copy of it. We also suggest you copy the letter to the chair of the Administration Committee, Councillor Doug Holyday - we will go round to his office after trying to see the mayor. There will be no letter signed by the `Save Union Station Committee' - instead, we'll be relying on individuals to speak for themselves. We expect this visit to last a total of no more than 30 minutes.

5. What's next?

We hope the web site will be up - with lots of helpful information - by October 10. That will make it easier to receive your ideas about future actions, and ensure we are planning in ways which gives everyone access to the best ideas for saving the station. We'll try to make sure there are weekly Bulletin's to pass on to you the best suggestions for helpful actions that you can take..

We have about as month to generate enough pressure to slow things down, and then turn them around. That's plenty of time if we all work together.