FLAGPOLE EMERY VILLAGE

August 16 2010

Dear Chair and Members of the Executive Committee

Good day. My name is Miguel Avila. Speaking on behalf of Larry Perlman and myself, I have come here today to provide our opinion on the Emery Village flagpole project, introduced by Economic Development staff and initiated by the Emery Village BIA (with the generous support of the Ward 7 Councilor).

Before beginning, I would like to say that both Larry and I are proud Canadians. We love Canada and, with our families, regularly attend and participate in Canada Day Celebrations. We are proud to live in this country and pass to our children the love and pride of what is to be Canadian, including our support of the Canadian flag

Having said that, we still believe this flagpole project stinks.

Normally, a plan as silly as this one would be dismissed as yet another harebrained scheme of the Ward 7 Councilor. However, the proposal requires serious review, given the exorbitant costs and unnecessary financial burden placed ultimately on members of the Emery Village BIA, almost all of whom were not present for the vote.

Let's review the silliness of this project:

1. The Emery Village BIA is mainly industrial-based with approximately 2,500 members. Why would these members need to attract tourists to the area with such an "outrageous" flagpole? Would it not be better to use the funds to beautify the public spaces making up the BIA and attract new investment instead? Flagpoles will not increase property values -- green space and modest parks for BIA members and residents will do a much better job.

2. How could a $3.5 Million project be approved with less than 40 votes from BIA members? That is less than 2% of the BIA membership for goodness sakes! Does Eva Pyatt (Director) and Michael Williams (General Manager) of Economic Development see how bad this looks? Do the members of the Executive Committee?

3. All BIA members have to pay the special levy, whether they like it or not. And angry business owners have already started grumbling about this levy. What's next, a special levy for a bronze statue of the Ward 7 Councilor? For the record, we are not in favor of a statue for him.

4. There has been media laughter to the project. Recently there was a National Post podcast from a Mayoral candidate, the Toronto editor, Toronto columnist and Toronto writer discussing the flagpole project. When the topic was introduced, all participants in the podcast started giggling in unison. Similar reactions have been witnessed in other newspapers and blogs. If not for the costs, shouldn't we all be laughing?

5. Finally, it seems grossly unfair that the businesses in the Humber Summit community, recently approved by City Council for an expansion into the Emery Village BIA, were dinged with the flagpole levy before they had time to digest the news about the expansion (and its annual levies). Please note that the City Ombudsman is still in the process of formally investigating this particular expansion and the processes executed by the Toronto BIA Office.

Please stop the insanity! Let’s make sure that fairness prevails in the minds of the decision-makers. It is the least this committee could do.

Sincerely Yours,

Miguel Avila and Larry Perlman