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<\/h3>\n<\/h3>\nIf the city were serious about combatting climate change, it would ban big box stores from setting up shop within its borders. Monster retail stores, such as Wal-Mart, are well known for the cheap goods they sell thanks to cheap labour in China, not to mention their ability to wipe out small businesses in small towns. Less talked about, though just as grave, are the fossil fuels burned by big box stores’ car-dependent customers and the stores’ ability to transform pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods into smog-filled, uninviting messes.<\/p>\n
But, of course, citizens banding together to fight Wal-Mart coming to their neighbourhoods is more of a small-town, suburban thing — until recently. Ever since SmartCentres (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Canada’s largest and most active retail developer and operator\u00e2\u20ac\u009d according to the company’s website) bought a 50 per cent stake in the 19-hectare property where the Toronto Film Studios currently sit, residents in Riverdale and Leslieville have been bracing themselves for the worst. The developers finally submitted their plans to the city May 2 (because they were forced to) and as the area’s councillor, Paula Fletcher, put it, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the community will be very energized to say this isn’t an employment use that we want.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The newly released plans call for a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153power centre\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (read: multiple big box stores) with almost 650,000 square metres of retail, nearly 2,000 parking spots and three new traffic lights.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have a zoning problem in the east end of Toronto,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d insists Fletcher. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have an area that time and the planners forgot.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She says council passed an amendment to the new official plan prohibiting big box retail in the employment district that runs from the Don River to Coxwell Avenue, but that this application was made — though, for some perplexing reason, the aforementioned plans weren’t submitted — when the old official plan was still in effect.<\/p>\n
What do city councillors with Facebook accounts think of the recent ban on city staff using the networking site while on the job? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153With over 500,000 Torontonians on Facebook, it’s important that we try to utilize this medium to give the community information and provide them with an opportunity to give us their thoughts and questions,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says councillor Paula Fletcher, in response to a private thread I started on the site. Adam Giambrone’s assistant Kevin Beaulieu is just as positive about the site’s potential (though he was careful not to respond to my questions until after work). \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I understand that there is a mechanism for city staff to be unblocked from Facebook if they can make a reasonable case that they need access for work purposes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It’s a new tool, and I think that over the next while, organizations like the city are just going to have to figure out how to manage it effectively.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"