May 9, 2009, 3 e-mails

From: Dufferin Grove Park Newsletter

CLEAN TRAIN COALITION

During the last week of April, there was at least one community meeting every evening, about the Metrolinx plan to increase the rail corridor traffic from 60 to 350 diesel trains a day. Neighbourhoods all up and down the rail corridor joined the Clean Train Coalition (go to http://www.cleantrain.ca), and began to map out their course. The first step was to send many letters to the provincial politicians on May 4 and 5. At Dufferin Grove Park, over the course of four days, 1109 letters were collected, put in individually addressed envelopes, sealed, and then hand-delivered to the Ontario Legislature. Letters were collected at the farmers market, Friday Night Supper, and the playground, aided by volunteers Genie Davis, Robert F.Kennedy, Michael Edwards, Danyelle Boily, Percy, Davey and Nick White, Belinda Cole, Gretel Meyer Odell, Lea Ambros and Kate Cayley.

The “mailmen” were Percy, Davey and Nick White, using a second-hand Canada Post canvas bag lent by Michelle and Geoff Webb.

From: Percy White

On May 6 my brother, my mother and I went to deliver 1109 letters to various politicians (with the idea that the MPP’s get them all in one day) asking the politicians to acknowledge our cry against the George Town corridor expansion plan. We had asked people to sign the letters at Dufferin Grove Park.

We went to the legislature and into the security booth to have our large bag of letters scanned. (We might be trying to bomb the legislature you know.) We got in and had our letters scanned by a very helpful security guard named Paul and then took them into the mailing room. But as soon as we got there these two ladies said “ No, we can’t send those.”
“Why?, we asked.
“Well” she said, “what are these?”
“They’re letters,” I said.
“Do they all have return addresses?” “On the inside”
"That’s no good."
"Why not?"
“Because we just can’t send them ”
“We need to send them - it’s a school project”.

“Well, I guess there’s one thing you could do. You could tape a letter to the front of each bag and put a return address on it and we could send it like that. But some of these we can’t send because the ministers don’t have an office here”

“Can we borrow some tape and a pen and we will go back to the security office and fill them out?” my mom said. She looked at us rather blankly and said: “We don’t supply tape.” (My brother got a kick out of that. I could clearly see tape on her desk)

So we went back out and Paul the friendly and helpful security guard helped us tape the letters to the outside of the bags and he told us we could drop the rest of the letters off at 77 Wellesley Street, 2 blocks away.

After dropping off the three bags of letters that we could at the legislature, we got on our bikes and went to the mailroom of 77 Wellesley. When we got there the man in the mailroom said, “I can’t send this. What is this?”
“They’re letters”, we tried to explain.
“Why are they in bags?”
We explained why they were all in bags and the letters in each bag were going to different people. He seemed to understand and he took the bags and said they’d be put into the system. We asked for a receipt to show that we dropped them off, but he said that we would need to have a printed form filled in (like one of the couriers who was waiting at the desk). So then mom asked him for his name but he said “I am not obliged to give you it.” Finally he gave us some sort of stamp to show that we have been here to drop off the letters. Then we went up and left that adventure behind us to pick my little brother at his school.

I would like to thank the friendly and helpful security guard Paul who showed me, that no matter how few, there are people who care and are helpful left in the government.
Without you we could not have sent those letters.

So thanks Paul, you made my day.

From: Davey White

On May 6, my Mom, my brother and I took 1109 letters about the train tracks that MetroLinks is going to build. Each letter was signed by someone who didn’t like what MetroLinks is doing. When we got to the Legislature, we locked up our bikes and walked over to the mail scanning house (it was right next to the Legislature). Inside, there was a very helpful security guard named Paul. So he scanned the mail and it was fine.

Then my Mom, my brother and I went to the mail room (it was inside the Legislature). A woman met us when we got there, and we asked her if she could mail our letters, and she said, “Why are none of the bags stamped “scanned”? (the letters were in separate plastic bags and each was addressed to a different MPP). We told her that Paul had scanned them but she said it doesn’t matter, we had to have all of the bags stamped “scanned”. She also complained about the individual letters not having a return address on the front (although my brother said they were on the inside, which they were). So my Mom, brorther and I went back to the mail scanning house and Paul marked all the plastic bags “scanned” and he told us that only 2 or 3 MPP’s were in the Legislature and that we would have to go to 77 Wellesley to drop off the letters to the MPP’s that weren’t in the Legislature.

So my Mom, brother and I biked there and went in. There was another friendly security guard who told us how to get to the mail room. Once we got there the guy in the mail room said that he couldn’t take the letters while they’re in plastic bags and my mom said, “But they’ve all been sorted”. He complained at first but then gave in and guaranteed the letters would reach their destination.