June 2011, 3 e-mail

June 16, 2011

From: Clean Train Coalition

HELLO CLEAN TRAINERS!

In this email:

1. Railbender Update
2. Metrolinx Health Study – public comment period until July 4
3. What you can do!
4. CTC General info mtg – June 28

1. RAILBENDER UPDATE!

Thanks to the approximately 200 people who joined us in celebrating our 2nd Anniversary! Photos can be found on our facebook page

During the evening, we were thrilled to launch No Little Plan: Electrify GO Transit (available at http://www.transport-action.ca/en/index.html). The thoroughly researched and highly readable report has garnered much positive attention across the city. The report is available on CD for a nominal cost; email info@cleantrain.ca if interested.

We also presented our fearless former leader, Mike Sullivan, with the 1st annual Railbender Award. Mike will be greatly missed, and his strong support of sustainable transit will be invaluable in Ottawa as the new MP for York-South Weston.

And THANKS to the bands who generously donated their talents: Loopsy Dazy (loopsydazy.com), The Ethers (theethers.com), Sarah Greene, the hit young group "City Sailors", DJ Kidmyn (kidmyn.com) and of course, songwriter of the CTC "anthem" GO ELECTRIC, Rob Joy (alistairant.com).

2. METROLINX HEALTH STUDY PUBLIC MEETINGS

Metrolinx has released their health study and there are only 4 weeks left for public comment. They are arguing that the health effects are minimal! CTC has issues with this:

• The World Health Organization claims that we already have poor air quality with pollutant levels above their health safety guidelines, so why does metrolinx think it's ok to pollute more?
• Metrolinx ridership projections for their “premium” business-class service will mean that the ARL diesel trains will be polluting more than the cars they take off the road - whereas electric trains would both reduce traffic congestion AND improve air quality
• There is still no commercially available Tier 4 diesel train – but electric trains surpass Tier 4 environmental performance and have been in service around the world for years.

REMEMBER to ask Metrolinx about NOISE pollution and vibrations. These are important human health concerns. Those of you living close to the tracks know that newer (Tier 2) GO locomotives are much noisier than the older locomotives, and we are concerned that Tier 4 will be even WORSE.

Their idea of "mitigation" is a 20-foot wall. How would you feel about an oppressive, intimidating concrete wall cutting your neighbourhood in half? And what’s worse, this wall would NOT help those living on the 3rd floor or higher; which means most condo owners would be out of luck! So PUSH them about this at the meetings. If you don’t feel that a giant wall is an adequate solution, then DO NOT settle for it.

ALSO, be sure to ask Metrolinx about their claim that their proposed diesel trains will lead to fewer cars on the roads. Demand them to prove this with calculations.

Metrolinx's third and last open house on the health study is tonight:

Thursday, June 16 , 2011
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Lithuanian House

1573 Bloor Street West (on south side of Bloor, just west of Dundas West)

If you can't make the open house , you can still submit your comments online: http://www.gotransit.com/gts/en/monitoring/hhmp.aspx . The site is laid out with 6 "tabs" to walk through what the presentation would look like and the last tab gives you opportunity to submit your comments.

Remember, public comment period is only till Monday, July 4. If you email your comments to Metrolinx, please forward us a copy at info@cleantrain.ca.

3. WHAT YOU CAN DO!

Just as a reminder, they're still planning to build the ARL using DIESEL trains. We need to make sure they make it ELECTRIC from the start. We're planning an all-out push to change this decision, keeping in mind the upcoming provincial elections – there's lots of work to be done and very little time. We believe we can win this fight, but we need your help to make this happen.

Keep spreading the word

Talk about the issue with your friends and co-workers. If they agree electric trains are the way to go, encourage them to talk to others about it and sign up for our eBlasts by entering their emails in the subscription field or send an email to info@cleantrain.ca. Invite them to the general info meeting to get informed.

Let us know about community events in your area

We'd like to send CTC reps out to community events to make sure the word is out. Let us know if there's an event that you know of by sending an email to info@cleantrain.ca. Even better if you would like to help represent us at these events.

Help with writing and outreach

We need people to help do outreach into communities, represent the CTC at community events, write materials like these eBlast newsletters, or fundraise. If you can help in any of these areas, please send us an email at info@cleantrain.ca. We can't do this without you!

Donate!

To help with the upcoming outreach push, we're going to need more funds. We suggest a donation of $20 per household. More if you're feeling generous, and if this is too much, any donation is appreciated! The button to donate can be found on the lower left side of our home page: www.cleantrain.ca.

4. NEXT CTC GENERAL INFO MEETING

Tuesday, June 28 , 2011
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre
1900 Davenport Ave (just west of Symington)

This location is really easy to get to by TTC and has lots of street parking nearby.

Directions by TTC: From Dundas West subway station, take the 168 Symington bus. Get off at Davenport (just where the bus turns west off of Symington). The bus runs every 10 minutes or so from the station and takes only 10 minutes from Dundas West station.

Elections are coming up and decisions are being made. Speak now, or forever hold your breath… (or should we say, forever breathe stinky diesel fumes...).

June 27, 2011

From: Clean Train Coalition

HELLO CLEAN TRAINERS!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer.

Just a reminder that the CTC is having a General Info Meeting tomorrow night, Tuesday, June 28. Hope you can make it!

Tuesday, June 28 , 2011

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre\\ 1900 Davenport Ave (just west of Symington)

This location is really easy to get to by TTC and has lots of street parking nearby.

Directions by TTC: From Dundas West subway station, take the 168 Symington bus. Get off at Davenport (just where the bus turns west off of Symington). The bus runs every 10 minutes or so from the station and takes only 10 minutes from Dundas West station

METROLINX HEALTH STUDY - 1 week left to provide your comments

You can find the Metrolinx Health Study at the following link: www.gotransit.com/gts/en/monitoring/hhmp.aspx.

The site is laid out with 6 "tabs" to walk through what the presentation would look like and the last tab gives you opportunity to submit your comments.

Public comment period is only till Monday, July 4. If you email your comments to Metrolinx, please forward us a copy at info@cleantrain.ca.

REMEMBER to ask Metrolinx about NOISE pollution and vibrations. These are important human health concerns. Those of you living close to the tracks know that newer (Tier 2) GO locomotives are much noisier than the older locomotives, and we are concerned that Tier 4 will be even WORSE. Their idea of "mitigation" is a 20-foot wall. How would you feel about an oppressive, intimidating concrete wall cutting your neighbourhood in half? And what’s worse, this wall would NOT help those living on the 3rd floor or higher; which means most condo owners would be out of luck! So PUSH them about this at the meetings. If you don’t feel that a giant wall is an adequate solution, then DO NOT settle for it.

Remember, public comment period is only till Monday, July 4. If you email your comments to Metrolinx, please forward us a copy at info@cleantrain.ca.

Elections are coming up and decisions are being made. Speak now, or forever hold your breath… (or should we say, forever breathe stinky diesel fumes...).

June 30, 2011

F. J. wrote:

At Tuesday's CleanTrain Coalition meeting I suggested that Metrolinx's excuse for staying with dirty diesel because of the higher upfront costs of electrification is invalid.

Warranted infrastructure -- like the Pearson link and GO electrification -- will always raise more in local land values than the cost of the infrastructure. The problem is that this new wealth will disappear as a windfall benefit to local land owners instead of being captured by local government to finance the infrastructure which created the uptick in the first place.

Electric trains will raise local land values more than diesel because they are quieter, cheaper to run, clean, cause less vibration, and stop and start faster so more stops can be added serving the community better. Electrification will attract development -- especially near stations -- while diesel will repel economic activity all along the route.

Many communities use land value taxation to pay for transit and other infrastructure so that the wealth created by the new build provides the financing, with no other tax increases required.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx2STNZ07Mc&feature=uploademail