Transit and trees focus of ratepayer meeting
YorkRegion.com
April 2, 2015
Simone Joseph
The York Viva Bus Rapidway took centre stage at the Beverley Glen Ratepayers Association annual meeting March 25.
The Centre Street portion of the Rapidway’s route was a hot topic for about 25 people who attended the meeting at Thornhill’s Garnet A. Williams Community Centre.
The Hwy. 7 VIVA Rapidway is intended to be a rapid transit route from Markham to Woodbridge with fast buses and dedicated bus lanes.
The ratepayers association’s boundaries are Dufferin to Centre Streets, then up Bathurst Street, east on Atkinson Avenue, through the golf course to Hwy. 7 and across to Dufferin Street (basically, the areas of Wilshire, Westmount and Flamingo).
Vaughan Regional Councilor Gino Rosati attended the meeting and answered questions and concerns about the rapidway route.
Some residents said they wanted to advocate more, to go to regional council meetings and stage a big, public demonstration protesting the Centre Street portion of the Rapidway’s route.
Josh Martow, president of the Beverley Glen Ratepayers Association, said his association plans to take a different approach, by instead having conversations with politicians about the rapidway plan.
Others residents were interested in learning more about tree replacement because of the devastating effects of the 2013 ice storm and the Emerald Ash Borer — a non-native, highly destructive wood-boring beetle that feeds under the bark of ash trees.
Thornhill Councillor Alan Shefman told residents there are ways to plant trees on their own street with help from the city.
“Some streets are empty now,” Martow said Monday. “It is pretty awful.”
• For more information on Viva Bus Rapid Transit in Thornhill, go to: vivanext.com/assets/emailAssets/An_in_depth_look_at_Thornhill.pdf
• For more information on planting your own trees, go to:
Parks and Forestry operations department at 905-832-8577 or e-mail parks@vaughan.ca
For more on the ratepayer association, go to www.beverleyglen.ra.com
