The Toronto All Star Big Band wowed the crowd of over 400 people at Sunday's Waterfront Park Concert Series!
Those in attendence were treated to the music of Glenn Miller, Cab Calloway, Louie Prima, the Dorsey Brothers, the Andrew Sisters and many more popular groups from the 30s, 40s and 50s. This group of extremely talented muscians and vocalists had members of the audience up and dancing like they were back in the old Crystal Beach Ballroom. The weather could not have been better as it was another picture perfect sunny day along Lake Erie's shore in Waterfront Park. Next up on the concert schedule is Juliet Dunn and her Quintet appearing Sunday August 1st from 7 - 8:30pm. If you have not had the pleasure to get out to one of our concerts yet, mark the next concert on your calendar then call a friend or get the family together and make it a relaxing Sunday night enjoying great music in a terrific venue. Go to our concert page on this website for details of all our Waterfront Park Concerts for this summer.
The Friends of Crystal Beach Meetings for July, August and September are as follows:
Wednesday July 28th
Wednesday August 25th
Wednesday September 22nd
all will be held at 6:30 at the Crystal Ridge Library. ______________________________________________
Wednesday July 28th
Wednesday August 25th
Wednesday September 22nd
all will be held at 6:30 at the Crystal Ridge Library. ______________________________________________
Officers
Sally Graves-President
Mary Ann Downs Strath -Vice Pres.
Hans Schonewille-Treasurer
Maureen O'Connell-Secretary
Kathy Reid-Director
Dr. Burt Sellers - Director
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Help us send the mayor a message he'll understand!
Mayor Doug Martin broke the 3-3 tie at the Council meeting on March 1st and cast the deciding vote to rezone Bay Beach and permit a 12-storey condo tower to be built next to the beach. We plan to STOP this project before the Town transfers our public parkland to a private developer. A coalition of community organizations, businesses, homeowners, and individuals will be appealing this decision to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) but funds are needed to mount this legal challenge. If you care about Bay Beach, please make a contribution (large or small) at the secure website: http://www.fewpa.org/ . Just click on the DONATE button. All donations are welcome and will help us continue to challenge this devastating decision on the part of Mayor Martin, Martha Lockwood, Tim Whitfield, Rick Shular and Sandy Annunziata.
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Mayor Doug Martin broke the 3-3 tie at the Council meeting on March 1st and cast the deciding vote to rezone Bay Beach and permit a 12-storey condo tower to be built next to the beach. We plan to STOP this project before the Town transfers our public parkland to a private developer. A coalition of community organizations, businesses, homeowners, and individuals will be appealing this decision to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) but funds are needed to mount this legal challenge. If you care about Bay Beach, please make a contribution (large or small) at the secure website: http://www.fewpa.org/ . Just click on the DONATE button. All donations are welcome and will help us continue to challenge this devastating decision on the part of Mayor Martin, Martha Lockwood, Tim Whitfield, Rick Shular and Sandy Annunziata.
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Take a very good look, this will be "your" Bay Beach.
This is the latest rendering of the proposed "Gateway Project" presented by the Molinaro Group and supported by Mayor Martin, Councillors Lockwood, Annunziata, Shular and Whitfield. This will be their legacy left to you and the generations that follow you. We can't help but notice the number of people on the beach. We believe that is indeed what they have planned. Notice the green space in the foreground. . . . . . that is one of "your" amenities. Interestingly the green space in the background does not exist but is a neighboring privately owned home. The reduced parking space which is part of the plan will do nothing to increase "your" access to "your" beach. Please remember that once this project is allowed to go forward there is no going back. The present goal to gain waterfront property and access to the lakes is being ignored by the group mentioned above.
Does this sound familiar?
- A master plan(Neighborhood Plan) is a kind of map for future development that a local government must follow in its zoning and permitting decisions.
Currently, master plans are routinely changed by city commissions or councils. If an architect, developer and attorney show up at a meeting with maps, a Power-Point presentation and an economic study promising "wonderful things", then the master plan gets changed. You have to wonder why governments even go to the trouble to have them drawn up in the first place.
A Hometown Democracy Amendment would require a referendum anytime a city/town changes its master plan. Unsurprisingly, development interests reacted with fury and incomprehension at the idea of turning master planning into a referendum vote.
This is taken from a column written by Mark Lane in the Daytona Beach News-Journal Sunday Feb. 21,2010.
The Town of Fort Erie has an existing Neighborhood Plan that was accepted by the previous Council and Mayor. It was developed with the help of citizens, home owners and stakeholders from the Town of Fort Erie. The formulation of the Crystal Beach Neighborhood Plan took time with a great deal of input from a variety of sources. It was well thought out for the long term future of the entire community. Today it is being ignored and negated with the support of our own elected officials: Councilors Lockwood, Whitfield, Annunziata and Mayor Martin. Please don't sit back on this issue and think that someone else will oppose it for you. This Town needs your voice to be heard. Councilor Annunziata had stated on more than one occasion that he listens to the community's voice; he showed no sign of doing that at any point during this long process. We are sadly disappointed in that.
Please do not fall for the inaccurate statements that have been made such as these: - The 12 Storey building with 87 units will increase the tax base and lower our taxes. We have had significant "new builds" in this community over the last decade i.e The Crystal Beach Tennis and Yacht Club 120+ units, Ridgeway by the Lake, the new developments on Ridge/Gorham Rd. entering CB, the development by the trail in Ridgeway, the new homes across and next to the Crystal Ridge Library, the new homes along Dominion Rd. entering Ridgeway, etc. Has any of this increased tax base lowered your taxes?
- We are gaining "free" amentities to be built by the developer. These amentities could be built in partnership with other agencies just like what was done with the Friendship Trail. They can be done in phases (just like many other Towns do) which will not put a single large financial commitment on our Town. And as many people also know, promises offered by developers prior to obtaining property oft times are quickly forgotten or reneged upon after ownership changes hands.
- We will actually be gaining beachfront land not losing any. One has to ask how are we gaining land when a 12 storey building will be built on the property we already have access to now?
- The condo will be filled with year round tenents that will bring a financial synergy to the area and help create a new business district. The Crystal Beach Tennis and Yacht Club was and is a classic example of this not happening. It is a waterfront development that people bought homes in to spend summers and the occasional weekend during the course of the year.
"The pot calling the kettle black"
The person who came up with this idiom seems to have had Mayor Doug Martin in mind. The Fort Erie Times recently ran a story with several quotes from the mayor. The story had to do with the mayor trying to approach the Minister of Health regarding the on going fight to retain proper health care in Fort Erie. The article begins "Mayor Martin is hoping someone will listen this time". The mayor then goes on to state, "Basically the ministry has accepted a plan we feel is flawed". In reference to an earlier meeting Mr. Martin decried , "It was a waste of a meeting because he already made up his mind". To the vast number of his own constituents who have spoken to, written letters, called, signed petitions, or emailed Mayor Martin and his fellow councillors in regard to the current Bay Beach issue his statements ring very hollow. It is a classic case of saying one thing and doing another. The residents of this community deserve better.
The Friends of Crystal Beach would like to thank all those concerned community members who came to the Town Council meeting on January 25th to have their voices heard on the rezoning issue regarding the Molinaro Development presently being proposed for Crystal Beach. The Council Chambers were filled to standing room capacity and the atrium was full as well. Those that took the time to call or email the Mayor and Councillors because of their inability to be present at the meeting are to be commended as well. This together with the hospital issue and the speedway issue show that this community will not be ignored and will take the necessary steps to make their feelings known to the elected officials. Our Mayor has stated on many an occasion that he hopes the "powers to be" will listen to the people of Fort Erie on the Hospital issue. Yet the Mayor and four of our Councilors have turned their backs on the huge number of residents that have spoken out against this inappropriate development plan for Bay Beach.
After the Jan 25th meeting statistics were published in various papers indicating a strong two to one majority of speakers against the Molinaro Development. However we thought it might be a bit more accurate if we provided further statistics gathered over the last two years. Comments regarding the Molinaro Development were invited by the Town Staff at the two Open Houses so that they could get a feeling as to the communities thoughts on the proposed project for Bay Beach. The results were 113 people responded opposing the Molinaro Plan while 20 supported it. That is a 5 to 1 ratio against the Molinaro Development.
For those that would like to see the comments submitted to Town Hall in regard to the Molinaro Development and the rezoning amendment you may do so by following these directions:
Here's how to find the 3 batches of public comments posted on the Town's website:
1. Click on this link: http://forterie.fileprosite.com/contentengine/launch.asp
2. Click on Final Agendas (top left).
3. Click on 2010.
4. Click on the link for the first report (January 25 - Council-in-Committee - Html)
5. Scroll down and click on the first "paper clip" link (in section 8 B).
6. After you have read these comments, go back and click on the second report (January 25 - Council-in-Committee - ADDENDUM)
7. After you have read these comments, go back and click on the third report (January 25 - Council-in-Committee - ADDENDUM #2)
When we add the 358 proxies that were spoken for by their representatives at the Council Meeting, along with the 300+ residents who signed petitions when we canvassed areas in Greater Fort Erie, and the 517 people who signed letters that were submitted to Town Hall stating their dissatisfaction with the proposed Molinaro Development, that moves the ratio to 65 to 1 in favor of those who are against the proposed Molinaro Development project. We have also been told that over 500 people signed a petition at the "Keep the Bay Beach Lands Public" rally in June and those too were submitted to Town Hall. If that is the case the ratio would rise to 90 to 1 against the proposed project. Another fact we would like to add is that we distributed over 900 lawn signs(similar to the one below) to those who requested them from us. And finally, in 2008 over 3100 people who came to our community to use the beach thought it was a bad idea to sell off (the Town is giving away)any portion of the existing Bay Beach properties. We thought it very telling that people who came from all over Canada, Europe and the United States to our Fort Erie community could see the value of using this property to bring people back again and again whether it was to summer here, rent seasonal cottages, or for just a day trip now and again. During the time we have spent talking to the members of our community we have not seen the slightest trace of a "Silent Majority".
After the Jan 25th meeting statistics were published in various papers indicating a strong two to one majority of speakers against the Molinaro Development. However we thought it might be a bit more accurate if we provided further statistics gathered over the last two years. Comments regarding the Molinaro Development were invited by the Town Staff at the two Open Houses so that they could get a feeling as to the communities thoughts on the proposed project for Bay Beach. The results were 113 people responded opposing the Molinaro Plan while 20 supported it. That is a 5 to 1 ratio against the Molinaro Development.
For those that would like to see the comments submitted to Town Hall in regard to the Molinaro Development and the rezoning amendment you may do so by following these directions:
Here's how to find the 3 batches of public comments posted on the Town's website:
1. Click on this link: http://forterie.fileprosite.com/contentengine/launch.asp
2. Click on Final Agendas (top left).
3. Click on 2010.
4. Click on the link for the first report (January 25 - Council-in-Committee - Html)
5. Scroll down and click on the first "paper clip" link (in section 8 B).
6. After you have read these comments, go back and click on the second report (January 25 - Council-in-Committee - ADDENDUM)
7. After you have read these comments, go back and click on the third report (January 25 - Council-in-Committee - ADDENDUM #2)
When we add the 358 proxies that were spoken for by their representatives at the Council Meeting, along with the 300+ residents who signed petitions when we canvassed areas in Greater Fort Erie, and the 517 people who signed letters that were submitted to Town Hall stating their dissatisfaction with the proposed Molinaro Development, that moves the ratio to 65 to 1 in favor of those who are against the proposed Molinaro Development project. We have also been told that over 500 people signed a petition at the "Keep the Bay Beach Lands Public" rally in June and those too were submitted to Town Hall. If that is the case the ratio would rise to 90 to 1 against the proposed project. Another fact we would like to add is that we distributed over 900 lawn signs(similar to the one below) to those who requested them from us. And finally, in 2008 over 3100 people who came to our community to use the beach thought it was a bad idea to sell off (the Town is giving away)any portion of the existing Bay Beach properties. We thought it very telling that people who came from all over Canada, Europe and the United States to our Fort Erie community could see the value of using this property to bring people back again and again whether it was to summer here, rent seasonal cottages, or for just a day trip now and again. During the time we have spent talking to the members of our community we have not seen the slightest trace of a "Silent Majority".
This building does not in anyway fit in with the Neighborhood Plan that has been developed and accepted by our Town. This is a classic example of a "square peg trying to be forced into a round hole". As we canvassed Greater Fort Erie this summer we found person after person who disagreed with this development plan. It is now time for each of us to come forward and let the Mayor and Council know our position on giving away ANY of our waterfront property. Do not be fooled by the argument that "we are getting free amentities" with the development so this is reason to accept giving away such a crucial portion of public land. There are other ways of funding amentities, other towns have done it for decades. The Region, the Province and the Federal Government have all announced their support for improving waterfront lands. There are grants available to do the same. Community groups like ourselves are also committed to help make the Bay Beach properties something that our community can be proud of, like the Friendship Trail, Sugar Bowl Park and the Niagara Riverwalk.
