Message to Metrolinx: keep your promise to the community

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The government agency is attempting to renege on its pledge on community benefits as part of the Finch LRT project 

July 23, 2020 - TORONTO - The longest serving community organization is calling on Metrolinx to make good on its commitment to hand over a piece of land for an arts and services hub.

After repeatedly committing to set aside a strip of land fronting on Finch Ave W next to a new TTC LRT yard for community use as a benefit to the neighbourhood, the government agency responsible for transit developments now wants ‘market value’ for that land instead.

“Metrolinx going back on their pledge would be a terrible betrayal to this community, especially at a time when this neighbourhood is still reeling from the impacts of Covid-19” said Michelle Dagnino, Executive Director for the Jane Finch Centre.

The Jane Finch Centre has been partnering with the Community Action Planning Group (CAPG) on a resident-led process to engage the community on the best uses for the land committed by Metrolinx. Several years of work have included numerous consultations involving some 1500 local residents, and there has been broad community support for an arts, culture and recreational space.

Yet many community leaders and organizations involved in this process only learned about the proposed change through the letter from Councillor Anthony Perruzza to Metrolinx CEO, Phil Verster, where he acknowledged the move would “dash the hope of any future community hub.”

CAPG had recently presented the community with drawings of the proposed space and uses after working with the architecture firm Workshop Architecture, and had worked with local experts to draft a business plan to raise the capital for the building. Local organizations were being approached to commit as tenants, and local business and social entrepreneurship opportunities were being explored.

"Many are now realizing the connection between the disproportionate toll of the pandemic on people here and the lack of investment for this community,” Dagnino said. “An about-face on this land isn't just a broken promise to CAPG and thousands that have already shared their input, but to the entire community that will need investment to emerge from this crisis."

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