Present :Brent Calhoun, Richard Cavanagh, Rosa Cordiano, Linda DeGiorgio, Anita Kung, Harry Lay, Brian MacConnell, Dick Watts

Regrets: John Keating, Peter Norman, Florence Watts

1. Heritage & History
   "St. Clair West in Pictures" reprinting - Negotiations for funding are still in progress.
2. Planning & Zoning
1. TTC ROW Street-Tree Plan - on Jan 17, about a dozen residents joined a walk-about with Mike Foderick and Jozef Grajek, construction engineer on the ROW project, to discuss proposed tree and pole locations on St. Clair from Dufferin St. to Winona Drive. After the walk, it was agreed that the engineer would provide a plan showing tree and pole placements, sidewalk cuts etc. for closer study by the group. Upon receipt of the plan, the group found that many blocks had 3 or fewer trees, while one block had 12 trees. The group has prepared a report containing guidelines for tree placement and a request to meet with Mr. Foderick and the engineer to decide on a substantial number of additional trees to be integrated into the plan. Another meeting with the engineer and Mike F. is being scheduled for the week of February 25.
2. Community Design Consultation Group meetings - no date is set yet for next TTC ROW public meeting. Residents are encouraged to attend especially to participate in the street-tree discussion. Notice will be sent out from RHRA communications.
3. Special City Project
1. Street furniture project - RHRA has been asked to assist in the recommendation of street furniture for: Oakwood Ave., Dufferin St., St. Clair Ave. and Davenport Rd. Street furniture includes transit shelters, benches, multi-publication structures, information and way-finding structures, bike parking units, postering and kiosk structures, and litter and recycle receptacles. Harry Lay has agreed to chair a group to do a walk-about, when the snow is gone, and prepare street furniture recommendations.
2. Synopsis of the Live Green Toronto Meeting - on February 12, Harry Lay attended an introductory seminar on a new climate change initiative being launched by the City titled, "Live Green Toronto". The seminar was attended by 27 representatives from some of Toronto's 144 neighbourhoods. The city would like to encourage grass-roots efforts among the population by targeting its neighbourhoods and offering grants to them for projects that reduce domestic waste, traffic and air pollution, and that encourage energy efficiency, local food production and renewable energy. It has set aside $20 million over the coming 5 years to support neighbourhoods that want to take action for such projects. Neighbourhoods would use the services of a resident "animator" to advise them, on a fulltime basis, of opportunities and funds available for local projects. The initiative is still in a discussion stage. Further meetings are expected to be held by the City of Toronto Environment Office.
3. "Zero footprint" - procedure for determining your carbon dioxide footprint and joining a zerofootprint community group:
1. Go to www.zerofootprint.net
2. Register
3. Go to my profile (complete profile, click on submit after each entry)
4. Complete my calculator
5. At the end of summary, click on continue to my community
6. Search for RHRA test group
7. Join the group
8. Experiment around the site and record any comments on the discussion board
4. Garbage & Recycling
1. Pilot Project Evaluation - surveys have not yet been sent out to the residents who have been part of the pilot project on Springmount and Highview. The Exec Committee agreed that Councillor Palacio should be requested to carry out a survey of pilot project participants as soon as possible and that the results should be discussed at a public meeting.
2. Public Meeting February 12th re: community open house to discuss garbage and recycling bins turned out to be disappointing. Recycling bins were available for viewing and discussion. Questions were asked informally with no overall presentation of the upcoming project. Confusion seems to exist about the costs involved with the garbage bins but only blue bins were being addressed that evening. A number of residents from Springmount (pilot project participants) attended expressing concerns over the difficulties of moving and storing the large containers. When asked when solutions for the mess created on Springmount Ave will be addressed, the response received was most disconcerting. It appears the City is focusing its energies on rolling out the new bins city-wide ASAP. Residents are expected to sort out their difficulties themselves, e.g. grow bushes or build storage structures to keep the bins out of sight. The problem with a number of the homes is the lack of space. Problems are being addressed on an individual basis after phoning in. Smaller sized blue bins are being designed to accommodate smaller storage spaces, although using one large blue bin is being encouraged. The smaller bins will not be available until the summer.
5. Membership and Finances
   We now have 64 paid family memberships. There is $689.33 in the operating fund and $805 in the heritage fund.
6. Other
1. Economic Development Consultation, Feb 21, 6 pm at City Hall Council Chamber - Rosa Cordiano has agreed to attend on behalf of RHRA.
2. Snow removal in the area - www.toronto.ca/snow is a website available to check where snow removal will be taking place in the next 48 hours. Several committee members stated that lack of snow removal and lack of plowing on our residential streets is appalling. Several cars have sustained damage to the undercarriage due to the snow in the middle of the road. It was agreed that another request be put forward to Councillor Palacio to make regular drives through the neighbourhood in order to be aware of the environmental conditions of the area.

Next Meeting: Tuesday March 18, 2008, 7 pm at Peter Norman's, 130 Westmount Ave.