On Friday, Councillor Grimes’ staff requested the signatures from this petition to support a motion he introduced to Toronto City Council on Friday and which will be voted on by council on Monday. Unfortunately, his motion merely changes replanting requirements and asks the city to run ads supporting the tree removal. Here is the motion in its entirety for you to read for yourself.

I have sent the following letter with my comments on the motion to City Council staff (councilmeeting@toronto.ca), to Councillor Mark Grimes (councillor_grimes@toronto.ca), to Deputy Mayor and Councillor Stephen Holyday (councillor_holyday@toronto.ca), and to Councillor Gord Perks (councillor_perks@toronto.ca). You can help by sending your own comments on this motion to the same group, but you must do this now, before Monday morning (4 October), for it to affect the council vote. Please, read below, and act now while the matter is before City Council. Thank you so much for your support!

"Dear Councillors

I am submitting these comments for distribution to City Council regarding the motion 2021.MM36.36, Enhanced Tree Replacement Strategy for Dwight Avenue Sidewalk Installation, as introduced by the councillor for Ward 3 (Etobicoke-Lakeshore), Mark Grimes, for the consideration of City Council during its meeting of 1 October / 4 October 2021, also available here: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2021.MM36.36

On Friday Councillor Grimes’ staff requested delivery of the more than 1100 signatures on this online petition https://www.change.org/dwighttrees Please find these attached. I very much appreciate the councillor bringing this matter to the attention of City Council, but I do not believe the motion adequately addresses the community’s concerns as described in this petition. The motion was not shared with the community prior to its submission to council. 

The school property along which the trees in question sit is directly south of and adjacent to 60 Birmingham St (previously, the Campbell's Soup factory), which is currently undergoing a major redevelopment by QuadReal Property Group, and which has reached the Notice of Approval Conditions stage. As part of that work, Dwight Avenue between Birmingham and New Toronto streets will be reconstructed with new trees, new landscaping, and new sidewalks. The required reconstruction presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the City of Toronto to redesign the whole of Dwight Avenue for the future. However, due to a conflict of interest, Councillor Grimes has recused himself from discussions of the redevelopment of 60 Birmingham and any impacted lands, which presumably includes Dwight Avenue.

I request that council defeat this motion and instead direct City staff, in consultation with the school, the TDSB, and local residents, to produce an alternate street improvement plan for Dwight Avenue that better meets the community’s needs, taking into account both the redevelopment of 60 Birmingham St and the sidewalk between Birmingham and Maple.

Thank you for considering this matter."