Hello petition supporters,

I feel I'm always asking for your help even though I have very little positive feedback for you as yet.

But I truly believe it is only through keeping our voices heard that we will be able to sway the City to do the right thing as regards to ending Toronto Humber Yacht Clubs lease at 101 Humber Valley Road.

So yet again, I'm asking you to share our petition as widely as possible in hopes we can reach enough people committed to protect the Humber River Ravine by signing the petition as well as emailing the stakeholders making the decision.

Unfortunately, once again the Staff Report recommending the end to THYCs lease is not being presented to the General Government Committee as promised on December 8. This is just one of many broken promises from the city dating back to at two years ago when I first became involved with this issue.

I'm including my letter to Ben Cohen of the star and the stakeholders at the city if you would like a point to start your email:

bcohen@thestar.ca, councillor_morley@toronto.ca, asli.mumin@toronto.ca, aysha.ahmadjan2@toronto.ca, mohamed.osman@toronto.ca, mayor_chow@toronto.ca,  thomas.kakamousias@toronto.ca, johanna.kyte@trca.ca, Lauren.Grosberg@toronto.ca, Joseph.Sergnese@toronto.ca,
Luula.Hassan3@toronto.ca

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello Ben,

I'm contacting you once again with regard to the City of Toronto's lack of transparency and action as regards to protecting both the health of the Humber River as well as the safety of community members as it continues to delay actions on ensure the Toronto Humber Yacht Club (THYC) is not able to renew its lease at 101 Humber Valley Road.

As you are aware through your thorough and diligent research, THYCs lease 20 year lease ended at the end of July '25. You are also well aware of the many environmental and safety concerns both on and off the water posed by the operators of the club and the clubs members to the public beginning from 2019 onward.

Although the city apparently did issue a Letter of Non-Renewal to THYC in June '26, this letter did nothing to end the clubs lease on the property. Rather it extended the lease on a month to month basis. To finalize the decision the Staff Report recommending the lease not be renewed first has to be presented to the General Government Committee for review before being voted on by City Council for final approval.

In June '24 the city had indicated the review and recommendations as to renewing the leases of all the boat clubs who operate on public land would be completed by the spring of '25. This report was delayed but promised for the fall of '25. Lastly it was promised for Dec 8 '25.

I have just reviewed the agenda for Dec 8 General Government Committee and noticeably absent is any mention of the Staff Report pertaining to the boat club leases.

Also notable is the complete lack of communication from Councilor Morley's office and the city regarding the scheduling of this report even after both offices promised to keep me informed.

From what limited information I have regarding the opaque mechanizations of City Hall, THYC is the only boat club which is to have its request to extend their lease rejected. Thus it stands to reason the long delay (a very long delay considering the city has known for over 20 years of the lease renewal date for the boat clubs) there is some backroom wheeling and dealing going on between THYC and the City as is openly being claimed by the current Commodore of the club.

To say I'm disappointed with the city and how they are handling this issue would be an understatement and is only matched by my concern that once again serving the needs of the many is taking a backseat to serving the wants of a small but wealthy group of privileged individuals.

As it's clear from the City's inaction and lack of transparency on this issue the City and our leaders do not see this issue as being important. I'm hoping you can once again shine a light on this issue so Torontonains can have a say in protecting our city and its natural spaces.Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions regarding my concerns.