November 9, 2020 City Council Meeting – Item 15 Additional Information on Notice of Motion
From: Jane Mcarthur
Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2020 3:04 PM
To: clerks <clerks@citywindsor.ca>
Subject: Item 15 (Notices of Motion) on the City Council Agenda for November 9, 2020
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Jane E. McArthur
Via email: clerks@citywindsor.ca
Dear Members of Windsor City Council,
I am a lifetime resident of the Windsor-Essex Region, a mother of two school-aged children, a doctoral researcher studying the experience of environmental and occupational health, and an active advocate on environmental health issues. I am writing in connection with Item 15 (Notices of Motion) on the City Council Agenda for November 9, 2020. I oppose this motion.
I believe City of Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens is mistaken as he portrays to the Ministry of Health that the Windsor-Essex community no longer opposes the County Road 42 site for the new regional acute care location hospital. Along with many others in the Windsor-Essex Region, I firmly oppose the location for numerous reasons.
With the climate emergency, an ageing population, financial concerns, health care access and other health issues facing the region, there have never been better reasons to oppose developing farmland for urban sprawl. If the new hospital is going to be built, it needs to be in a more responsible location.
I do not support the construction of the new regional acute care hospital on County Road 42 for the following reasons:
I am particularly concerned that there is a fundamental disconnect between current social, economic and climate realities and the motion to support the new hospital on the acquired lands and, more broadly, proceeding with Sandwich South expansion. These plans embody urban sprawl at a time of climate crisis. When the science connects climate change to urban sprawl, carbon-based transportation and planning systems, and the reduction of green spaces, the City’s plans are an affront to scientific evidence.
Windsor, Ontario passed a climate emergency declaration in November 2019 and a Climate Action plan in May 2020. A recent administrative report stated the City’s carbon budget will exceed 2030 targets by 2025, followed by 2050 targets by as early as 2029. The City of Windsor’s Climate Action plan cannot be seen as legitimate without sprawl restrictions. The Sandwich South expansion and development undermines the goals of climate action. As a whole, the City of Windsor and Essex Region must confront