万锦居民没有理由反对在自家附近的教堂停车场建老人廉价屋

 
本文是7月3日在Unionville Presbyterian教堂举行的关于建老人廉价屋会议的第二部分。参加当天会议的一批居民搅乱了会议内容。他们反对教堂打算将其部分停车场建成老人廉价屋，且部分单元可能会让“智商障碍”的人和“残疾人”入住。要想阅读文章的第一部分，请点击：http：//chinesenewsgroup.com/news/666818。
This is the second part of an article on the meeting held at the Unionville Presbyterian Church on July 3 when the attending crowd hijacked the meeting on the Church's proposal to supply part of their parking lot land for affordable Senior housing that may include those with “Developmental Disability” and “physical disability”. For the earlier article, click on: http://chinesenewsgroup.com/news/666818.



会议开始后，教堂管理人员Marty Molengraaf向与会者说明，该项目目前只是一个设想，他们随后将进行一项需要9-12个月的项目可行性研究。该项目将以教会的价值观，即服务社区，包容，爱和宽以待人（简称SILK）的精神来满足老人的基本需求。可行性研究将包括为老年人提供廉价的租赁住房，可能还包括给有“智商障碍”的人提供廉价单位。

At the start of the meeting, Minister Marty Molengraaf explained that the project is in a visioning stage to be followed by a feasibility study that will take 9-12 months. This project is in line with the church's value statements- Service, Inclusion, Love, and Kindness (SILK) to meet the senior's basic needs. The feasibility study would include affordable rental housing for seniors and “may include” units for those with “developmental disabilities”.

如果项目可行，土地使用重新规划得到市府的批准后，教堂将向国营的加拿大抵押贷款和住房公司（CMHC）申请贷款（此程序需要6-12个月），并进一步寻找那些愿意资助该项目的合作伙伴。除了市府会免征地产开发税，该项目不会动用纳税人一分钱。在项目开发的过程中，人们可以提供更多的建议。

After the study and after City's approval for rezoning, they will apply to Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC) for funding (another 6-12 months) and further seek partners and secure more funding for the project. No City tax money will be involved except possibly the waiving of development charges for the buildings. There will be lots of occasions for more input along the way.


 
会上，一批反对该项目的居民代表发表了他们的意见。他们反对该项目的一个理由是是停车场的使用情况。他们声称，教堂每天停放的车辆多于教堂所称的数量，这意味着停车位将随项目开发而减少。但他们忽视了因该项目而丢掉的停车位会全数补建。该项目的开发商将在项目的地下或建停车楼补回停车位，且不收取任何费用。

A presentation was then made by the representative of the opposing group of residents. One of the concerns from the opposition's perspective was the parking lot usage. Claiming that their records showed more vehicles parked daily than what the church had identified, they inferred that the parking spaces will be lost with the project. They conveniently overlooked that any project will have to replace the lost parking spaces. The new housing development would provide the former owner an equal number of underground and/or structured parking spaces within the new development at no cost.

他们提出的第二个问题是早上的交通堵塞，该项目可能会让交通堵塞的问题加重。约克区市议员对此担心答复说，项目住的都是退休老人，他们不会在高峰期间开车上班。当前的交通堵塞本身已经是一个需要解决的问题，无论该项目是否上马。

A second concern is the traffic congestion in the morning and that the current serious condition may be further exacerbated by the project. Regional Councillor then pointed out that seniors do not drive during rush hours to go to work since they are retired. The current congestion is an issue in itself that needs to be resolved, with or without the new development.


 
绿色空间是这批反对项目的人担心的另一个问题。他们担心该项目将“占据”附近更多珍贵的绿色空间。但城市建筑规定已经规定开发商在开发项目时确保居民拥有一定的绿地！建筑物内的凉台都可算为绿地。因此，该项目没有绿地丢失的问题。

Green space is yet another concern expressed by the group. There are fears that the building will “rob” more of the precious green spaces nearby. The city's building requirements stipulate that each development must allocate a percentage of land for its residents within lands owned by the developer! This can even be built into the building as exposed terraces. No green spaces will be lost.

另一个担心该项目缺少为老年人和“精神病人”提供服务的公交和/或基础设施。问题是，没有人在整个会议期间提到“精神病人”这个词，这简直是空穴来风。在今天的许多地产项目中，基本设施都是住宅设计的一部分。可行性研究及其专家将解决这一问题。

The next concern was the lack of transit and/or facilities to service the seniors and “mentally disabled”. Wait a second, no one mentioned the words “mentally disabled” throughout the meetings so where did this come from? In many of today's projects, facilities are built as part of the housing complex. In any event, the feasibility study and their experts will look after this item.



有人举例说该项目里的老年人与“低收入人群”住在一起会导致老人被欺负。这显然与该项目所要住进的租客没有关系。总的来说，这些“建啥都行，但不能建在我家门口”的人提出的理由要么不合逻辑，要么是漏洞百出。

An example was then cited on a supposedly case of conflict between seniors sharing their project with “low income people” resulting in the bullying of seniors. This apparently had nothing to do with the proposed sharing groups. Overall, these “Not in my back yard (NIMBY)” excuses presented were either illogical or flawed.

对于交通堵塞和为什么开发商不把这些老人廉价屋建在他们自己所开发的那些大项目内，这批人当天晚上把气撒在到会的政客头上。所有涉及项目的问题可以在不同的时间和场合进行探讨。其中第一个问题可能就是，为什么教会关于该项目开发的由当地居民参加的第一次会议就破裂了。

There was anger directed at the attending politicians with traffic congestion issues and why developers did not provide senior housing units within their large developments. All valid questions are to be answered in a different forum and at a different time. A valid question may be why the communication from the Church has broken down at the first meeting for involving the local residents.



会上还有人提出了其他一些荒谬的和与会议主题无关的问题和评论，包括：
1）为什么年轻人无法住得起房？
2）为什么我交的税要用在“其他”人身上，比如老年人。
3）去教堂的人越来越少，教堂是否缺钱花？
4）我以前曾在其他地方与“精神病人”打过交道，我不希望在这里碰上他们！

Some other ridiculous and unrelated questions and comments included:
1)Why are there no affordable housing for young people?
2)Why is my tax money going to help “other” people i.e. seniors?
3)Is the Church running out of money and facing a shrinking congregation?
4)My personal experience with “Mental patients” previously elsewhere is still haunting me to this day and I don't want that to happen here!



反对该项目的人的话说得再清楚不过了。他们在10天内收集了1200个签名，因此，他们认为自己代表了Unionville的大多数，他们希望整个项目不要上马。教堂管理员告诉他们，该地区有5000个家庭，在教堂开始进行可行性研究后他们才会知道这个可能开发的项目。会上，有人威胁该地区的政客，尤其是代表第三选区的市议员，因为政客们不苟同反对者的观点并与他们同流合污。

The message from the opposing group is loud and clear. They have collected 1200 signatures in 10 days hence they felt that they are representing the majority view in Unionville and they want the whole proposal to go away. They were then reminded by the Minister that there are 5000 families in the area and many have not been heard from yet unless we have the feasibility study started. There was a thinly veiled attempted to threaten the local politicians especially the one councillor representing Ward#3 who will not bend to their views and agree with them.



会后，来自三级政府的5名政客起草并发表了一份声明。声明说：

Later on, the 5 attending politicians from the three levels of government drafted and issued a public statement based on their lowest common denominator agreed on this matter:

“我们支持教堂组建一个代表各方利益的小组，包括那些致力于社区沟通，透明度，咨询和引导社区明白项目内涵的社区代表来共同探讨如何使用教堂的土地。”

“We support the creation by the Church of a stakeholders group, including community representatives, who will work to facilitate community communication, transparency, consultation and education, and to explore options for the Church site. “



我对声明中的“引导”一词特别赞赏。 人们必须接受加拿大社会的包容精神。 反对者必须了解“智商障碍”，“身体残疾”和“精神残疾”或“精神疾病”之间的区别 。该项目与“身体残疾”和“精神残疾”或“精神疾病”的人无关。 可悲的是，这批发起反对该项目的人没有搞懂彼此的区别，或者他们只是想混淆身体残疾和精神残疾来激怒他们的邻居，加入他们反对老人廉价屋开发的行列，因为他们自己不敢公开喊“别让我的房子掉价”。

I immediately identify the keyword in that statement as “education”. People has to learn to be inclusive in Canada. They have to understand the difference between “Developmental Disability”, “Physical disability” and “Mental disability” or “Mental illness” - the last two categories of people have nothing to do with the housing proposal. Sadly, the opposing group leaders cannot tell the difference or they just simply want to use those last two categories to confuse and exasperate their neighbours to achieve their hidden “save my property value” goals.