Town of Port Credit Association (TOPCA) Town Hall Mtg & AGM is: Thurs., Nov. 9, 2017 at 7:00 pm at Clarke Hall

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TOPCA = Town of Port Credit Credit Association

We owe thanks to Dorothy Tomiuk @Dorothy_Tomiuk for letting us know via Twitter.

Commentary

Much of what I learn about meetings in Mississauga I learn via Twitter, or else via the handy roadside display signs that the City of Mississauga uses to advertise events.

I am impressed with the quality of civic engagement that is evident in Port Credit and Lakeview. Such a level of civic engagement is a source of inspiration for me.

I am also pleased that during the past 20 years, I have lived in Long Branch, which is in a borderland (conceptually and geographically speaking) between the City of Mississauga and the City of Toronto. If I had only the City of Toronto to refer to, my understanding of the GTA would be more limited, than is the case given my proximity to the Toronto-Mississauga border.

For many years, I’ve been attending events in both Mississauga and Toronto, and have found the experience enriching and compelling. Good things are happening in both cities.

On a personal level, I can add that some of the things that are happening, with regard to land use planning specifically in Long Branch, are of a nature that, if a person has the opportunity to leave, then they in some cases will leave.

For that reason, we are looking forward to moving to Stratford, Ontario, where land use planning appears to be of a decidedly different nature, than what is evident in Long Branch.

For a variety of reasons, of which an upcoming lot severance on our street is one, now is a good time for us, in our particular case, to start the process of leaving Long Branch. This is what quite a few people, that I know personally in Long Branch and Alderwood, have been doing in recent years. We are fortunate, I believe, that we live in a society where the opportunity to leave exists.

Some of us find it easy to move; some of us are used to moving on. Some of us may find such a move a major challenge. It depends on the circumstances of people’s lives. We each approach these things in the light of whatever formative experiences may have shaped us, in the preceding years.

For newcomers to Long Branch, it’s a fresh slate. For those of us who’ve been around for a while, even 20 years, well – when you look at Before/After – you see things from a slightly different perspective.

I look forward, in years ahead, to observing whether or not the Long Branch Character Guidelines pilot project, and the OMB Reform process, leads to changes in outcomes related to land use planning at the City of Toronto. The topic is of much interest to many people!