Story & photo by Dave Carpenter

Musician, poet, courier, activist, granddad. Titles one might not think apply to just one person, unless that person is Wayne Scott, devoted member of the burgeoning Tooker Gomberg movement.

"There are thousands of us," Scott says. "The Web site gets thousands of hits a day. The mainstream folks just don't know what's going on."

Scott, like the others who gathered at the Now Lounge on Church Street on Tuesday to raise money for the Gomberg campaign, seems to stand in stark contrast to the almost clownish portrayal of Gomberg and his advocates in the local media.

At age 50, Scott has spent the better part of the last three decades as a bike courier and activist on the couriers' behalf. He says his political affiliation with Gomberg was almost inevitable. Scott does not drive, nor has he ever even owned a driver's licence. And perhaps all that pedalling has paid off, for Scott has to rank as one of the most youthful middle-aged guys in anyone's books, both in appearance and spirit.

"I first heard his [Gomberg's] name through Critical Mass," Scott says, in reference to the Toronto chapter of the international bicycle advocacy group. "When I found out he was running for mayor this past June at Smogfest down at city hall, I knew he was the real deal. All these government officials . . . glad-handed each other and talked about how they were going to do so much to alleviate the problem so Tooker and I got to talking. I realized just how smart and in-tune this guy was with the activist movement in Toronto."

Activism is something Scott is well-acquainted with. As a courier 18 years ago, he got fed up with having to pay for all his food, which he saw as fuel necessary to do his job. Finally, in 1998, he got what he wanted after taking his cause all the way to the Federal Court of Appeal.

"I've easily talked with 100 people at Revenue Canada over the years and it took them 18 years to acknowledge the fact that this was fuel for couriers. Now they [bike couriers] can write off up to $11 [per day] as food expenses on their taxes without receipts."

Scott says that, as a result of his lobbying success on behalf of couriers, he definitely got his full 15 minutes of fame.

"All the Toronto media ran with it. The New York Times even did a brief story on it. To top it all, Peter Jennings and ABC News came up and did a profile. They filmed us [couriers] on Queen Street drinking beer, burping and yelling," Scott recounts with a laugh.

His natural tendency towards activism goes hand in hand with the other main facets of his life, which include a 35-year love affair with music and poetry. As a courier, and one of the "hardworking poor," Scott became so inspired by the existence that he eventually began documenting his experiences through poetry. Recently, he gathered them all in a collection entitled Out Here On The Street.

Earlier this year he also corralled a group of old friends he used to sing and write lyrics with in Toronto in the early 1970s to produce an album from his poetry. Scott says the musicians include Richard Well, a saxophonist who played in Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band, and Michael Pickett, a Juno award-winning harp player whose blues stylings have been featured on several Budweiser TV ads.

"Iíve been able to pull in all these really excellent players, legends on the Toronto scene that nobody knows about," says Scott. "We call ourselves The Difficult Musicians, which was inspired by a woman at Mel's [Lastman] office who once told me over the phone, 'Mr. Scott, sometimes I think you just call this office to be difficult!' "

Scott says the album will probably morph once again into a soundtrack called Scurrier: Out Here On The Street, where Scott's melding of activism comes full circle in a film in which he hopes to profile disenfranchised, hard-working couriers.

For as long as Scott has devoted himself to the arts and activism over the last 35 years, he says he's spent as much time waiting for a leader like Gomberg to come along who truly represents what he's about.

"Tooker represents the type of leader a lot of people have been [seeking] for years. Heís just this lightning rod that has actually invested the energy and time and research and is willing to put himself on the line. Look at him. Heís out there getting beaten up and sent to jail."

At 50, Scott not only has a wife and child of his own, but two grandchildren as well. They have added a broader perspective to his political beliefs.

"I donít know how anyone who has grandkids and who has any interest in coming up with a half-decent place for these people to live can be colluding with Mel and the the gang," says Scott. "They can say they have the common good at heart, but I donít see it. I went down to that garbage debate and thatís exactly what it was. It was a joke. They were all playing to the audience, both sides. It was a fiasco, and this is what weíre paying these people for?"

However, Scott doesn't feel particularly comfortable pointing fingers at anyone.

"Weíre all to blame for the way things are environmentally," Scott says, "but the other great thing is, thereís no alternative, we need to change the way we live and Tooker knows this."

And as for predictions come Nov. 13, Scott thinks voter apathy will benefit the man he feels he can finally place his political faith in.

"While we're out rallying all these people behind Tooker, everybody seems content to hand the vote over to Mel. Well, if that's the case and people have resigned themselves to Lastman already, then [their attitude may be] why bother going out and voting for him, eh?"

Copyright 2000-2001, torontObserver

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TOOKER GOMBERG AND THE POLITICS OF GARBAGE

by Silver Donald Cameron

I'm driving south on Highway 400 from Barrie, closing in on Toronto. The glass towers glow in the setting sun of an October afternoon. There's a thick haze in the air. Call it what it is: smog.

Highway 400 is eight lanes wide, plugged solid, moving slowly. I'm watching for exit signs for 401 East. This is not a three-light wait at the Willow Tree, friends. This is real traffic. I'm listening to Avril Benoit -- the George Jordan of Southern Ontario -- hosting the CBC's local rolling-home show. She's talking about one Tooker Gomberg, who's running for Mayor of Toronto. She invites listeners to call with their opinions on Gomberg's "in- your-face campaign."

The November 13 municipal election sounds very peculiar, even for this peculiar city. The incumbent mayor, Mel Lastman, has a million-dollar war chest, an 84% approval rating, and 25 opponents described by the Toronto Star as "mostly nondescript." They include a busker, a communist meat packer, a comedian, a street artist, several students and a leggy drag queen who says that "a supercity needs a supermodel."

Tooker Gomberg has emerged from the pack with an aggressive and entertaining campaign stressing "justice, ecology and democracy." A 45-year-old Greenpeace member and former Edmonton city councillor who works part- time as a worm composter, Gomberg teaches a free course at the University of Toronto on activist electioneering. He promised to "electrify this municipal election with chutzpah, creativity, passion, and intelligent cogent insights on what Toronto could be."

Gomberg promotes public transit by renting streetcars and inviting citizens to talk with him while they ride free. He rides a bicycle, and talks about a city where "our kids don't have to use inhalers to breathe." He publicly burns a $200 personal rebate cheque from the Harris government to make the point that public money should be invested in public services like transit and housing. He bakes bread in an outdoor oven to mark World Food Day. He supports renewable energy and urban agriculture. He has slept on the streets with the homeless.

Gomberg tracks and heckles Lastman, throwing a hockey glove before him ó a literal gauntlet ó and challenging him to debate the other candidates. Lastman resolutely refuses. Gomberg plunked down a composter at Lastman's house and spread compost on his yard. Lastman said he didn't need to compost. He has no grass.

Avril Benoit seems to expect that callers will disapprove of Tooker Gomberg's campaign ó but they don't. As I merge onto 401, caller after caller speaks up for Gomberg. How is an underfinanced, little-known candidate to attract media attention *except* by dramatic action? Why *won't* Lastman talk about the increase of homelessness and hunger in this unequally prosperous city? Why is Lastman focussing on splashy waterfront developments and a bid for the 2008 Olympic Games when the city can't even take care of its garbage?

Garbage is what really animates Gomberg's campaign, specifically Toronto's failed attempt to ship its trash north by the trainload and dump it in an abandoned mine. Now the city plans to send fleets of garbage-laden tractor- trailers to northern Michigan instead. I allow myself a smug grin.

While Toronto searches desperately for new dump sites, Nova Scotia has closed 80% of its landfills, and has created 2200 jobs by doing intelligent things with its garbage. On October 17, I attended a luncheon in Halifax sponsored by the Resource Recovery Fund Board. We were celebrating Nova Scotia's success as the first jurisdiction in North America to achieve a 50% reduction in solid waste by the year 2000.

I am creeping along the 401 in a glacial flow of vehicles. Avril Benoit introduces the arts report. The phenomenal young pianist Michael Kaeshammer is performing tonight. So are Natalie MacMaster and The Chieftains. That's just for starters.

Toronto remains a dynamic and vital city ó but it has apparently lost its soul. Under David Crombie and John Sewell, Torontonians were proud of Toronto's superb public transit, its extensive public housing, its early blue-box recycling program, its enviable parks, its commitment to the arts. They considered their city the model of a progressive urban community.

Mel Lastman's Toronto looks glitzy, but its air is foul, its roads are clogged, soup kitchens abound and some of its people live in cardboard boxes. Its elites lust for international grandeur, but the garbage fiasco has left Torontonians perceptibly embarrassed. Garbage symbolizes the city's broken dreams.

I park my rented car, carefully emptying it. My host's car has been burgled four times recently. I am tempted to be condescending about Toronto, but instead I am saddened. People love this city, and hate what has happened to it. I think that my host, an astute and urbane man, would like to be proud of his city again, as I am proud of my province. He is supporting Tooker Gomberg. Why am I not surprised?

Submitted to the Toronto Star Nov. 8, 2000

"Thumbs up for Mel, thumbs down for voters" the headline above Royson James' column of November 4. This struck me as rather self-serving on the same day that The Toronto Star offered its editorial endorsement to Mel Lastman. Does The Star's editorial board not see the irony in the fact that they have contributed to the apathy that Royston James is lamenting by choosing not to host a mayoralty debate between your chosen candidate and the other candidates for the mayorís seat?

This voter disengagement is further reinforced election coverage offered by the Star. Despite Royson James' lauding of contender Tooker Gomberg for being "brave enough to circulate his ideas, put forward his vision and challenge Lastman," itís virtually impossible to learn much about Gomberg's platform from reading your paper. In fact, The Star has been far more likely to denigrate Tooker for his "stunt-a-day" campaign as in the "Hot or Not" sidebar on Saturday than to report on any of the many policy statements that he is proposing.

Could it not be possible that Tooker's street theatre has been made necessary by the media's choice to ignore Gomberg's positions on the issues that would make Toronto a more livable city? This while applauding your chosen candidate Mel Lastman for his platform positions such as his "ambitious" waste diversion plans. Lastman's credibility on this issues is, after all, suspect at best considering his recent attempt to steamroll our garbage into Adam's Mine. If The Toronto Star is truly interested in an engaged electorate, it could have surely given equal billing to Tooker Gomberg's expertise on waste management as illustrated by his instrumental role in initiating Edmonton's innovative composting program.

Royston Jame's assertion -- that if we had party politics at the municipal level there would be less voter apathy -- seems to have missed the point. Not only is that apathy a result of the failure of the media to engage voters, but we already have a political party at City Hall. Itís called the Mel Lastman Party, and membership includes those councillors who supported his misguided attempt to send our garbage to Kirkland Lake. They were rewarded by having their photos included on Lastman's campaign literature -- much like the multitude of federal Liberal backbenchers display photos of the prime minister on their leaflets.

Voters do have a choice. Instead of a coronation of Mel Lastman, they can give Tooker Gomberg a serious look (although judging by the nature of coverage in The Toronto Star, they might be better served by taking a look at his website www.gombergformayor.com to find out where he stands on all of the issues). Further, voters can support those candidates who fought tirelessly against Mel and his "party's" ill-fated attempt to send our garbage out of sight and into Adam's Mine. After all, without the efforts of progressive councillors such as David Miller, Sandra Bussin, Joe Mihevc and Jack Layton, itís doubtful that Lastman would have ever heard of the concept of waste diversion.

Darryl Newbury

I remember when I was growing up in Toronto we lived in a democracy. If our current mayoral election is any indication of our political system I am quite concerned. At least one candidate appears to have launched a serious, viable campaign against the incumbant and I would like to find out more about the contender, Tooker Gomberg, and what he represents. I am also curious about the current mayor's platform. Unfortuately, I have not seen any literature from Mr. Lastman, I am unaware of any significant past-term accomplishments (other than the moose), and therefore I don't feel that I can cast an educated vote in the upcoming election. I am sure that I am echoing the sentiment of most people in the mega-city when I say that we need more focus placed on the top two contenders for mayor. Voting is a serious act of community responsibility and we must all be armed with the information required to make meaningful and responsible votes. I feel that it is necessary for open dialogue with the electorate and the easiest, most democratic way to help Torontonians choose their leader is through debate. I urge Mr. Gomberg and Mr. Lastman, as part of their campaigns, to debate the issues that concern the future of our city and to help all of us make an educated, responsible, democratic vote.

Yours Truly,

Rob Grand

November 7th 2000
Letters to the Editor
Globe and Mail
444 Front Street West
Toronto M5V 2S9

Dear Editor:

Mel Lastman isn't exactly the swiftest salmon in the stream. It would never occur to him that his stubborn refusal to engage in a public mayoralty debate is giving candidate Tooker Gomberg a huge, overdue boost of publicity (Globe and Mail, Nov 7).

Lastman is a has-been, a non-entity, on his way out. Imagine the arrogance of a "leader" who doesn't even have the courage to appear in public or to produce an election platform. Isn't that what elections are all about? One can only conclude that Mel's out of the running; there's obviously nobody home.

Toronto has the privilege to elect Tooker Gomberg, a man of possibilities. Gomberg has done his homework, both as an Edmonton city councillor, and as a community organizer on matters of waste management, housing, transportation, energy conservation, and city design. He has a wealth of achievable plans for addressing Toronto's smog, gridlock, employment, and housing problems. On voting day, this is a whole lot more compelling than fake moose.

Yours truly

Anne Hansen

---

Letters to the Editor
Toronto Star
One Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M5E 1E6

Dear Editor:

Why does the Star give coverage and credibility to Mel Lastman, who, one minute is the leading proponent of the Adams Mine dump, and the next minute says our garbage will never go there (Nov 7th)?

Mel Lastman is a has-been, a non-entity, on his way out. Imagine the arrogance of a "leader" who doesn't even have the courage to engage in a public debate, and who doesn't even have an election platform. Isn't that what elections are all about? Mel's non-participation is a clear message to voters that he's out of the running.

Toronto has the privilege to elect Tooker Gomberg, a man of possibilities. Gomberg has done his homework, both as an Edmonton city councillor, and as a community organizer on matters of waste management, housing, transportation, energy conservation, and city design. He has a wealth of achievable plans for addressing Toronto's smog, gridlock, employment, and housing problems. On voting day, this is a whole lot more compelling than fake moose.

Yours truly

Anne Hansen

11/01/2000
National Post
Toronto
A21
(c) National Post 2000. All Rights Reserved.

The billboards and bus-shelter posters heralding Mel Lastman's campaign for re-election as Mayor of Toronto have finally started showing up all over town. "Toronto runs with Mel," the signs proclaim.

But with the 2000 municipal vote now just 12 days away, the slogan begs a very big question: What, exactly, is Mel Lastman running from? For a guy who was supposedly at 80% in the public opinion polls in the dying days of the megacity council's inaugural term, Lastman's political behaviour of late has been extremely strange; some might even say bizarre.

His campaign team raised almost $1-million with which to do electoral combat against 25 challengers who will likely spend well less than $100,000 between them. Yet this political Goliath has done everything in his power to avoid the field of battle where his opponents are milling around with slingshots, or -- in the case of Tooker Gomberg -- a toy bow and a handful of rubber-tipped arrows.

When the mayoral race officially began on Oct. 13, His Melness claimed that he took all of his challengers seriously, but trusted that his record of achievement during the past three years would adequately shield him from their slings and, in Gomberg's case, arrows.

But, soon after that, Lastman went underground. Not only has he steadfastly refused to attend any debates or forums where his adversaries might have a chance to question his record or challenge his vision of Toronto's future, the Mayor has gone out of his way to avoid the media when he makes a well-choreographed appearance at the occasional public function.

Time was that political candidates with an eye on getting themselves elected hereabouts went out of their ways to make sure the press had their daily itineraries well in advance to best capitalize on the available publicity.

But not so Lastman, the man who once boasted that he never met a TV camera that he didn't like. When journalists manage to track down the chief magistrate on the campaign trail these days, he tends to get snarly and accuses reporters of divulging his whereabouts to the opposition.

"You guys are giving the people who are running against me where I'm going, so I'm not telling you guys all the places I'm going," Lastman pouted during a recent walkabout on College Street.

The person running against him who the Mayor seems to fear most is the aforementioned Gomberg. The former Edmonton alderman and worm composter of increasing renown has become a real pain in the Lastman butt over the course of the past month. Gomberg figures if the Mayor won't come to the debate then he'll take the debate to the Mayor. And so it is that there have been a few notable "encounter sessions" between the two diminutive candidates in recent weeks -- the latest one yesterday at Yorkdale Mall where police were once again on hand to ensure that Gomberg didn't get close to the object of his oratorical desires.

Lastman, of course, calls Gomberg's behaviour deplorable and figures the public will be equally disgusted with the antics of his iconoclastic challenger. But the more the Mayor tries to avoid contact with his opposition -- be it Gomberg, transvestite "supermodel" Enza Anderson, street singer Ben Kerr, sidewalk artist Victor Fraser or comic Frenchie McFarlane -- the more he lends credence to the argument that he's showing contempt for city voters and the democratic process.

You'd think a man with three decades of political experience would have nothing to fear from such a cast of characters. But Lastman is behaving like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Except, in this case, it's Gomberg's bicycle. And the wily challenger --who issues more news releases in a single day than the Mayor has in the entire campaign to date -- is attracting far more attention than he ever would have received had Lastman just agreed to debate him and the rest of the crowd of mayoral wannabes.

But debates have never been the Mayor's strong suit. Indeed, they almost cost him the 1997 election against former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall. He started that campaign with a popularity rating in the 80% range, too, and watched in terror as it was eroded by his almost daily gaffes on the podium. By the time the campaign ended, Hall had narrowed the gap to just a few percentage points and had the race lasted another week she might well have won.

Clearly, Lastman's handlers are of the opinion that their candidate is as susceptible to foot-in-the-mouth disease today as he was three years ago. Never mind there's no one of Hall's stature and experience to give the Mayor a run for his money. They just don't have the confidence that they won't be embarrassed by Lastman's performance.

Alas, the Mayor's reluctance to truly involve himself in the electoral battle has been equally embarrassing.

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RE. Gregory Boyd Bell
('Media ' column- Eye Magazine,October 26th,2000.)

It's refreshing to hear a reporter from a corporately- owed 'alternative' weekly find Tooker Gomberg's green platform "admirable" yet troublesome, when in the same breathe, the reporter deems it "irrelevant to the majority of voters."

What gives, Gregory Bell?

So Tooker'sÝ "impressive record as an environmental activist " scores points with the reporter but not enough to detail in depth (hello, comparative analysis 101?) against Mayor Mel's shoddy record .(supporter of corporate garbage schemes and all things big and boisterous like smoggy/ noiseyÝ Indy spectacles ) Bell's "Hogtown Dilemma' summary makes noÝ mention at all of those city councilors reeling with political egg in their faces after supporting Mel's doomed billion dollar garbage scheme - who are presently scrambling for their political lives to look 'GREEN' instead of yellow, now that the progressives at city hall have got the upper hand and are confident city council will swing LEFT in November- read councilor Rob ("What native land claim?") Davis' recent campaign leaflet announcing his new found 'green' conscience.

The lack of accountability and arrogance at city hall has added fuel to the 'debate' fire with Torontonians shaking their collective heads in disgust- "Incinerators?!- what the hell were they thinking?"Our eye "MEDIA' reporter could dig a little deeper and expose the 'elite' power circle of corporate lobbyists and monied interests who cast an ominous shadow over democratic proceedings in council chambers- witnessÝ councilor Doug Holiday's inopportune glad-handing of Adam's Mine owner, Gord McGuinty during the garbage debate.( city hall's anti- lobby bylaws were not enforced) Instead, eye readers are spoon fed paragraphs about the fringe 'nut' factor and claims that a mayoralty debate would be aÝ "farce." So,yet again,the managers of the propaganda system (Torstar-owners of eye magazine) delegitimize political debate and those dissidents and critics who try to expose its dirty laundry.( Gomberg et al)

By the way,the propaganda system includes not just how issues are framed in news stories but how they are presented as entertainment- that huge area of the media that's simply devoted to diverting people from issues of concern and making them more stupid and passive. Don't be fooled eye readership, your far more intelligent than Gregory Boyd Bell and the editors at eye magazine would have you believe.Homelessnees and tenant's rights,child poverty,the environment, police accountability, and the growing gap between rich and poor areÝ major election issues that deserve spirited debate and coverage in this city - what are you waiting for eye magazine??

Sponsor mayoralty debates across Toronto and watch the fireworks fly.American dissident Noam Chomsky writes in ' Secrets, Lies and Democracy' - " ... a democratic communication system would be one that involves large-scale public participation, and that reflects both public interests and real values like truth, integrity and discovery." Let the electorate decipher the intelligible ideas from the unintelligible ones - the sincere candidate from the insincere one - the articulate political analysis from the inarticulate one in this election campaign...or are we doomed to debate the merits of Playstation 1Ý vs Playstation 2ÝÝ in the next 'Media' column as Mel fiddles while Toronto burns - send in the clowns Mr. Bell.

Sincerely, Davis Mirza

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Attention: Troy Reeb

I was appalled last week when I heard Troy Reeb dismiss a serious candidate for mayor of Toronto as a man "who composts worms". Troy did not even mention Tooker Gomberg's name, just "a man who composts worms" and asked the question of the panel "why is it so difficult to get good candidates to run against Mel?" I believe a serious candidate was degraded and belittled by Troy's words.

Ayn Rand would say "check your premises" and to do that Troy and anyone else commenting on the election for mayor should check out http://www.gombergformayor.org/ and the websites of all the candidates.

Once long ago we waited for many weeks for a radio interview in New York with Ayn Rand For weeks the great event was promoted every chance the station had. Finally the day came. She was a bit late due to a delay in her flight, we all waited with great anticipation .Reports of her whereabouts kept coming "she is in the taxi now "or such and finally she was on the air !!

The interviewer said (and I remember this as if it was yesterday) " Miss Rand , people say that your books ......" She interrupted him by asking "have you read my books?". He said "no, but people say..." She said "if you have not read my books I can't see any point in discussing them with you. " and she left. On the air all the words that were left of the interview were "Butbut but Miss Rand but but but Miss Rand" to no avail.

Is there a lesson here? Should we have facts ?Of course .Do we put our own interpretations on those facts ? Of course. but the premise must begin with facts which are on the website and/or in person.

I will end with;

* Why is Mel checking out Edmonton's infrastructure (as it relates to garbage?) ?
* Did you know that Tooker Gomberg was a councillor who spearheaded the Edmonton infrastructure that Mel is checking out?
* How will Mel deal with the homeless? or will he instead concentrate on the Olympic bid only.?
* I believe that there is some substance to a campaign as Tooker's.. Grass roots maybe , backed by big money? No but he has courage and fresh insight for sure.
* In the U.S. Ralph Nader is a presidential candidate for the same Green Party. Is he a serious candidate? Not if you gauge it only by big monied political backing I'm sure. But a man for the people (which now includes the future welfare of the country that houses the people ), Yes.
* I believe , as a consumer advocate for so long , that Ralph Nader has proven that he is a serious candidate.
* Why won't Mel participate in a debate with Tooker?
* When does a candidate become "serious" ? When the incumbent closely checks out his opponent's work? What is Mel doing?
* Checking out Tooker Gomberg's work!!

As a daily viewer of Global news I implore you to get more facts. It should be enlightening. I'm not asking you to be Howard Stern, just asking you to help people make an informed choice. What goes on in Toronto "the good" has far reaching implications .

Do your very best, Please.

Sincerely
Kay Hubley

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October 12, 2000

By Ocean Robbins, Founder Youth for Environmental Sanity

YES! was privileged this summer to co-organize and co-facilitate a camp in partnership with 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, a non-profit organization based in Selma, AL. 21st Century was founded by Rose Sanders, one of the luminaries of the civil rights movement, and a prominent civil rights lawyer and leader today. Directed by Roseís daughter, Malika Sanders (1999 World Youth Leadership JAM! alumni), 21st Century works to empower African-American youth in the South with self esteem and skills to make a difference, building on the legacy of the civil rights movement.

In June, Michele and I flew to Selma to join with 15 mostly white youth chosen by YES!, and 15 mostly black youth selected by 21st Century, for a week-long camp to work towards building a multi-cultural movement for social justice and environmental sanity. To be honest, I had no idea before that week how deeply divided the southern United States still is along racial lines. Many of the African-American participants at this camp had literally never had a white friend, and felt at first profoundly mistrustful of white people. As they shared their stories, I understood why. Selma, a city of 50,000 people that is 60% black, has an average per capita income of just over $6,000. Yet the white population owns the majority of the businesses, lives in all the "nice" neighborhoods, and totally controls the political landscape. Selma doesnít have any recycling whatsoever, but it does have an overwhelming smell, 24 hours a day, emanating from the local paper plant (which, by the way, spews dioxin into the air at illegal levels). Itís a city simmering with racial tensions.

The camp was an inspiring and profound experience. Participants reached across the racial, cultural and economic divides and built powerful bridges of respect, solidarity and love. The pain of racism was faced with great courage, and at times it was almost piercingly painful for the white folks in the room, myself included, to hear the depth of oppression faced by so many people of color in the United States today. I realized that racism is something that white people generally can choose to notice, or not. Most people of color, however, are confronted with injustice and racism on a daily basis, and have no such choice. I was filled with awe, as I have been at each of the more than 30 YES! Camps Iíve facilitated, by the enormous courage and love that lives in every human heart. If only given a chance, and some respect and love, every human being can be great ó and can help to transform our world. The camp ended with hugs and new best friends promising to keep in touch and to support one another in the struggle. Participants from Selma said they would need all the help they could get unseating their mayor.

The mayor of Selma, Joe Smitherman, had at that time been in power for 36 years. Elected as an outright segregationist, in his second year in office he watched police beat demonstrators on the Edmund Pettus bridge as they sought to embark on the 1965 voting rights march. That march became a profound symbol of the struggles and victories of the movement, as 20,000 civil rights activists led by Dr. King eventually completed the march with national guard support, leading to the signing of the National Voting Rights Act. But right in Selma, birthplace of the voting rights movement, democracy was a long time in coming. Mayor Smitherman stayed in power through massive voter intimidation and voter fraud. In election after election, violence and the threat of violence would keep many black voters away from the polls, while others were bribed. In two cases, Smitherman actually lost on election day, only to amass a stunning (and seemingly fraudulent) victory when the absentee vote came in.

Throughout his stay in office, Smitherman ruled a Selma that was governed of, by, and for the white population. He fought bitterly against virtually every piece of civil rights legislation he could. In 1990, he told Time Magazine that Selmaís first black Superintendent was "just an overpaid nigger from New Orleans." Only a month ago, he said Selma should not have a black mayor because "blacks cannot run cities. They donít know how to stay inside a budget.

" September 12, 2000, was to be election day in Selma. As the day approached, Mayor Smithermanís campaign began to follow its usual course of action. Bomb threats, voter intimidation, casting absentee ballots "for" people on the inactive voters list, bribes, and more. Staff members for the amply funded Smitherman campaign went door-to-door in the black neighborhoods, telling families that they might not want to vote on election day, because it "could get violent out there, and weíd hate to see anything happen to you." But though scared, the people of Selma were sick and tired of it. Theyíd had enough. They knew what they had to do to get Smitherman out of office: Generate a massive voter turnout in the black community. So the "Joe Gotta Go" campaign was born, with 21st Century playing a major role in mobilizing the youth vote.

On August 28, with the election just a couple weeks away, two 21st Century organizers had their cars set on fire right in front of their office. Frightened, and feeling the racial tensions rising towards a boiling point, they contacted YES!. They made it clear that Selma was profoundly divided along racial lines, and stating clearly: "we could sure use some white people here." Since 1965, the black people of Selma had not had white people standing and working with them, and to feel that this was not just an issue of race, but also an issue of human rights and justice, would change the whole attitude in the community. Hearing the call, and seeing the need, three white YES! staff members flew to Selma to organize volunteer efforts and help get out the vote.

Brahm Ahmadi, Jessica Simkovic, and Levana Saxon worked night and day on the effort. They went door-to-door in black neighborhoods, promising that they and other monitors would be at the polling places to insure public safety. They helped to organize street demonstrations, and to coordinate the more than 100 volunteers that poured in from colleges and civil rights organizations throughout the south. On election day, they and other volunteers went door-to-door throughout the city, offering rides to anyone who had not yet visited their polling place that day. And legal "coaches" watched for anyone who came out of a polling place without an "I voted" sticker. Sure enough, in most cases they had been denied the right to vote because of technicalities, or because their polling place had unfairly been changed without them being notified. In each case, the matter was painstakingly sorted out.

Unlike previous elections, the Justice Department monitored the activities in Selma, and representatives described the cityís handling of the election as the worst case of election fraud they had ever seen. An enormous effort was mounted on both sides. In the end, Selma saw an African-American voter turnout rate of nearly 90%. Malika Sanders (President of 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement) writes: "YES! was part of an effort that produced what was probably the highest voter turnout among the young (anywhere) in the last decade ó triple the national average at the time. For the first time in my life, I saw people coming from pool halls, juke joints, crack houses, mansions, offices and everywhere to the polls." Joe Smitherman suffered a resounding defeat to 47-year-old James Perkins. The key battleground of the voting rights movement had finally gotten its democracy, 35 years later.

In his concession speech on the night of September 12, Smitherman said, among other things, that this victory really belonged to Rose Sanders (the founder of 21st Century). He also said that his opponent won "by bringing people from California, the NAACP, Al Sharpton, all this crowd into Selma to try to affect the outcome of a city race." When I heard him say that, I shouted "YES!," because the "people from California" to whom he referred were Brahm, Jessica and Levana!

That night, at 11 PM, Selma had its first traffic jam ever, with thousands of people pouring into the streets to sing, dance, hug, laugh and cry together. Brahm said it was "like the Berlin wall had come down. I have never seen such glorious joy radiating from a crowd in my life." Aside from Brahm, Jessica and Levana, the people celebrating in the streets were pretty well 100% black. But their presence seemed, at some symbolic level, to be of profound significance to many people, some of whom commented that it was "unbelievable" to see white people standing with them in the struggle. Itís awfully painful to me that thatís the experience these folks have had of the white community, but an awesome privilege to be a true ally in the struggle. Recently, Malika Sanders (21st Centuryís President) wrote: "The bottom line is that when the call was made to people around the country to come and witness the voter fraud happening in Selma and to stand as a reminder that what happens in Selma is important to the rest of the nation, YES! did not hesitate to comeÖ YES! participated in the making of history that rang out across the globe. Thank you YES! for being brave enough to talk the talk and walk the walk. Perhaps our world will know sanity in our lifetimes."

The work in Selma is not over. Itís always easier to get rid of something bad than it is to succeed with something good. But at least the people of Selma have the opportunity now. And at least we got to play some part in the shaping of a future with more justice, peace and sanity than the past. Ocean Robbins, Founder Youth for Environmental Sanity

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Bread, not garbage:
Candidate fights hunger, Adams Mine

Toronto Sun - Monday, October 16, 2000

By SHARON LEM

Nooo-body should be hungry in Toronto, says fringe mayoral candidate Tooker Gomberg.

The 45-year-old environmental activist, who baked bread in an outdoor oven yesterday, launched his campaign platform to battle hunger in Toronto to coincide with World Food Day today.

"All people in Toronto should have an adequate supply of safe, nutritious, affordable and appropriate food," Gomberg said, as he bit into bread freshly baked at the community oven at Dufferin Grove Park.

ONE-TIME COUNCILLOR

Gomberg, who served on Edmonton city council 1992 to 1995, says the city needs to take measures to restrict urban sprawl and promote land preservation, so there will be more space for growing crops.

Toronto has about 100 community gardens used by 4,500 people. Each plot produces $200 to $300 worth of fresh produce per year.

"We could use that land to grow food and protect green space. We often forget we have the power to feed ourselves. Right here in Toronto we could set up food gardens in every park," he said.

'HUGE MISTAKE'

Gomberg, who moved to Toronto last year to take a job with Greenpeace and now works for Stop Considering the Adams Mine (SCAM), said 62,000 hectares of land were lost in the GTA between 1976 and 1996.

Gomberg said if he's elected mayor on Nov. 13, that he will do everything in his power to reverse the Adams Mine decision to use an abandoned iron ore pit near Kirkland Lake and come up with approaches that are sustainable and ecologically sensitive.

"Adams Mine was a huge mistake and I'm going to do everything in my power to undo the decision," Gomberg said.

He also wants to see food organic waste diverted from the garbage-collection stream and transformed into compost and biogas for electrical generation.

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Independent Weekly - U of T - Thursday October 12, 2000

By: Tooker Gomberg

On November 13 Toronto will vote for its new mayor. If the mainstream media is to be believed, Mel Lastman will be a shoo-in for a second term. But here at Gomberg For Mayor headquarters, we're committed to fighting Mr. Lastman all the way--while having a blast as we do it.

Our campaign is focused on raising issues with citizens about what this city could be. Over the past month, I have met thousands of people who are concerned about the same issues we are: traffic, public transit, the arts, homelessness, smog and garbage, to name a few. We aim to spark Torontonians' imaginations about what sort of legacy we want to leave for the future.

Grassroots involvement is what makes our campaign unique. While Mel's millionaire backers have funded his campaign to the tune of $1 million, we aim to run our campaign on a million leaflets! Already we've distributed nearly 100,000 flyers, and received an overwhelmingly supportive response. Our campaign office is a hive of activity, and over 300 citizens are at work on tasks ranging from research and writing to leafletting. And on top of everything, we're having fun raising issues through colourful and creative direct actions.

The touchstone issue for this election is Toronto's garbage crisis. In September, while Mr. Lastman was in Sydney boosting the city's glories to the International Olympic Committee, a citizens' campaign was gathering steam against the city's shame--the mayor's plan to ship millions of tons of our toxic garbage to a leaky dump in Northern Ontario.

We've been working with groups of Northerners, Natives, and Torontonians who oppose Mel's insane 19th-century plan. We've been putting out the word about more sustainable solutions, including composting organic garbage to create natural gas for generating electricity--the solution I helped spearhead for Edmonton when I was a councillor there in the 1990s. And last week we helped pack the council chamber with vocal citizens outraged by Lastman's garbage plan.

What happened in the council chamber was awe-inspiring: citizens took back power from Mr Lastman and his supporters, who frankly have shown that they don't deserve the power given to them. They thought they could shove their garbage plan through, but citizens said "No." And that's the key to our campaign: putting citizen democracy into action.

By the time you read this, council will have made its final vote on the Adams Mine dump plan. It looks as though, at the very least, Mr. Lastman will have to water down the proposal to get it past council. However they vote, we will have shaken to the core the appalling complacency of Mr. Lastman and his council cronies. The media is predicting that voters will give the boot to more than one Lastman supporter over the garbage issue.

And if Mel himself remains at the head of the council table after November 13, it won't mean our campaign has failed. After all, we're raising the issues and building a movement for a just city. How can we lose?

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Toronto Star - Monday, October 9, 2000

Driving home ecology message in mayoral bid

By Bill Taylor - Toronto Star Staff Reporter

The quickest way to tick off the Tooker-Gomberg-for-Mayor people is to call their man a fringe candidate.

They're on the phone to complain before the newsprint has dried on their fingertips.

Gomberg is less excitable about it, content to point out that you could regard Mel Lastman, with his $2,500-a-plate fundraisers, as being on a different kind of fringe.

``No one's ever going to pay $2,500 to come to one of my events,'' he says. ``It's just two extremes. Really, what constitutes a fringe candidate?'' Gomberg managed to turn the Adams Mine garbage debate into a photo opportunity yesterday when he planted a large, black compost bin on Lastman's front yard in North York.

Gomberg and about half a dozen supporters spread black soil created from the composting process, to show the benefits.

Gomberg has used the garbage controversy to boost his campaign

``We're at a crossroads. We could move into the 21st century and treat our garbage as a resource and create employment and protect the environment rather than ship it up north . . . and damage the environment,'' he said.

Lastman, who says he doesn't own a composter because his backyard has no grass, shrugged off the incident, saying stunts like that were ``part of the job.''

City council votes tomorrow on sending the city's garbage to the controversial Adams Mine site in Kirkland Lake.

The former Edmonton city councillor turned worm wrangler - Gomberg works part-time on the red wiggler composting project in the basement of Metro Hall - has just ridden a trifle breathlessly across Nathan Phillips Square on his battered bicycle, a hand-painted ``Gomberg for Mayor'' banner flapping gamely behind him.

With a cardboard cutout of Lastman looking down from a window above the entrance to City Hall, Gomberg sits on the base of Henry Moore's sculpture The Archer, drinking coffee and eating a yellow Danish pastry. There aren't enough hours in his day for a more structured lunch.

``We've put out 80,000 leaflets so far and we're doing another 50,000,'' he says. ``There's a real hunger, a real interest in what we're doing.

'' But does this newcomer to Toronto - Gomberg last campaigned in Montreal, an unsuccessful New Democratic Party candidate in the 1997 federal election - have a real chance of becoming mayor?

``Absolutely. I don't know if it's 1 in 1,000 or 1 in 10. But no one thought Jesse `The Body' Ventura had a chance of being governor of Minnesota. No one ever dreamed that Nelson Mandela would be president of South Africa.''

He pauses and smiles.

``I'm not betting my life savings on it.''

Gomberg recently turned 45. He served as a councillor in Edmonton from 1992 to 1995. After his unsuccessful run for office in Montreal, he moved to Toronto with his wife, Angela Bischoff, to work for Greenpeace.

For anyone wondering where the name ``Tooker'' came from, he explains, ``it was my made up by my mother when I was in infant and it stuck.

``My name was Richard Daniel Gomberg. When I first ran in Edmonton in 1989, I didn't want to appear on the ballot simply as that when everyone knew me as Tooker. So for $50, I added it to my official name.''

He's twice so far spent $400 of his mayoral campaign budget on renting a streetcar, decorated with black balloons, to trundle around the city for three hours with a couple of dozen supporters and whoever else wanted to grab a free ride for a few blocks in exchange for listening to the ``Go-Go-Gomberg'' line.

``People got on not knowing what they were getting into. Mostly they were very receptive. People want politicians who are talking to them face-to-face about the issues.''

He told his captive audience on the first trip: ``If we can use this election campaign as an opportunity to have some fun, raise the issues and not go into debt, we can't lose.''

But if he actually won, is Gomberg up to being a fully functioning mayor of the city, rather than just an environmental gadfly? His answer is oblique.

``Let's be frank. The mayor could go on vacation for three years and the city should run perfectly well. The mayor and council set the direction, but the administration runs the city.

``The whole council could go on vacation for their whole term and water would still arrive in your tap, the streetcars would run, the air would be just as toxic.''

Asked what Lastman has going for him, Gomberg concedes the mayor is ``brilliant with the media, he's enthusiastic, he clearly loves the city.''

Does Gomberg, who lives in the College-Dufferin area, love the city?

``Absolutely. It took me a while to really appreciate it. Riding a bicycle is the best way to discover the sweet spots, the nooks and crannies.''

His own strongest asset, he says, is the enthusiasm of his volunteers.

``We've been getting 50 or 60 people a week walking through the door and saying, `I want to help.' I'm blown away. A few weeks ago, the conventional wisdom was that this would be a coronation rather than an election.

``We had 10,000 hits on our Web page within 10 days of setting it up. We're kind of below the radar screens of some people but we have a lot of people taking this campaign seriously.

``I'm not as well-known as Mr. Lastman. Few of us are. But it's important to stand up for what you believe is right and to do it, if you can, with some colour, some humour.''

What does he see himself doing Nov. 14, the day after after the election? Gomberg chuckles and looks more elfin than ever.

``I don't have a crystal ball.''

With files from Hamida Ghafour

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Toronto Sun - Monday, October 9, 2000

By ALAN CAIRNS

The battle to bust Toronto's garbage-hauling plans stretched from Northern Ontario rail lines to Mayor Mel Lastman's front lawn yesterday.

While hundreds protesting the Adams Mine dump plan littered the Ontario Northland Railway line with bags of trash, Toronto mayoralty candidate Tooker Gomberg delivered a compost bin to Lastman's residence.

Both served as signals the garbage war is about to explode.

"Instead of dumping our garbage in someone else's backyard, Mr. Lastman should dump it in his own backyard," said Gomberg, a former Edmonton councillor.

As they made battle plans to crash tomorrow's city hall vote, protest leaders warned that if Toronto tries to put its garbage in the abandoned mine, it will be embarrassed around the world.

"This will make Oka look like a Sunday picnic," warned dump foe Pierre Belanger. "Toronto is headed toward massive civil disobedience and a confrontation with the natives. It will cause international embarrassment and tremendous cost -- and taxpayers should take notice."

A START

Belanger said a blockade of the rail line last week near Kirkland Lake was only the start.

After rallying with about 500 supporters in the farming community of Earlton today, about 100 native leaders, businessmen, farmers, municipal councillors, MPs and MPPs will board buses for a face-to-face showdown with Toronto council at tomorrow's controversial vote.

Timiskaming-Cochrane Liberal MP Benoit Serre, Bloc Quebecois MP Pierre Brien and MPPs David Ramsey of Timiskaming-Cochrane and Gilles Bisson of Timmins will join the protest caravan.

"We want to dispel any notion that we are .. fringe elements and malcontents like Mel Lastman and Mike Harris have portrayed us," said Belanger. "It is a whole northern society that opposed this dump.

" While he does not endorse throwing garbage on the tracks, Belanger urged Northern Ontario residents to boycott the Ontario government-operated railway because it has become "an enemy of the people."

Timiskaming First Nations Grand Chief Carole McBride has asked Lastman for "a few moments" to address council.

But Lastman said: "Nobody is permitted to address the council now because we are in session."

'MEMBERS ONLY'

"The garbage issue is for members only to debate because public consultation has finished. (McBride) should have come before the council to give his objections at least three months ago. All McBride is trying to do is indulge in delay tactics.

"But enough is enough. We have to do what is right for Toronto and this plan will not hurt anyone," said Lastman. "The nearest people are some 80 miles and more away from the site, so I cannot see how it can affect them. Seven studies costing $148 million have been carried out over 10 years by geologists and each report has said the site is safe.

"The Adams Mine scheme will also create 80 much needed jobs for First Nations people in the area," Lastman said.

-- With files from David Miller

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Toronto Star - Sunday, October 8, 2000

By: Michele Lansberg

I'M VOTING FOR the garbage guy.

Oh, I know, mayoral candidate Tooker Gomberg has lots of other serious issues in his platform: traffic, transit, the arts, homelessness. But it's the current Adams Mine dump debate that led me to stumble across him.

He's got my vote because he has the ecologically sane alternative to our garbage problem. Mel Lastman's idea is to pay $1 billion of public money over the next 20 years to dump 20 million tonnes of Toronto's garbage into a big hole in the ground.

Cities like Halifax and Edmonton (where Tooker Gomberg was a city councillor and helped get the recycling program going) now compost and recycle 50 to 70 per cent of their garbage. Residents have cut their garbage in half. Jobs are created in sorting and recycling out what's left. The methane gas from composting is enough to heat 4,000 Edmonton homes. That's what Gomberg would like to accomplish in Toronto.

Just blithely bury your garbage? That's so 19th-century it's an outrage. Everything about the deal is an outrage. Dig around enough into the background of this stinking deal, as I have recently done, and you begin to feel as though you've been buried under a mountain of slimy, rotten, secret deal-making.

Listen to this, for starters: Years ago, when Gordon McGuinty's Notre Development company bought the abandoned iron ore mine near Kirkland Lake and began plotting to make it into a mega-dump, it promised Kirkland Lake $600,000 in royalties if the municipality spoke only in favour of the dump.

When dump opponent Richard Denton ran for mayor and won, he instantly found himself silenced. In recent interviews with The Star, he had to hint obliquely at his views.

``Essentially, I am gagged,'' he said, although later he ignored the perceived stricture. Is this is a democracy - or a garbage gulag?

The local First Nations, as well as a huge majority of residents, are angrily opposed to the dump, which will turn pure groundwater into a ``garbage soup'' containing 65,000 pollutants. Yet Mayor Mel stridently insists that the northerners are ``willing hosts'' for our garbage.

Picture it: The potential dump site is a hole as big as 50 football fields and 55 storeys deep. There are reports from the mine's last days that document the hundreds of leaks and fissures in the rock walls. Groundwater pours in, and groundwater pours out, directly into the water table south of the mine that feeds some of the richest farmland in the province.

The technology that the garbage company proposes - to push all the groundwater into and through the garbage, pump it back up, treat it and put into back into the ground - is utterly untested in the field.

How on earth did such a scheme get approved? Notre's lawyer, Robert G. Power, was one of those asked by the Harris government to revise the Environmental Assessment rules. The NDP asked the government if there wasn't something wrong with the company's lawyer helping change the rules. But the government shrugged off the questions. A special, abbreviated form of environmental assessment that Power helped devise, was then applied to the Adams Mine proposal. (Even then, with the rules so conveniently rearranged, it was not a unanimous decision to approve it).

Power was then appointed to the board of the Trillium Foundation, where he soon supplanted Julie White, the widely respected chair, and promptly turned his hand to using the Trillium private contact list to fund-raise for the Tories.

Mmmm, savoury. Let's see, what else stinks about the Adams Mine?

How about the company that will be running the dump, under an agreement with Notre? Canadian Waste Services is a subsidiary of Waste Management Inc., which is the largest garbage disposal company in the United States. Wisely, the Canadian subsidiary gave the Harris Tories a $74,000 campaign donation last year. As NDP environment critic Marilyn Churley pressed home in the Legislature last week, in the past 20 years, WMI has paid out $370 million in fines for environmental crimes, price-fixing schemes, fraud and shareholder deception. A judge in one ot the cases wrote that he was troubled by the way ``fraud, mismanagement and dishonesty apparently became part of the operating culture of the . . . corporation.''

And the Canadian subsidiary of WMI is going to be in charge of groundwater purity in the Temiskaming region for the next 100 years.

Walkerton, anyone?

Even though it's claimed that WMI Canada has a clean record so far, I don't feel deeply reassured.

The mine leaks like a sponge. It is in the middle of an active earthquake zone - three earthquakes, in fact, since last New Year's, when a 5.1 tremor hit the area.

Dr. Larry Jensen, a professional geologist who worked for the Ontario government for 30 years, was an expert on the rock formations of the entire Kirkland Lake area and did geological mapping at the Adams Mine. In a letter to Mel Lastman, Jensen expressed his fears that the garbage dump proposal is ``a disaster.''

Who will clean up the polluted waters? Jensen ended his letter to Lastman this way: ``The cleanup will not be peanuts and it will be your legacy.''

Mel wasn't listening. At the 11th hour, he pressured the Toronto councillors to approve, almost overnight, an elaborate secret contract that forbade any public discussion of the details. (Disturbing details nevertheless trickled out over the next few days).

Perhaps Mayor Mel thinks this is a private business deal to buy refrigerators. Self-importantly, he harangued the more reluctant council members, lecturing them about ``normal business practice.'' But this isn't business, it's democracy. It's not Mel's money, it's ours.

The Adams Mine dump is an outrage, not only because of all the big business wheeling, dealing and profiteering that we're not supposed to know about, not only because of the corruption of our parliamentary processes and environmental safeguards, but also because the mere idea of reckless toxic dumping, in this day and age, is idiotic.

There are dozens of practical, cheaper, safer, Earth-protecting ways that these conservative dinosaurs at city council evidently can't be bothered to learn about.

I'm voting for Tooker Gomberg for mayor because, right now, garbage is the defining issue, and he's on the side of a clean future.

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Globe and Mail - Wednesday, September 20, 2000

By: JAMES RUSK

TORONTO -- A coalition of environmental groups and politicians have set their sights on dethroning some of Mayor Mel Lastman's key council allies this November, using the city's controversial plan to ship garbage north as the weapon.

If the coalition succeeds in what some view as a high-risk political strategy, the makeup of the new council after the Nov. 13 municipal election will include more members from the left wing.

Those targeted include deputy mayor Case Ootes, a key ally of Mr. Lastman and several councillors, including Rob Davis, Milton Berger and Bill Saundercook, who reliably vote with the mayor.

Mr. Ootes is in a close race with Gail Nyberg, the former chairwoman of the Toronto District School Board. Mr. Berger's opponent is Anne Johnston, who is a member of council. Mr. Saundercook, chairman of the city's works committee, is in a race against David Miller, another member of council. Mr. Davis, who is vice-chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission, is running against another TTC member and city council member, Joe Mihevc.

Mayoralty candidate Tooker Gomberg, a Greenpeace activist and former Edmonton councillor, is also part of the effort to make the shipment of garbage north a municipal election issue.

While Mr. Gomberg, an unknown in Toronto politics, is not given a chance of beating Mr. Lastman, he is trying to raise awareness of the Adams Mine, the proposed dump site, and homelessness in Toronto, one city hall source said.

Council's works committee will consider the contract tomorrow that the city plans to sign with the consortium turning the abandoned open-pit iron-ore mine near Kirkland Lake into a garbage dump.

The contract will then be considered at the Oct. 2 meeting of city council, the final meeting before the municipal election.

While opponents hope to delay final approval of the contract until after the election, they are also trying to ensure that, no matter what happens, garbage will be an election issue.

Inside city hall, the focal point for the coalition is Councillor Jack Layton and his office staff. Mr. Layton said in an interview yesterday from Fredericton, where he was attending a federal-provincial meeting of housing ministers, "I think the Adams Mine contract is the single worst decision this council has made and is so fundamentally wrong I hope the people who voted for it lose."

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Toronto Star - September 14, 2000

By: Paul Moloney

Need to divert more waste from landfill, works committee told

Toronto's new recycling plans to be trashed by environmentalists as too little too late.

Toronto hasn't done enough to encourage people to discard food waste for separate pickup and composting, the works committee was told yesterday.

"I walked around city hall trying to dispose of an apple core and I couldn't find a compost bin," said Tooker Gomberg, an environmentalists who's running for mayor.

Gomberg said other cities are recycling and composting half their garbage but in Toronto, only 25 per cent of residential waste is kept out of the landfill site.

New measures approved by works committee yesterday seek to recycle and compost about 50,000 times the 1 million tonnes of residential garbage generated each year.

The measures include:

Adding milk costumes, juice boxes and empty paint and aerosol cans to the Blue Box next March 1, assuming money is available.

Bumping up recycling pickup to once a week, and collecting yard waste weekly in the summer, assuming money is available.

Testing improved recycling systems at two downtown apartment buildings at a cost of $40,000.

Spending $50,000 to hire eight students next summer to encourage apartment manages and tenants to improve recycling.

Conducting an eight-month pilot test of 2,400 households, which would be encouraged to separate food waste for composting.

"Why are you doing a pilot?" wondered Gord Perks, of the Toronto Environmental Alliance. "These are proven techniques." Perks said Toronto stock should encourage apartment recycling.

Composting and recycling would have to grow by 250,000 tons a year to reach a target set by the city several years ago, said Councillor Jack Layton (Don River). Layton proposed raising the target but that was rejected by the committee. The new recycling measures go to city council in early October for final approval.

He was incensed that the committee didn't even go along with his suggestion to place recycling bins in city parks next summer. Instead, the committee voted to study the idea.

Also yesterday a proposal from Councillor Bill Saundercook (York-Humber) to limit homeowners to three bags of garbage a week was quickly tossed out.

Committee members said the idea was unworkable and raised fears of people dumping bags illegally around the city.

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Chicago Tribune - September 12, 2000

By: Jon Anderson

photo by Chuck Berman

"How many of you are car free?" asked Katie Alvord, standing on a podium in the Pulaski Park fieldhouse, roughly 100 yards west of the Kennedy Expressway. Amid hollering, almost every hand in the room shot up.

Later, cheers greeted a slide showing a self-reliant bicyclist using a bike-trailer to haul home an 8-foot Christmas tree. In contrast, a picture of a snarled tollway drew howls of derisive laughter.

It was clogged with cars and campers creeping past a sign urging motorists to "Enjoy Your Holiday."