GARDEN OF EDEN - Desperate pleas made in desperate times

Toronto Star, February 23, 2001
By Royson James

We reprint this here because one of our allies, Aurora Meliton, a garden organizer at the May Robinson "Garden of Eden" Community Garden is quoted, toward the end-- see the following Michele Landsberg article for more on her and the garden. Ms. Meliton appeared before the Community Services Committee as one of five deputants organized by the Community Reference Group for the Food & Hunger Action Committee to try and garner support for the committee's report.

``In the thick of a budget battle, it is easy to lose your bearings and to lose sight of long-term goals. Adrift in a sea of red ink, it becomes easier to see every line item in the budget as an opportunity for an additional cut rather than as an expression of long-term vision.'' - Mo Srivastava, businessman

For a change, there was much wisdom dispensed at Toronto City Hall yesterday as councillors went about the awful business of chopping valuable services to tame a monster of a budget shortfall.

Clear, reasoned, almost scholarly advice flowed from the mouths of advocates and front-line workers who deal with the poor, indigent, elderly, homeless, single moms and other at-risk populations of our city.

And the ideas were bolstered by the would-be victims themselves - clinging to walkers and propped up by canes, holding babies, fretting about where they will find day care if subsidized spaces are cut.

More than once, they asked city councillors to stop fighting among themselves and turn their guns on the real enemy: the senior levels of government that have downloaded services on to city taxpayers.

An enlightened city that cares about its vulnerable citizens does not spend generations building up fabulous social programs, only to cut them to shreds in the face of cruel downloading of costs from senior governments, they said. The delegation told the committee of council: Increase property taxes if you must, stop chopping valuable services, and mobilize residents to challenge Queen's Park and Ottawa for more funding for housing, transit and child care.

``The (public opinion) polls are with you. The people are behind you,'' said Ann Fitzpatrick of the Children's Aid Society of Toronto.

For the most part, city council gets it. Most of the 44 men and women - and Mayor Mel Lastman - have spent much of their lives advocating for and providing services, not chopping them. The free dental program for poor folks was started in 1913, says Councillor Joe Mihevc, who chairs the board of health. North York picked up the service following a referendum in the 1930s. Now, to save $5.2 million, chief administrative officer Mike Garrett has recommended it be axed.

And what would the 32,000 children and seniors do when the clinics in 212 schools and 11 community centres close? Suffer, that's what. But, as the mayor has said, everyone has to bleed a little.

Mayor Lastman can alienate his colleagues, councillors can counter with petulance and temper tantrums, and they can make fools of themselves. Or they can heed the pleas of citizens: ``We are not Somalia. We are not Kosovo. We are not lacking money,'' said former school trustee Fiona Nelson. It's just that the money is scooped by senior governments, even as the social problems mount in the city.

``Give us a common cause to preserve our city,'' Nelson said, quoting from ethicists, justices and an African proverb. ``When the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.''

Yesterday, ``the grass'' spoke in the form of Margaret Ramage, who said without subsidized child care, her dreams of becoming a nurse and a contributing member of society are shattered.

And it found voice in 82-year-old great-grandmother Aurora Meliton. She wasn't asking for much, just the $73,000 needed for staff to keep the city's community gardens program so she can spend her final days actively, with her fingers tilling the warm earth outside her seniors building. ``It's hard growing old,'' she said. ``You'll know when you get there.''

Budget cuts have a way of aging a city, prematurely.