Perry Thompson and his wife Nora Graham had a problem. The roots of a large Norway maple got into the foundation of their home causing damage to the pipes, walls and floors.
Thompson indicates that he has spent upwards of $20,000 on repairs to his home that resulted from the tree. He has been notified by his insurance company that his policy will be cancelled at the end of the year if he does not provide a death certificate for house-attacking tree.
The solution to the Thompsons’ problem is quite simple; tear down the damn tree! Unfortunately Perry and Nora do not live in a free society or even in a place where people are on a par with other living things. The Thompson’s are unhappy residents of the Peoples Republic of Toronto.
Not only does Toronto have a bylaw prohibiting the removal of trees, even on private property but we have a “Tree Advocate” that is aptly filled by Councillor and Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone. Pantalone is undoubtedly the most qualified of politicos to hold such a position, being a blockhead and all.
Perry and his wife took the matter to their local community council which recommended that the rules to protect the “urban forest” be relaxed and the couple be allowed to off the tree. But that wasn’t the end of it. In order to get permission to cut down the tree legally, the matter had to go before Toronto City Council which as we all know has nothing better to do in between their subsidized snack times than to debate whether one tree should be allowed to be robbed of its life to better the lives of taxpaying, voting humans. The pro-life council (pro-life as it applies to trees and presumably other forms of plant life) voted 22-13 to save the life of the tree. The tree stays unless Thompson and Graham risk fines of up to $100,000 (ie. the amount of money council can spend in a couple of minutes) and illegally chop the tree down. If anyone is still looking for anti-amalgamation arguments ten years after, this is it.
Joe Panalone has shown that despite whatever other mistakes this particular council may have made, picking him as the guardian of non-human life forms wasn’t one of them. Pantalone was quoted as saying, “What we are having is one private owner telling the public that our communal interests are somehow less important than his personal interests.” Karl Marx and Joe Stalin could not have put it better. In fairness to Stalin however, Joe would have let them cut down the tree before shipping them off to the gulag.
It is not mere hyperbole to say that the councillors who voted to prevent these taxpayers from cutting down the tree to keep their privately owned property from sustaining further damage are communists. Pantalone couldn’t have made it any plainer. “Communal” interests take precedence over the rights of individuals and their private property. It didn’t seem to matter that the damage to the home of these two law abiding taxpayers was huge in comparison to the “communal interest” in death of one lousy tree. But that was not a consideration; only the council’s communist ideology was important. And the home, according to Pantalone is in such bad shape that destroying a “healthy” tree to save a “dying” home is simply asking too much. We couldn’t make this stuff up, folks.
Almost everything that this current council does can pretty well be held up to ridicule. They needed more than one try just to have their class picture done. Their most recent amusing little funny; they dinged Torontonians with a new land transfer tax, a vehicle registration tax, increased property taxes 3.5 per cent (more than the promised rate of inflation increase) and then openly bragged about balancing the budget. Councillors are always coming up with idiotic ideas such as Giorgio Mammoliti’s call to turn the army against our own citizens in order to combat crime. Or Howard Moscoe’s lackadaisical approach to security on the TTC because terrorists would never be able to find Toronto. Despite the almost daily dose of silliness that emanates from Nathan Phillips Square, the willingness to allow this couple’s home to be damaged by a tree is egregious. If this doesn’t wake up the citizens of Toronto to how they are actually being governed, it is highly unlikely that anything will.
If any good can be found in the situation, it is that Perry Thompson is a self described tree-hugger. If this had to happen to someone, who better than to suffer the financial cost imposed upon by the Tree Advocate and his comrades than a tree hugger who probably did his part to help elect these guys.
This is the best proof yet that the majority of members on city council have absolutely no concern for the well being of their constituents. In a true communist society, some perceived greater good always takes precedence over the rights of individual citizens.
It’s time Toronto had a People Advocate.
