Tuesday, August 12, 2008

More Gas In City Hall....Mr. Tweel

There is probably more chance of City Hall blowing up because of a gas explosion than there would be on Allen Street. Mr. Tweel should just dig into his own pockets and dish out the money for the City to build a new Industrial Park and while he's at it throw in some more to relocate all the businesses. Maybe installing a set of "Grandstands" for him in his Ward would keep him busy and it would be a lot cheaper for us taxpayers...
Move propane facility into industrial park, Tweel says
Toronto explosion stirs debate over businesses being too close to home
ISABELLE GALLANT
The Guardian
After a propane explosion in a Toronto neighbourhood Sunday, Charlottetown city councillor Mitchell Tweel is even more convinced that industrial businesses in the city should be moved to an industrial park outside Charlottetown. Tweel said the issue of the industrial businesses along Allen Street — including the Irving propane storage facility — has been a challenge since he first began representing the area a decade ago. “It’s plagued city residents for a number of years.” The massive explosion in North Toronto forced around 12,000 people from their homes early Sunday morning. About one-quarter could still not return Monday afternoon due to an asbestos threat. The City of Toronto also launched a review Monday of all areas that could be potentially hazardous to nearby residents. There has never been a propane explosion in Charlottetown, but there was a close call in 1996 when Roger Bell, calling himself Loki 7, planted a bomb above one of the propane tanks on Allen Street.It was removed without any damage and Bell was later convicted in connection with that and other pipe bombs. Tweel brought up the idea of a new industrial park outside the city at the last council meeting and said he plans to bring it up again. “I believe the city of Charlottetown now should be very proactive and start to work to create an industrial park. We should be working with industrial owners that are in the heart of the city and do not have to be there from a transportation and location perspective, and a safety and security perspective,” he said. “You’re trying to create a quality of life that exists in the nice new subdivisions that are being built, where the residents would never have to experience or have to live alongside industrial use.” But one business owner across the street from the propane facility isn’t worried about it.over “Their safety record has been very good. I think it depends on the situation, but I don’t foresee a problem, at least I hope not,” said Austin McQuaid, owner of McQuaid’s Trucking and Warehousing. McQuaid doesn’t agree with Tweel’s idea of moving businesses outside of the city, because he thinks his trucking company would be one of them.“We’ve been in the business now for 50 years, and we don’t plan on moving. Unless he comes up with a pile of money,” said McQuaid. McQuaid said he wouldn’t feel safe living near the propane facility, but thinks the nearest houses are far enough away.“I mean, where do you put it? It’s got no houses around where it’s at, and a couple of businesses, so I would think it’s the best spot for it right now unless things grow around it.”The nearest houses to the propane facility are on Walthan Drive and Upper Prince Street to the south and Mount Edward Road to the east. There’s also a house on Allen Street right next to the facility. Some residents in the Upper Prince Street area were planning a petition to remove the facility before the Toronto explosion happened.They are still planning to bring it to city council this fall, said a spokesperson for area residents.Building the propane facility in that area was not a good idea, said Tweel. It was constructed before the city of Charlottetown amalgamated in 1994, and was on the periphery of Charlottetown and Parkdale.“I still call into question the lack of planning, where you had two former municipalities not really communicating,” said Tweel.

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