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Fri Oct 12 15:41:10 EDT 2007
Making of a city include Managing
Urban Systems, The Nuclear neighbor, Electricity: fading to black among =
others.
Part II's Hard Services takes the reader through chapters on Cleaning up =
the water to Transit systems, all of
it written in O'Donohue's signature swift-moving, no-nonsense style.
So much more than a coffee table book, The Tale of a City: =
Re-Engineering the Urban Environment is the
Inside Story and the definitive, thought-provoking A-B-C's of today's =
troubling environmental issues.=20
Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning =
journalist with 30 years experience in the
media. A former Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist, she =
has also appeared on
Newsmax.com, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net Daily. Judi =
can be reached at:
cfp at canadafreepress.com.=20
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<P>Sludge in Toronto garbage trucked to Michigan</P>
<P><A=20
href=3D"http://www.torontofreepress.com/2004/cover091304.htm">http://www.=
torontofreepress.com/2004/cover091304.htm</A></P>
<P>by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com </P>
<P>September 13, 2004</P>
<P>It was common knowledge that Toronto garbage is hauled to a</P>
<P>Michigan landfill site even before presidential hopeful John =
Kerry</P>
<P>threatened to ban the process last week. But included in the</P>
<P>garbage trucked daily to Michigan is controversial sludge, some =
of</P>
<P>it perhaps even contaminated. In short, Ontario farmers turned =
down</P>
<P>the sludge called "biosolids" by government bureaucrats, as</P>
<P>fertilizer, which is part of the story of how it came to land in</P>
<P>Michigan. </P>
<P>In a compelling new book called The Tale of a City: Re-Engineering =
the Urban=20
Environment, former Toronto</P>
<P>City Councillor and senior engineer Tony O’Donohue tells =
all.</P>
<P>The respected civil engineer calls the transportation of garbage from =
Toronto=20
to Michigan the "red ribbon of</P>
<P>shame" that "snakes its way daily from Toronto to the U.S. =
border."</P>
<P>Folks should know the Toronto sludge is not going over the border in=20
insignificant amounts: "Almost all the</P>
<P>sludge processed at Toronto’s Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant is =
being hauled=20
to Republic Landfill in</P>
<P>Michigan." </P>
<P>For the record, about 88-90 percent of all the sludge produced in the =
City of=20
Toronto is processed at</P>
<P>Ashbridges Bay. Because the Michigan haulage is tied to a four-year =
contract,=20
it’s not expected to end</P>
<P>anytime soon.</P>
<P>These are just some of the riveting details enclosed within the pages =
of=20
Re-Engineering the Urban</P>
<P>Environment. Due to hit the stands in six weeks, The Tale of a City:=20
Re-Engineering the Urban Environment</P>
<P>is a compelling read, telling the fascinating tale of the $95 million =
Toronto=20
sludge saga. </P>
<P>O’Donohue’s step-by-step story takes readers behind the =
scenes at Toronto=20
City Hall and comes only after a</P>
<P>good deal of detective work into a massive paper trail. The Tale of a =
City:=20
Re-Engineering the Urban</P>
<P>Environment reveals, over a four-year period, the unearthed details =
of two=20
city contracts--one to Terratec</P>
<P>Environmental Inc. for haul and spread and the other to US Filter for =
pelletizing--and how they were "mere</P>
<P>window-dressing to hide the shipment of sludge to Michigan."</P>
<P>When the $23 million pelletizing plant at the Main Treatment Plant,=20
Ashbridges Bay (MTP) burned down on</P>
<P>August 23, 2003, it not only "conveniently solved" a problem--but =
ended=20
"opening up the road to Michigan!"</P>
<P>"From March 1999 to May 2003, the sludge mess was an expensive, =
poorly=20
managed foul-up, which cost</P>
<P>Toronto taxpayers dearly. The failure of the sludge program was the=20
responsibility of the top manangement of</P>
<P>the city's Works Department, who presided over the blowing away of =
the of $95=20
million, and the responsibility</P>
<P>must be shared by activists and number of east-end politicians who =
put=20
politics over public interest."</P>
<P>The Tale of a City: Re-Engineering the Urban Environment unravels how =
"the=20
pelletizing plant was built</P>
<P>without a marketing plan and with little positive direction from =
management"=20
and how "the paper trail to</P>
<P>council was cluttered with bits of information which did not address =
the=20
overall, real ongoing problems of</P>
<P>sludge management."</P>
<P>"The Terratec `haul to Michigan’ contract guarantees the =
company a profit and=20
a final resting place for Toronto</P>
<P>sludge--at least for now."</P>
<P>O’Donohue’s persistence in getting the truth took him =
down a "painful=20
difficult" road, and it was only after five</P>
<P>attempts that city council, at its July 20, 2004 meeting finally =
directed the=20
Works Commissioner to provide</P>
<P>him the information.</P>
<P>"I received the information on the sludge disposal and the capital =
costs for=20
the six years from the Director,</P>
<P>Wastewater Treatment, Works Department, in a letter dated July 27, =
2004,"=20
O’Donohue said. "The</P>
<P>information, which should be public and available to any taxpayer, =
shows that=20
Toronto sludge is now hauled to</P>
<P>Michigan, with Toronto garbage." (Emphasis ours). </P>
<P>Rather than just leveling criticism at the system as many authors do, =
O’Donohue provides potential solutions</P>
<P>in a list of sound recommendations.</P>
<P>Toronto city council, he says, "needs an `arms length’ =
investigation–a total=20
re-evaluation of the sludge mess</P>
<P>and the reasons it happened. It needs an MFP (Toronto computer =
leasing=20
scandal) type of inquiry. That sadly</P>
<P>would probably cost $10 million, and would only prove how =
incompetence rules=20
our city."</P>
<P>Canada Free Press is proud to be the first to publish, word-for-word=20
O’Donohue’s unabridged Chapter 14,</P>
<P>Sludge--the cost of incompetence from the fascinating The Tale of a =
City:=20
Re-Engineering the Urban</P>
<P>Environment.</P>
<P>Tony O’Donohue can be reached at: tonyodonohue at yahoo.com </P>
<P>Encyclopedia of the environment</P>
<P>Although sludge is all the talk because Toronto’s garbage is =
being hauled to=20
a Michigan landfill site, there’s a</P>
<P>treasure trove of all things environmental in the =
about-to-be-released The=20
Tale of a City: Re-Engineering the</P>
<P>Urban Environment. </P>
<P>More than environmentalists, government mandarins and CEOs =
won’t be able to=20
put the book down.</P>
<P>From its opening introduction A City in Crisis, chapters in Part 1 =
The Making=20
of a city include Managing</P>
<P>Urban Systems, The Nuclear neighbor, Electricity: fading to black =
among=20
others.</P>
<P>Part II’s Hard Services takes the reader through chapters on =
Cleaning up the=20
water to Transit systems, all of</P>
<P>it written in O’Donohue’s signature swift-moving, =
no-nonsense style.</P>
<P>So much more than a coffee table book, The Tale of a City: =
Re-Engineering the=20
Urban Environment is the</P>
<P>Inside Story and the definitive, thought-provoking A-B-C’s of =
today’s=20
troubling environmental issues. </P>
<P>Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning =
journalist=20
with 30 years experience in the</P>
<P>media. A former Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist, she =
has=20
also appeared on</P>
<P>Newsmax.com, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net Daily. =
Judi can be=20
reached at:</P>
<P>cfp at canadafreepress.com. </P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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