Letter: Questions remain re: Kew refresh

It’s beginning to look like a beautiful new addition to Kew Gardens. Many of us, but not all, agreed that something should have been done to help our tired entrance to our beloved park. Thank you for the newly appointed Beach BIA and Mary Margaret McMahon for seeing this through. It was wonderful to see the gathering of children at the Halloween Party weeks ago. As the work at Kew Gardens is coming closer to completion, I, as well as other Beachers, wonder what happened to many of the features that were agreed upon for the proposed refresh.

There are many things missing from our agreement, including the amount of trees, signage, and finishing work. I personally find it upsetting and shocking that for $1,200,000 the cenotaph could not have been cleaned.

In my mind, if it had been finished as proposed and as had been agreed upon by the public, it would be much more appealing to the eye. There would also  be less scepticism throughout the community.

I have attempted to get information from Mayor John Tory, Siu Yu, City of Toronto, Senior Project Coordinator, Beaches BIA and Mary Margaret McMahon, who was the only one to reply. She has told me that “we are well aware of the outstanding issues with the new refresh and are working hard to install the final details. A couple of items will need to be installed in the warmer weather next spring.”

I have a few questions. What happened? Who authorized all these changes? With all these items missing from the publically agreed upon plans, how much cheaper is the final cost?

Clyde Robinson