Letters to the Editor

To submit a Letter to the Editor, email editor@beachmetro.com

From our May 15, 2012 issue

Lakeshore sign detracts from natural beach environment
I was shocked to discover the installation of a very large, very ugly, bright blue illuminated sign today.
Embedded in cement along Lakeshore Boulevard, the sign advertised the Boardwalk Cafe and other events, also money makers in our public urban park. I had to wonder, what's next?
It is bad enough to have an enormous burger joint on the shores of Lake Ontario, but this sign is the final straw. I thought Kew Beach was a public park but I guess I was mistaken. It, like most public land in this city, seems to be up for grabs.
Why not a modest green wooden sign? Why can't we walk, run, swim, build sand castles, play, watch a sunset and relax in an unspoiled natural environment? I thought that's what urban parks were for. I guess I was mistaken.
Name Withheld

Double Mother’s Day wishes
Sequels are rarely a good idea, so last year when I wrote a Mother’s Day letter to the editor for my mom, Maryann Pereira, I did not think I would be doing it again this year.
It was wonderful feeling to watch my mom open her gift on Mother’s Day, a framed newspaper clipping of her article.
At first she thought it was a joke…I guess that’s what I get for being a prankster all my life! After a lot of, “No, seriously mom…happy Mother’s Day, I wrote this for you,” Mama Pereira finally got the point.
My mom is one of the most important people in my life; she has influenced and instilled such great qualities over the years to my brother, sister and myself.
This year, although I would love to surprise my mom again and write something about her, my life has changed a bit. I am getting married!
I am trying to make sure this letter does not come off in a ‘Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in the City’ think-out-loud-as-I-type-kind of tone. Plain and simple, my life is about to take a new and exciting turn, and now I will have two moms to celebrate this Mother’s Day.
The more moms the better, double the guidance, double the food take-home packages, double the fun.
I still work at World Vision and love it, so this year in addition to writing another letter to the editor I decided that a great way to support Mayann Pereira and my ‘new mom’, Vijay Patel, is to support an expectant mom living in poverty through the World Vision gift catalogue (worldvision.ca/gifts), or even sponsor a child in their name.
Without my mom and my dreamy fiancée’s mom we would not being saying “I do” later this summer. The least we can do is give a gift in our moms’ names to help two expecting moms have the same opportunity to be great mothers.
Maybe one day the two kids will meet and get married…okay, maybe that’s another ‘Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in the City’ thought.
Happy Mother’s Day’s to all the Maryann Pereiras and Vijay Patels in the world. It does not matter how old we are, married or single, you’re not just our moms…you’re our whole world.
Alicia Pereira

Not impressed with mounted ticketing
I am AMAZED at the behaviour shown by a mounted policeman in the picture on the front page of your May 1, 2012 edition. This policeman is, presumably, a mature adult, yet he spends/wastes his time and MY tax dollars making a big issue about a motorist who has the GALL to roll through a stop line! At worst the driver hit empty air – so what? Yet this policeman makes an issue of this? Where is his sense of priorities?
Maybe if he'd been around the intersection of Bowmore  Road and Upper Gerrard Street on April 23 just before noon he MIGHT have apprehended the two guys who attacked a woman at that time. Or maybe in the area of Danforth and Woodington Avenues on April 14 to prevent another woman from having to hand over her cell phone to an attacker.
I do NOT pay my tax portion of the police budget for them to do such appallingly wasteful things.
And people wonder why some have no respect for the police! What a load of rubbish!
Tony Hirons