Community supports aluminum palm tree

Some Oakwood Village residents were raising their aluminum palm tree as a symbol of hope and unity a day after a council candidate vowed to chop it down.

The metal tropical tree is yet to be planted on the traffic island where Vaughan Rd. meets Oakwood Ave. but when it goes up, it will mark some much needed road improvements and become a reclaimed public space that will be an “oasis”， members of 5 Points Community Action said in a statement Friday slamming what it called “inaccurate coverage” of the project by the Toronto Sun and several other media outlets.

Rob Davis, who is vying to replace retiring Howard Moscoe, came out swinging Thursday against the councillor and the city for “a $100,000 steel palm tree.”

“I just think it is an example of wasteful spending that has to stop at City Hall,” Davis said. “There are so many other things that city council could do to help improve the lot of local business people and residents in this neighbourhood, not the least of which would be to plant real trees as opposed to steel trees.”

But Oakwood Village resident Vanessa Mariga, a member of 5 Points, said the island is one of many strides the community has made towards positive development in the last few years.

“It’s not just willy-nilly spending by Mr. Moscoe,” she said. “It’s the case of Mr. Moscoe’s constituents reaching out to him and him responding. This sort of investment, this is all part of that, this is not in lieu of those initiatives.”

Mariga said the entire project will build the community and prevent crime.

“This gives people a place to sit and hang out,” she said. “The initiative has really been misrepresented and that not all the facts are really being portrayed in a fair and balanced way.”

Tamara Massey, co-founder of 5 Points, said the project, palm included, is an “absolutely important project.”

“I think （Davis） was dead wrong about this,” Massey said. “We are the residents and we have been advocating for this.”

“This is an investment in our community.”

Fiona Chapman, manager of pedestrian projects for the city’s transportation services, said the tree itself will cost $4,000.

The 12-foot tall palm has been ordered from an artist in Collingwood.

Chapman said the entire project, including the aluminum tree, the road repairs and the installation of a TTC bus bay, will cost around $322,594.

The new island is set to open later this year.