You are loved and valued. Many people are grieving your death.
You died a few m from Woodland School while walking your bike on 7th St Louth (Regional Rd 34) after spending an afternoon with your friends, checking out the boats in Pt Dalhousie harbour
2/ You died far away from your home, leaving behind three young children and a wife, who you worked hard to support, as well your parents, family, friends and co-workers.
Fermin, your death is a travesty and an injustice.
3/ Niagara is your home and these roads belong to you, your coworkers and to all of us.
Your death should leave us with many questions.
Why haven’t the local roads been made safe for you and thousands of your compagneros who live and work in our community?
4/ Why wasn’t your voice at the table, providing valuable input on transportation networks in #Niagara?
Will the @NiagRegPolice pursue distracted driving charge? It’s been reported by 1st responders that the driver was allegedly distracted by a device.
5/ What insurance has been made available to your family? Life insurance through work? An insurance claim against the driver who hit you?
Is @EmbaMexCan de México and/or the driver’s insurance covering the cost of repatriating your body to your family?
6/ Or will it end up being deducted from the GoFundMe, taken out of funds that could be for your children? You paid into CPP for 10 years. Who is helping your family apply for death/ survivor benefits, insurance, and everything else a family should be entitled to receive?
7/ What governments are going to step up and take responsibility for the deaths of migrant workers on the job and on our roads?
To the wife and children of Fermin, we send our love and condolences.
8/ We will ask these questions, and seek answers to any others you will have, to honour his life and find justice.
Without justice, there is no peace.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
2/ It has been one of my life’s greatest privileges to be elected and serve the residents of St Catharines. I want to express my gratitude for selecting me to be your Councillor and to let you know that I have decided to take a pause and not run for office this term.
3/ This doesn’t mean that I have taken a break from politics, nor have I shut the door on running again in the future. On the contrary, serving as a Municipal Councillor has fuelled a deeper passion for politics and city-building initiatives, and I am as excited as ever about the
1/ 🧵Buckle up. It’s a huge geothermal project & 1st for the city. Geothermal = no burning of fossil fuels, will use up to 75% less energy. Toronto’s lauded Green Standard Development program would categorize this as a Tier 3 or 4 project and they’d give it a healthy DC rebate $
2/ Given that we don’t have such DC waivers at the Region or the City, this project will be paying Regional and City Development Charges (if they don’t get site plan approval before December, when the city’s DC program starts)
3/ Characterizing the green roof, GEOTHERMAL energy, EVs & innovative stormwater management for a 37 story building as “neat little environmental mitigation features” while Europe is burning is disingenuous, embarrassing and ridiculous.
1/ In April, I spoke at the Region on its Official Plan. I delegated as a St Catharines resident and as a City Councillor from one of our Region’s 12 lower tier municipalities. Here are a few clips (not included is me picking a little fight with a Mayor from another city 😃)
2/ Why? The answer can be summarized in this tweet. Councillors declare climate & housing emergencies out of one side of our mouths but often do sweet f.a. to change the way we plan our cities. B/c we’re afraid to rock the boat and climate decisions challenge the status quo
3/ Planning in a climate emergency 🚨 requires Councillors and the public to understand concepts such as the 15 minute city, district and alternative energy, moving away from the automobile being the primary transport mode, and planning with strong affordability targets.
1/ St Catharines has budgeted and tendered an Active Transportation Master Plan. Although the work hasn’t quite started, the firm’s project lead has been in touch with me about what happened and told me they are currently working in Essex County & engaging with migrant workers.
2/ Essex Co has had many deaths on roads and I believe 2 in Niagara (no data on near misses). Zenaida died on a Regional Rd in NOTL, Fermin on a Regional Rd in St Catharines in Pt Dalhousie Ward. The Niagara Region, and by extension Regional Councillors, must take this on
3/ I am a City Councillor in St Patrick’s Ward, representing the downtown & mostly urban & suburban areas, however my ward, like St Andrews and Port Dalhousie, borders Lincoln & extends to farm country. We have farm workplaces but most workers live outside our city boundaries.
On Monday, a driver in an SUV hit 3 men on bicycles on 7th St. The men were migrant farm workers from Mexico. One man died, two others are injured. stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-r…
2/ This Region has functionally zero safe cycling infrastructure and lots of poor pedestrian infrastructure.
3/ Especially in farm country.
It’s not the first time a migrant worker has died on our roads. In the summer of 2019, a driver in a large truck struck Zenaida on a NOTL road and fled the scene, leaving her to die, and her seven and eleven year old girls without a mother.
1/ There has been much activity on the site of the former GM Lands at 282-285 Ontario St and I am pleased to provide the following updates:
✅ Removal of surface debris began again in February and is ongoing
2/ ✅ The perimeter of the site has been secured with solid hoarding with a filter fabric
✅ MTE has been engaged as the Environmental Engineer of Record for the site cleanup and is completing a Phase 1 & 2 Environmental Study on the properties, expected to continue through 2022
3/ PCBs...
✅ A PCB leak, similar in size and scope to other hotspots along 12 Mile Creek (Garden City Golf Creek, Clifford's Creek) was discovered. The source was determined to be an old oil grit separator. Read the MECP reports here - stcatharines.ca/en/news-notice…