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I am delighted to report that Peter Simm's brief was once again the key to convincing City Hall to go ahead with the proposal to have Hanlan's Point Beach declared officially clothing-optional.
A bunch of naturist activists and supporters attended this morning's meeting of the City of Toronto Economic Development Committee. This committee is the final stage before the proposal goes before Toronto City Council. This is where they look at the issue in depth, consider how it fits in with their other initiatives, and talk with the people most likely to be affected. This committee, consisting of 13 members of council (plus Mayor Mel, who is on the committee by virtue of his office, but who doesn't actively participate in it), were busy discussing another issue when I arrived at 11 am, the appointed time for them to discuss the beach issue. There were only nine members there, but that was enough for quorum.
I was glad at first; it gave me a chance to sort through my notes and decide on exactly what it was I wanted to say. Then, as time rolled on, City Councillor Kyle Rae, who is sponsoring this initiative, started to get a bit more anxious; he was worried that the committee members might leave at lunch time, and that if we lost quorum, the issue would have to go back on a waiting list in order to be dealt with at a later date. So whispers were passed back and forth among the nudists present: keep those presentations short!
Finally, at 11:45, we began. Peter Simm made the first presentation. The committee already had a copy of his report, which was included as an appendix to the much shorter report of the Department of Economic Development, Culture, and Tourism. The department is the bureaucratic side of this office; they recommended going ahead with a 1 year pilot project, and their recommendation was then passed on to the elected committee to vote on. Get it? I'm not sure I do; City Council has many layers of process involved in any decision making.
In any case, the bureaucrats, the people who do the actual work and who stay in their jobs year after year, liked the idea, and they liked Peter Simm's brief so much that they just stapled it to their report. Since they had already seen the brief, Peter gave a short presentation, and answered a few questions. He spoke very well, with confidence and knowledge, and it was easy to see how influential that can be. He answered all of the questions very well; really, he was quite impressive.
I spoke second, for a total of 23 seconds. The person after me seemed to oppose the brief on the grounds that nudity is immoral and that if you give us an inch, we'll take a mile. Another person complained that she just didn't like the idea, and didn't want her children exposed to that sort of immorality. The only other person to complain claimed that a nude beach would be a hotbed for drugs and prostitution. It's hard to conceal drugs upon your person when you are naked!
The people speaking on the pro side were much more articulate and well-reasoned. Most were members and volunteers for the Federation of Canadian Naturists. In particular, Linda Deschenes and her two year old son had a great impact, both on the councillors and especially on the media.
The councillors seemed impressed by the clarity of the presentation in support of the proposal, and said that they had heard no reasonable objections to it. One councillor, concerned for those who had spoken against the move, tried to console them by saying that she felt their objections were emotional ones, not necessarily well-reasoned ones, and said that they wouldn't have to be exposed to a clothing-optional area if they didn't want to be.
When Council Kyle Rae took the floor, the first thing he did was compliment Peter Simm, saying that he had never seen a report prepared as thoroughly or effectively by any community organisation. The rest of the councillors seemed equally impressed with his scholarship and writing skills, especially his detective work in discovered that Toronto had three officially clothing-optional beaches for a thirty-six year period starting in 1894.
Rae is not on the Economic Development Committee, but he was the councillor who spearheaded this move in council. This is his second attempt; his first try at making Hanlan's Point a safe haven for skinnydippers was five years ago, but he met with little success. This time, thanks to changes in the structure of City Council, and the powerful brief prepared by Peter Simm, things seem to be going full steam ahead!
The councillors all had something to say, but, to my surprise, everyone was very positive. Mario Silva said that it was time to recognise the reality of the nude use of the beach, and recognise over 100 years of tradition by making it legal. That way we could save money that is currently being wasted on the police harassment of nude sunbathers.
Raymond Cho said that he wouldn't have supported it, except that seven years ago he went to Europe to visit his son who was studying in France, and they had quite a delightful day at a nude beach in Nice. He said, "There were so many people nude, I was quite elated."
Jane Pitfield said she wasn't certain that it would attract any tourists, but felt that it did indeed meet a local need, and that it was certainly worth proceeding with this pilot project.
Rob Davis said that there was not a thread of evidence for any potential problems, and that a nude beach would "add to our quiver" of options for "targetting" the tourist market.
Sandra Bussin joked about wondering what her grandparents had been up to, since Hanlan's Point was official clothing-optional when they were young. She also pointed out that the water is shallow, so boaters cannot approach too close to the beach. She expressed her belief that the nude beach will, "with the exposure, lead to healthier attitude about the human body."
Mike Tsekas punned: "If the people of Toronto was to give new meaning to point in Hanlan's Point, I'm going to support it."
Brian Ashton, chair of the committee, said he personally didn't engage in the nudist lifestyle. "Perhaps because of my tattoo," he joked. This sparked questions from the committee regarding the location of said tattoo. Mr. Ashton declined to comment on that issue, but he said that his personal views should not rule. He said, yes, it is giving a public space over to a special interest, but, he continued, that is not at all unusual; the city does that all the time. Does this inconvenience or impact on the larger community at all? No, he continued, not if we do this correctly. With the signs that will be put up to mark the beach, no-one can be surprised. Since nothing prevents us from enforcing the normal laws of community standards, there is no reason to expect this beach to be a source of any problems.
And so they voted, and in a matter of seconds, it was over: the committee was unanimously in favour! Hooray!!
This isn't the final word, though. City Council still has to vote on it. It's scheduled to come before council around May 12th. I encourage all of you to contact your local councillor and let them know how you feel!
And finally, I should point out that the proposal is for a one year pilot project. It will be reviewed at the end of the year. If things are successful this summer, we expect the beach to be made permanently clothing optional for all Torontonians and tourists to enjoy.