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 Councillor Mammoliti's media stunt last year drew rave reviews from several female columnists. |
For six hours today, the City of Toronto's Economic Development Committee discussed the nude beach at Hanlan's Point. Many of them seemed quite new to the topic, and there were a lot of questions, but mostly there was a lot of talking.
The loudest and strangest of the talkers was Councillor George Mammoliti, the eccentric fellow who last year posed shirtless for the media as a "protest" against the nude beach. This year he did his best to try and convince everyone that the beach was going to cost $100,000 (it cost less than $5,000 and raised over $50,000 in increased ferry revenues in 1999), that it was a hotbed of sex (Police Staff Inspector Edward Hegney said that wasn't true and that there were no complaints), and that Toronto would face doom and destruction if they didn't heed his bizarre warnings.
Fortunately, I wasn't the only one who found him tiresome; the other councillors snickered at him behind his back, sighed loudly when he began talking and frequently got up for coffee and washroom breaks during his tirades. Frankly, I couldn't blame them.
Councillor Sherene Shaw came to our rescue. She wasn't that crazy about the clothing-optional beach to start with, but listening to George seemed to change her mind. She became one of the staunchest supporters in the meeting, frequently challenging George's sly innuendo and grand-standing. None of the other councillors agreed with George, I'm happy to say, and they voted unanimously (less one) to recommend a two year extension to the pilot project.
The meeting began with deputations from the public. The first to speak was our own Peter Simm. With a multi-media presentation, Peter presented a good argument explaining why the nude beach raised even more money than the staff report claimed it did, and made a very strong case for extending the boundaries of the beach. See the sidebar Top Six Reasons to Expand the Clothing-Optional Zone.
After Peter spoke, George got a sly look on his face and asked, "Would you be willing to lease the beach?" This was a very odd question, and it created a bit of a stir in the room. You could see people looking at George suspiciously wondering exactly what he thought he was up to.
Peter pointed out that much of the beach is in fact leased by the City of Toronto from the federal government, and it likely isn't possible, or at least would be very difficult, for the City to sub-lease the land. Furthermore, it wouldn't make sense for a public beach to be leased to a private group.
I spoke next. Using material that Peter prepared, I spoke about the lifeguarding issue. Right now, the beach is divided into 3 sections. The south section is the clothing-optional zone. In the middle we have the supervised swimming area with was used by between 10 and 40 people on a weekend. At the north end there is a nice, but empty, stretch of sand that used to be popular with nudists.
It doesn't make sense that the lifeguard should be guarding an essentially empty beach when there is a full one right beside the lifeguard station. We asked that the committee recommend extending the boundary of the beach so that there is some overlap with the supervised swim area, so that nudists can swim safely too.
George then started trying to put words in my mouth, claiming that I was demanding an extra lifeguard. It took me a while to realise why he was asking so many stupid questions, but eventually I found out why: later in the meeting he boldly asserted that lifeguard costs for Hanlan's Point would amount to $50,000, and that by the year 2002 the total costs would exceed $100,000. If he can't get people to follow him by promising doom and destruction, he figured he'd try to promising outrageous expense. Fortunately, no-one fell for it.
When he asked me if I/we would be willing to assume the lifeguarding responsibilities, I took the opportunity to deliver a little speech: "I've heard several of the councillors talk about 'your' beach, as if somehow it belonged to a small group of people. It doesn't. Hanlan's Point belongs to all Torontonians. We need to make all the citizens of Toronto feel as if they belong at that beach. The best way to do that is for the City to take active ownership of the beach, to talk about it in terms of 'we' and 'us' instead of 'them'. Once the City starts including Hanlan's Point in their publications and advertising, people will then start to realise that it is not a private beach, but a public one, one where we all belong."
The next speaker was Don Zale, a member of TNT!MEN as well as the Federation of Canadian Naturists, the Ontario Roaming Bears, and the University of Toronto Naturists. Don was also the founder and organiser of TANGO (Toronto Area Nude Guys Orgnisation), a gay nudist club that lasted for over seven year in the 80s and 90s. Don spoke very well about his surprise when he first moved to Toronto that there wasn't a nude beach. "I was told that Toronto was a prudish city, so I accepted that." He was delighted at the nude beach, and offered his thanks and congratulations to the councillors.
Don then made a few suggestions, including extending the boundaries of the beach and draining the slimy pond. He surprised the rest of us by going on to complain about the current franchise-holder for the concession stands on the Island. Often not open even on weekends, they serve terrible food at outrageous prices. He made a really good point, and after the meeting we overheard some of the councillors discussing the issue.
After Don came Zak Kahn. Zak was at this meeting last year, opposing the beach, and he was back to complain about rampant immorality and open sex everywhere. He claimed that traffic to Hanlan's Point was way down (when the City's statistics indicate it was up by around 10,500 extra ferry riders), and that the rest of the beach was empty because people were afraid to be near the nudists. He claimed that he used to take his children there all the time (despite the fact that it has always been at least an unofficial nude beach), and that there used to be lots of families (when even the city admitted several times that the beach was dreadfully underutilised). He claimed that only men used the beach (also not true), and that Toronto is not ready for a nude beach. He supported George Mammoliti's suggestion that the beach be leased to TNT!MEN, but he wanted us to have somewhere else not so close to downtown. "Maybe the docks," he said.
The councillors seemed amused by Zak. Many of them have probably heard the rumours of how someone matching his name and description decided to open an illegal, unlicensed sex club on Yonge Street a few years ago. Councillor Kyle Rae, in whose ward this dreadful dead was done, took it upon himself to see that this illegal activity was stopped. And ever since then, according to the rumour, the thwarted owner of that bar speaks out in opposition to whatever it is that Kyle happens to be working on at the moment. Fortunately, the councillors saw right through him.
Following Zak was Dave Fleming, founder and organiser of the Hanlan's Beach Naturists. Dave spoke very earnestly about the strict sub-culture that is naturism, and its "zero-tolerance policy for any overt sexuality." He described what he and some volunteers did last summer, working as a self-appointed "beach patrol" to educate, monitor behaviour at the beach, and create some community-building activities. When on rare occasions someone did seem to be acting a little suspiciously, they would go over and talk to them. For the most part, the only people causing any problems at all were those who brought their big binoculars.
The next people to speak were very enthusiastic about the beach and were very grateful to council. They spoke out against the self-appointed beach patrol, saying that they didn't have the right to harrass people, a sentiment I know that other users of the beach shared. They also spoke of the importance of proper lifeguarding.
There was then a long break for lunch, and once we got back, George did his best to convince the rest of the committee that he was someone with something important to say. No-one seemed to believe him. When George claimed to speak on behalf of a "silent majority" of Torontonians, Councillor Mike Tzekas took the opportunity to tell us a little story about a public meeting he recently held in his Scarborough riding. At the end of a meeting on a very different topic, Mike said, "Before you go, I wanted to know what you felt about the nude beach in Toronto." Of the 25 people at the meeting, only one had any reservations at all. The rest were all in favour of it. Turning to George, he said "If there was a public outcry against this beach, we would have heard something about it today. If you really had a congregation of people behind you, you could have brought a few to speak. People could have complained today, but only one did. I think that is representative."
After about six hours of George's grand-standing, the committee finally got around to voting. By this point there were six amendments on the table:
Otherwise, the staff report was accepted as is, and will be brought before City Council sometime in the near future.
All in all the meeting was a success. There is still a good chance that City Council will vote to extend the boundaries of the clothing-optional zone to include part of the supervised swimming area. The date for council to address this matter has not yet been set; we'll keep you posted!
| Read the official minutes of the meeting. |