Random Access

Larry Steinman has heard rumours that, as a condition of the acquisition of the public right-of-way that Ontario Hydro acquired long ago for the 230-kilovolt power line that cuts behind his house, the utility had to agree to protect the ancient oaks that line the corridor.
Even if that legal obligation was never given, doesn’t Hydro One, the successor to Ontario Hydro, have a moral obligation to do everything it can to protect those spectacular denizens of Lorne Park who line both sides of its power alley?
As you stand in the brain-refreshing shade of those trees on a stifling summer afternoon, as I did yesterday, I can assure you that every fibre in your body tells you that the electricity transmission giant does, indeed, owe something to these other giants — the ones who seem to be spreading their branches imploringly to the sky.
They may be asking for divine intervention at this point, since Hydro One has apparently decided — beyond a shadow of a doubt — that they are growing too dangerously close to the power lines for comfort.
Steinman and his neighbours certainly don’t want to plunge us into another blackout like the one we suffered four years ago yesterday, but they do think Hydro One should live up to its pledge to work with the public, as touted in their mission statement and on their website.
They think hydro should consider a reasonable compromise.
Although he’s no arborist, Steinman says that the top few feet of the tree can be lopped off to satisfy the requirement for 20 ft. of clearance below its lines. Hydro One spokesman Alan Manchee says the government-owned corporation doesn’t like to do that because it’s really not sustainable.
Annihilating every mature tree that potentially infringes on a power line is not sustainable either, politically or environmentally, but that seems to be the bottom line of Hydro One’s policy.
Steinman and his neighbours aren’t going away. In fact, the self-described “quiet retiree” is thinking about taking a crash course in civil disobedience. It will start with a trip to Rona to buy the chains that he and his neighbours intend to wrap around themselves and the red oak tree, if hydro brings in the chain saws.
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August 15, 1925. That’s the day the greatest musician in Canadian jazz history and, arguably, the best jazz pianist of all time, was born.
Happy 82nd birthday to the legendary Oscar Peterson, a resident of Mississauga since 1972.
Health issues forced the cancellation of his Legends of Jazz concert scheduled at the Downtown Jazz Festival earlier this summer in what promised to be a bravura week that also featured Dave Brubeck and Keith Jarrett.
His old friend Bill King, once a student at the jazz school that Peterson and Phil Nimmons pioneered in the 1950s, says Oscar is synonymous with jazz in Canada and around the world.
“He is our whole connection with the world of jazz,” he said this afternoon. Peterson, George Shearing and Brubeck (what is it with pianists and longevity?) are the last vestiges to the golden age of jazz, says King.
“He is one of the few lions still left,” adds the pianist, magazine publisher, disc jockey, producer and jack of all jazz trades. “He was always one of the main guys with Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and everyone else.”
Some of King’s happiest jazz memories revolve around Peterson, including the production of the landmark 2003 concert at the Living Arts Centre that paid tribute to the legend. King produced the musical lineup that brought some of the greatest names in contemporary jazz to Mississauga, including Renee Rosnes, Jeff Hamilton, Russell Malone, Benny Green, Carol Welsman, Oliver Jones and David Young, not to mention another of the few remaining giants, Oscar’s old friend Clark Terry.
If Oscar can get to a piano today, you know his family is going to be treated to the swingiest version ever of Happy Birthday.