Sandford Pond. Anyone remember it?
More important question --anyone miss it?
I could write you stuff about Sandford Pond but John Stewart of the Mississauga News composed one beautiful melancholy eulogy for this lost-landscape back in May 2006. We'll leave That Farewell to him.
SANDFORD POND
Back in September 1990, I dropped down a one-person protest at Sandford Pond only no one knew it was me. A photo of it even made the MIssissauga News.
Yep, white letters embroidered on the fence, "WHO MOURNS THE MARSH?"
Made it out of a white curtain torn into convenient strips --a kind-of protest sign that even now, I wish I''d made BIGGER.
Yesterday, after an exhaustive search through two decades worth of videotape, I finally found it! Footage of my "WHO MOURNS THE MARSH?" Sandford Farm one-person protest. And MY-- to Time Travel and see the Mavis Road and Eglinton Avenue intersection as it was back in 1990!
Sandford Pond...
This video, shot in September 1990, documents Sandford Pond/Farm as well as the lands around the corner of Mavis Road and Eglinton Avenue as they were back then.
For Mississaugans who know this area now only for its gas stations, mall, houses, high-rises and signs-signs-signs, this 1990 footage provides stark contrast.
Sandford Pond...
Now there might be other old Sandford Farm video kicking about in Mississauga --perhaps footage even older than this 1990 material. But I DO guarantee that it's the only video record that documents exactly WHO weaved and knotted the "WHO MOURNS THE MARSH?" sign into that fence back in the Autumn of 1990.
So "WHO MOURNS THE MARSH?" ME! Me back in September 1990.
"WHO MOURNS THE MARSH?" You kiddin' me? I won't ever stop.
"WHO MOURNS THE MARSH?" John Stewart of the Mississauga News! And it's for that reason, The Mississauga Muse dedicates "WHO MOURNS THE MARSH?" to him.
VIDEO: SANDFORD FARM September 1990 "WHO MOURNS THE MARSH?"Dedicated to John Stewart of The Mississauga News. Wordsmith.
(To Time Travel to 1990-Mississauga, click to go directly to YouTube or Google Video)
To read John Stewart's Blog entry, "Sandford Pond" here's the URL.
I'll quote here just a bit. Mr. Stewart's Blog begins:
"I wonder what Victor and Agnes Sandford would make of the pile of rich dirt which has been bulldozed into the corner of their 100-acre farm closest to the southwest corner of Eglinton Ave. and Mavis Rd.
It would probably break their hearts. Every time I drive north on Mavis I still glance to my left, in the stupidly vain hope that the lovely Sandford Pond will somehow reappear. Hoping that the beautiful, open natural stretch of water and weedy vegetation that served as a staging area each spring and fall for migrating waterfowl will still be there."
*SIGH* ---FROGS, DUCKS AND WEEDY VEGETATION DON'T PAY TAXES, JOHN! *AND* THEY CAN'T VOTE!
I really love how John Stewart ends his Sandford Pond Blog entry.
"The Sandford pond is no more. The Sandford House, vandalized too many times and the victim of a June 24, 1999 act of arson, is a long shot to be preserved and rebuilt.
In a few years, it's likely that only the grove of 100-or-so black walnut trees sitting on public property on the crest of the hill near the house will still stand as mute testament to the people of the land who once lived there."
There's a lot of "mute testament" in Mississauga, John.
Signed,
The (Not so mute) Mississauga Muse
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"The impact of the Unconnected can't be underestimated" - Mississauga Visioning Symposium comment (February 23, 2008)
"But other councils made their decisions quickly and with little public interaction. Just this past week, Peel Region set a new speed record. It reportedly voted to go with an LAS investigator, and according to a citizen blogger who videotaped it, they did it in just 14 seconds. According to the same blogger, Mississauga council had the previous record, when it did the same thing in 16 seconds."--Address by André Marin Ombudsman of Ontario (March 6, 2008)
"We must employ every possible tactic to dissuade those who try to silence us with fear" ---The Mississauga News Editorial (2007-03-24)
Want (or worse, need) to learn more? Link to MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA
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Comments (3)
Thank you for this look back at what was and could be.
I challenge council to come up with a plan to create a pond such as this - by tearing down existing structures. Too costly? Heck we already had it and gave it away.
sniff.
AF
Posted by Alan Forde | March 19, 2008 12:05 PM
Posted on March 19, 2008 12:05
Missed this one.
Comes as no surprise that Mississauga is yet again waging war on life.
Judge City Council by its actions - kill life, replace it with steel, glass and concrete - destroy Democacy so people can't stop them.
Bottom line - the same mstakes that have been killing our world for decades and still we let them, out of fear.
Posted by Don B. | March 19, 2008 9:59 PM
Posted on March 19, 2008 21:59
Hi Don,
You wrote:
Careful, Don. You don't mean waging war on life but rather "natural life", don't you?
You know, the kind of life that doesn't bring in revenue? Or pay its own way?
I say "pay its own way" because Mississauga won't protect heritage buildings unless they can pay their own way.
Fortunately, that kind of a moot point by now.
You wrote:
Umm... Don, it's the Province that killed Democracy at the local level. Check out the 2001 Municipal Act and Bill 130.
"Bottom line - the same mistakes that have been killing our world for decades and still we let them, out of fear."
Posted by The Mississauga Muse | March 20, 2008 8:08 AM
Posted on March 20, 2008 08:08