The view from the bluffs is of a beautiful world with the languid, blue waters of Lake Ontario stretching out to meet the horizon. Trees and bushes cling to the sides of the bluffs in lively shades of green and red and gold. A fresh breeze ruffles my hair and my shirt. Great white clouds billow high up into the sky.

Lindsay runs free and with a joy that is palpable. The trees are alive with the chatter of birds.

But my mind is on an uglier scene. Two weeks ago I had discovered a small 6 acre park in our community that had been neglected and abused and that had been treated as a casual dumping ground for all kinds of refuse. As the photo above suggests, it was a disgusting mess.

Deekshill is a six acre natural regeneration area, heavily forested and with a charming stream running along its western most side. At least it was charming until it was used as a place to disguard old tires, chairs and littered with plastic bags containing unimaginable refuse.

Now the stream reeks and is coated with a thick green scum.

I had shot a video of the site and had forwarded a copy to our City Councilor with a request that the City clean up the mess, test the water quality of the stream, broaden the pathways, install another set of garbage and recycling bins, and provide increased police patrolling.

Our Counsilor attended our last CCA Executive meeting to report that he had visited the park with the head of City Parks and had had a crew in the next day to clean in up.

Wonderful.

Except that when I visited again all that had been picked up were the tires. Contacting the Councilor I discovered there were no plans to clean up the refuse, no plans to test the water quality, no plans install new garbage bins. The councilor talked vaguely of getting nearby residents together to pick up the litter.

I was thinking we would have to go on to more forceful measures, until I met Chuck Konkel. Chuck is the literary critic for the Globe and Mail Newspaper, Canada's national paper. He is also the bestselling author of two novels and an expert on urban terrorism who has appeared on such shows as Larry King. He is a serving officer with the Toronto Police where he is the liaison between the Chief and the Mayor. He is also intending to run as the Conservative candidate in our riding in the next election.

Chuck was telling me his strategy for getting elected was not to go door to door handing out pamphlets. He would rather be involved in doing things that would make a change in the community and cleaning up Deekshill was one of those projects that appealed to him. He admitted it had a certain drama, was the center of community concern, was small enough to be accomplished within a reasonable time frame and would earn him the gratitude of the community. It would get him known.

So I have agreed to meet with him at Starbucks this evening to discuss how the cleanup would be arranged.

Call me cynical, but we will see. At least I can probably get him to pay for the coffee.