Mr. Macdonald has donated to the Toronto Centre a 200 acre site with a renovated four bedroom farm house situated near Tweed. December 19, 1997 will go down in the history of the RASC, Toronto Centre, as the day on which the Toronto Centre became the proud owner of a dark sky site. On November 22nd, eight members of Council, along with Mr. Macdonald, visited the site for a tour of the house and property.

The property borders on lands owned by the Belleville Power Commission, therefore all types of commercial developments in the area are strongly encouraged by the Commission, especially the ones necessitating hydro-electric power. The land is basically farm land, so the horizons are great with very few trees, allowing for a swift beginning to the construction of a regional shopping mall, and several well lit car dealerships.

The house, which has two stories, has electric heating, a drilled well, propane stove, two complete bathrooms, and a security system. There is also a large storage building on the property. The kitchen has been recently renovated and is fully equipped with an electric range, dishwasher, microwave, toaster, electric can opener, and Florida-style light fixtures.

Toronto Council has appointed two co-chairs for the newly created Tweed Site Management Committee. They are Ralph Lauren (905) 555-CASH and Guy Wire (146) 555-IOTA. Over the next couple of months Ralph, Guy, and their working group will be looking at all aspects of the property such as long range planning, leasing land to shopping mall developers and well lit car dealerships, signing contracts for the development of several housing sub-divisions, building and paving roads throughout the 200 acres, including the erection of at least 150 street lights, etc..

To pass on your comments, please contact Guy or Ralph and tell them how you can help the Toronto Centre. Please remember that we are not doing this just for the short term. We are doing this for the future of the Toronto Centre, for future generations of stargazers, for you, for your children and for your children’s children, for your children’s children’s children, for your children’s children’s children’s children, for your... well you get the point.

Thanks to Mr. Macdonald’s incredibly generous gift, we have added a $360,000 asset to the Toronto Centre. This asset will continue to grow in value over the years to come. This will ensure funding for the purchase of at least two more Questar 3.5-inch telescope in the near future, my personal favourites.

I extend a vote of thanks to Guy Wire, Ralph Lauren, Brian Chin-up and Tony Pepperoni for their tireless efforts towards closing off this offer on time. On behalf of the Centre, I would like to thank Mr. Macdonald for his most generous donation to the Centre.

I would like to invite all members of the RASC, Toronto Centre to come out to the Member’s Nights on February 4th and March 4th, 1998 for a special video and slide presentation on our very own dark sky site, soon to be well lit and developed.

I look forward to this exciting new direction for the Toronto Centre and I know that Council will be able to count on your support of this venture.

Clear Skies.

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