Month: October 2013

Call it a Halloween Heatwave as a huge weather system gathers up Southern Ontario and large parts of the U.S. and Canada in unseasonably warm weather. The Weather Channel predicts that the witchy day itself will see a 17 degree warming.  But it’s going to be rainy on Thursday 

Robert Crump, the manager of Toronto Parks, has delivered the news that the Hodgson Public School outdoor rink will be shut down for a season beginning immediately. The rink dates back to 1980 and has been living on borrowed time.  It is the last of the city’s antiquated “direct ammonia” rinks and according to Crump repair personnel say they can’t be sure where the next ammonia leak will occur. They express fear for the pupils in Hodgson school next door. As legions of kids, hockey players and parents will know, the Davisville Ave rink is a popular spot. It has also been a challenge to get the Toronto District School Board to let the city do their work on TDSB property. According to Mr.Crump: “The City originally scheduled reconstruction of the rink in its 2005 capital plan and requested a 20 year renewal of the shared use agreement for the right to renovate and use the AIR located on TDSB property at 282 Davisville Avenue. TDSB did not take action on the proposal. We asked again in 2008, again to no avail. We asked again in February this year after we experienced a minor ammonia leak (the second in two years – one from a leaking pipe in the floor) and were advised it would cost over $50,000 to remove and replace the 6,000 lbs of ammonia in the system in order to replace the major valve that had failed and caused the leak. The refrigeration mechanics who work on our equipment expressed real fear that they didn’t know where the next issue was going to crop up and were concerned for both their safety and that of the public, particularly the children in the adjacent school. After much foot dragging on the part of the TDSB, and much prodding from parks staff, it appears we finally have their approval to extend our shared use for another 20 years. 

Here’s Sara from the Canadian Property Stars charity arm Charity Fundraising Events (CFE). The busy Sara was selling toys at Loblaws at Bayview and Moore Aves.  She seemed to be doing pretty well.  The Property Stars firm is, as the name hints, a property maintenance company. CFE says it donates 20% of net income from all product sales (in this case it was toys) to CPS chosen registered charities and 100% of all toys purchased and placed by customers in the on-site receptacles which are then donated to established holiday toy-collection charities. CPS has quite a pleasant story. One of their reasons for doing charity work is fun, they say. And also, as their website notes, the seasonal property maintenance industry is super-competitive and involves long, tiring days filled with hard labour, equipment issues and constant logistical challenges. Charity in the off season is an exciting way, they say, for staff to keep working without having to endure “the same wear-and-tear on their bodies that they go through each spring and summer.” Ouch.

All those tens of thousands of people whose lives are intertwined with Eglinton Public School will find the excellent album prepared by The Friends of Eglinton to be enormous fun. It is located on Facebook and is publicly available at the link below. At the right is a tiny portion of this charming collection of pictures of Eglinton P.S. as it celebrates its 100th year. These are kids from the Grade 3 and 4 split class of David Moscoe in 1962. The official centennial day was Saturday and we can only hope that the rain didn’t dampen spirits. In the photo collection are copies of a good conduct certificate given to worthy pupils. There are “progress reports” and nostalgic pictures of the original school which was demolished in 1996. The “last day of the old school” collection catches the spirit of fun at this venerable place of education at Eglinton and Mt. Pleasant. Here’s the link