Cycle Toronto, Toronto Police Service and the personal injury law firm of McLeish Orlando will run an awareness  program called Get Lit which will flag down unlit cyclists in the hope of educating them on the importance of staying visible and providing them with a free set for a safe ride home. The sites will be held successive weeks on busy streets as follows: Tuesday, October 13, 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. – Boulton Drive Parkette; Tuesday, October 20, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. – Toronto Public Library at College and Shaw; Tuesday, October 27, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. – Prince Edward Viaduct Parkette

$110 FOR NO LIGHT

The Ministry of Transportation has recently increased the set fine for improper lighting of a bicycle from $20 to $110. From half an hour before sunset to half an hour after sunrise, Ontarians must have a front white light and either a rear red reflector or rear red light on their bicycle. Ontarians riding bicycles also need to be lit when it’s dark due to rain, fog, or snow. “Improving road safety and traffic flow is one of our goals in support of and commitment to safe communities and neighbourhoods” said Superintendent Gord Jones, Unit Commander of Traffic Services. “Traffic safety is the responsibility of everyone who uses our roadways, and active transportation continues to grow in the city every day. The safety of cyclists and other road users in the city of Toronto is very important to us. We are pleased to be in partnership with our colleagues at Cycle Toronto on this innovative and important campaign.”  Also participating are bike shops Urbane Cyclist Worker’s Co-op and Sweet Pete’s Bike Shop.  For more information, please contact Jared Kolb, Executive Director of Cycle Toronto at 416-644-7188.

A visitation will be held tomorrow (Tuesday, October 13, 2015) at the Heritage Funeral Home, 50 Overlea Blvd., for Andrea Christidis. She was killed last week  when a car drove over a sidewalk on the University of  Western Ontario campus  She was a 2014-2015 graduate of Leaside High School and at the time of her death was enrolled in the Health Sciences program at Western.

REMEMBERS ANDREA

Among the many condolences published at the Heritage site is one from Kathy Botteas who recalls that her daughter Francesca attended LHS with Andrea noting “we had the pleasure of seeing her proud, smiling, beautiful face as a graduate in our home for the LHS pre prom festivities. That memory will stay with me forever.” News story 

Andrea Christidis, Jared DeJong, accident scene

The family of Andrea Christidis has issued a statement following her traffic death in in London, Ontario last week. The girl was struck by an out of control car driven by Jared DeJong. He has been charged with impaired driving and related charges. See previous story  Here is the statement.

“The family and loved ones of Andrea Maria Christidis, a first-year Health Sciences student at the University of Western Ontario in London, are heartbroken and deeply saddened to confirm that she was struck by a driver who has been charged with impaired driving offences as the result of an incident which occurred Wednesday evening, October 7th, at approximately 10:10 pm. Andrea was struck by a vehicle as she walked on a sidewalk on the University campus, returning to her nearby dorm from a study lab. Andrea came under the observation and care of the CCTU unit at Victoria Hospital in London. Her family expresses its deepest gratitude to all of the nurses, doctors, and support staff who provided compassionate care and comfort to Andrea and her family. Many, many members of her family and friends as well as local London Greek Orthodox Priest, Father Elias, were at her side at the time of her passing on Friday Oct 9th. Andrea recently graduated from Leaside High School in Toronto with an Honours Diploma in both French and English. She was extremely proud to begin her studies in Health Sciences and was excited to have chosen Western. She had aspirations of pursuing her dreams of a career in the medical field. Andrea was a kind, compassionate and loving human being. She was deeply loved, as reflected by the outpouring of condolences, sympathies and prayers from all those that she touched. Her beautiful smile, kind soul and infectious spirit will be missed. May her memory be eternal. The family condemns the scourge of impaired driving and requests privacy as the family grieves its tragic loss.”

This Thanksgiving South Bayview residents can do something real to express their gratitude for the wonderful life that most of us have. That’s because two days after Thanksgiving, the Northlea School Blood Donor Clinic will be held. It is chance for all healthy residents to do something good. It is a special opportunity for teens 17 and over to do the good deed of their young lives. Think about it 

Ontario doctors are chaffing under the pressure of government cuts as it tries to manage the provincial debt, now nearly 292 billion and growing. Each resident’s share is said to be $21,258. Medical fees have been cut twice this year and the Ministry of Health has dictated other restrictions such a the number of times a patient may see a specialist for preventive procedures. Many may discount the concern of this well paid profession but it cannot be denied that family doctors, earning perhaps $200,000 a year, work very hard. Spectator 

It’s all quite clear to everyone, we’re sure.Each of us should be self-snapped eating breakfast. It looks a bit awkward though. IBN

This is an extraordinary sequence from WCBS in New York of a mean-minded drunk driver. The woman smashes her Honda CRV head on into a car with a mother and two daughters in it. Then she backs up and does it again. Wild stuff.

This was the scene in the basement of McDowell’s Valumart as children filled food bags for donation to the Daily Bread Food Bank. This annual good work is organized under the auspices of Sarah’s Food Drive in Leaside and area  Sarah Jordan and her sister Claire along with many friends gather food, collect donations and then prepare the bags with the help of parents and sponsors for pick up by Daily Bread. Watch as the kids carry first a frozen turkey, then get canned cranberry sauce, corn, grab a box of stuffing and jellied dessert before depositing the bag in a huge container. Realtor Patrick Rocca, seen in the video, is the sponsor of this event along with Chad McDowell. They both make a large donation to the cost. Of course Sarah and Claire’s parents, Mark Jordan and Linda DeBono were there as was Councillor Jon Burnside. There  are many local business helping the drive. There are 22 such public-spirited firms named here on the  Sarah’s website 

Adelaide, Sarah and Claire accept a donation outside McDowell’s Valumart

Sarah’s Food Drive on behalf of the Daily Bread Food Bank is underway at the parking lot just outside the front door of McDowell’s Valumart on Bayview Ave (Saturday, October 10, 2015). Shoppers can make a contribution and/or buy a can or two of food for delivery to Daily Bread. A barbecue will feed as many as ask beginning at noon and there will be cotton candy too from the well-known candy machine of Councillor Jon Burnside. Councillor Josh Matlow will be there too. Sounds good.

Jack Dorsey is planning is planning company-wide layoffs next week, sources say. It’s unclear how much of the staff will be let go from Twitter but some said the focus will be on engineers. It is believed the firings will fall across all departments.  Remarkably, Twitter has about 4,100 employees, more than double the roughly 2,000 employees it had in 2013 just before its IPO.

TWITTER TWERPS

Twitter’s user base has grown less than 50 percent in that time. The reorg also aligns with what Dorsey has been preaching for the last four months: That Twitter needs to be more focused — easier to use.  It would be nice if they could blow away the angry and abusive Twitter twerps too.  Just saying.

A tanker driver on the New Jersey Turnpike swerved to miss a mattress and box spring that flew off the top of a cargo van. It landed directly in front of the tanker and from a dash cam on a following truck we can see it all happen. Some lessons to be learned here.