Homeless possessions at Loring and Wyle Parkette

Toronto’s 21st Century park encampment phenomenon came with a pleasant reminder late Saturday of two Moore Park women who definitely made their way in life. Toronto Fire Service was called to the Frances Loring and Florence Wyle Parkette about 10.30 p.m. for an encampment fire. There among the exquisite works of the two sculptures were the possessions of a homeless soul. The fire wasn’t serious. And who knows what, if anything, your average park dweller thinks about Florence Wyle’s rendering of a manly war worker grabbing a gulp of water in grim working conditions so unlike the pleasant little parkette at the corner of St. Clair Ave and Mt. Pleasant Rd.

• Alexandra Park turned into Shantytown — and everyone’s to blame

Second outage in Toronto Sunday morning

A second outage occurred in Toronto Sunday morning, following about an hour after the first outage hit Sherwood Park and a small part of north Leaside. The second blackout was in the west-central area of the City west of Oakwood Ave. As recorded on the Toronto Hydro Outage Map, it was progressively repaired until all power was restored shortly before noon. At its largest, the outage was shown to have left more than 5,000 customers in the dark.

Residents of the Sherwood Park area and a small part of north Leaside stretching north from Eglinton to Broadway Ave. have regained electric power Sunday morning. As many as 500 households were affected about 8 a.m. The early morning blackout fits a pattern of Toronto Hydro failures in the early hours of the day. A large blackout hit residents of Leaside and Moore Park early Tuesday, May 25.

It will be uncomfortably hot in Toronto Saturday and Sunday with a warm week forecast to come. Temperatures are expected to top out at 33º C Saturday and 32º C Sunday.

A new study published in the Lancet medical journal says that people fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are likely to have more than five times lower levels of neutralizing antibodies against the Delta variant first identified in India compared to the original strain. The study also shows that levels of these antibodies are lower with increasing age, and that levels decline over time, providing additional evidence in support of plans to deliver a booster dose to vulnerable people. Yahoo News reports that experts caution that these findings don’t necessarily mean Pfizer’s vaccine won’t shield you at all from the Delta variant. More research needs to be done on exactly how antibodies correlate to immunity against the virus, as antibody levels alone do not indicate how effective a vaccine may be. NDTV Also Yahoo News

What appears to be family gathers to steal a Lexus in Davisville Village/FB

Video from a Google Nest doorbell camera has been posted on Facebook. It shows the theft of a Lexus in Davsivile Village by a man who appears to have brought his wife and offspring with him. Huh. The family that stays together. By noon Friday more than 60 readers have commented. FB

The ABC Residents Association has issued a supplemental bulletin that nails down the specific cause of the annoying whine being heard by people living in the vicinity of Pears Ave. Sadly, necessary parts for the repair seem to be stalled by the pandemic. Really.

ABCRA has received confirmation that the noise is indeed emanating from the Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) building on Pears Ave. City staff has provided us with more technical details around the noise, which is coming from the air conditioning units (chillers) on the roof of the TCHC building. The noise is due to the bearings constantly failing.
During the start-up of the chillers in April, their vendor, Major Air, confirmed that there is an issue causing the bearings to fail and run really loudly. They obtained a second opinion from another vendor who confirmed what Major Air found. It was agreed that Greenwin Inc., the company that manages TCHC units, would repair chiller #1 and TCHC’s vendor, Ambient Air, would repair chiller #2. Chiller #2 is currently shut off. Ambient Air removed one pump from chiller #2 on Friday, and they are in the process of repairing the pump.

The new pumps that Major Air ordered are ground faulting pumps. This will dissipate the charge and protect the bearings and pumps. The pumps for chiller #1 were ordered last week Tuesday, May 25th. Once the new pumps arrive from the US, chiller #1 will be shut down and the pumps will be replaced. Unfortunately TCHC Staff can’t provide an estimated time for the delivery of the pumps as international shipping for parts has been affected due to COVID. TCHC advised us that they will provide an update in two weeks’ time, but unfortunately cannot accelerate the repairs given that they are waiting for these parts that are critical for the necessary work to be carried out.
As soon as we receive further updates we will let you know.
ABCRA

The City will include a length of the Allen Expressway among weekend closures for the so-called ActiveTO program. It will be interesting to see who finds the pavement of the Allen recreational. Here’s part of the release.

ActiveTO expands to Allen Road in Toronto this Saturday

The City of Toronto will expand ActiveTO this Saturday to Allen Road to provide more space for people to get safely outside and get exercise.

This weekend’s ActiveTO routes will also include Lake Shore Boulevard East (roads within High Park and the ActiveTO Bayview on-street, multi-use trail). More than 1,500 parks are open for fresh air and physical activity across Toronto every day.

High temperatures are expected this weekend and residents planning to use ActiveTO routes are reminded to bring water in re-useable water bottles to stay hydrated and wear appropriate clothing.

This weekend’s ActiveTO locations include:

• Allen Road (northbound lanes only), between Eglinton Avenue West and Lawrence Avenue on Saturday, June 5 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. (access and exit from Lawrence Avenue and Allen Road only due to Eglinton Crosstown construction)
• Lake Shore Boulevard East (eastbound lanes only), between Leslie Street and Woodbine Avenue, on Saturday, June 5 at 6 a.m. until Sunday, June 6 at 9 p.m.
• Roads in High Park are closed to vehicles on weekends as part of ActiveTO. Vehicle access is restricted starting Friday at approximately 11 p.m. until Monday at 7 a.m.
• Bayview on-street, multi-use trail, between Mill Street and Rosedale Valley Road, is separated from vehicles and available for pedestrians and people riding bikes.

Elena Kampouris

Those who recall the impromptu singing performance by young Elena Kampouris at Loblaws at 301 Moore two years ago may wish to know that she is now appearing in the Netflix feature Jupiter’s Legacy. It was released in May. This may be the same show for which she was in town in 2019. It had a working title of Zeus. Clean cut Elena and her fellow players have a rating that includes sex, suicide, substances, language, gore and smoke. Such is Netflix.

Pears Ave.

Members of the ABC Residents Association in North Midtown have done a walkabout with a City of Toronto inspector in recent days to find the source of an annoying whine heard by many people. The ABCRA says that its investigation located the noise somewhere on Pears Ave. between Avenue Rd. and Bedford Rd. “Further investigations are being conducted to pinpoint the exact source, but there is little doubt that the noise is coming from a mechanical source such as a major HVAC system or gas generator and we are hopeful that within 48 hours the issue will be rectified to mitigate the effects.” The ABCRA is bounded by Yonge, Avenue, Bloor and the CPR tracks.

Here’s another of Sun writer Sue-Ann Levy’s accounts of life in a tent encampment in a Toronto park. This is at Alexandra Park on Bathurst St. It’s enlightening in many ways to hear street people talk. This man has plenty of complaints

FB account says there were firing squads at residential school

Some 75 comments have been recorded at this FB account written, it says, by an offspring of a residential school survivor. Among other things, it says kids died by firing squad. That’s a new accusation and who could verify such a thing?

China tells couples they can have three children

It’s deeply offensive no doubt for a state to tell people how many children they can have. And yet, in a country of more than a billion, you see where the thought springs.

Video has been posted on Facebook of someone driving at high speed down the sidewalk of Jameson Ave in the City’s central west end. The post says the driver was being pursued by police. Watch as one pedestrian takes cover behind a tree. The lunatic driver makes an ever so minor slowdown as he gets to King St, apparently to continue his rampage in the wrong lane. FB