They’re tweeting a big Woo-Hoo from Davisville Public School office Wednesday to herald the forthcoming Junior Kindergarten Open House. It’s 6.30 to 7.30 February 7, 2017.
Electoral reform ad – Canada.ca
Ads asking “What do you think of Canada’s democracy” are appearing today on websites like The South Bayview Bulldog. It is part of the Liberal government’s sly back-down from thoroughgoing reform of the venerable first-past-the-post rule (or ranked ballots) promised by Mr. Trudeau during the election campaign. It also permits a quiet bypass of proportional voting, a means by which one-issue parties could get more representation in the House of Commons. Traditionalists tend to reject proportionality somewhat more strongly than they do the idea of ranked ballots. Write to us if you have an informed opinion.
Star writer Betsy Powell says Wednesday that Mayor John Tory will announce that he is recommending private garbage pick up in Scarborough, the City’s collection district 4. The report recommends that collection between Yonge St. and Victoria Park Ave. remain in the hands of City employees, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Powell says Tory will be backed by a staff report that’s expected to recommend the City focus privatization efforts on District 4 while leaving District 3 (Toronto and East York) including the downtown as it is. Tory will make the announcement in Councillor Stephen Holyday’s Ward 3 in Etobicoke, where a mix of service providers has been collecting garbage since 1995. The City of Toronto is divided into four districts for daytime residential curbside collection. Districts 1 and 2 use private-sector workers, districts 3 and 4 use unionized City workers. In 2015, it cost $19.7 million to haul garbage in District 3 and $14 million in District 4, according to a staff report.
A home on Park Lane Circle in Toronto was badly damaged overnight by a 4-alarm fire. The family escape unhurt after calling in the fire. The scene is near Lawrence and Bayview Aves. The Office of the Fire Marshal has been notified due to the damage, which is estimated to be at least $500,000. Firefighters told CBC Toronto that they were, at one point, pumping over 10,000 litres of water every minute through the roof of the home from two trucks and many smaller hoses working at ground level.
3rd Alarm – Park Lane Circle #Toronto. Fire in a large mansion @TPFFA all crews working. Flames through roof. pic.twitter.com/uzfL6Mrber
— Tony Smyth (@LateNightCam) January 11, 2017
It’s good to have your CAA membership in order if you decide to show off by driving out onto the ice of Lake Ontario. Tuesday a Jeep driver “trying to impress” a passenger sunk his vehicle into the water and it was hung up on ice as well. It took more than two hours to pull the stranded vehicle from two-feet of water at Cherry Beach. This video was shot by Corrine Sutej. It’s not clear what her role was in this adventure.
@TPS51Div. I happened to take a video:) pic.twitter.com/E2nw1uBaXe
— Corinne Sutej (@CakePopLane) January 10, 2017
Snapchat is planning to open a European base in London in a move hailed as a huge “vote of confidence” in Brexit Britain. The American firm that owns the photo-sharing app Snap Inc has vowed to pay U.K. corporation tax on its international profits in a move that is highly unusual in the tax-averse tech world. In New York, the Canadian apparel-maker Gildan has paid $88 million U.S. at auction for the name and design rights of the bankrupt teen retailer American Apparel. Gildan is based in Montreal. And Clare Hollingworth has died at 105 some 78 after she hustled herself to the German border in 1939 and got the scoop of a lifetime. Hollingworth was able to report first to the world that the Nazis had invaded Poland. She was only 27 at the time and went on to have a long career with the Daily Telegraph.
Mayor Tory and other City officials rolled out a multi-pronged program to try to eliminate pedestrian traffic deaths in Toronto Tuesday. The program is called the Vision Zero Safety Road Plan. It is a multinational concept which ratchets up physical changes to the streets and combines them with intense instructional advocacy. It also promises more moving-violation fines for drivers who try to skip through red lights. Vision Zero Safety comes with a video too (below). It cites six “emphasis areas”. These are pedestrians, school children, older adults, cyclists, motorcyclists and aggressive driving and distraction. There’s no mention of joggers or ordinary safe drivers as players in this road safety program.
SENIOR SAFETY ZONES
Among the more practical ideas are so-called Senior Safety Zones. The City has chosen 12 intersections (below) at which among other things the times allowed for crossing on a green light will be lengthened to permit the elderly a better chance for crossing. In total, times will be lengthened at 50 intersections. It is an eminently sensible idea and many will wonder why all crossing times cannot be lengthened. Seniors are everywhere and at places like Bayview Ave. and Manor Rd they get all of 15 seconds to cross on a Walk signal. The Vision Zero program also calls for more red light cameras and lowering speed limits. These are more or less okay as safety measures but they cannot improve upon physical conditions which protect older people as they cross. This isn’t an easy job to be sure but it isn’t a coincident that many of the seniors zone are on high-speed four and six lane thoroughfares where it is perilous to cross, especially at night. The locations of the seniors safety zones are as follows:
Rosedale Valley Blvd temporarily closed. Pickup collision with lamp post. #57408 ^vk
— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) January 10, 2017
The snow has turned to rain in most parts of South Bayview as the temperature creeps up to an overnight predicted high of 4 celsius. Some of the precipitation is falling with a soft clickety-clack that means it is more like light sleet. Wednesday is predicted to have a high of 4 and Thursday a high of 3 before temps head down again. Winds will be gusty tonight.
NO INJURIES
The southbound DVP at Eglinton Avenue has reopened after multiple cars, including a school bus, spun out, Toronto police say. Six vehicles and the school bus spun out around 2 p.m., with some vehicles ending up in a ditch.
Marie Bates with children at the Principal’s Club
If you are a Lawrence Park resident, with children or thinking about having children, chances are you have familiarized yourself with school options in the area. My name is Marie Bates and I am proud to count myself, and my school, Children’s Garden School on Eglinton, as part of the North Toronto educational community for 30 years.
As Principal of CGS and mother of three children, I have been dedicated to being an educator for as long as I can remember. In fact, as a child, well before I was a mother or a Principal, I was offering classes for neighbourhood children on my front porch! Being both an educator and a mother has given me my life’s purpose and profession, all rolled into one. Learning about children, supporting children and teaching children have given my days shape and continue to inform everything I have come to know about what it means to be human. An average primary school day is a microcosm of the life challenges we all face, adult or child, and I have always felt that being a teacher, and working directly with children on a day-to-day basis, provides a profound opportunity for learning of all kinds.
I have gleaned many things about how to be an effective teacher and Principal over the years. Building a strong curriculum, providing a comfortable environment and creating meaningful events for families to take part in, all make for a strong school. But I can honestly say, after all these years, that I have come to place the value of a caring staff above all other considerations. By ‘caring’ I don’t just mean being warm and welcoming to children, although this is obviously essential. The idea of caring must go much deeper. Teachers must combine their professional knowledge of child development with empathy and apply what they know and feel to any and every child that walks through their doors. Empathy for children, and by extension their parents, can never be underestimated. When a child and family are truly supported, through whatever challenges they are facing, wonderful things can happen. It’s been said that when children and families are successful, society is successful. I believe this to be absolutely true and keenly feel the responsibility of assembling a staff that can support parents and children in the most positive ways possible.
I have seen so many families through the doors at CGS and witnessed the development of many children. It has been the privilege of a lifetime to contribute to their lives. In my 30th anniversary year at CGS, I want to take this opportunity to thank the community for supporting the school. I also want to thank my exceptional staff for helping me to build a progressive, responsive school. I look forward to many more years in the community.
Marie Bates
Principal
Children’s Garden School
Chrystia Freeland has been appointed Canada’s minister of foreign affairs as the Prime Minister made a substantial cabinet change Wednesday. She is the member for University Rosedale (and Moore Park). Political veterans know that a first-term cabinet is subject to a winnowing of the many unknowns and political creditors in it. Mary Ann Mihychuck is among the former and her new task is to simply be an MP. Stephane Dion, to whom the Liberals owe much, has been made ambassador to the European Union and Germany. Ms. Freeland leaves the international trade portfolio and replaces Dion. Immigration Minister John McCallum is also leaving politics and will be named Canada’s ambassador to China. A Toronto name, Adam Vaughan, does not appear in news reports so far Tuesday. The apparently ambitious Mr. Vaughan was overlooked in the first Trudeau cabinet as well, notwithstanding his feat of defeating Olivia Chow in Spadina-Fort York. Other changes announced today:
An overnight weather travel advisory predicts accumulations near 10 cm Tuesday. Snow will change to rain near noon over extreme southwestern Ontario, and late this afternoon over the Greater Toronto Area. Brief freezing rain is possible in some areas during the changeover from snow to rain. There may be a significant impact to the morning commute and possibly the afternoon one as well for regions where the change to rain occurs later. Untreated roads may become snow covered and slippery. Motorists should plan for extra time to reach their destination today. Winds will increase early this evening with widespread gusts to 80 km/h likely. Stronger wind gusts to 90 km/h are expected in some regions near Lake Huron and Lake Erie where a wind warning is in effect. Toronto school board and Catholic school buses are running today although there may be weather related delays
