Leaside residents are invited to celebrate their home by walking tomorrow (Saturday, May 7, 2016)  Two Jane’s Walk events named in the honour of the late urbanologist Jane Jacobs will be held. The first begins at 10 a.m. starting from the public library at 165 McRae Drive. It will last 90 minutes and will be led by Geoff Kettell and Connor Turnbull. Information describing the walk notes that Leaside was laid out in 1913 by the landscape architect Frederick Gage Todd who based his design on the Garden City principles which are best exemplified by Letchworth in England. The Garden City is said to differ from suburbs in that along with curvilinear tree-lined streets, public green spaces, and cohesive streetscapes, they also include an industrial area to provide employment and commercial streets for convenient shopping. It says that when people walk through Leaside today they see it as a neighbourhood of Toronto. But the walk will ask what is the experience when one examines Leaside through the lens of the Garden City framework as a designed landscape?

PREMIER WYNNE WALK ON LAIRD

The second walk is one-hour long and starts at 4 p.m. It will be led by none other than the Premier Kathleen Wynne (Don Valley West). This walk will find its way from the Premier’s constituency office, 795 Eglinton Ave. E. and proceed down Laird Drive exploring the residential, industrial and commercial mix to be seen. Notes produced for this walk comment on the need to strike the right balance in planning and land use on Laird. The Premier will have with her community-builder Jane Farrow and urban designer Joe Lobko.  Along the way the group will discuss pedestrian safety, local history, complete streets and design solutions. Below are seen a group of walkers who did Jane’s Walk on Friday, May 6, 2016. 

The Labour Party is claiming victory for Sadiq Khan as the first Muslim mayor of London.  Late Friday night the result is not yet formally has yet. But Khan has received 44.2% of first preference votes to Conservative Party candidate Zac Goldsmith’s 35.6%. Second preference votes are now being counted with Khan set to pass the crucial 50% mark when they are added in, according to the BBC. Khan, 45, is the son of a bus driver from Pakistan.  Khan was the bookmakers’ favorite to succeed flamboyant American-born Mayor Boris Johnson.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Toronto for a decree a great day for the TTC — an $840,000 day in fact — and a political bon-bon for the government.  Mr. Trudeau has maintained a stunning pace at home and around the world since becoming Prime Minister six months ago. This time it was money to repair the gritty bits of urban transit  — track signals, old buses and streetcars — that sort of thing. At the TTC’s Greenwood Works Yard, he announced the funding for ongoing maintenance work.

People all across South Bayview and Canada are opening up their hearts and wallets to help 80,000 of their countrymen and women — burned out residents of Fort McMurray. Here at home people are calling the Red Cross and giving at the Loblaws checkout (above) as well as other stores. Loblaws says it has collected $120,000 from customers so far and that figure is old. The food store itsef has donated $300,000 and the chartered banks are giving $100,000 each. Walmart has willingly forked over $500,000. CTV reports that the Peter and Melanie Munk foundation has offered a million dollars.The Red Cross says all of this generosity so far adds up to $30 million, a figure that will be matched by federal and provincial governments in an amount of $90 million. And this is in the first awareness of the size of the destruction in and around Fort McMurray. The Alberta government says it will start handing out $1,250 per adult evacuee and $500 per dependent, in order to help them deal with what Premier Rachel Notley called “the immediate challenges: food and shelter.” The program is expected to cost about $100 million. But Canadians are warned to beware of the ruthless criminals who will try to collect money without credentials and with no intention of sending it forward to help others.

FORT MCMURRAY MAYOR ELOQUENT IN THANKS

The mayor of the Regional City of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, has been eloquent in her thanks to Canadians for their help.

A construction crane was maneuvering around the site of the new Upper House Condominiums at Laird Drive and Millwood Rd Friday morning. Tricky.

A straight shooter by any definition was honoured by police today (Friday, May 6, 2016). Bus driver Daniel Clavette $50,000 and a passport left behind by a  man who was rattled by his mother death. on a TTC bus. It happened on the 11 Bellamy bus just after 7 p.m. on Monday. “My initial reaction was like wow. I didn’t expect to see this amount of money,” Clavette said. It has to be said that no one however should be lugging $50,000 around in a knapsack.

Would you do what this #TTC driver did to get this commendation from TO Police? Found & returned $50k!! @680NEWS pic.twitter.com/v045hHGOaZ

— Mark Douglas (@DouglasCityNews) May 6, 2016

The scenic and educational Jane’s Walks through Leaside known as “Leaside: A Garden City Revealed” are set to go Friday, May 6th at 1 p.m. and Saturday May 7 at 10 a.m. Led by Geoff Kettel & Connor Turnbull, the starting point is the public library at 165 McRae Drive and the walk will take approximately 1.5 hours. More

A bride from Alberta has wept at the generosity of Torontonians who offered to give her a wedding dress after her own gown was destroyed in the fires sweeping Fort McMurray. Elise Boissoneult says she is overwhelmed by the outpouring of support she’s received from strangers.  “You don’t expect this to happen and then for people to put out this much love and support… it’s crazy,” Ms. Boissonneult told CBC as she picked out a dress at Lea-Ann Belter Bridal at 238 Broadview Ave.

Truck driver Tim Gordon was a witness to an attempted U-turn at high speed on Highway 27 north of Highway 401 Thursday.. Sadly, the author of the illegal move apparently did not see the car speeding along in the outside lane. The U-turn driver turned into the path of the other vehicle and sent it careering out of control. The car comes back into the embankment at right angles and rolls over. Now everyone is a witness to this because Gordon’s dashboard camera caught it all on video. The driver had a bloody nose possibly from the airbag deployment but otherwise seemed okay, Gordon said.

The LCBO property on Lakeshore Blvd. has sold to Menkes Developments Ltd. for $240 million. It appears a partnership including Menkes, Greystone Managed Investments and Triovest Realty Advisors will propose a 24-storey office tower that will house a new LCBO head office and a large liquor store, commercial space, a “residential community” and a public park. The government says it is putting net proceeds from the sale toward infrastructure projects. Menkes says construction on the office tower will start in the fall of next year and is expected to be complete in early 2021.

A woman seriously hurt in the collapse of scaffolding at the demolition site of the former House of Chan will take legal action against the City, Metrolinx and the demolition company. Her name is Hannah Somerset, 66, as provided by her lawyer, Ryan Murray. Mr. Murray said Ms. Somerset suffered a head injury, fractures in both legs and feet, a spinal fracture and a large laceration on her left foot. 7 hurt as demolition for Crosstown LRT falls onto Eglinton 

 

 

Several homes under construction have been destroyed by fire in northeast Brampton. The housing complex is in the area of McVean and Countryside Drives.