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As everyone is saying, it had to happen. A driver has been caught with a dummy in the passenger’s seat on the Gardiner Expressway eastbound in a sacred Pan Am Games HOV lane. Horrors. Well, perhaps he shouldn’t have done it. But the imposition being placed on the drivers of Toronto by the provincial government in the name of sports (for heaven’s sake) is offensive to say the least. One would think the army was being moved to defend us against the Russians. We are all being treated like dummies by an officious bureaucracy that has whipped up the police to ticket people (of course) for using their own highways. Mayor Tory begged the government to stop the madness but has now fallen silent one supposes in the face of his obdurate provincial superiors

CBC’s Natalie Kalata puts you straight. Dos and Don’t include very few Dos, except maybe paying.

York Region cops say there was “gaming” going on at the Moka cafe in a back room. Some dice and cards with your espresso, it seems. Whatever, it was a deadly combination June 24 when a man (inset) walked into shop and starting shooting. Maria Voci, 47, the owner of the shop, and Christopher de Simone, 24, both of Vaughan, were pronounced dead at the scene on Islington Ave. just south of Hwy. 7. Two other people were sent to hospital, but they have since been released.

The Ontario government has called a review of the City of Toronto Act of 1998 which merged the five communities of Metropolitan Toronto into one big City. If you hadn’t noticed this decision, it isn’t surprising. As former East York Mayor Alan Redway says in a release this week, he has not yet seen a single mention of  this story in the media. The window to participate is tiny and it comes in the dead of summer. Mr. Redway said feels sure that Premier Kathleen Wynne is not aware of this since it is completely out of character with her belief in accessible local government but it is a glaring example of  remote government in action which reinforce the divisions in our city.

The timing is unfortunate to say the least for those who hoped the wisdom of amalgamation would be given a proper airing. The release was July 2, 2015 and the window for calls for written submissions will close on Friday, August 7, 2015. Is this a quick summer kiss-off or what? There will  be no public hearings and as Redway says: “This was not the form of provincial public review that was conducted every 10 years from 1953 to 1997 but apparently as in the name of an old movie This is as good as it gets. There will be no public hearings only written submissions that must be made by mail or email with the name and complete postal address of the sender if it is to be considered.”

SUBMISSIONS BY EMAIL

East York yoga instructor Cheryl Vanderburg (inset) is on her Twitter account these days trying to get Toronto Hydro to clean up the graffiti-marred street box outside the little strip mall at Millwood Rd and Sutherland Drive. Her suggestion is to “wrap” or by whatever method clean up the box that seems to sit directly in front of Fix It Again Sam. That would give it the nice leafy finish like the one seen at the right. Cheryl’s handle is @LeasideLitter, a tip-off to her interest in cleaner streets.

This is a news release from the Fraser Institute on studies it has done with respect to de-amalgamation. This subject has a considerable interest in Toronto. Former East York Mayor and Member of Parliament Alan Redway is campaigning for a review by the provincial government of a the amalgamation created in 1998.  

(Marketwired) — 07/07/15 — Municipalities forced to amalgamate by their provincial governments can reverse the process, given the right set of circumstances, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

“Nearly every province in Canada has gone through some form of municipal restructuring over the past three decades,” said Lydia Miljan, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of De-Amalgamation in Canada: Breaking Up is Hard to Do.

“In Ontario, it happened in the late 1990s in

ntreal, Quebec – to evaluate the fiscal and governance implications of reversing a municipal consolidation.

Headingley, a rural community in southern Manitoba, was forcibly amalgamated with the City of Winnipeg in 1972. For decades, community residents demanded that they be allowed to secede, arguing that they didn’t have much in common with the larger, more urban sections of the city. Finally, in 1993 the provincial government relented and legislated Headingley’s secession.

Despite some difficult separation negotiations, Headingley has now become a financially healthy community.

Headingley’s relatively smooth transition, the study notes, was aided by two key

factors: Its population base was able to absorb the cost of services transferred to it and its de-amalgamation didn’t necessitate the creation of new and complex governing structures.

Conversely, the de-amalgamation experience in Montreal may persuade some Torontonians – those who want to revert to the old governance model – to take pause.

In 2004, a new provincial government in Quebec facilitated referenda offering municipalities the opportunity to reverse the amalgamation forced upon them in 2002. In Montreal, many municipalities opted to stay but some did leave forcing the creation of yet another level of local government to coordinate local services (ie: property assessments, social housing, transit and public safety) for all communities (amalgamated and de-amalgamated) on the Island of Montreal.

“The key lesson from Montreal’s experience with de-amalgamation is that allowing certain areas to de-amalgamate and others to stay can create a costly, cumbersome and fragmented patchwork of government across the region thus complicating service delivery,” Miljan said.

“If de-amalgamation were to be pursued in Toronto, then policy makers would be best advised to avoid the Montreal model.”

Toronto Police seeking are thieves who stole a 1977 Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup ring and a 1993 Toronto Blue Jays World Series ring from a home in the Kingsway. The value of jewellery stolen is set at near $500,000.

A 1977 Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup ring similar to the one stolen

A 1993 Toronto Blue Jays World Series ring similar to the one stolen

Thorncliffe Park Tennis Club at 15 Leaside Park Drive will hold its Wimbledon tennis breakfast this Sunday (July 12, 2015) at 9 a.m.featuring traditional strawberries and cream. Oh yes, everyone will also watch the Men’s Final on television. There is, as Social Director Julie Campbell says in mail to tennis devotees, a full agenda for the day.:

• 9 a.m.:  Men’s final on TV
• 11 a.m.: Round Robin with Tennis Pro Brad Lingeman
• 12:30 p.m.: Silent Auction Ends

As well, the day will see the Ontario Tennis Association (OTA) Smash Cage so players can practice their serve. Sporting Life will also be on site to do racquet demonstrations. There will be a be Silent Auction with “really great items” such as a Rogers Cup Tennis Package, Toronto Maple Leafs Memorabilia Package and Blue Jay Tickets. Also contributing  Sporting Life, Starbucks, Amsterdam Brewery and others  Funds raised will go towards the club’s court resurfacing that is taking place in August. Everyone must wear WHITE (or as close as you can manage) to show your Wimbledon spirit. As well as strawberries and cream there will be fruit, muffins, coffee and juice.  The event is free for members; $10 for non-members.  RSVP please to info@tptc.ca.

Amaya at 1701 Bayview Ave. will close for good at the end of July following the restaurant promotional event known as Summerlicious. Although the name will be gone, owner Hemant Bhagwani, in announcing the closure at the north-block location, said it will be re-made into something else. We shall see. The Amaya takeout shop next to Alex Cheese will remain for the time being it seems.