The City has installed a left-turn signal at Merton Street for northbound traffic on Bayview Ave. Here we see workers shouting out test confirmations — “East West Green, Okay” and so on.
Minor personal injury accident at Bayview and Parkhurst
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Toronto Police Service operations (TPS Ops) has tweeted a minor personal injury accident at Bayview Ave. and Parkhurst Blvd. This was about 4.30 p.m. Traffic will slowed by the investigation at this tricky corner where movement is controlled by stop signs for vehicles on Parkhurst and Soudan Ave. and by the crosswalk. Not 100 percent effective or safe as traffic speeds along the Bayview curb lanes at rush hour with little or no visibility of the full intersection.
How others live: Indian women fight for safe sanitation
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Indian women must pay for toilet which men use for free
Nearly half of India’s population goes to the toilet in the open. Women find it particularly difficult because even if toilets are available, women must pay to use them whereas men can urinate for free. The government has voted to change this but change comes slowly. Some women have started a “right to pee” movement in India to put pressure on legislators. The United Nations says that 2.4 billion people do not have adequate sanitation and one billion people still defecate in the open. Women and girls risk rape and abuse because they have no toilet that offers privacy, it says.
Couple gives $50 milion to Toronto East General Hospital
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Berna and Myron Garron have donated $50 million to Toronto East General Hospital. In return, the hospital has named its main building the Michael Garron Hospital after the couple’s son who died in 1975 of a rare cancer CP24 Toronto Star
Berna Garron with her son as a toddler
Jr. Wildcats compete in Canada USA Cup in Kitchener
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Leaside Jr. Wildcats will take a break from play in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League this weekend to participate in the Canada USA Cup at the Kitchener Auditorium. Head coach Kim McCullough and the full team will be there as players from all over the continent face off in front of U.S. scouts and coaches looking for future stars. Jennifer Smith, President of the Leaside Hockey Association, says this is an assessment of the age group entering college/university in 2016 and 2017. Next home game for Leaside is Saturday, December 12, 2015 against the K-W Rangers at 7.40 p.m. The link to the Canada USA Cup website is here. Game schedule
Southvale plan said to “raise concerns beyond its scale”
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A meeting Wednesday night in the William Lea Room aired concerns about the proposal to build an eight storey “condominium-apartment” on the old Canada Catering site as well as on the small warehouse next door occupied by Gallery Sixtyeight Auctions. The two pieces of land are now known as 3&5 Southvale Drive. The property sits immediately beside the Leaside Memorial Gardens and at the end of uninterrupted row of two-storey and bungalow homes which stretch all the way to Mallory Crescent. The Southvale site is zoned in the same way as the homes — Neighborhood. The limit is four storeys. 3&5 Southvale will require Council to approve a change to Neighbourhood-Apartment.
JON BURNSIDE
Councillor Jon Burnside made a few opening remarks. He acknowledged the presence of developer Shane Baghai and his wife. Burnside said that the scale of the project was the smallest of the many proposed for Leaside in recent months but he had concerns about this project which went beyond the actual proposed size of 3&5 Southvale. It is planned for 98 units. The sense of some concern present was that the project might set a precedent which placed that long line of homes in jeopardy. (In past decades the technique of so-called blockbusting has been employed by developers. It involved the buying up of homes, letting them run down to make the purchase of others easier, and then applying for redevelopment — Ed)
ANDREW BIGAUSKAS
On behalf of the developer, architect Andrew Bigauskas spoke in warm terms of the design and amenities of 3&5 Southvale. He noted the five-storey seniors’ residence across Southvale on Millwood Rd. and suggested that it and his own proposal formed a suitable boundary for taller structures to the east of residential Leaside. A contentious issue for those who attend Leaside arena was the proposed use of the arena laneway as access to the condo parking garage. The plans call for a garage entrance at the rear of the building which would enclose the ramp to the 97-car garage. Many fear congestion as unit owners and arena patrons create gridlock in the narrow exit. A traffic consultant for the developer told the meeting studies suggested that a 98-unit building would generate cars leaving in the morning peak of about 35 cars an hour. These would be vehicles making a left hand turn onto the arena drive across two lanes of traffic. In the afternoon, it was estimated cars coming home might peak at 17. These vehicles would be making a right hand turn into the garage.
TAXES: Now it’s a City Building Fund for transit, housing
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John Tory is proposing a new tax to pay for housing and transit that will cost taxpayers an additional 0.5 per cent per year on their property tax for five years beginning in 2017. The mayor’s City Building Fund proposal, which will charge Toronto taxpayers an additional 0.5 per cent per year for five years, would have to win council approval before going into effect. CBC
Sneaky, creepy kid is a master of light-fingered theft
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This video has been posted on the 53 Division Facebook page as a warning to everyone, especially older folks, about the type of light-fingered larceny at work here. The video is from a distant Franco-German place by the look of the signs. Maybe Strasbourg, where French always precedes the German on signs.
Auditor General finds government that can’t shoot straight
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Bonnie Lysyk
Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk has delivered a hair-raising report on the many things that don’t work in Ontario. Altogether, she finds a government that can’t shoot straight. It must be said the Ontario government is enormous, but what good is that if there are frequent power blackouts, faulty school buses, uninspected nursing homes and lurking child molesters. The government may be grateful at least that Ms. Lysyk didnt comment, apparently, on the quality of the cabinet’s decision-making. Did it make any sense to sell off part of Hydro One? That sort off thing. CBC
Shane Baghai condo on agenda at Lea Room tonight
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Shane Baghai
As noted in previous posts, there will a meeting tonight (Wednesday, December 2, 2015) beginning at 7 p.m. at the Leaside Arena to provide community consultation about a planned condominium at 3&5 Southvale Drive. The address is immediately to the west of the entrance to the arena and includes two low-rise business properties which were purchased by the developer Shane Baghai. A known issue exists around the developer’s intention to use the driveway into the arena as the main entrance to the condominium underground garage. The scheme appears to represent an overloading of the driveway, which is City property, and a bottleneck for people entering and leaving the arena at busy times. History
Zuckerberg will live on $450 million, give rest away
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Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg will give away 99 per cent of his Facebook stocks, a $450 billion fortune to celebrate the birth of his daughter Chan over U.S. Thanksgiving. That will leave he and his wife Priscilla with $450 million worth of stocks to make do on. There aren’t too many details but Zuckerberg is part of the brotherhood of rich men like Bill Gates who have pledged to give away much of their fortunes to many good causes. One of them is figuring out the renewable energy challenge. Queenie Wong, San Jose Mercury
City will convert Comfort Inn to shelter for older men
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Executive Committee at Toronto Council has decided to buy the Comfort Inn East motel on Kingston Road and convert to what will be known as the Birchmount Men’s Shelter. Resistance to the idea has been strenuous in the area around the motel. The shelter will house 120 men all over 55 years. “The headline of our concerns is not that we don’t want it, it is that we don’t want it because we’re supporting enough (assisted housing) already,” said area resident Tom Moloney is quoted by CP24. “The issue is the placement of a large social housing project for needy people in a small footprint when there is so much else in the neighbourhood.”