Mountains of mulch from December ice storm

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Toronto is on a crusade to clean up the last of the branches and downed trees from December’s ice storm. The hidden centre of a lot of activity is in Wilket Creek Park at the end of the southerly roadway that terminates more or less under Eglinton Ave. E. There one can find mountains of branches and tree trunks, They are being progressively chewed up by an industrial-size chipping machine. These pictures are from the recent visits of Leaside naturalist Rudy Limeback. The mulch is carted to parks, cemeteries and anywhere else the City can think of to help it grow new vegetation. Below is an earlier post detailing instructions on how to clean up your property and get the material taken away. The City of Toronto is urging residents to clean up as much of the leftover brush and tree branches from December’s ice storm. Wood debris will be removed by the regular leaf and yard waste collection crews on the next pickup day. Get the stuff out there by 7a.m. The diameter of branches must not be larger than 7.5 centimetres (3 inches). For limbs, trunks and stumps that exceed this accepted size, residents must make arrangements with a private company specializing in handling this type of waste. For City collection, branches must be put out in small bundles no longer than 1.2 metres (4 feet) in length and 0.6 metres (2 feet) in width. The maximum height for yard waste containers is 95 centimetres (37 inches) and each container cannot weigh more than 20 kilograms (40 pounds). Kraft paper bags are acceptable containers. The City will not pick up yard waste set out in plastic bags or cardboard boxes. If residents see large fallen limbs from public trees located on public property, they may call 311 to report it, the City advises.

Class action against Visa, MC, banks to go ahead

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Mary Watson’s class action suit against the way credit card companies write their agreements with merchants has been certified by the B.C. Supreme Court. Ms. Watson is a long-time furniture retailer in Vancouver. She says that Visa, MasterCard and the major banks are engaged in a “civil conspiracy” against merchants. They do that by forcing retailers to pay higher transaction fees on premium cards, while preventing them from charging extra to cover the cost. Watson says this amounts to the card companies and banks improperly interfering with her business  It is a well known complaint among business people. It has been fought by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and publicly criticized by the Federal Competition Bureau. Watson says in her suit that it forces retailers to raise prices across the board to cover the cost of premium fees. The lost amount is said to be about $5 billion a year. Watson seeks to recover the fees that credit card companies and banks have “collected illegally.” It is a case which South Bayview area merchants may wish to watch closely. 

Issue of “unpaid interns” hits Toronto Life

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There is an irony to the Ontario Department of Labour hiring more inspectors so it can check out if anybody is working as an unpaid intern at magazines. That’s what happened at Toronto Life this week, where the intern program will end immediately because the government says so. No one likes the idea that people are expected to work for nothing. But this wasn’t slavery. Some will insist this work ultimately was a doorway to paid employment. The issue is not as simple as the “exploitation” of young people. Interesting information in  J-Source 

Careful Earth Hour doesn’t become a Fire Call

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Earth Hour is tomorrow night. Many will wish to participate in this annual event.  If candles are used, please follow these fire safety tips issued by the City of Toronto.
• Always stay in the room where candles are lit
• Extinguish all candles when leaving the room
• Avoid using candles in bedrooms
• Keep candles at least one metre away from anything that can burn
• Keep candles, matches and lighters hidden and out of the reach of children
• Use sturdy candle holders that won’t tip or burn
• Extinguish candles when they burn to within five centimetres

“Who’s paying for this place?” hits Big Law

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For ordinary people it has been a wonder of the ages to visit the multi-floored, high-rise downtown offices of large law firms. They come complete with sweeping staircases between departments. Apparently economics has caught up with this (to many) curious phenomenon. Alec Scott writes in the Globe  and Mail.  Of interest.

Girl, 10, accosted near Thorncliffe-Overlea

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Toronto Police say a  10-year-old girl reports that on March 25, 2014 at approximately 1140 a.m. she was in the area of Thorncliffe Park Drive and Overlea Boulevard when she was approached by a man. He is said to have grabbed the girl’s hand and attempted to walk her towards another waiting suspect. The victim escaped the suspect’s grip and both suspects fled the scene in an unknown direction. No injuries were sustained by the victim. There is no description available. 

Good turnout for Glenvale parking meeting

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Ward 26 Councillor John Parker’s special meeting to address parking proposals for Glenvale Blvd. drew a crowd of more than 100 residents to Northlea United Church tonight (Thursday, March 27, 2014). Observers say the crowd was not happy about the suggested restrictions. As we posted two days ago, many feel they will be victimized by high-speed through-traffic motorists trying to avoid LRT congestion to the south. So before discussion even began at 6.30 p.m., the Councillor declared that he had heard from enough unhappy people that he was shelving the the ideas for now. But the meeting was already convened so discussion went on about parking and traffic. Toronto traffic engineer Jay Malone said that the “safest” solution would be for no parking at all on one side of Glenvale, although he was forced to admit that this might have the effect of speeding, which nobody wanted. Paddy Duncan of the Leaside Proper Owners Association called it “a lively evening with a lot of opinions expressed.”  Mr. Parker invited residents to contact his office and make proposals. Ms. Duncan pointed out to everyone that members of the LPOA, City staff and Metrolinx staff are meeting monthly to address concerns as the crop up.  LPOA

#ONpoli Names named in laptop wiping probe

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These are the names of those who maybe knew about or had something do with the wiping of hard drives of 24 computers in Dalton McGuinty’s office last year. 

Peter Wallace, Cabinet Secretary
Thom Stenson, Manager of the Information Technology Services for the cabinet office
David Nicholl, Chief Information Officer at Government of Ontario  
David Livingston, Chief of Staff to Premier McGuinty
Wendy Wai, Executive Assistant to Mr. Livingston
Laura Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff of Communications and Strategy and the Chief of Staff to the Minister of Intergovernmental affairs.
Peter Faist, boyfriend and life partner of Ms Miller. 

The first two, Wallace and Stenson, are top civil servants in the Cabinet Office. They were uncomfortable with urgent inquiries on the part of David Livingstone, the Premier’s top aide, to obtain permission for someone to have password authority on every machine in the office. Wallace and Stenson had never heard of such a thing but it appears that Mr. Livingstone got his way. The OPP say in their warrant that David Nicholl provided the password even though he reports to Mr. Wallace, who disagreed. Mr. Livingstone then gave this authority to his Executive Assistant, Wendy Wai, a woman who the OPP concluded knew very little about computers and who realistically, could never have erased the hard drives. She was, they decided, a kind of “trojan horse” or cover for the real expert. That person was found close by, police allege, but was not authorized to touch the computers. It was determined that Laura Miller (fifth on the list) had a boyfriend who was very capable in this area. His name was Peter Faist. Mr. Livingstone gave the job to him, the cops say 

#ONpoli tweets demand Premier Wynne resign

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An OPP search warrant makes allegations about an apparent cover-up at Queen’s Park in the form of the erasure of hard-drives in the office of Premier McGuinty. It happened in the days during which Premier Kathleen Wynne took office. Mr. McGuinty resigned last year in the face of mounting anger over the cost of the cancellation of a power plant project in the middle of construction. The Legislature heard the stunning news this morning and Opposition members were seemingly outraged. OPP are alleging that Mr. McGuinty’s last chief of staff authorized a deputy to get what the Star’s Rob Ferguson calls an “IT-savvy boyfriend unrestricted access to 24 employees’ computers in the premier’s office before and after Kathleen Wynne took power.” The impact of this revelation is being weighed moment by moment on the Twitter search #ONpoli (Ontario politics) with reporters wondering if it means an imminent election. Many of the tweets demand that the premier resign. A tweet by Christopher Gardner says the Premier has been seen climbing down a rope ladder and sprinting across the south lawn of the Legislature Building. Not to be taken seriously. But below, is Lorrie Goldstein’s tweet on this story. It begins “Kaboom!”  Toronto Star  Ottawa Citizen   #ONpoli

Smoke from west-end factory fire seen in Leaside

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Toronto Fire say they have controlled and isolated the huge 6 alarm fire in a mattress factory at 198 Fairbank Ave. near Castlefield Ave and Caledonia Rd. At its height, people on South Bayview Ave. could see the drifting smoke to the north. Fire Capt. Mike Strapko said 120 firefighters and 30 fire trucks were employed against the blaze. By early afternoon, with some walls having collapsed, fire officials made a decision to stay outside the factory.  They said it may be necessary to use heavy equipment to get at any remaining fire.  There are no reports of injuries. The area was evacuated and school children kept in class during the morning firefighting. This fire was reported around  8:30 a.m.

The importance of frequent, reliable bus service

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Patty Winsa’s opus in the Toronto Star today (Thursday, March 27, 2014) is a refreshing reminder of the importance of buses to our transit system. Gordon Perks (Ward  14) suggests that politicians like to dream about and spend on big, rail based projects because it seems so important. So good to talk about at election time. Toronto Star   

#TOpoli: Things that went right at CityNews

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There’s some back-biting tonight on Twitter of CityNews for what may have been a too complicated mayoral debate. It was nice that people could participate but the process was complicated and the free-for-alls (or whatever they were called) were like fights at a wedding. Gord Martineau was wincing. But there were lots of important insights for ordinary voters. Things that went right for the public.  Viewer results broadcast during the program showed that earlier polls putting Rob Ford and Olivia Chow out front were not flukes. It will break the heart of those who despise Ford’s sordid personal behaviour but he came across as the guy in command in this encounter. That seemed to happen mainly because he cranked out specifics (accurate or not). John Tory unmasked Olivia Chow as a hostage of the mighty municipal union CUPE. She would leave garbage collection east of Yonge Street just as it is, she had to admit, so that private and unionized service can “compete.”  To which most people would say “Show me the money.” It was a clever way for Tory to raise a subject on which he has been silent so far. The former talk-show and media executive dropped an all too typical clanger in the post-debate scrum when he said: “I’m not going to repeat the gory details” of Rob Ford’s  behaviour. It prompted commentator John Stall to conclude that true to his reputation, John Tory is “too nice” to be in politics.