A new Tibetan restaurant in Mimico is attracting some attention.

Pemako Kitchen, at 2416 Lake Shore Blvd. W., just west of Superior Avenue, has been open for about a year and features tasty traditional Tibetan dishes along with meals sprinkled with Indian and Chinese influences.

Owner and chef Tsering Tashi named the cosy restaurant after a region in Tibet where his parents grew up. The remote hilly region is one of the four in southeastern Tibet, where the Brahmaputra River descends into India.

Tashi’s trek to Canada is an immigrant success story. He was one of 1,000 displaced refugees from Tibet sponsored by the Canadian government in 2013 to resettle in Ottawa and Toronto as a part of a federal program that allowed them to become permanent residents.

He is active in the Tibetan community and is proud of a photo of him meeting the Dalai Lama in India. His restaurant has pictures of the Dalai Lama, posters and photos that remind patrons of home.

He was resettled in Mimico by officials on arrival here  and has worked his way up to finally open his restaurant, which has been a dream since childhood.

“Our food is not just about satisfying your hunger, but about nourishing your body and soul,” Tashi said. “We use only the freshest and healthiest ingredients to create dishes that are not only delicious but also good for you.”

The dishes were tasty, fresh and cooked on the spot with love and care.

“We believe that healthy food can be tasty too,” he said. “You can taste the goodness in our food.”

Pemako Kitchen is among about 10 Tibetan restaurants that has emerged in the west-end in recent years as people are enjoying the unique tasteful and healthy dishes. Most residents are familiar with Mo Mos but there are other dishes.

The menu includes the popular chow mein meat and vegetable dishes, assorted noodle dishes, a range of Mo Mos, delicious soups, Thali and Bhutanese cuisine. The filling dishes range from $10 to $15.

Tashi said he wants to help make Tibetan food more popular with Toronto food lovers. This City is known worldwide for its diverse restaurants and foods from all over the globe.

“I always wanted to open a restaurant,” he said. “I like food and to watch people enjoying our Tibetan food.”

There are more than 10,000 Tibetans in Canada, with most living in the Toronto area. Most have resettled in the Parkdale area with many living in South Etobicoke.

Etobicoke Lakeshore residents switched their votes from Conservatives on February 27 and elected Liberal Lee Fairclough who defeated Christine Hogarth in a stunner.

Former MPP Hogarth, who has held the riding for almost seven years, was defeated by about 4,000 votes by health care worker Fairclough.

Hogarth was one of a few Conservatives to lose their seats in an election in which Premier Doug Ford was swept back to office for a third term by a huge majority. The NDP is now the Opposition Party with 27 seats and Liberals 14.

Hogarth was elected to represent Etobicoke Lakeshore in 2018 and was a parliamentary assistant or member of a number of committees.

“Thank you Etobicoke Lakeshore for putting your trust in me,’ Fairclough said after her win. “I will work tirelessly to address the issues important to you.”

She plans to bring accountability and a strong voice to Queen’s Park to make progress on healthcare, education and housing issues.

“I also look forward to working with constituents and community partners to fine solutions on local issues.”

It will be an uphill battle at Queen’s Park as Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie lost her own seat.

Fairclough has over 25 years of leadership in healthcare. She has dedicated her career to improving the lives of people in that she started out as a radiation therapist at Princess Margaret Hospital.

She was at one time the President of St. Mary’s General Hospital, where she guided her team through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, working with public health, local businesses, and community leaders to protect vulnerable populations.

Fairclough was also a former competitive athlete and member of Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team at the 1998 World Cup, has a master’s degree in health policy and is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto.

NDP candidate Rozhen Asrani received almost 4,000 votes in what was her first attempt to hold political office.

Asrani was a former president of the Mimico Residents Association and community advocate.

She holds a degree in Economics from the University of Toronto, and has worked for nine years in healthcare technology and innovation. She is now a Senior Product Manager in Digital Health.

 

 

 

 

The Bloor Street W. bike lane removal saga continues.

Some 40 outraged business owners have filed a lawsuit against the City of Toronto seeking the removal of five kilometres of bike lanes that runs from Runnymede to Resurrection Roads and connects Bloor Street West Village to the Kingsway.

Ward 3 Councillor and Deputy Mayor Amber Morley and Barbara Gray, the City’s General Manager of Transportation Services, have been named in the legal action that was filed on February 21 before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The two are accused of ‘misfeasance of public office.’

The business owners are suing the City for $10 million in damages for ‘negligence and nuisance’ caused by the bike lanes.

The small companies have repeatedly complained their business have plummeted with the installation of the bike lanes as it is difficult for customers to park and the elderly with mobility issues to get to their stores.

The Ontario government have banned the installation of bike lanes from busy roads and vow to remove them from Bloor Street W., University Avenue and Bloor Street W.

The lawsuit alleges the City has failed to properly monitor the impacts of the bike lanes, including how they affect emergency response times. Police and fire officials have said the lanes slow down their response time for emergency calls.

A Statement of Claim states that the bike lanes have eroded the character of the neighbourhood, decreased surrounding property values and reduced business and foot traffic in the area.

The group, which consists of a variety of businesses, is seeking an injunction that would require bike lanes to be removed to make way for motor vehicles.

The action claims the bike lanes have negatively impacted business and resulted in traffic congestion issues.

Residents are also complaining that side roads in the area are clogged with motorists trying to race around the Bloor Street W. bike lanes.

The Statement of Claim alleges Morley gave preferential treatment to an advocacy group over the voices of local businesses, and deliberately misrepresented the nature and extent of consultations on the project.

It claims Gray was being unlawfully lobbied by the pro-cycle group during consultations, and that she deliberately misrepresented or ignored bike lane data.

The allegations have not been proven in court and no date has been set for a hearing.

City officials did not provide a comment as the matter is before the courts.

Motorists can face more traffic congestion nightmares than expected as early as this summer on the Gardiner Expressway.

City plans are underway to rehabilitate five busy bridges over the Gardiner Expressway that runs from Highway 27 east to Humber River in South Etobicoke.

The major work was adopted by a General Government Committee on February 25, according to City records.

It appears the contract may go to EllisDon Civil Ltd., who submitted a winning bid of about $60 million.

The giant company has been ‘the supplier with the lowest compliant bid meeting the specifications and requirements of a Request for Tender.’

It is not known for sure when the job may begin or end.

The City said to curb traffic congestion and noise they are asking the company work 24-hours seven days a week to finish the job quickly without much disruption. Lanes are already reduced with major work already underway on the Expressway.

The work, which will take more than a year, will rehabilitate the bridges where the Gardiner meets Kipling Avenue, Islington Avenue, Parklawn Road, Mimico Creek and west-bound on-ramp over Mimico Creek.

The bridges are major connections for west-end residents to access the already busy highway.

Construction is expected to begin this month and is slated to be completed by November next year, with a pause for the FIFA soccer tournament between May 2026 and July 2026.

The Ontario government will fund the replacement of most of the bridges as part of the Ontario-Toronto New Deal.

The deal includes a provincial commitment to upload the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway to the Ontario government. Toronto will pay for repairs to the Kipling Avenue and Islington Avenue bridges.

Toronto is one of the worst city for traffic congestion in North America and the average driver can lose up to 63 hours yearly due to the traffic jams, according to recent studies.

In recent weeks entire NHL teams were forced to leave their bus and walk to Scotiabank Arena or they would be late for games due to a lack of downtown traffic movement.

Etobicoke Creek and the Don River are the worst in the Toronto area for being the saltiest waterways due to runoff from truckloads of road salt being used to melt our mountains of ice and snow.

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) data from 2024 shows chloride concentrations in many waterways have been increasing for 10-years with Etobicoke Creek and the Don River among the saltiest.

The study shows the salty waterways can pose a risk to aquatic, plant and even human health.

Too much salt can be toxic for fresh water life, and many GTA waterways are over the safe limit, according to the data.

TRCA officials tested the water quality at Mimico Creek last February 7 with a device that measures chloride concentration and the results were not encouraging.

“We look kind of longer term, and what we’re seeing is that of the 47 stations across our jurisdiction, 36 of them are showing increasing trends in chloride over time,” research scientist Lyndsay Cartwright told the CBC.

She said the salt will affect a number of aquatic species that lives and breeds in the rivers.

“Different aquatic species are going to have different tolerances to chloride, but a lot of the more sensitive ones will die,” Cartwright said.

South Etobicoke residents are sensitive over the health of our waterways since the August 2023 six-alarm fire at Brenntag Canada, and resulting runoff from firefighting efforts that entered Mimico Creek and Humber Creek.

Crews worked for weeks to clean up the dead birds and chemical runoff, some of which made it to Lake Ontario.

To make matters worst, there were 17 major bypass events in 2023 at the Humber River Treatment Plant, in which about a billion litres of wastewater was released into the Humber River that did not pass through the secondary treatment process.

Road salt though is the main source of the chlorine runoff. The City of Toronto alone uses between 130,000 and 150,000 tonnes of road salt annually to melt snow and ice on its roads during winter maintenance operations.

The City usually deploys hundreds of staff using 1,400 pieces of snow plowing equipment to tackle the snow.

South Etobicoke residents love our trees, some of which are more than a century old.

It is no surprise that the City of Toronto has been recognized by the United Nations as a Tree City of the World with more than 11 million trees and plans for a 40 per cent canopy cover by 2050.

The UN Environment Programme’s General Restoration has designated Toronto as a Tree City of the World for the last five consecutive years, according to a City staff report.

“Toronto is a recognized leader in urban forest management and biodiversity conservation,” according to the Executive Director of Environment, Climate and Forestry Department.

The designation by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN “recognizes the City’s commitment to ensuring sustainable and healthy urban forests, protecting local ecosystems and enhancing its resilience to climate change.”

The tree report will be reviewed by an Infrastructure and Environment Committee on February 26 and considered by City Council at its meeting on March 26, 27 and 28.

The report said Toronto’s urban forest consists of over 11.5 million trees and provides ecosystem services as creating oxygen and removing pollutants from the air, reducing energy costs, improving water quality and mitigating extreme heat.

Trees also ‘provide food and habitat for the many birds, insects, amphibians, and mammals which contribute to the city’s biodiversity.’

It stated many cities invest in greening plans, strategies and actions which promote urban forests as nature-based solutions for thermal regulation, such as New York, Seattle, Paris, Melbourne and London.

City Council is committed to achieving a 40 per cent canopy cover by 2050, using a tree equity approach to grow trees where they are needed most, ensuring that all Torontonians enjoy the benefits of a healthy and resilient urban forest.

The Infrastructure Committee is asked to devise a plan this year to protect and enhance Toronto’s tree canopy as ‘climate change intensifies, with particular attention to the importance of trees in reducing the adverse effects of extreme heat on children, seniors and other vulnerable populations.’

The changing climate is partially blamed for the major floods and forest fires that we had last year and previously, officials said.

Toronto’s trees are essential to the city’s green infrastructure and provide cooling benefits, through evapotranspiration and shade provision, as well as carbon sequestration, air pollution mitigation, wildlife habitat and stormwater management.

The report said the urban forest contributes over $55 million annually in ecosystem services, including $8.3 million in energy savings, $4.0 million in gross carbon sequestration, $37.9 million in pollution removal, and $4.8 million in avoided runoff.

A joint study by the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices and Smart Prosperity Institute noted that from 1990-2018, urban trees removed an average of 2.4 million tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) annually and contributed to GHG emission reductions by reducing heating and cooling needs in adjacent buildings.

“Urban trees offer health benefits by reducing heat-related illnesses, as trees can lower temperatures by up to 12 degrees Celsius while providing shade and reducing exposure to harmful ultraviolet rays,” according to the study.

City staff have planted more than 13,000 trees on public land, created a Tree Seed Diversity Program to restore areas with native plants and introduced regular tree maintenance for young trees which have a survival rate of 93 per cent.

A public meeting is being held in a City study that will increase the density and heights of buildings to 11 stories, upgrade and beautify sections of Lake Shore Blvd. W. corridor.

The Lake Shore Boulevard West Avenue Study community feedback drop-in meeting will be held on February 26 at Lakeshore Collegiate Institute, at 350 Kipling Avenue, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The study said the four kilometre corridor in New Toronto and Long Branch is ideal for intensification and mid-rise buildings from Dwight Avenue west to Brown’s Line, with gaps at Humber College.

The corridor contains mostly two or three-storey commercial buildings with angled or parallel on-street parking, with some newer townhouses and some six-to-eight storey residential buildings.

The study proposes mid-rise buildings up to 11 storeys high along Lake Shore Blvd. W., west of Kipling Avenue and up to eight-stories along Lake Shore Blvd. W., east to Dwight Avenue.

The plan will improve the ‘sub-standard sidewalk widths, lack of street trees, angled, perpendicular or parallel street parking, lack of street furniture as benches, waste bins, bicycle posts and lock up rings.’

Feedback from the community called for more greenery or tree canopy for the Corridor. Other concerns includes the installation of bike lanes along the boulevard in addition to easy accessibility to the TTC. The study is not looking at the installation of bike lanes at this point.

The site of a mega-development project underway at the former Mr. Cookie factory site at Humber Bay Shores has been quiet recently but a lot of work is taking place behind the scene.

The multi-tower project at 2150 Lake Shore Blvd. W., has been slowly moving through the lengthy applications hearing process for two years as plans are being finalized and studies completed.

The first phase of the development called Station Square and Park Lawn Gardens will contain three towers rising as high as 67 storeys, according to documents.

Phase 1 would have three high-rises 47, 63, and 67 storeys in height. There will also be four mid-rise buildings 10, 11, and two at 13 storeys.

The development is designed by B+H Architects for First Capital and Pemberton Group.

The buildings are expected to have more than 2,000 apartment and residential units. The mixed residential condos are tied to the opening of the Park Lawn GO Station, being built by Metrolinx.

There will also be a TTC hub, park, daycare, school, grocery store and other facilities for the thousands of tenants who will eventually be moving in.

Two new roads are expected to be paved to link the complex together, with possible ramps to the Gardiner Expressway.

There will be a five-level underground garage for 1,281 vehicles, with 771 spaces for residents, 20 for visitors, 18 for retail, and 472 for office tenants. There will be almost 3,000 spots for bicycle parking.

Planning for the GO station has also been advancing, with submissions to the City last December for a building permit, and a technical resubmission in January 2025 to tweak the building plans.

Original plans had intended for the GO station and first buildings to be complete in 2026, but the pandemic and other factors have delayed the initial openings to an unknown date.

The 2150 Lake Shore Boulevard W. community will have 7,446 residential units when fully completed. It will include 15 condo towers ranging from 22 to 71 storeys in height.

Blocks away from the site, the Humber Bay Shores area continues to see amazing high-rise development of about eight other towers planned or being built.

According to Urban Toronto construction is underway of two 17-storey towers at 20 Fleeceline Road; 10 and 37-storey buildings at 2256 Lake Shore Boulevard W. are planned. Proposals at 2157 and 2173 Lake Shore Boulevard West for 13- and 49-storey towers; as a 56-storey Water’s Edge at the Cove is ending construction, and a 59-storey condo is planned for  2189 Lake Shore Boulevard W.