Motorists are being warned to be super vigilant as more children will be on the roadways with March break underway.

Toronto Police Traffic Services officers have launched an Early Spring Traffic Safety Campaign that will see them step up patrols from March 11 to 17 for March break.

“Children represent a large portion of our population and vulnerable road user group,” according to Toronto Police. “We must be mindful of the fact that there will likely be more school-age children on our roads and sidewalks during March break.”

Police said drivers have to be more careful with the start of daylight savings time as our clocks move forward on March 10, resulting in sunrise and sunset being an hour later.

With “the start of daylight savings time means that road users need to be more aware of their surroundings and ensure they are well rested,” police said.

Some 155 people were killed on Toronto roads from 2021 to 2023, according to traffic officers. Of those, 78 were pedestrians and four per cent of the victims were under the age of 18 years.

“Many of these pedestrian deaths occurred on wide arterial roads, signalized streets that carry high volumes of traffic, found in every Division,” officers said.

During this time traffic enforcement activities will focus on the “Big 4” driver collision-causing behaviours such as speeding, driving aggressively, driving while distracted, and driving while impaired.

Toronto’s Vision Zero Road Safety Plan acknowledges that collisions are inevitable but that killed and seriously, injured (KSI) collisions are preventable and unacceptable, police said.

Receivership proceedings have begun against Vandyk Properties leaving a number of major South Etobicoke developments in limbo, including a massive one at the Mimico GO Station.

A formal receivership order dated March 5 appointed msi Spergel Inc. as receiver over all “assets, undertakings, and properties” related to the Mississauga-based company, including a two-storey commercial property at 10 Neighbourhood Lane.

The Neighbourhood Lane property includes tenants as Stonegate Community Health Centre, Trilogy Physiotherapy West and an IDA Pharmacy.

Home Trust Company is alleging that Vandyk-Backyard Humberside Limited is in default of a $10 million loan, and requested the company be placed under receivership, which the court obliged.

Last November KingSett Mortgage Corporation and Dorr Capital Corporation requested that a receivership order be granted for five Vandyk developments: UPtowns and Heart Lake in Brampton, The Ravine and Lakeview DXE Club in Mississauga and Grand Central Mimico in Toronto.

At that time, KingSett and Dorr alleged that Vandyk owed more than $203 million related to those five projects.

As of late January eight sites connected to the Vandyk Group had been declared insolvent, according to The Globe and Mail.

Some of the developments on hold is a 20-storey condo at 327 Royal York Road that is in proximity to the Mimico GO Station and parking facilities.

That development was planned to house 190 residential units, 114 one-bedroom suites, and 76 two-bedroom layouts.

Also affected is a 39-storey tower at 23 Buckingham Street, near Royal York Road and Gardiner Expressway.

That condo was slated to accommodate 606 residential units, 48 one-bedrooms, 310 one-bedroom-plus-den, 115 two-bedroom, 70 two-bedroom-plus-den and 63 three-bedroom layouts.

Vandyk’s proposal had called for two high-rise buildings at 28 and 30 storeys and a mid-rise two-storey base.  The first floor of the base would have contained retail shops, with a grocery store on the second floor.

Vandyk Properties is a privately owned real estate development and investment management company with over 40 years of expertise in the North American real estate property sector.

The company and its investors once held a real estate portfolio representing $1 billion in completed value creation and $4.5 billion in owned assets under development.

The action has left Metrolinx scrambling to find another company to finish off development projects at the Mimico GO Station.

As food prices rise, a call is underway for all levels of government to fund a Universal National Nutrition Program to help feed at-risk school children in underfunded communities.

A City of Toronto executive committee is being told to request the Government of Canada to allocate funding to support the program across the nation.

A School Boards Advisory Committee told a City Executive Committee that it should consider establishing new food nutrition programs for students in marginalized priority neighbourhoods.

“City Council request the federal and provincial governments to work with Toronto’s Food Nutrition Program so more children can receive nutritious food at school through a Universal Nutrition Program,” according to the committee.

It said a food program last year provided 820 school nutrition programs in 619 communities with some 227,285 meals daily.

The universal meal or snack program is run locally by parents, volunteers and students in public schools. It gives students access to safe, adequate and culturally-appropriate healthy food.

“It is especially important for those at risk for poor nutritional intake,” the committee said. “It supports student learning and development over the school day.”

The programs also creates opportunities for community capacity building, volunteering and job skills development.

The committee said the programs increase consumption of healthy foods, reduces obesity, chronic diseases, health disparities and social isolation.

The food increases student attendance in classes; test scores in math, science and reading; attendance and class participation and reduces dropouts.

The program will cost $19.16 million this year, which includes an 8.5 per cent food inflationary increase for 227,000 meals daily.

Some $16.8 million will come from the City, $8.47 million from the province and $2.2 million from the federal government.

Other funding will be raised from parent and student contributions; community and school board fundraising and corporate donations.

Canada is the only country in the G7 that doesn’t have a national school food program or national standards, according to the Breakfast Club of Canada. That means that while every province has different needs, there isn’t an aligned approach to feeding students across the existing programs.

Researchers say that as high inflation affects food prices, more children need access to these programs but community groups say they need stable funding from the federal government to keep everyone fed.

According to Statistics Canada, one in four Canadian kids experience what’s called “food insecurity;” when a person can’t access a quality diet or enough food, or aren’t certain that they can. Meanwhile, 33 per cent of food bank users in Canada are children, according to Food Banks Canada.

One of Etobicoke’s top baseball player has returned home after years in the U.S. to play with his hometown team the Toronto Blue Jays.

Joey Votto, a veteran first-baseman grew up in Mimico and played for about 17 seasons with the Cincinatti Reds and was a former National League Most Valuable Player (MLP).

The former Richview Collegiate Institute student was inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

“I am excited about the opportunity to work my way back to the Major Leagues,” Votto said on social media. “It’s even sweeter to attempt this while wearing the uniform of my hometown team, the Toronto Blue Jays.”

His time with Cincinnati included many trophies and six all-star appearances. The Reds declined his $20-million (U.S.) option for 2024, making the 40-year-old a free agent.

He has been working out near his Toronto home as he remained unsigned weeks into spring training.

Votto received a non-roster invite (NRI) to play with the Jays and is not on the club’s 40-man roster to attend major-league camp at spring training and compete for a roster spot.

During his MVP season in 2010, Votto hit 37 home runs and won the Lou Marsh Award, now named the Northern Star Award, as Canada’s top athlete for two years straight.

Votto is the most famous product of the Etobicoke Rangers led by Bob Smyth, who also coached him at Richview. His journey to the big leagues began when his parents, Joseph and Wendy, gave their eight-year-old son a bat.

Games of catch with his dad became a daily ritual, and Votto played little league baseball with Bloordale.

“I’ve never seen anybody like Joey and I never will,” Richview baseball coach Stath Koumoutseas told the Toronto Star. “We’re just proud to watch him.”

Votto, dubbed the ‘pride of Etobicoke,’ also won the Hank Aaron Award as the National League’s best hitter and took home the 2011 Gold Glove for his stellar defense at first base.

His mom was a sommelier and local restaurant manager and his dad was a chef and baseball fan who died at age 52 in 2008.

Votto enrolled in high school at Richview Collegiate Institute in 1997. He played for the Etobicoke Rangers baseball program and then signed a letter of intent to play college baseball for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

He was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in 2002 and at the age of 18 began his career, traveling around the U.S. on buses.

He was proud of being from Mimico and let people know his background.

“I was raised in Mimico,” the first baseman wrote. “It is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world.”

He was at one time Canada’s highest-paid salaried athlete with a 10-year, $248-contract extension.

Votto, for all his success, remained in Etobicoke and has been known to attend bantam games at Queensway Park. Many of the ballers in the Royal York Road area are proud of his achievements.

Toronto Police are searching for a gunman who shot a man to death at an Etobicoke condo building.

Officers were at a condo building in the Eva Road and The West Mall area for hours gathering evidence of the homicide.

Police were called to the building shortly after 8:30 p.m. on February 7 after gunfire rang out inside the building.

“I heard bang, bang, bang,” one resident said. “I knew something bad was going on.”

Police said the victim was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, but did not survive.

Detectives said no arrests have been made so far, and there is no suspect description available at the moment.

They are asking anyone within information to contact investigators, or call Crime Stoppers.

 

 

 

A controversial mural at the side of a New Toronto bakery has been defaced.

The mural that was painted at the side of Red Moon Bakery, at 2864 Lake Shore Blvd. W., has been since somewhat been cleaned up but parts of the graffiti still remain.

The artwork sparked a community uproar last summer following complaints it showed one of the characters with what appeared to be a handgun.

The outlandish mural made the news on TV and newspapers citywide and led to members of the community boycotting the restaurant.

The drawing featured characters depicting Indian rapper Sidhu Moose Wala as the centrepiece, flanked by U.S. rappers Tupac and Biggie Smalls as well as fictional characters from Scarface and Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone from The Godfather.

The mural shows Moose Wala holding a pistol, which is the main source of the controversy. It was later painted over to look like a cell phone.

He was a rising artist in the South Asian music scene and lived, for a time, in Brampton, before being fatally shot in India in 2022.

Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were also both also shot and killed.

The City of Toronto has received two complaints about the mural which later led to an investigation by by-law officials.

Outraged Mimico residents say there were no consultations as traffic calming measures is being sought instead of a cycle track to slow down traffic on Superior Avenue.

The measure is part of an upcoming Mimico Mobility Plan meant to slow down and lessen traffic using the area, which includes residential streets north of Lake Shore Blvd., to Cavell Avenue.

Andrew Vanderwal, a concerned resident who started a petition, said members of the community had been requesting traffic calming measures since 2015, when a petition was organized.

“Instead of getting traffic calming measures on Superior Avenue we are getting a cycle track that is necessary to protect cyclists only because no traffic calming measures have been implemented,” Vanderwal said.

He said the cycle track will affect Superior Avenue from Stanley Avenue south to Lake Shore Blvd. W. It is slated to take affect by April.

Vandewal said the track was pre-approved by Toronto City Council last June 15 without any consultation with affected residents.

He said the primary concern of Superior avenue residents is road safety for all road users, cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers alike and a lack of traffic calming measures will allow aggressive drivers to continue to speed and pass vehicles as before.

“Instead of curtailing such behaviour with calming measures such as speed cushions,” Vanderwal wrote. “We are getting fortified segregated bike lanes designed to protect cyclists from aggressive drivers who are given free reign to continue to drive aggressively on Superior Avenue.”

“This is totally the wrong solution for this street,” he said. “Arriving at this flawed solution could have been avoided where affected residents consulted.”

“The status quo for aggressive drivers and leaves all road users less safe,” Vanderwal said.

Cycle tracks are distinguished from cycle/bike lanes in that they are physically separated from vehicular traffic.

The tracks are typically considered only for arterial roads where there is a greater volume of vehicular traffic that has greater posted speed limits than residential streets.

Cyclists report that they feel unsafe on such cycle tracks where vehicles can back out of driveways due to the confined space of cycle movement within such a track, he said.

The bollards, markers and curbs included with the cycle tracks greatly diminish street appeal and will over time become damaged and discoloured further disfiguring the neighbourhood, residents said.

“The cycle track will greatly complicate garbage pickup and snow removal,” Anderwal sad. “Installation of the proposed cycle track on both sides of Superior Avenue eliminates on-street parking that is necessary for residents.”

Councillor Amber Morley has promised to meet with residents and look into the matter.

Some 650 community residents recently attended a meeting on the Bloor Street bike lane. Many voiced their displeasure with the track, claiming it is unsafe and has led to a loss of revenue to area businesses since patrons have to travel further to park.

Paperless boarding is coming soon to Pearson airport.

Air Canada is now the first national airline to begin testing facial recognition technology that will allow passengers to board its flights effortlessly without key documents.

No more looking in your pockets or purses to make sure your passport is still there.

An app being used by the airline would create a “faceprint” that would verify a passenger’s identity as they board a flight.

One agent will be required to screen boarding passengers. Those without proper documents or not on the faceprint file will be interviewed by another agent, according to airline officials.

“We are very excited to now take a leadership position in Canada and test digital identification using facial recognition technology to validate customer identification quickly, securely and accurately at select airport touchpoints.” Air Canada official Craig Landry said.

Officials said facial recognition technology is now used commonly for unlocking mobile phones, entering workplaces, verifying identification during financial transactions and more.

Air Canada said customers who don’t want to use facial recognition can board as they currently do now by presenting their boarding pass and government-issued photo ID for manual ID check and processing.

The technology has been in use at some Chinese airports for years. Some members of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) were at Daxing International Airport, in China, to witness how facial recognition is being integrated into the airport experience.

Chinese citizens can use their national identification cards to board flights.

The CBSA now have 14 self-serve kiosks at various Canadian airports that take photographs of passengers that are cross-checked with stored passport data.

The photos can be cross-referenced to those accessible on driver’s license, social media or other platforms.

There are now about 238 airports using Biometric Facial Comparison Technology at airports worldwide.

There are fears by some that the facial recognition technology can intrude on their privacy. It can also be used by police or security agents to identify criminals, terrorists or other lawbreakers as they enter the airport or its premises.

The technology is also used in some Ontario casinos to find those who are banned or who have committed frauds.

Summer is getting closer as organizers of this year’s annual Toronto Ribfest is already making plans.

A bid has been submitted to Etobicoke York Community Council for the approval of a temporary signage permit for the Etobicoke Rotary and Toronto Ribfest 2024.

The event has been a popular annual attraction in the community that has been taking place for years.

Once again the Toronto Ribfest is being held in conjunction with the City of Toronto Canada Day celebrations.

The mouth-watering event begins at Centennial Park on Friday, June 28 from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. and runs until Monday July 1 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to organizers.

“I fully endorse the plans to hold this event again, as was done in previous years,” Ward 2 councillor Stephen Holyday wrote in a letter to Community Council.

The signs are for use to advertise charitable, non-profit and community events that must be removed after the event.

The free event last year featured live music and 10 of North America’s Best Rib Teams serving award-winning mouth-watering BBQ smoked ribs, tender pulled pork, juicy smoked brisket, BBQ chicken, smoked sausage and huge Beef “Dino” Ribs.

There was also a variety of festival foods like The Bloomin’ Onion, Tiny Tom’s mini-donuts, roasted corn, poutines, funnel cakes that was washed down with a cold beer from the Beer Garden.

A man whose dead body was found at a New Toronto Transfer Station may be from out of town.

Toronto Police suspect the man’s body may have been dumped at the 260 New Toronto Street facility by a waste management truck, whose driver was unaware of the corpse.

Officers of the Homicide and Missing Person Unit have been scouring the sprawling facility, at New Toronto Street and Islington Avenue, since the discovery about 8:30 a.m. on March 1.

Detectives are trying to determine if foul play was involved.

“Police are working to determine who he is and where the truck originated from, which may be outside of Toronto,” a police spokesperson said.

Toronto police’s 22 Division, which covers Etobicoke, is leading the investigation.

Larger trucks and vehicles with dump trailers are permitted to use the inside tip floor for drop off, police said. They said only one person is allowed out of the vehicle when inside.

A public drop-off is available behind the scale for smaller trucks and vehicles.

The company Waste Management (WM) operates 390 collection operations, 310 transfer stations, 267 landfill disposal sites, 17 waste-to-energy plants, 120 recycling facilities, 36 organic processing facilities and 137 landfill-gas-to-energy projects.

The company provides a full range of environmental services to nearly 21 million residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers.

It said WM ‘is strongly committed to the safe and responsible management of waste, working diligently to ensure regulatory compliance and protection of human health and the environment.’