Locations of area speeding ticket cams to start on July 6

June 27, 2020 by SouthEtobicokeNews

Be wary of your driving fellow South Etobicoke motorists.

Starting July 6 the City of Toronto will begin issuing speeding tickets using automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras that will mail the tickets to vehicle owners.

Mayor John Tory announced the 50 enforcement cameras will begin issuing tickets to lead-footed drivers who speed starting on July 6.

“If you ignore the clearly posted warning signs [and] speed limits, you will get a ticket for speeding in these zones,” Tory warned.

The program was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic which began in mid-March. However, over the last few months although car traffic has decreased, there has been a spike in speeding and stunt driving.

He said between March 23 and April 27, the Toronto police saw a 600 per cent increase in stunt driving. Ironically one of the worst strip in our area for racing is Horner Ave., near Sir Adam Beck Jr. School, where there has been more than 6,000 incidents, according to police statistics.

The new ASE systems were installed in community safety zones, near school zones and can rotate as the city deems necessary.

There are about 16 or more such traffic cams that will be activated in our community. Their locations include:

-Bloor St. W. and The East Mall

-Bloor St. W. and The West Mall

-Burmanthorpe Rd. and The East Mall

-Bloor St.W. and Islington Ave.

– Islington Ave. and Evans Ave.

-Kipling Ave. and Horner Ave.

-Horner Ave. east of Foch Ave

-The Queensway and Royal York Rd.

-The Queensway and The West Mall

-The Queensway and The East Mall

-The Queensway and North Queen St.

-The Queensway and Kipling Ave.

-The Queensway and Islington Ave.

-Lake Shore Blvd. W. and Thirty Seventh St.

-Lake Shore Blvd W and Park Lawn Rd

-Lake Shore Blvd W and Windermere Ave

Farmers hurting as they can’t sell their goods in market

June 26, 2020 by SouthEtobicokeNews

Many farmers are suffering as they cannot sell their goods and produce to local farmers’ markets who are unsure as to when they will reopen for business.

Humber Bay Park residents are among those disappointed and unsure as to when they will receive permission to reopen their brisk stalls to sell a range of foods, produce or hand-made goods.

City officials say they are working with 22-city farmers markets to safely reopen the marketplace when it is safe to do so. Lakeshore Village Park farmers market is also affected.

Many markets are targeting opening dates in July, allowing them time to receive their permits and implement new protocols required by Toronto Public Health.

“Farmers’ markets are valued members of the food supply chain and provide Torontonians with access to fresh fruits and vegetables, encourage residents to get outside and be physically active, and support the local agriculture sector,” says a press release.

The seasonal outdoor areas of the St. Lawrence Market has been reopened and will run until Nov. 14. The outdoor market has been relocated to Market St., between The Esplanade and Wilson St., to allow for physical distancing.

The indoor portion of the St. Lawrence Market has been operating throughout the pandemic.

New guidelines have been set that farmers’ markets will have to follow to reopen safely and includes: all staff and vendors filling out a health-screening questionnaire before each shift, keep a contact list of all staff, vendors and employees, encouraging physical distancing, managing customer lines, visual markers, provide alcohol-based hand sanitizers for customers and masks for staff and customers.

Six beaches including Marie Curtis open for swimming

June 26, 2020 by SouthEtobicokeNews

Happy Friday. It promises to be a hot weekend and Marie Curtis Park East Beach is among the beaches open for swimming.

Lifeguards returned to duty on June 22 at six of Toronto’s swimming beaches. They will supervise the beaches daily from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“Toronto’s beaches have remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” City of Toronto officials said on their website. “It’s important for Torontonians to have opportunities to cool down outdoors.”

City staff say our beach water is regularly monitored and tested for quality, with samples being sent to Toronto Public Health.

The beaches open in the City of Toronto includes: our local Marie Curtis Park East Beach, Sunnyside Beach, Woodbine Beach (Blue Flag), Kew-Balmy Beach (Blue Flag), Cherry-Clarke Beach (Blue Flag) and Bluffer’s Park (Blue Flag.)

The four Toronto Island Park beaches will open for swimming on July 1. Rouge Valley Beach is inaccessible, and a supervised swim program will not operate there this summer.

“We want everyone to be safe when swimming and enjoying other water activities,” says Mayor John Tory. “It’s why we regularly test beach water quality and ensure swimming beaches are supervised by lifeguards.”
While visiting a beach or park, residents must practise physical distancing and avoid crowding.

Toronto boasts some of the best swimming beaches around, City officials say, adding eight of its 11 beaches have been awarded Blue Flag certification, meeting high standards for water quality, environmental management and education, safety and services.

“These beaches are perfect for taking a swim during the hot summer months,” according to the City.

They say every day park staff groom beaches, empty waste bins and use a tractor-mounted magnet as required to pick up metal items, in addition to the manual collection of larger items.

More information about the City’s swimming beaches is available at toronto.ca/beaches.

Toronto is celebrating Virtual Canada Day 2020 with still lots to do

June 25, 2020 by SouthEtobicokeNews

Toronto’s going virtual for Canada’s 153rd birthday next Wednesday, January 1, with music, comedy, dance and online fireworks.

Enjoy special morning, afternoon and evening livestream shows featuring Kardinal Offishall, Gordon Lightfoot, Jully Black, Haviah Mighty, Choir!Choir!Choir!, The Next Generation Leahy and more.

Participate in virtual Canada Day programs from home and download interactive and all-age Celebration Kits. Plus nominate a frontline worker for recognition.

There will be celebrations being held in cities across the nation as we party and celebrate our 153^rd birthday, which is always one of the better public holidays of the year.
Canada Day 2020 livestreams will be available on July 1 beginning at 9 a.m.

The virtual show is presented by City of Toronto – Your Local Government and made possible in part by Canadian Heritage. There will be lots of music, online activities and more importantly its kid friendly so the entire family can tune in.

Schedule · Wednesday, July 1, 2020

9:00 AM

Canadian Pancake Breakfast

1:00 PM

Culture Jam

7:00 PM

Ready for Prime Time

It is not known what this year’s Canada Day activities will look like due to COVID-19. Every year previously Toronto kicked off Canada Day in a big way at Mel Lastman Square in an event that attracted more than 30,000 spectators of all ages, primarily families featuring live Canadian music, interactive games and entertainment, and a spectacular fireworks display.

MORE EVENTS ARE UPCOMING AS WE GET IT.

Free funds from a Lakeshore charity goes to help poor Filipino families

June 25, 2020 by SouthEtobicokeNews

Free money from a Lakeshore foundation is being given to some of the poorest families in the Philippines.

The free funds would make Long Branch accountant, the late Phillip Barker, a happy man.

Barker, who passed away in May, was founder of the Lakeshore Charitable Foundation (LCF) and four-decade owner of Lakeshore Accounting. He was well-respected as a long-time Treasurer, of the Long Branch BIA.

The foundation, which sponsored the Bay Bay Central School in the Philippines, has over the years sent hundreds of text books, schools supplies, laptop computers, printers and other supplies to help the poor students.

They also repaired the school buildings and added a new roof, shade protection and sent desks from Canada. In addition, they established a breakfast club feeding hundreds of pupils daily and presented awards for student performance yearly.

“A lot has changed in the world since the passing of the President of the Foundation,” says LCF director Rosemary Smart. “As a director I have undertaken a new project in the Philippines. “

Smart, with the invaluable help from rural community leaders in that country, were able to identify some of the poorest families with kids attending the LCF-sponsored school, and distributed cash pesos to dozens of needy families.

“The LCF gave the sum of 2,000 Philippine peso (or about $50 Cdn) to each recipient’s family who were suffering without jobs or government support,” she says in an email, adding they assisted 40 families with cash to purchase food and other supplies.

She says a list of needy families were provided to the foundation and she used advocates in the Philippines who travelled to a remote barangay to locate the recipients and hand over the money.

“They went to the remote places where the poorest of the poor families lived,” Smart says of the search party. “One by one they searched for their homes.”

It took the search party four hours to find the recipients, many who were elderly with little or no families.

“We cried watching these poorest of the poor families suffer with no food,” she recalls. “Some of them lived in a space smaller than a pig’s house.”

The work of the foundation and fundraising continue in Etobicoke to help others making Barker a very proud man.

Anniversary for families on ill-fated Air India flight

June 23, 2020 by SouthEtobicokeNews

Canadian flags were flown at half-mast near an Air India Flight 182 memorial cenotaph at Humber Bay Park East and elsewhere as families mourned the 35^th anniversary loss of their loved ones on the ill-fated flight that was destroyed in mid-air.

Many family members returned to place rocks on the spot on the Air India memorial to mark the names of their loved ones who died when a bomb exploded on Flight 182, off the coast of Ireland, on June 23, 1985.

Among the 329 victims, were 280 Canadians and 86 children.

This year due to COVID-19, victims mourned in small, private gatherings and online condolences as they remembered the worst mass murder in Canadian history.

Physical distancing rules and restrictions on gatherings of more than 50 people have resulted in a shift from the in-person memorial services that are attended by hundreds of families yearly in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver.

Only one man, Inderjit Singh Reyat, has been convicted in relation to the bombing and is now free, having served 30 years for lying at trial and for his role in the crime.

Crown lawyers alleged the bombing was a terrorist attack against state-owned Air India, an act of revenge by B.C.-based Sikh extremists against the Indian government for ordering the army to raid Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in June 1984.

Reyat, a mechanic, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of helping to make the bombs at his home in Duncan, B.C.

He was also convicted of committing perjury at the trials of two other B.C. men, Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik, who were acquitted of murder and conspiracy charges in the two bombings.

The man who Canadian authorities suspected of being the mastermind of the bomb plot, Talwinder Singh Parmar, was killed in India by police.

In 2005, the federal government proclaimed June 23 National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism.

“The attack was an act of unspeakable malice and remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement. “It was a shock to our country, and a threat to our collective sense of security.”

Some new businesses opening up in the community

June 23, 2020 by SouthEtobicokeNews

With the nice weather comes a string of new small businesses who are setting up stores in our area to help improve the community.

In these trying times we have to shop locally and support our businesses before they shut down.

A big welcome goes to Le Gourmand Lakeshore, at 2897 Lake Shore Blvd. W., which opened its doors about two months ago wowing residents with its world-famous cookies, pastries, sandwiches and signature cakes.

Already an area favourite, the store has another location, The Le Gourmand Café, at Spadina and Richmond St., which offers more services and food.

Just west near Eight Street work is being done to renovate Lucky’s Chicken N’ Waffles, which according to their sign is advertising for kitchen staff, cook and cashier experience.

Those with experience are asked to send their resume by email to info@luckychickennwaffles.com

Further west, near 30^th Street is the Waffle House, which sells wings, burgers, waffle burgers and other fast food.

Not much us know about this facility, which appears to be nearly ready and may be opening up soon.

Finally, Kettleman’s Bagel Co. is bringing its beloved Montreal-style rings this fall next to Farm Boy at Alderwoods Plaza.

The brand, which has been baking its bagels in wood-fired ovens since 1993, is known for operating 24/7, 365 days a year, meaning soon Torontonians will be able to order their decked-out bagels whenever they want.

They sell traditional bagels like pumpernickel and chocolate, spreads like lox and cream cheeses, festive seasonal bagels, like green ones for St. Patty’s or Cinco de Mayo fajita bagels.

They recently introduced the bagel dog to their menu, too: a mash-up between a bagel and a hot dog. Toronto’s bagel game is about to be taken to the next level.

If you know of other new businesses opening up please let us know at thesouthetobicokenews@gmail.com

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