The South Etobicoke News

Serving Humber * Mimico * Lakeshore Village * Long Branch * Alderwood

Unique Oculus space-age pavilion being revitalized after 63-years

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After more than six decades, The Oculus, a one-of-a-kind space-age park pavilion, is finally getting a facelift.

The unique galactic shelter is well-known to cyclists and pedestrians who pass by a meadow where it is located along the Humber River Recreational Trail in South Humber Park.

The Oculus Revitalization Project was delayed due to COVID-19 and organizers say the work will begin next spring.

They are urging community residents and park lovers to attend a short talk on October 16 about the Oculus’ ‘past, present and future of space and its cultural heritage value.’

Visitors will be able to ask questions, provide feedback and share their thoughts on the pavilion.

Pop up time slots at the facility are slated for 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m., 1 to 1:30 p.m. and 2 to 2:30 p.m.

Only 20 tickets are available for each slot, due to the virus. There will be five volunteers and only 25 people per talk will be allowed.

“Many are eager to hear about the progress of the project while also enjoying outdoor park spaces,” the organizers wrote on social media.

They will also be revealing a new temporary public art installation at The Oculus, which is designed by Giaimo, a Toronto-based architecture firm and co-led by ACO NextGen.

“The installation will brighten the pavilion until the restoration process is possible in spring 2021,” according to the organizers.

The project is one of five selected for Park People’s Public Space Incubator (PSI) Grant, funded by the Balsalm Foundation and Ken and Eti Greenberg. The project has been further sponsored by the Friends of the Pan Am Path, HNR Properties, and CS Vinyl.

Designed in 1958 by Alan Crossley and built by Toronto Parks a year later, The Oculus, was a former public washroom that stands as an ‘understated monument to Toronto’s mid-century concrete past.’

“Over the last few decades, the pavilion has suffered significant neglect,” the organizers say. “This revitalization project aims to transform The Oculus into a welcoming community gathering place along the trail.”

To register for the talks, or for questions or concerns, please contact stephanie@acotoronto.ca

The wearing of masks and physical distancing are required at this event.

 

Former Toronto undercover cop pens book about his years on the job

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Former Toronto Police undercover cop Hal Cunningham has investigated Mafia hitmen, outlaw motorcycle gangs and a lengthy list of law-breakers and is still alive to write about it.

The former 30-year undercover cop has just released Just a Cop, which is available on Amazon and reached Number 1 in ‘hot new crime releases.’

Cunningham’s crime bio sheds a light on what he and other law enforcement officers deal with on a daily basis and provides the reader with a first-person opportunity to walk in his shoe.

“It’s like a ride-along. They’re able to see (what) it’s really like and this is what the officers’ experience and handle all situations,” Cunningham says of the book. “It’s an education for all to learn what we see and experience what we experience.”

He began his career in 1973 as a cadet and worked his way through the ranks from a constable on patrol, to an undercover street intelligence officer, and eventually to the rank of Staff Sergeant and Platoon Commander, before retiring in 2003.

Over the years he has taken part in hundreds of surveillance projects going after homicide, armed robbery, terrorism, organized crime, motorcycle gang members and drug traffickers among others.

Cunningham has been declared an Expert Witness in High Court in Surveillance and Counter Surveillance Techniques. He also worked with the RCMP in providing witness protection for a Mafia hit man and former motorcycle gang member.
He has instructed more than 100 Toronto Police Officers, based at busy downtown division, with a three day surveillance training course.

“I have been teaching my techniques for over 20-years to a total of over 1,000 Police, Corporate and Private Investigators from the Greater Toronto Area, Province of Ontario, across Canada and the U.S.”

He recalls one story in which as he was walking home one day and heard noises and looked up to see a sniper shooting at people on the street.

“I looked up and on top of a highrise was a sniper shooting down onto the street,” Cunningham recalls. “He injured seven people from what I understood was shrapnel hitting the pavement.”

The shooter ended up taking his own life.

On another day, he and a fellow police constable became involved in an early morning shootout with motorcycle gang members.

After attending high school at East Northumberland Secondary School, Cunningham went to Loyalist College in Belleville, where he studied law. He was hired as a summer student with Trenton Police, and became an inside station operator, before graduating and moving on to the big city.

“I want the public to understand that this is what these dedicated people are doing for you out there every day, every night. It’s not just sitting with a coffee and a donut in a car,” the policeman notes. “It can go from zero to 100 in two seconds.”

The book contains some funny stories, sad stories and emotional ones.

“This is a well-written book about an era of policing now gone. It describes a time of policing in Toronto that will never be again,” says retired Staff Sgt. George ‘Dogface’ Gadson of the book. “It is a great read for people who want to know one way policing was done in the past.”

Just A Cop is available on Amazon.

New Toronto man appealing for return of his prized e-bike

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A New Toronto man is making an appeal for thieves to return his prized e-bike after it was stolen from outside his home.

Bernard Graham said the $4,000 Daymak Beast electric-bike was stolen on October 11 around midnight from outside his 148 Islington Ave. apartment unit, which is just north of Lake Shore Blvd. W.

“It was the worst day of my life,” Graham says. “It is my transport to get to work and shopping in the community.”

The long-time area resident says he always parked the bike in a secure spot out of public view.

He is in the process of filing a complaint with Toronto Police and trying to obtain video from security cameras in the area.

“I feel empty inside that my transport is gone,” Graham says. “I feel like part of me is gone and I feel so empty.”

He says he didn’t realize the e-bike was gone until notified by a neighbour early the next day.

The production assistant for Lush Cosmetics, on Jutland Rd., purchased the e-bike last March from an area shop so he could travel to work safely during COVID-19.

“I am very disappointed by the loss of my bike,” he says. “The bike was so large that I didn’t expect it to stolen from where it was parked.”

He believes the thief, of thieves, had their eyes on the bike and cut a thick lock securing the bike with a bolt cutter when he was inside.

He loved the ride and had added parts to enhance the e-bike; such as a windshield, custom saddle, saddle bags, rear shocks and changed the tires.

“This was my ride to avoid the virus,” he says. “I feel like by routine has been destroyed and that nothing is safe anymore.”

Police say electric bikes, just like other bikes are stolen in one way or the other, sometimes, the e-bike has a whole may be stolen. Other times, some critical components may be removed from the e-bike.

Officers say e-bikes have become more affordable over the years and it makes them an investment worth protecting.

“To keep your e-bike safe, you may need to be proactive by employing proper security measures,” according to police.

If you see Graham’s e-bike please call police at 416-808-2200 or leave a message on Facebook at  https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1637264909781265&id=100004933147170

 

Go Fund Me started to build a school in memory of slain East Mall student

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Family and friends of a South Etobicoke man who was shot and killed last June are raising funds to finish off a children’s school in his memory in Africa.

Abdulaziz Adan Dubet, 21, who lived in the East Mall, also known as ‘Baby Aziz’ and ‘Sache,’ is described as a social activist, who in the midst of COVID-19 donated $2,000 of his savings to build a roof over a school in his native Somalia.

His friends have launched a Go Fund Me Page to continue with Adan’s dream to finish off the school for young children. So far they have reached $111,971 of a goal of $130,000.

Adan was well-loved and respected in the community. He had a full-time job at Pearson Airport and was planning to get married last summer and move from the East Mall area.

He “was getting married and had plans to build his own family in a safer neighbourhood,” his family wrote on the Go Fund Me page. “He had the biggest heart and would offer his help to anyone without being asked.”

They described “Baby Aziz” as goal-oriented, mature and more capable than people twice his age, while remaining “kind and humble in the process.”

He had been attending Ryerson University and had planned on becoming a lawyer one day.

They are still mourning his death last June 12 when he was shot and killed in broad daylight and believe he “was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“He was taken from us so cowardly and cruelly,” they explained. “Adan deserves justice for his murder. He deserves much better that this world has given him.”

His friends vow the school will be built in Halimale, Somalia, the birthplace of his mother, Halima.

“This is the same school he donated his savings to assist with building its roof/shelter,” they said. “This school is still under construction and is at a standstill due to lack of funding.”

“The construction of this school is what he would have wanted. And we want to name the school in his honour ‘Adan Boarding School.”

Peel Regional Police said he was found in a vehicle outside a hotel in the area of Dundas St. E., and Wharton Way suffering from apparent gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers said Adan was found in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, which was riddled with bullet holes.

No charges have been laid in connection with his murder.

 

 

Controversial advertising removed from Royal York and Evans billboard

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An area billboard advertising real estate has had its controversial message removed following complaints from community residents that the ad was disgusting and ‘racially tone deaf.’

The Re Max advertisement showed two real estate agents doing karate chops with the words “COVID real estate ninjas at your service.”

The ad was located in the Royal York Rd. and Evans Ave. area in between two middle schools, residents say.

Resident Trevor Lui, who saw the ad last Friday, said it made him angry.

“Use of cultural appropriation, or tone-deafness, or ignorance as a form of marketing, there really isn’t a place for it,” Lui told Global News.

Social media was busy with a number of other residents who left messages to express their disappointment, calling the billboard “offensive” and “awful.”

“The casual racism! The terrible form! The fonts! The random COVID slapped on there! Choices were made,” one Twitter user said.

Residents say the ad would have been approved by a number of marketing people at the real estate firm.

A spokesman for Re Max Integra said in a statement that they were not aware of the billboard prior to it being erected.

“The messaging in the advertisement directly conflicts with our values and belief in equality, inclusiveness and access to homeownership for all,” the official said.

He plans to work with the franchise owner, with whom the agents work, to address the issue.

The message on the billboard was removed by the weekend and a photo of it posted on the real estate agents’ Instagram account.

 

Police searching for this man who threw a senior off a TTC bus

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Toronto Police detectives are seeking the help of the public to identify a violent suspect after an 80-year-old man was thrown off a TTC bus.

Police have released security camera photos of a man who was videotaped throwing the senior off a bus as it arrived at Runnymede Station.

Detectives say the incident occurred on Thursday, September 17 at 12:06 p.m. at the Runnymede subway station, at Bloor St. W.

Investigators say the elderly man did not sustain life-threatening injuries.

Video of the incident shows a man with a black gym bag grabbing and hurling the victim off of the bus and onto the sidewalk near the station.

He then is seen striking the elderly man with his gym bag as he lay on the pavement.

Police say the suspect then fled into Runnymede Station.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-1100.

 

Community drive to raise food, funds for the Daily Bread Food Bank

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An army of volunteers and supporters of the Daily Bread Food Bank are saying thanks as they celebrated a sense of community and shared vision to end hunger.

The Food Bank on October 10 held its first Thanksgiving Drive Thru Food Drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at its facility at 191 New Toronto Street.

The goal this year was to collect 272,000 pounds of non-perishable food and raise $1.9 million to ensure that ‘our neighbours in need have access to nutritious food.’

There were many vehicles filled with food items that drove up to the facility to make contact-free drop-offs.

NHL player Michael Del Zotto and friends from the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association were in attendance this year to help with the drive.

Mayor John Tory, Etobicoke Lakeshore MP Christine Hogarth and MPP James Maloney were also on hand to help out and thanked supporters for their donations.

Tory said this year things were done differently but “Torontonians came through to support each other.”

Daily Bread officials say there has been a 200% increase in new clients accessing food banks in Toronto since COVID-19 struck last March. Visits to the food bank have risen from 15,000 people a week to over 25,000 weekly.

They said the effects of the pandemic will ‘continue to be felt in our community for many months to come especially by those confronting poverty, homelessness and hunger.’

Food insecurity has affected nearly one in seven Canadians during the pandemic, according to Statistics Canada.

Donations of cash can be made to www.dailybread.ca

Let’s get planting with free trees to protect our canopy

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The Long Branch Neighbourhood Association (LBNA) is reminding area residents of their free tree giveaway on October 24 at Col. Samuel Smith park.

Group members say there are 10 native and shrub species available that are suitable for all yards.

“This program supports the City of Toronto’s 40% tree canopy cover target by encouraging tree planting and tree care on private property,” according to the LBNA.

The event will take place from 12 noon to 2 p.m. at the Lake Shore Blvd. W. and Kipling Ave. park.

Tree seekers are required to book a 15-minute time slot during which they will have to drive up to pick up their trees to ensure physical distancing.

The trees will be distributed by association volunteers and pre-registration is required since quantities are limited.

Seniors or people with disabilities who cannot drive to come pick up their trees or need assistance planting can request assistance at the time of registration.  At this time we can offer this service to Long Branch residents only.

To pre-register and for questions send an e-mail to the LBNA at trees40@lbna.ca

Some of the trees available includes large canopy as Freeman Maple or White Oak: medium sized like Bitter nut Hickory, Northern Hackberry or Ironwood: small trees as Eastern Redbud or Serviceberry and shrubs, including Purple Flowering Raspberry, Nannyberry or Bush Honeysuckle.

 

Long-awaited info session for New Toronto shelter set for Oct. 20

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South Etobicoke residents have waited a long time and will finally have a say into a proposed 95-bed New Toronto municipal shelter on October 20.

Councillor Mark Grimes, in his weekly update, wrote that a virtual (telephone and online) Information session will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

“In an effort to practice physical distancing to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and promote collective well-being, this information session will be online and phone in,” Grimes said.

His office is urging residents to send in their questions 24-hours in advance to a Community Engagement Facilitator.

City Council at its meeting last July 28 authorized the City of Toronto to enter into an agreement to purchase 2950 and 2970 Lake Shore Blvd. W., for use as a municipal shelter, and possibly, affordable housing.

The closing date of the purchase is listed as December 2020, with construction to begin next year and with an opening date in 2023.

Council documents show that the buildings will be purchased for more than $13 million.

News of the proposed shelter has divided the community with those who want it relocated to another part of Ward 3 and not in a commercial area.

City officials said from 2018 to 2020 they looked at 49 property sites for a possible shelter in Ward 3.

They said activities are planned to ensure residents are informed including a community safety walk and a meeting with key stakeholders before the Information Session.

If you are not able to attend the meeting but have questions, you can get in touch with Community Engagement Facilitators Maria Crawford or Violet Ilkiw, of Barnes Management Group, at 416-800-2914 ext. 202.

They can be reached by email at 2950.70lakeshoreblvdwest@gmail.com

General enquiries to the City can be sent to ssha.homeless@toronto.ca

The call-in number for the Information Session is 416-915-6530 ext. The access code is 133 242 5334.

The link to the online session will be available one week before the session will begin. The website is    www.toronto.ca ∕ShelterExpansionSites

Being healthy and looking after your body with Adrianne

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With everything that’s going on in the world, one of the most precious organs in our bodies that we must work hard to protect right now is our lungs.  Since breathing and the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide is our number one need for survival, protecting and strengthening our lungs should be pretty high on our list of priorities, especially as we head into cold and flu season.

There are a number of different ways we can protect and strengthen our lungs.  There are breathing and twisting exercises that can be done through yoga, or nutritional supplements available to help support lung health.

One of the most effective solutions for cleaning and strengthening your lungs is salt therapy.

If you have ever had the good fortune of spending a week by the ocean you may notice that the air is easier to breath. You tend to recover from illness quicker, and perhaps your allergies go away, or your asthma doesn’t flair up as much, if at all.

Another place to where people have enjoyed the benefits of salty air are on the sites of the ancient oceans, now buried deep under the surface of the earth in Eastern Europe.  The health benefits of the salt caves were discovered during the height of the Industrial Revolution when a Polish health official visited some of the salt mines and found the workers working in these mines were free from all respiratory ailments.  Upon further investigation, it was found that when spending an extended period of time in a concentrated salt air environment, the lungs were constantly being cleansed and had an opportunity to heal and increase oxygen intake.

This was due to the salt ions in the air that help loosen phlegm and mucus stuck to the walls of the respiratory tract, thus making it easier to be released from the body.   Once the mines were mined, the caves were converted into salt sanitoriums for people to come and heal from various ailments.

Moving to the ocean side or to the salt caves in Europe is not feasible for most of us, so we must find alternatives that provide similar relief.  There are devices that you can get for personal use, such as a Ultrasonic Salinizer that pushes salt ions into the atmosphere, or a salt pipe that you breath through a few times a day.   If you are looking for a more authentic experience, there are salt spas and rooms throughout the GTA where you go and sit in silence and reap the benefits of the salt.  Salt therapy is safe for any age, and does not impact the sodium levels in the body.  If you would like more information on salt therapy and how to do it, feel free to contact us at the club at info@monkeytreewellness.com.  Also reach Adrianne @monkeytreefitness on Facebook, Instagram or www.monkeytreewellness.com.