The City of Toronto this month launched an improved 311 online portal, making the service easier and more convenient to use, which includes providing real-time status updates from start to finish.

The City continues to rapidly evolve and modernize service delivery to improve access to services while providing a consistent service experience that builds trust & confidence in municipal services.

With the launch of this new service, all of the approximately 600 services that 311 offers are now available online, including requests for snow plowing and tree maintenance, overflowing catch basins, dogs off leash and inadequate heat in apartment buildings.

Residents, businesses and visitors now have the option of calling in to speak with an agent, live online chat or submitting a service request online. Users will be able to track the status of their request from start to finish and can opt-in to receive real-time status updates via text (SMS) or email notification.

City Council also adopted a new Inclusionary Zoning framework  that will ensure more affordable housing is built across the City of Toronto.

The City is the first municipality in Ontario to implement these measures.
Beginning next year the measures makes it mandatory for certain new condo developments around Protected Major Transit Areas to include from five per cent to  10 per cent of their units as affordable housing, which will increase to 8 to 22% by 2030.

The amount of affordable housing required will vary depending on where in the city the development is located, and whether the units are intended for rental or ownership.

The policy will be monitored and reviewed after one year to allow for adjustments that may be required including changes to the phase-in and, or set aside rate, alterations to the minimum development size threshold and any other changes needed to ensure market stability and production of affordable housing units.

This is another step towards meeting the goals set out by City to  approve 40,000 new affordable rental units, and 4,000 affordable home ownership opportunities.

 

 

The Ontario government is investing more than $529,000 through the True Patriot Love Foundation to expand access to specialized mental health services and support for Ontario’s veterans returning to civilian life.

The funding will be directed to community-based programs offering group counselling, and supports for women who suffered sexual trauma during combat.

“Our veterans have made tremendous sacrifices to keep our province and country safe, and we have a responsibility to be there to support them when they need us,” said Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. “I am proud that our government is prioritizing our veterans and I am grateful to the True Patriot Love Foundation for their delivery of this important specialized programming.”

The funding will help support True Patriot Love Foundation’s work with agency partners in Ontario to deliver targeted, specialized programs to veterans; including peer support to reduce depression, substance abuse and suicide.

Funds will also be used to  help with safe space for female veterans to discuss experiences related to military sexual trauma, counselling for veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces and the spouses or partners struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and expanding programs and services offered by mental health agencies.

Ontario is home to approximately 228,000 of Canada’s veterans and every year from 9,000 to 10,000 Canadian Armed Forces members are released from military service; with one third indicating they have a hard time transitioning to civilian life.

The province is also investing $12.4 million over two years to provide existing and expanded mental health and addictions supports for all frontline health care workers across the province.

MPP Christine Elliott said the investment will protect our progress in the fight against COVID-19 by supporting the workforce of the acute care, long-term care, and home and community care sectors in their efforts to provide high-quality care and service to patients, long-term care residents, and clients.

“Ontario’s frontline health care workers have been unwavering in their dedication to protect the health and safety of Ontarians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and just as they are there for us, we need to be there for them,” said Elliott, who is the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

The COVID‑19 pandemic has had a significant impact on frontline health care workers’ mental health. This funding will provide continued rapid access to the following expanded or new treatment options and supports specifically for this workforce:

The government is partnering with five hospitals, the Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario Division, and the Ontario Psychological Association to offer these mental health and addictions supports.

Several hundred people packed around the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 101 in Long Branch to pay tribute to our veterans on Remembrance Day.

The front of the Lake Shore Blvd. W. Legion hall was filled, as people looked from inside the hall. Prayers and words of tribute were said as a bagpiper played during the 11 a.m. service to honour those who paid the ultimate prize.

Many of our veterans, who are up there in age, were helped by family members as they laid their poppies on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

There was an earlier well-attended Sunrise Service at 7 a.m. at the New Toronto monument at Colonel Samuel Smith Park at Lake Shore Blvd. and Kipling Avenue.

“We will never forget those who gave their lives,” Major Bill King, of the Salvation Army, told the crowd. “Their sacrifices were honourable.”

Canada lost some 113,000 sailors, airmen, naval officers, and other personnel who were killed during the two World Wars; the close to 1,000 more who died in the Korean War; the 158 service men and women who lost their lives in Afghanistan and the dozens of troops who have been killed while serving on various peacekeeping missions around the world.

“Thank you for the sacrifice and for laying down your lives,” King said. “We honour you.”

The Canadian flag was earlier lifted to the top a Legion flagpole and there was two minutes of silence to remember the valiant men who lost their lives. Many were from this area.

The solemn ceremony included the playing of the last post and a flyover from jets.

“It was a great ceremony and it gives us time to reflect,” said MPP Christine Hogarth. “If it weren’t for them (veterans), we would not be here today.”

Her great uncle, Donald MacDonald Hogarth, served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WW1 and was promoted to major in 1915 in charge of military supplies and transport in London. In 1917 he was appointed a lieutenant-colonel and made director of supply and transport for the Canadian forces.

Hogarth, who was awarded a Distinguished Service Order (DSO), was born in Osceola, Ont., in June 1879 and died in June 1950. He was a politician and astute mining financier, who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing the riding of Port Arthur from 1911 to 1923 and again from 1926 to 1929.

He achieved the rank of Major-General in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was a well-known mining financier who founded some of the biggest gold mines in Northern Ontario.

There were also ceremonies held on Remembrance Day at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 643, on Jutland Road and at the Etobicoke Civic Centre. The largest service is held yearly in Ottawa.

 

A woman is in hospital with suffering serious injuries after being hit by a car in the Renforth Drive and Wareside Road area.

The female pedestrian was taken to a trauma centre around 10:30 p.m. on November 10, according to police.

Police said the driver had initially left the scene after hitting the woman. A man was later charged with impaired driving.

The driver apparently damaged several other cars and trees in the area after hitting the woman, police said.

The woman, who is described as being in her mid 40s, is being treated with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

For a short time roads in the area were shut due to the police investigation.

The name of the suspect has not been released.

Ripping off veterans on Remembrance Day after they gave their lives for this country.

A second man is on the run after being caught on security cameras stealing a poppy box from a popular Long Branch bar.

It is the second poppy box containing donations stolen from a Long Branch business in about a week.

Meagan Larman, bar manager of T.J. O’Shea’s Irish Snug, at 3481 Lake Shore Blvd. W., said a man entered their bar on November 10, a day before Remembrance Day, and stole their poppy box.

“They came in asking if they could take a poppy then proceeded to grab the entire box and jumped in a car and took off,” an outraged Larman posted on social media.

Photographs of a man wearing a baseball cap, whose face is not clear, can be seen near the box inside the bar.

“Keep your boxes in a safe place,” she wrote. “Super disgusted that this happened.”

Earlier this month another poppy donation box was stolen from the counter of a pizza store a block away.

The owner of the store said he had turned his back for a minute when a woman grabbed the box, which contained some cash, and bolted.
Another area resident posted online that another suspected thief tried to steal a third collection box from a local coffee shop but was stopped by a customer.

‘I hope the thief gets caught,’ Theresa MacLean wrote. ‘’It’s disgusting that he stole from heroes that risked and gave their lives for his freedom.”

“What’s wrong with people,’ Midge Mac asked. “It’s for the veterans for God’s sake!”

“Someone knows who that is and needs to step up please,” another concerned resident wrote.

There has been no arrests and call police at 416-808-2200 if you have information on the thieves.

 

 

 

The streetscape of Dundas Street West near Kipling Subway station is changing fast and furious.

Etobicoke York Community Council is holding a virtual public meeting on November 22 at 9:30 a.m. to consider a final report by Pinnacle International to redevelop a 4.38 hectare site located east of Shorncliffe Road and south of Dundas Street West.

The site is bounded by Montgomery Road to the east, the south side of Bloor Street West, Fieldway Road, with a CN Rail line to the south, Shorncliffe Road/Shaver Avenue to the west and Dundas Street West to the north.

It is municipally known as 5415-5481, 5485 and 5487 Dundas Street West and 15 and 25 Shorncliffe Road.

The application proposes to amend the zoning by-law to permit a mixed-use development of residential, retail and office uses within four base buildings and eight towers, ranging from 26 to 44 floors high.

The application would create 15,000 square metres of commercial space and 2,875 residential units. It would bring hundreds of families and others into a new community.

The plan also proposes a 21-metre public road and .4-hectare park, as well as two privately owned public spaces (POPS). The application will result in a total of 6,792 square metres of parkland, with more than 4,000 square metres fronting Dundas Street W.

The road will connect Dundas Street West and Shorncliffe Road and municipal infrastructure upgrades, like sewer work, will be conducted for the properties at 5415-5481, 5485 and 5487 Dundas Street West and 15 and 25 Shorncliffe Road, according to the proposal.

If approved, a 26 and 28 storey towers will be built at the corners of Shorncliffe Road and Dundas St. W.

Prior to issuance of the first above-grade building permit, the owner shall make a cash contribution to the City in the amount of $1.6 million by certified cheque, according to the proposal.

The funds will be allocated toward capital improvements for local traffic calming projects, park improvements, including the new Etobicoke Centre public park; or new child care and community recreational centre proposed for the new Etobicoke Civic Centre.

Five levels of underground parking are planned, with 2,881 parking spaces of which 2,265 would be for residents, 258 for visitors, 98 retail spaces and 217 for office spaces. There would be 3,104 bicycle parking spots.

After a vote at community council this month. The matter will then be considered by City Council on December 15, subject to the actions of the Etobicoke York Community Council.

 

Some say enough is enough.

A number of area residents are complaining about the large number of marijuana stores popping up in the community.

There are about 15 stores that sell cannabis or related products in our area from Mimico west to Long Branch, according to a recent survey by South Etobicoke News.

Now city councillors Kristyn Wong-Tam and Paula Fletcher are seeking a one-year moratorium on the issuing of new licenses for cannabis retail stores in Toronto.

They have tabled a bill before city council requesting the Ford government pause the issuing of new licensees for one year or until a private members bill which would give municipalities more say over the location of pot shops is passed.

Bill 29 has already passed first reading in the legislature.

“There’s a lot of cannabis stores but the problem is they’re clustered in certain areas,” Fletcher, who represents the east-end riding of Toronto-Danforth, told CP24. “I don’t want to give the wrong impression. I’m all in favor of the legalization of marijuana but the over concentration of stores is becoming a problem in parts of Toronto.”

When cannabis was first legalized in 2018 the Ontario government allowed municipalities to opt in or out of having brick-and-mortar retail stores in their communities.

But it did not give municipalities that did opt in any say over the location of cannabis stores or even the number of them that can be located in any single neighbourhood.

Fletcher called it a “wild wild west” environment where some main streets are being increasingly taken over by cannabis retailers.

In downtown Toronto there there were 163 cannabis retail outlets as of last summer, according to one report.

The motion which will be considered by council says that municipalities already have the ability to weigh in on the location of other businesses that sell controlled substances, such as LCBO storefronts, and that the same process should apply to cannabis retail outlets.

 

 

Social media are buzzing with outrage over a video that surfaced showing fireworks being discharged from a 12-floor balcony of a Humber Bay Shores high-rise condo.

The video shows a loud and lengthy blast of fireworks being shot off  last weekend against the walls and ceilings of a balcony of Nautilus at Waterview highrise condo, at 16 Brookers Lane.

The so-called ‘balcony fireworks’ lit up the night and could be seen for a distance.

The footage has been forwarded to building and city officials who have launched an investigation.

The footage was photographed and posted online by Nicola Campbell who was standing on her balcony when the fireworks was set off at a neighbouring condo.

“What a silly, dangerous thing this fireworks display was,” says Campbell. “It was the third one on that balcony but the first I was able to capture on video.”

The images sparked outrage from area tenants who are already complaining to city officials and police about fireworks being set alit at all hours of the night from balconies, some aimed at people or pets on the ground.

“I would let the building manager know for sure, not only are they putting themselves in danger but other innocents too,” wrote Rossetta Patrone. “ No common sense”

Resident Bernie Lavigne wrote that the incident ‘reminds me of “Chair Girl,” who was found guilty of  throwing a chair off a downtown condo.

“The neighbours immediately around them must have been ecstatic,” fumed another.

“How can people be so ignorant,” asked Ian Marsh.

“This is ridiculous and these people should be charged,” said Brad Jurik.

Steven Lentini noted that “we aren’t allowed smoking nor BBQ here but no condo rules about balcony fireworks.”

The fireworks can be seen on this link https://photos.app.goo.gl/VmZfExxTF6HLJiJa9

 

 

Police have stepped up their search for a man who is accused of physically assaulting a woman in Mimico by pulling her by the hair, grabbing her throat and then spitting on her.

Toronto Police are trying to locate the victim to ‘ensure her wellbeing.’

Police said the incident occurred on November 7 in the area of Lake Shore Blvd. W. , and Mimico Avenue.

Officers alleged the suspect engaged in a verbal dispute with the woman.

“The man then assaulted the woman,” according to a release from 22 Division. “The woman pulled the woman by the hair and grabbed her by the throat and spat on her.”

The suspect then fled the scene.

Police said they are concerned about the safety of the woman, who is described as white, about five-foot tall, petite build with brown hair.

Anyone who was in the area at the time is urged to contact police with any information. Investigators would also encourage the woman to contact police to let them know she is safe and well.

In another incident, police last week released an image of man in connection with a Sept. 29 sexual assault that allegedly took place near Humber College.

According to police, the incident occurred at 11:30 p.m. in the Lake Shore Boulevard West and Kipling Avenue area.

Police alleged a man approached a 23-year-old woman from behind as she waited to board a bus, and sexually assaulted her.

The suspect is described as being about 25 years old and 5’8″ tall with a medium build and red facial hair. He wore a grey Champion brand hoodie, salt-and-pepper Roots sweatpants and red shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1100, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, online on our Facebook Leave a Tip page, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637). Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes or Google Play.

MPP Christine Hogarth has tabled legislation at Queen’s Park which, if passed, would bring long-overdue recognition of the Polish-Ontario community’s historic contribution to building our province.

Polish Heritage Month would be celebrated each May, commemorating Constitution Day in Poland – the advent of their supreme law in 1791, according to Hogarth.

“One of the reasons why I got into public life was to safeguard Ontario’s democratic spirit,” Hogarth said, in tabling An Act to proclaim the month of May as Polish Heritage Month.

“To me, there’s no better way to do that than to celebrate the ways in which our immigrant communities have enriched our province.”

“This applies especially to Polish-Ontarians, whose ancestors fought for freedom and to achieve liberty – against centuries of invasion and aggression including Nazi and Soviet occupation.”

Some 524,000 Polish Canadians call Ontario home. That is far more than any other province. Nearly 12,000 live in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding, according to a 2016 census.

“The Polish community has contributed significantly to Ontario, its development and culture ever since the first major wave of Kashubians immigrated in 1858. The recognition of the Polish community’s contributions by the Province of Ontario through Bill 18, Polish Heritage Month in May, honours this historic bond.” said, Consul General of The Republic of Poland in Toronto, Magdalena Pszczolkowska.

An important aspect of fostering Ontario’s rich and diverse cultural mosaic is recognising the achievements of the communities that have come to call our province home. With this Bill, we are ensuring that the place of Poles in Ontario is both recognised and celebrated.” said, MPP for Mississauga Centre, Natalia Kusendova.

The commemoration will join others like Black History Month already celebrated in Ontario.