Staying local for summer fun

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There’s no need to go downtown this summer! In Ward 10, we are providing entertainment for all ages. Starting in July, Earl Bales Park’s amphitheatre will once again host regular Tuesday evening music performances. Every other Thursday night, recreation staff will organize family fun nights, and on July 24 and Aug. 15, you can enjoy a free family movie on the outdoor big screen.

It’s also time for the Antibes Multicultural Festival, set for July 21 at the Antibes Community Centre. This community favourite features free entertainment, food and fun in celebration of diversity.

Excitement is building for the inaugural Earl Bales Park Arts and Music Festival on Sunday, Aug. 11. This family event similarly features free music performances, children’s entertainment, local foods and art.

We are also moving forward with many local improvements. Seating and garden areas are being built near Bathurst Street and Finch Avenue. After years of waiting, there is finally a new patio being built at the Irv Chapley Community Centre and pool. Robert Hicks Park’s playground equipment is being upgraded, and Champlain Parkette will have new tennis courts, trees, benches and seating areas. Preparations are also underway to improve Wilson Heights Park. Throughout the ward, new Little Free Libraries will provide free access to books in local parks.

Whether you are interested in live music, watching a movie under the stars or just enjoying a sunny day outdoors, I look forward to seeing you in Ward 10 this summer. For more details please visit www.jamespasternak.ca.

City honours firefighter

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A City of Vaughan fire captain was honoured by the city for pulling a trapped Richmond Hill mother from her burning vehicle.

And Vic Ennamorato, the 51-year-old firefighter serving out of Vaughan Fire & Rescue Service Station 7-10, is still patently modest about it, said Larry Bentley, acting fire chief of the city’s fire and rescue service.

Ennamorato was driving home with his daughter when they passed an overturned SUV near Kirby Road and Jane Street. Although Ennamorato didn’t know it at the time, two cars had collided, setting one aflame before it struck an SUV driven by Richmond Hill native Milena Morelli, a Toronto District Catholic School Board teacher. The SUV had incurred extensive damage and was also set on fire in the resulting collision. Morelli was trapped inside by the vehicle’s deployed air bags.

Seeing the incident in his rear-view mirror, Ennamorato turned around to see if he could help. Noticing smoke building up in the damaged car, Ennamorato’s daughter called the police.

The fire captain eventually obtained a crowbar, which he used to break the SUV’s rear and passenger-side windows. He also put out most of the fire using a fire extinguisher he often carries. This gave Morelli, a mother of one, the chance to crawl out through the rear of the vehicle to safety.

Ennamorato’s bravery was celebrated during a ceremony at a city council meeting last month, with several attendees giving speeches congratulating him for his heroism, including Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua.

Bentley was also thrilled that Ennamorato was recognized for his act.
“[The residents of Vaughan] are protected by the best,” he said. “And Vic Ennamorato is one of the best.”

Jaye Robinson ousted from executive

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Jaye Robinson, councillor for Don Valley West, has been replaced by Coun. Anthony Peruzza as chair of the community development and recreation committee on the mayor’s executive council.

This comes after several turbulent weeks at City Hall with all attention focused on the crack cocaine video scandal linked to the mayor. Robinson has publically urged the mayor, who has denied allegations and the existence of any video, to offer more clarity to constituents, saying that the scandal has distracted citizens from city issues.

“Every time you go out to your ward, it’s all people want to talk about,” said Robinson. She cited the debate over the downtown casino, which was rejected without much fanfare the week the accusations broke. “The casino debate was probably one of the most contentious issues we’ve debated in years, and it just disappeared and almost went unnoticed.”

She said that her constituents have told her that the scandal is affecting Toronto’s international image. “It’s a pretty established ward with people who are business leaders going to business meetings across the world,” said Robinson. “A business leader in my ward was very concerned because [an international company] is looking at doing some transactions with Toronto and they’re questioning whether Toronto’s stable.”

The mayor’s office has denied that the ouster was personal and was based on the desire to promote Peruzza. The newly appointed councillor admits he is less familiar with community development and recreation.

“My first priority is getting up to speed,” he said. He has praised the work that his predecessor has done. “She’s done a great job.”

Robinson says this experience has strengthened her desire to run for re-election in 2014. “I’m definitely running for re-election — definitely, as never before.” Despite a tough month, she says she’s looking on the bright side. “I’m a strong person, and I’ve got huge support,” she said. “I’ve had hundreds of e-mails of support and people actually congratulating me, which is kind of funny.”

Lower Village mulls Green P expansion plans

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The Toronto Parking Authority (TPA)’s Green P lot on the corner of Spadina Road and Thelma Avenue has become the site of a development debate for the second time in just over 10 years.

Lorne Persiko, president of the TPA, said that the parking authority has had plans to expand the lot at 453 Spadina Rd. for several years.

The TPA purchased a house adjacent to the lot for $1,153,000 in 2010 with the intention of developing the entire space for a new and expanded parking facility.

“We’ve looked at development on the site before,” said Persiko, referring to a 2002 attempt to redevelop the lot. “Since that development failed, there’s been a need to add parking to the area.”

They are now co-ordinating with the Forest Hill Village Business Improvement Area (BIA) to determine the community’s parking needs.

A less costly option would be to expand the surface lot from 43 to 54 surface spaces. But according to the results of surveys distributed throughout the community, adding two levels of underground spaceswould be ideal.

But adding underground parking will require development on the surface, explained Coun. Joe Mihevc. “To finance [an underground lot], the parking revenue does not pay for it itself,” said Mihevc. “You need to build some commercial above that.”

A meeting was held June 18 to gauge the neighbourhood’s feelings on the issue.

“We are not of one mind in the community,” said Mihevc, who said a decision needs to be made soon. “We have the house sitting there, and we’ve already delayed the construction of the surface lot by several months. We were hoping to be in the ground.”

The 2002 debate over the lot is part of the reason why Mihevc is facilitating discussions on the matter despite the lot falling in the jurisdiction of Ward 22 councillor Josh Matlow.

Matlow declared a conflict of interest in the matter, as his father, Judge Ted Matlow, resides on the street. Judge Matlow had already fought commercial development by the Toronto Parking Authority in the area.

Between 2002 and 2004, Judge Matlow was president of the committee Friends of the Village, which fought to halt construction of a mixed-use commercial building on the same lot.

The project was eventually terminated, but the battle nearly resulted in Judge Matlow’s removal from office. A Canadian Judicial Council panel found the judge to be acting inappropriately by continuing to hear cases involving the city of Toronto while engaged in a battle against the city. However, the council granted the judge a reprieve in 2008.

Now the site is once again up for debate, and despite many members of the community opposing commercial development in the previous battle, Forest Hill Village BIA president Yvonne Bambrick says that a two-storey commercial development appears to be the preferred solution.

“There was enough support from the merchant community and the residential community to pursue with the underground parking,” said Bambrick. “Parking was the number one issue.”

Gypsy moths eat away at Moore Park’s trees

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City of Toronto, Urban Forestry Services has been busy chasing unwanted guests out of Moore Park — thousands of hungry gypsy moths still in their caterpillar stage.

“We saw a pretty drastic increase in gypsy moth population in Moore Park,” explained forest health supervisor Kristjan Vitols. With their insatiable appetite for oak trees, the leafy neighbourhood was the ideal place for the caterpillars to take up residence. Unfortunately, the caterpillars have been eating away at the leaves on the neighbourhood’s trees, leaving their leaves full of small holes. “[They] can quickly defoliate a tree completely,” said Vitols.

Under Toronto’s Strategic Forest Management Plan, the area was sprayed with pesticide Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kurstaki [BTK] from a low-flying helicopter in two separate sessions several weeks ago. Though the caterpillars are no more, Vitols explained that trees may still have some damage — in order to be killed by the spray, the caterpillars will have to nibble on the leaves: “We have to spray it on the leaf, and then it’s actually required that the caterpillar ingests the leaf a little bit,” said Vitols.

Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam said she hasn’t noticed significant damage and that the rainy weather has probably been a factor in the trees staying vibrant and green.

“With the amount of rain we’ve had, Moore Park and Rosedale [are] actually prettier than [they have] ever been,” she said.

Wong-Tam said she has not heard any residents voicing concerns about how the damage would affect property values, but they have been worried about the affects that BTK will have on their health and the health of their pets. “The residents of Moore Park are conscientious of what chemicals do go in the air,” said Wong-Tam.

Vitols clarified that BTK poses no danger to humans and is certified for use on organic produce. He added that spraying is done for this year, but there is no guarantee that the moths will not return in years to come.

“We can’t eradicate this pest,” he said. “That’s not our goal.”

Thornlea SS students rally to save murals on school walls

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A petition to preserve the murals painted on the walls of Thornlea Secondary School has united current and former students across the GTA.

School officials announced that plans to update the murals to better reflect “current” life would paint over approximately 60 works of art.

This, however, prompted grade 12 student Emily Amon to start a petition protesting the plan, which received more than 500 signatures.

“The murals are student art and mean a lot to the students, teachers and alumni,” she said.

A meeting was held to reach a compromise. Rather than painting over all the murals, eight to 10 will be preserved in their original on-the-wall format. The ones saved will be decided by popular vote.

Sheri Epstein, the school’s principal, said that every piece of art will be carefully digitally archived for posterity by a professional photographer who has been hired to take photos of each mural.

Some digital reproductions will be enlarged and framed, to be hung around the school, and all will be incorporated into a book to be added to the school’s library.

Epstein said every person in the school, both students and faculty, was allowed to cast a vote for their favourite piece.

The outcome of the vote will be presented to students and faculty by early July — on the same day that final marks are released for exams.

Going the distance

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Even after he passed away with Alzheimer’s in 2011, Soojeong and Soohyung Choe’s grandfather continues to inspire them to great lengths — almost 5,000 kilometres, in fact.

To honour their hero and mentor, Soojeong, 19, and his brother, Soohyung, 18, are riding bikes July 2 from North York’s Banbury community to Vancouver, B.C., to raise money for Alzheimer Society of Canada.

As of press time, the York Mills Collegiate Institute students had raised over $5,000, with a goal of $20,000 to be met while on the road. Their journey will take 30 days, riding for around nine hours a day, and they plan to share their experiences on social media.

Challenges they might face along the way include unpredictable weather and an arduous trek up the Canadian Rockies.

To prepare, Soojeong and his brother have been attending spin classes six times a week at LA Fitness, on Don Mills Road, lifting weights and road cycling since this past February. Soojeong even went so far as to drop summer school classes to focus on raising awareness about Alzheimer’s.

Its not the first time the brothers have given back. Soojeong founded the Alzheimer’s Awareness Club at York Mills, which Soohyung now heads.

Despite their own level of commitment, Soojeong emphasized that the cyclists depend on a team of 25 volunteers, including York Mills students Robin Wang, Justin Chan and Ramez Hider, who were instrumental in organizing the project.

At the end of the road, Soojeong predicted an outpouring of emotion.

“I think I’ll cry because I put so much time into it,” he said. “I’ll man-cry.”

More new stores coming to Yorkdale

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Struggling store Sears Canada has sold back the lease of its Yorkdale Shopping Centre location, prompting prospective retailers, such as Quebec-based Maison Simons, to eye the space that could be vacated by March 31, 2014.

Amid fevered speculation, Nordstrom and Seattle-based Saks Fifth Avenue spokespersons denied that the companies have an interest in occupying the space. However, the Sears move cast a shadow on Yorkdale mall’s recently announced expansion plans after reports surfaced that a RBC Dominion Securities and RBC Capital Markets analysts’ research note suggested Yorkdale might shelve its expansion and move anchor store Nordstrom into the vacant location.

Peter Simon, president and chief executive officer of Maison Simons, said his department store entered talks with Yorkdale co-owners Oxford Properties Group and Alberta Investment Management Corp.

If negotiations are successful, Maison Simons might occupy most of the 118,000-square-foot space but not all of it.

Sears’ pullout from Yorkdale comes after 12 years of operation and was coupled with the announcement of a similar deal made with the landlords of Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga.

In total, Sears’ agreements created a total revenue of $191 million for Sears. Another $54 million is possible if a similar deal is made with the owners of the Scarborough Town Centre.

In a prepared statement, Calvin McDonald, president and chief executive officer of Sears Canada, suggested the company stood to make more money by selling its lease than it would by continuing to operate.

“We were presented with an opportunity that gives us significant financial benefit without changing our plans to improve the business and make Sears more relevant to Canadians,” he said.

Current employees would be offered positions at other locations. When asked if the Sears location at Fairview Mall might close, a spokesperson for owner Cadillac Fairview gave no comment.

Suzuki: compared to other large global cities, Toronto scores poorly in transit

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What makes a city great? Among other things, great cities are tolerant communities that welcome and celebrate ethnic diversity. They support and foster local arts, have access to venture capital to spur entrepreneurship and innovation, and benefit from healthy local environments with clean air, clean water and access to nutritious, locally grown food.

When it comes to urban sustainability, cities in the U.S. and Canada are employing innovative programs and policies to improve the health and well-being of residents and their local environments, like reducing waste and improving recycling (Los Angeles) and passing policies to combat climate change (Toronto).

But most cities in Canada and the U.S. are lacking in infrastructure to move millions of people safely and affordably. With some notable exceptions, such as Vancouver and Calgary, no successful rapid transit infrastructure projects have been built in Canadian cities for decades.

Toronto now scores 15th on per capita investment in public transit among large global cities — well behind sixth-placed New York City, which spends twice as much. This failure to address transit infrastructure is serious. The Toronto Board of Trade estimates that congestion costs the economy $6 billion a year in lost productivity.

Furthermore, air pollution from traffic congestion is a major threat to public health, especially for our most vulnerable citizens, like children and the elderly.

According to the Toronto Board of Health, pollution-related ailments result in 440 premature deaths, 1,700 hospitalizations, 1,200 acute bronchitis episodes and about 68,000 asthma-symptom days a year.

Fortunately, politicians are starting to respond. Ontario’s government plans to spend billions to expand its regional transit system in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, under a plan called the Big Move. But before we spend enormous amounts on improvements, we need to ensure projects contribute to a region-wide rapid transit network using the latest technology and adhering to the highest sustainability standards. They should also move the most people in the most cost-effective way.

That’s why a proposal to use diesel trains for the Air-Rail-Link plan to connect downtown Toronto with its international airport in Mississauga is concerning. A rapid transit link with the airport is long overdue, but heavy diesel trains emit particulates and other contaminants, including known carcinogens. Numerous experts, including Toronto’s medical health officer, have urged the Ontario government to abandon its diesel plan in favour of electric trains that could be better integrated into a region-wide rapid transit network.

Vancouver, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and New York City have consistently ranked among the most livable cities on the continent, in part because they take the environment into account for planning decisions. They all have world-class public transit systems that move residents in a safe, affordable and sustainable way. It’s time for Toronto and its suburbs to do the same.

David Suzuki is the host of the CBC’s The Nature of Things and author of more than 30 books on ecology.

Tony Aspler’s Weekly Wine Pick: the best Wildass Red yet

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A blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Tannat, this red blend is the best Wildass Red yet. Deep ruby in colour, it offers a nose of cedar and red- and blackcurrants. A medium-bodied wine, dry with well-extracted fruit and a herbal note on the finish.

Wildass Red, 2011, Niagara-on-the-Lake, $19.95. Vintages #86363

Post City Magazines’ wine columnist, Tony Aspler, has written 14 books on wine and food. Tony also created the Ontario Wine Awards and has been inducted into the New York Media Wine Writers’ Hall of Fame. He can be heard on 680News.

Vaughan votes to submit bid for possible gaming facility

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A critic is warning that property values in Thornhill and Richmond Hill are at stake after a narrow City of Vaughan council vote has taken the city one step closer to potentially hosting a casino.

Ending a marathon committee meeting that concluded at 3 a.m., the 5–4 vote favoured putting Vaughan in the running for the facility, which could bring in a $32 million annual hosting fee and $2.4–$2.7 million in property taxes.

It would also create over 8,000 permanent jobs at one of two potential sites.

The city has identified two possible locations, one at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and the other near Jane Street and Highway 407.

But to Mario Racco, co-chair of No Casino Vaughan, the positives don’t outweigh the negatives.

He claimed that the social costs of operating a local casino — including a marked increase in crime — would spread further than its immediate area.

“The moment the casino opens, the people closest to the casino will be affected. Four to eight per cent of the people will be hooked into gambling,” he claimed. “The casino may be in Vaughan, but Richmond Hill and Thornhill stand to lose just as much as nearby areas.”

Racco also shared concerns that property values in the bedroom communities may be affected negatively.

OLG will choose a preferred host in late 2013. If Vaughan is selected, the casino would immediately enter into the city’s typical planning process.

Four must-see movies from TIFF Cinamathque’s Jacques Demy retrospective

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5:38 pm

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An infusion of French film culture makes its way to Toronto this weekend as TIFF Cinematheque presents a series devoted to Jacques Demy, a Parisian master of sight and sound.

While the term “French New Wave” has various connotations, Demy fuses his French style with a Hollywood sensibility. His films are narratives, driven and inspired not by politics or experimentation but a love for the whimsical and the capricious.

Starting June 27 and running through July 20, TIFF Bell Lightbox will showcase a complete retrospective of the famed auteur’s works, featuring song and dance, love and heartbreak, and a beautiful swath of colours. The films have an uncanny ability to challenge the viewer, as his dramas are filled with humour, and his comedies possess something darker underneath.

With that, here are our top picks from the series.

Lola

Yes, there is a much sought-after woman named Lola, and yes she is a showgirl, and there are plenty of diamonds, but this romantic drama comes well before the song of fame and takes place in Nantes, France. As Demy’s first feature film, this 1961 effort follows the out-of-luck Roland as he looks to gain success in love and business. Lola catches his eye, but she also earns the notice of others — and Roland looks to prove his worth. Demy’s debut presents very realistic problems that don’t necessarily have convenient and easy endings.
June 27, 6:30 p.m.

Bay of Angels

Demy’s second film deals with vice and temptation as this black-and-white feature finds a gambling banker making a chance encounter with a divorced mother named Jackie. Blonde and seductive, Jackie is a compulsive gambler, and she enchants the banker who quickly falls in love with her. She claims to love him, but her love for gambling seems stronger, and the idealistic Jean slowly realizes truths about love.
June 28, 6:30 p.m.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

A follow up of sorts to Lola, we find a very similar tone and style in Demy’s 1964 romance. An auto mechanic and a young woman who owns an umbrella boutique fall in love, but war and uncertainty are soon to tear them apart. Geneviève gets pregnant and Guy is drafted, and their relationship is tested, especially when Roland (the same Roland from Lola), enters the picture and meets Geneviève. The complexities of relationships and the strains of love run throughout this film — a musical, mind you, in which everything is sung.
June 29, 6:30 p.m.

The Young Girls of Rochefort

The final film in Demy’s romantic trilogy is another musical, though this one is a bit more whimsical and upbeat. Set over the course of a weekend on the coast of France, and mostly in a single café, the film follows twin sisters and their encounters with various men. Time plays a factor here, as the men the girls meet — sailors, carnies, travelers — are transient, while their mother Yvonne longs for a man who slipped away. Once again, life here is full of bittersweet moments.
June 30, 6 p.m.