How much damage could a little lotion cause?

10:42 pm

Every day we slather ourselves with liquids, lotions, and potions — from shampoo and soap to deodorant and makeup. After all, most of us want to look and feel clean and to smell nice.

We don’t usually think of our cosmetics as a source of pollution. But U.S. researchers found that one-eighth of the 82,000 ingredients used in personal-care products are industrial chemicals, including carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxins, plasticizers, and degreasers.

Take a look at the ingredient list on your bottle of shampoo or hand lotion. Most of us would have a hard time identifying which chemicals in the typically long list of ingredients may be harmful to human health or the environment.

Chances are your personal-care products contain “fragrance” or “parfum” — often the last item on the ingredient list. Fragrance recipes are considered trade secrets, so manufacturers don’t have to disclose the chemicals they include. More than 3,000 chemicals are used to create “fragrances,” usually in complex mixtures.

Up to 80 per cent of these have never been tested to see whether they are toxic.

These fragrances are in almost every type of personal-care product, as well as laundry detergents and cleaning products. Even products labelled “fragrance-free” or “unscented” can contain fragrance, usually with a masking agent to prevent the brain from perceiving odour.
The negative effects of some fragrance ingredients can be immediately apparent. For example, fragrance chemicals can trigger allergic reactions, asthma attacks, and migraines.

Researchers have even found evidence suggesting that exposure to some of these chemicals can exacerbate or even contribute to the development of asthma in children.

Other chemicals may have harmful effects that don’t show up right away. For example, diethyl phthalate (DEP) is a cheap and versatile chemical widely used in cosmetic fragrances to make the scent last longer.

But it is associated with a range of problems. The European Commission on Endocrine Disruption has listed it as a Category 1 priority substance, based on evidence that it interferes with hormone function.

Phthalates have been linked to early puberty in girls, reduced sperm count in men, and reproductive defects in the developing male fetus (when the mother is exposed during pregnancy).

Health Canada has moved to ban six phthalates in children’s toys, after evidence showed that prolonged exposure can cause liver or kidney failure, but it has no plans to regulate the chemicals in cosmetics.

DEP is also listed as a Priority and Toxic Pollutant under the U.S. Clean Water Act, based on evidence that it can be toxic to wildlife and the environment.

Fragrance chemicals often harm the environment. Some compounds in synthetic “musk,” which wash off our bodies and find their way into nature, remain in the environment for a long time and can build up in the fatty tissues of aquatic animals.

Canada’s regulations don’t measure up to standards in other parts of the world.

The European Union restricts many fragrance ingredients and requires warning labels on products if they contain any of 26 allergens commonly used as cosmetic fragrances.

The David Suzuki Foundation and other organizations are conducting a survey to raise awareness and to find out what’s in the products people use every day.

We plan to present the results in September, along with recommendations for strengthening laws to protect Canadians and our environment from harmful chemicals in personal-care products.

You can help out by becoming more aware of what’s in the products you use and switching to products that don’t contain harmful ingredients.

Style scribe gives it the old College try

10:42 pm

Bar Italia’s patio is peaking.

It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Wednesday and the incredibly mild, late-spring air has recently become infused with the aroma of olive oil, baking bread and expensive perfume.

An attractive plateful of spaghetti and meatballs breezes past in the hands of a handsome waiter who has introduced himself by name to each of his tables.

This is Toronto’s Little Italy in the year 2010. But like in any good page-turner, the past cannot be overlooked.
And so enter Russell Smith, acclaimed author, restaurant critic, style guru but for now just a Toronto guy locking up his bike, taking a seat in a sun-warmed chair and ordering himself a bottle of Stella.

He’s been 9-to-9ing it of late, promoting his latest novel, Girl Crazy, a fictitious boy-meets-the-wrong-girl account set primarily within the neighbourhood we’ve agreed to use as a meeting spot.

“There’s a scene in the book where [characters] Justin and Andrew are sitting on a College Street patio watching a parade of beautiful women go by. I pictured them sitting here.”

For those in the know, Smith is no stranger to the topic of beautiful women or of the surrounding neighbourhood. In fact, much of his written work — which often speaks to a man’s love for the female form — has been penned right here in Bar Italia over his favourite salmon salad with its bitter arugula leaves and lemon vinaigrette.

“When I was a student in the ’80s, we would come to Bar Italia. It was a really Italian café, a pool hall in the back, filled with old Italian men drinking red wine out of tumblers.

“By the time I moved to Little Italy in the ’90s the bar had moved next door and used to open up at 11 a.m. I would wait outside the doors at five to 11 every day with my laptop.”

A regular ever since, Smith reminisces about a time when Little Italy was just about to drop off a roller coaster’s edge toward gentrification. And complain as he did at the time, he couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement.

“The place next door [now the Riva Supper Lounge] tends to be a revolving door of restaurants. When I first hit a certain level of success in the ’90s, it was a place called Brasserie X, and I remember a few fantastically expensive parties there, dark, ceramic tile, two-storey red walls, a big chandelier. Jake Richler and Leanne Delap, Leah McLaren, Andrew Piper, Ceri Marsh, we felt we were all on the way up. There was copious quantities of champagne, and I won’t mention what else. I started to see high heels and makeup around here for the first time, and I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is kind of glamorous.’”

And like it or not, that’s the way it’s stayed. Little Italy of the now boasts some of the city’s fanciest properties, shops and, of course, eateries, and with the Taste of Little Italy Festival on the calendar for this month (June 18-20), Smith takes me to see a few of his favourites.

“I like being in College Street Bar. I like the big open windows to the street and the open atmosphere.”
“Then there’s Gatto Nero. It’s on a beautiful corner, the food is acceptable and reasonably priced. There’s a part in Girl Crazy where Justin takes [his love interest] Jenna out to College Street, and the bar they go to very much resembles Gatto Nero. He takes her there to impress her.”

As we stroll up and down the busy sidewalk, manoeuvring our way around pods of freshly manicured females and salt-and-pepper-haired gents, Smith points to the incomparable Café Diplomatico, standing proudly on the corner of College and Manning since 1968.

“The food there is inedible, but it’s got the biggest outdoor terrace, and there were many an afternoon spent sitting there and people watching.”

On the other hand, he remembers Pony Restaurant up the street for its “adventurous French food, small intimate old-world space and excellent service.”

But it isn’t all about the sit-down restaurant for this prolific personality. He’s quick to confess of harbouring a secret passion for a jam-packed beef burrito at ever-popular Mexican spot Burrito Boyz and loves to take out a provolone and roasted red pepper sandwich at Riviera Bakery.

We bookend our day by poking our heads into some of Little Italy’s most beloved purveyors of beats and back issues — Soundscapes and Balfour.

Flipping through a dog-eared paperback, Smith chooses his final words on the area confidently, as would any award-winning author of his genre.

“This neighbourhood is certainly sexy. There’s no doubt about it.”

Homeowners may get one-time pass on illegal pads

10:40 pm

Coun. Howard Moscoe has proposed a one-time amnesty that would give homeowners with illegal front yard parking pads in the old City of York boundaries a chance to obtain a permit.

If homeowners couldn’t get their pads up to code, they would be issued a permit for street parking, and the city would come in, rip up the pad and put in sod, he said.

Many of the roads in Coun. Moscoe’s ward will soon need repaving, which is when the illegal pads are usually caught. “It’s an untenable situation ready to explode,” he said.

The city is going after illegal pads, Coun. Moscoe said, because they lead to flooding in people’s basements. But they also happen to add thousands of dollars to a property’s value. The situation has created tension between neighbours, he said.

Local resident Marlene Habib said she has always had a legal parking pad. A few years ago, when she learned that many of her neighbours weren’t paying for their pads, she stopped paying the annual fee.

Habib said the city came after her and eventually forced her to pay, but she was assured that others would be held to the same standard. “I feel that people who are doing it legitimately and getting permits are being punished while people who are doing this illegally are getting away with it,” she said.

Given her experience, Habib said she doesn’t think anyone should be granted an amnesty. She thinks the city should crack down now. Area resident Martha Marini, who sees cars parking on lawns and homes without any grass, said she would like to see the situation resolved. She doesn’t want to see her neighbours get hit with fines though.

“I don’t blame the residents because they didn’t even know that their front yard parking was illegal,” said Marini. “They probably purchased that property not knowing that it was illegal.” North York Community Council was expected to receive a report from transportation services on the proposal late last month.

Still no word on who pays the $4.5 million

10:39 pm

While councillors approved the $4.5 million budget overrun last month, there is still no word on who will pay what for the series of expensive construction hiccups that have delayed the Bloor Street Transformation Project more than a year past deadline.

“What has to be determined is who’s responsible for the delays,” said Adam Giambrone, vice-chair of the public works and infrastructure committee.

According to Giambrone, a number of parties may be partially responsible for overrun costs, including: the Bloor-Street BIA, the City of Toronto, Four Season’s Development Ltd. (company conducting the project), Toronto Hydro, property owners and some utility companies.

Currently, the Bloor Street BIA is paying nearly $20 million of project costs. Regarding budget overruns, several unforeseen events contributed, including the discovery of asbestos pipes and Toronto Hydro’s $2.1 million need to sink hydro chambers.

Tanya Bruckmueller, spokesperson for Toronto Hydro, said the need arose when project plans changed, requiring the modification of ground elevation, which affected the elevation of the chambers. “It wasn’t our choice,” said Bruckmueller.

Gord MacMillan, the director of design and construction for City of Toronto, said large-scale projects, such as the Bloor Street project, tend to involve cost escalation. Toronto budget chief Shelley Carroll said this is why the city set aside a “$25 million envelope” for the project, though that money must eventually be accounted for.

While some retailers admit frustration at the cost overrun and delays, others see it as temporary pain for a greater result.

“Yes there have been inconveniences, but sometimes you don’t have a choice,” said David Markowitz, the president of Davids, a store that fronts the street construction. “The alternative is to leave Bloor Street antiquated and out of style.”

Risking life and limb to help fellow residents

10:38 pm

For Local Resident Tom Muench, it was an event when he was a teenager that helped provide motivation for actions he would take later in life.

“They’d taken everything,” Muench recalls of the break-in that had occurred at his house on the Saturday before Christmas many years ago. “When I say everything, I mean everything. They took all my underwear.”

Understandably upset at the time, Muench says that the event had a lasting effect on him, “I remembered that,” he says. Muench was recently one of 41 individuals recognized with the Toronto Police Service’s Community Member Award. The awards recognize “unselfish acts of bravery, courage and assistance to the Toronto Police Service.”

“My wife didn’t tell me what it was about,” Muench says of the awards reception held at police headquarters in downtown Toronto. “She just said we’re going someplace on Sunday. I didn’t even really know.”

Last September, Muench was at his mother’s house in the Yonge Street and Finch Avenue area helping with work around house. It was dusk, and Muench was sitting in his car when he saw a man being pursued by a police officer come running out of Hendon Park, which borders the back of his mother’s property. “I saw it evolve and I just acted,” Muench says of his actions that followed. “So I don’t know if it was intentional or if it was a reaction, you know. I just did it.”

Getting out of his car, Muench grabbed the man, attempting to pin him between a row of cedar bushes for the trailing officer. The man was able to escape, however, and Muench and the officer gave chase through the park. Muench was able to bring the man to the ground several times.

“I tackled him,” Muench describes. “I said, ‘I don’t know what you did, but that’s it, it’s over.’” Again, however, the man was able to break free from Muench’s hold. “He grabbed my throat and said, ‘Look, I got a knife. I don’t want to cut ya.’”

Undeterred by the threat, Muench continued after the man, dialing 911 as he ran to keep police informed of their location and providing other updates.

Eventually, however, Muench was told to stop pursuing the suspect by the 911 operator. As police began to arrive at the scene, including the officer who had initially chased the suspect from the park, a quantity of drugs, money and two knives were found.

Despite Muench’s efforts, the suspect was never apprehended.

“I didn’t sleep for a couple of nights thereafter,” says Muench of the encounter, though not for the reasons you might suspect. “I was pissed off because the dispatch made me let him go.”

Though still unsure who it was that nominated him for the award, the recognition was welcomed, even if a little overwhelming, for the humble Muench. “The police chief is wearing his white gloves, and he’s all formalized,” Muench describes Toronto police chief Bill Blair, who personally presented Muench with the award. “I was honoured.”

While the recognition and the award were a wonderful reward for his actions, the experience was not a first for Muench. In 1981, a then 17-year-old Muench was honoured for the first time by police for his helping hand in apprehending a man involved in a break and enter. “As we drove into the driveway, I saw someone run out of the front of the house,” Muench remembers.

Much like his actions last September, Muench ran off after the man, detaining him until police arrived. For Muench, it’s ultimately all about community, working together and helping one another out as the need and occasion arise. “I would hope that, if you were somewhere and your car breaks down or you need some help, then you would be able to say, ‘Hey, you’re not going to have to wait.’’’ “I believe there are a lot more people out there like me,” he says, downplaying his actions. “I would hope that people would say, ‘Yeah, that’s the community we’re proud to be part of. And I would do the same.’”

Midtown’s own Florence Nightingale

10:36 pm

When Audrey Wilson commits to something, she sticks with it. Which is why last month, she received the Order of the Red Cross for her 54 years of volunteer service with the non-profit organization.

It is also perhaps the reason why Wilson has volunteered, nearly her whole life, for St. Clement’s as a Sunday school teacher. In fact, the 87-year-old woman was born just across from St. Clement’s — a stately, but warm Anglican church nestled a few blocks away from the busy Yonge and Eglinton intersection.

Growing up, Wilson says the neighbourhood was different. Streetcars, not subways, ran up and down Yonge Street. When she attended Northern Secondary School in the 1930s, it went by a different name — Northern Vocational.

It was in her typing class there that she met a friend who would later become the love of her life — her future husband James. However, larger forces were playing out. James joined up with the Canadian Forces in 1943 to serve in the Second World War. Meanwhile, Wilson communicated with him by writing letters.

“I just looked forward to receiving letters from him,” she says, noting she was worried when James was wounded in Holland.

On home ground, Wilson was busy starting what would become a 50-year career with MacLaren McCann advertising — just called MacLaren in those days. Today, Wilson helps arrange a monthly alumni luncheon for the company, where she catches up with former co-workers.

As for volunteering with Red Cross — it was six years after Wilson married, that she would make the lifelong commitment.

The year was 1956 and Wilson had seen an ad in the paper — Red Cross was looking for drivers. While she couldn’t drive, she answered the ad anyway.

She would volunteer evenings, making sure vehicles were properly equipped and working in the blood clinic. She also volunteered for the Hospital for Sick Children and spent time working with veterans at Sunnybrook.

In 1971, James joined her and became a volunteer for Red Cross. It was a tradition for the two to spend Christmas helping others. “We used to work together on Christmas morning, transporting veterans to their home,” she says.

In 1979, Wilson received a call from Red Cross — a train had been derailed in Mississauga. “It was on a Sunday evening, I was serving dinner to company. The phone rang, and they said, ‘Put on your uniform, we’re picking you up in half an hour,’” she says.

For her dedication and service, MacLaren McCann gave her the following week off from work.

While she has retired from her job, Wilson still volunteers for Sunnybrook and St. Clement’s.

She also continues to volunteer for Red Cross. When she heard about the award, she says she was surprised.

“Definitely I was shocked,” says Wilson. “I feel very honoured to think that they think I would qualify.”

Famous ballet dancer all smiles over recent engagement

10:35 pm

Artist-in-residence for the National Ballet of Canada, Rex Harrington is all smiles these days. His partner, dental consultant Robert (Bob) Hope, has proposed. With their wedding set for the summer of 2011 and Rex returning to the stage in this month’s National Ballet production of Onegin, the couple discuss why their six-year-long relationship continues to leave them feeling light on their feet.

How they met
Bob started “stalking” me by sending cards and gifts through Seta Nigoghossian, the National Ballet’s long-time receptionist, whom I lovingly refer to as Mamma Seta. She suggested that this was the way to “get” to me.

The first date
Rex agreed to meet me after I sent him a card that said, “In an age where romance and chivalry is dead, if I’ve managed to put a smile on your face, can we meet up?”

What happened?
We went to Byzantium on Church Street for dinner then back to Bob’s place. I didn’t leave for three days! It was love at first sight.

The courtship
There has been an endless number of romantic dinners and trips. Once Bob kidnapped me from work and took me horseback riding in the country, then to Stratford for dinner, and the restaurant played our song. Once I woke up to the strains of Edith Piaf throughout the house and was treated to a French bistro–style breakfast and then later to dinner at a French restaurant.

The proposal
On a fateful Sunday this past March, I told Rex to get ready for brunch, and when he opened the closet door to grab his shoes, there were packed bags and Paris guide books waiting for him. We spent a week in Paris and then a week in a villa in the South of France. When we got to the villa, I opened a bottle of wine and sat him down and said, “Let’s play a game.” I opened an envelope filled with some Scrabble tiles and said, “Figure it out!”
Right away, he saw that the tiles spelt out “me,” “marry” and “you.” I pulled out a Cartier box. He melted and said, “Yes!”

Their lives now
Our lives are very rich. We’re both kids at heart, we don’t take things so seriously and are homebodies. We love our house, even more after being out of it for over a year due to a fire last year. We like to watch movies and cuddle in our new media room and look out at our gardens.

Shared goals
Our shared goals are to retire young and travel the world!

Tell us about your home.
We have totally renovated our house since we bought it, due to the fire. The house looks like Giselle’s cottage [from the ballet Giselle]. The area has a very eclectic mix of people, and it’s wonderful to have a park just across the street where we often walk our dog.

Secret success as a couple
The secret to our success as a couple is that we are best friends. I still melt when he smiles, and I know, no matter what, we will always look out for the other.

Plans for Pride?
Every Pride we have BBQ brunch at our friends’ place on their rooftop patio. They live on Jarvis and we watch the parade from there during the day and afterwards, we walk around Church Street and hang out.

Father’s stabbing assault brings back sad history

10:33 pm

While few have forgotten the Forest Hill disappearance of Mariam last September, the recent stabbing by her father Vakhtang Makhniashvili has created more cause for concern in the neighbourhood.

“I don’t know the family well, but I feel for them, I really feel for them,” said Lindita Angjieli, who lives on Shallmar Boulevard, in the same apartment building the Makhniashvilis call home.

Another neighbour, who preferred to remain unidentified, said she found news of the stabbing surprising, as the neighbourhood is usually very quiet.

According to investigations by Toronto Police Det. Sgt. Dan Nealon, it is likely that 50-year-old Makhniashvili has felt unsettled ever since he moved from his native Georgia five years ago. Before Makhniashvili was released on $50,000 bail, police requested that he undergo a pyschiatric assessment.

On the night of the stabbing, Makhniashvili allegedly banged on the door of his 26-year-old neighbour, started yelling and then stabbed him. The neighbour was taken to hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries. Makhniashvili was charged on four counts.

Nealon said Mariam’s case is still active. “You work on them as much as you can,” he said. “Usually until they’re found.”

Proposed Hogg’s Hollow building worries locals

10:33 pm

Recently revealed plans to transform the TTC commuter parking lot located on the northwest corner of Yonge Street and York Mills Road into a 450,000-square foot, eight-storey office building have raised early concerns for some in the community.

The announcement came after Build Toronto, an arm’s-length agency tasked with realizing the value of city-owned land, submitted an application to have the official plan amended and the site rezoned. Coun. Karen Stintz expressed concerns about the proposed size of the building and loss of public parking.

“I’d like to see the plan amended before we bring it back to the public,” she said. Leanne Lewis, past president of the York Mills Valley Association (YMVA), echoed these concerns and said her organization would like to see that the design reflects the “urban-meets-rural” character of the neighbourhood and serves as a model of architectural excellence.

“It’s an important intersection, not just for the neighbourhoods around the intersection, but for the whole city,” she said. “It makes a first impression for people coming off the 401.”

Coun. Stintz said she and councillor Cliff Jenkins will be holding a June 3 meeting to update the community on the status of the plans. Derek Ballantyne, chief operating officer for Build Toronto, said his agency hopes to reach a workable solution through the public consultation process that will follow.

The TTC has entered into talks to lease the building and relocate its head office there, a move that drew sharp criticism from mayoral candidate George Smitherman, among others. Build Toronto also identified a 54-acre site next to Downsview subway station as a priority for development that is set to include a mix of office, retail and residential space.

Hickey hosts new baby

10:30 pm

“You are where?” I ask. (This is the second call).

“Going south on Avenue,” she answers. “Just get me to Bathurst and I’ll be fine.”

Cheryl Hickey is tired — and with everything she’s juggling lately, she has every right to be. Today the fatigue is showing up in a brief inability to find her way to my house (she’s been there before).

The gorgeous and talented host of ET Canada is also a friend of mine, so we’ve decided to make this a combo play date and interview … if she can just get here.

Seven months ago she gave birth to her first child, a son named Jaxson. Her favourite part of the day is first thing in the morning: “That yummy smile and hugs … minus the poop, I love changing his diaper ’cause he gets so happy and so excited.”

Viewers got a brief glimpse of the post-baby Cheryl when she returned to ET Canada to cover the red carpet at the Grammys — a little less than four months after giving birth.

Since we both work in an industry that relies on appearance so heavily, I couldn’t help but ask if she felt a lot of pressure to get rid of the baby weight.

“I worked with a personal trainer in my basement doing circuit training and I went dairy-lactose-free and gluten-free.” Jaxson had “wicked colic,” and Cheryl was nursing, so she made the dietary changes for him, as an attempt to help ease his crying.

“I did it for him but found the weight falling off, and I felt better eating that way. I still do.

I have to admit I don’t work out right now or since the Grammy Awards but do plan on getting back at it. For being in this business it wasn’t that bad putting the weight on because I knew I was healthy and doing it for him.”

Other than her brief Grammy appearance, Cheryl always planned to take a full six months off for maternity leave and then return, working part-time hours until this coming fall. But her plan didn’t go exactly the way she’d expected.

“The week before I went back I was tears all over the place.… On the day, there was a cry right when I left … there was a cry on the way to work. When I got to work, I was fine, but I was Michael Andretti on the way home.”

And as most moms will also attest — whether they work outside the home or not — once a child arrives, you become an expert at time management.

“I don’t feel I’m neglecting anything. I’m getting everything I used to do done — just in a shorter amount of time.” And from what I see, I think I can safely say Cheryl is one of the most hands-on moms I know.

With our tea getting cold and our babies getting fussy, it’s time to wrap it up. “Last question: what would you say to all the new moms who are getting ready to head back to the work world?”

“Hold on!” she says and laughs. And maybe get a good GPS.

What’s in a name? For Robert Bateman, a park

10:26 pm

Wildlife painter Robert Bateman spent his childhood playing along an old railway line that decades later would officially become a naturalized trail called the Kay Gardner Beltline Park.

Therefore it’s only natural that, during last month’s 10th anniversary of the park, Mayor David Miller would announce plans to rename the gateway portion of the trail the Robert Bateman Parkette.

“We would climb over the back fence of our back garden … and cross the creek,” said Bateman, referring to the path from his childhood home on Chaplin Crescent to the railway line.

Bateman attended the 10th anniversary celebration and led a nature walk, talking about childhood wars he and his two brothers had with neighbouring kids, and the daredevil railway stunts they performed.

The idea to rename Russell Hill Parkette after the artist came when Tom Fiore, director of the Toronto Trails Festival, approached Kay Gardner, and they planned how to celebrate the park’s 10th anniversary.

“It means everything to me because I love his paintings,” said Gardner, the former councillor who fought for 25 years to preserve the trail. The celebration was followed by a private reception dinner at Edo.

Thornhill councillors sued for trespassing

10:23 pm

Thornhill Councillors Valerie Burke and Erin Shapero are each being sued for $60,000 for trespassing by a Markham landowner.

In a statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Count, Upper Unionville Inc., the owner of the 205-acre Beckett farm property at the northeast corner of 16th Avenue and Kennedy Road said that on three occasions the councillors trespassed on the property.

The statement further charges that Shapero and Burke used the property as a “backdrop” to “push their political objectives” relating to a proposal when they posed for media pictures and interviews on the site. The proposal, recently defeated by a seven to six council vote, sought to prevent future development on roughly 2,000 hectares of prime farm land in Markham.

“To us, this looks like an attempt at intimidation and bullying,” said Coun. Burke of the lawsuit. “It’s basically like trying to put a muzzle on elected officials.”

“In my opinion, this is a SLAPP suit,” said Coun. Shapero. A SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) is defined by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary as a lawsuit “in which a corporation, business or developer sues an organization in an attempt to scare it into dropping protests against its actions.”

Silvio DeGasperis, president of Upper Unionville Inc., referred requests for comment to his lawyer Colin Stevenson. Repeated calls to Mr. Stevenson went unreturned. Coun. Burke, who said that she didn’t believe she had trespassed, described the lawsuit as “upsetting and frustrating.” “I just want to get on with doing my job, and this has been a major distraction,” she said. “And I think that’s what they want.” Upper Unionville Inc. purchased the Beckett farm property last year.

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