Fall 2009 Community Update

Previously our updates have been email messages. Starting with this post, the body of our message is going to be on our SLHA blog instead of making a lengthy email. This allows us to organize stuff better. And if you delete your message, you can always find out what we said here.

Our topics are:

311 Toronto
Illegal Signs
Clovercrest Parkette
Shaughnessy Island Community Garden or SICG
Rusty Rail
City's Basement Flooding Improvement Program
Dallington/Glentworth Culvert Improvement & Next Steps
Area Traffic Concerns Meeting (Nov 25 with councillor)
School Bus Parking
Aria & Phillips House
Changes in the W33AC
Our Website

1. 311 Toronto
This centralized contact point for the city is finally up and running and working based on our experience. In addition to a "311" dial on your telephone you can also use email: 311@toronto.ca

You might want to add this email address to your contact lists.

We recently used it to report light signaling issues at Lesmill and Leslie and to get a parking sign repaired on Marowyne. The city seems to be doing this right. If you use email, you might also add a CC to the councillor's office.

The south bound light signally at Lesmill for the left turn changed to a very short turn just after the change from Daylight Savings and on Remembrance Day. The latter was on a short signal because the Legal Dept had a concern of less traffic volume: they must think everyone had a day off.

Note - the City also has a new information service online to help out when you don't know where that thing: It answers the question "What to I do with ...? www.toronto.ca/recycling

2. Illegal Signs
You can use "311" to report illegal signs on public property. Signs placed by contractors on the city boulevards are illegal as well as in parks. Also, some real estate agents (maybe, only one) in this area likes to put signs on post in the city boulevard. This is not allowed.

3. Clovercrest Parkette

This parkette is getting a major facelift using community benefit funds from the Aria project. The summer strike had hindered the project scheduling and completion dates. We were told that it would be finished by the end of November. But we have seen no recent progress except repaving the pathways which got severely damaged during the work to date and which has not been part of the original project budget. There have been contractor issues and we might suspect some budget overrun contributing to the completion delays.

This parkette should become well used as we see more young ones back on the streets and we suspect many from Aria will become users. (The Aria developers from the plans we saw have no playground area for the children living there.)

4. Shaughnessy Island Community Garden or SICG
Our community garden has been a notable addition to our community since we planted it just over 2 years ago. This year our initial plants matured and flourished. We are also starting to see the progress of plants donated by our neighbours. Few communities have such a garden. Last year we even received inquiries from Bayview Village people on how we did it.

However, to keep it going we need volunteer gardeners. With the gardening season winding down, we hope you can consider coming out early next spring when we send out our next SICG message.

5. Rusty Rail
The removal of this out of place structure continues to proceed, we hope. The community has made its position well known to our councillor through the SLHA and W33AC. From a discussion last May-June with the councillor we found out the neither city staff nor the other third parties interested in re-juvenating this structure had done anything to push forward their agenda. The ball sits in the councillor's lap. We had asked that its removal become part of the 2010 capital budget. We hope she remembers as she works her way through the city budget line by line.

Funding for removal has been allocated using Aria community benefit money.

6. City's Basement Flooding Improvement Program
Last May, City Water staff made an informative presentation for attendees at the councillor's town hall meeting. After the meeting we acquired a copy of the Power Point presentation. We have finally made it available for downloading on the SLHA website. Look under "COMMUNITY AFFAIRS"

You can find out what is planned in our ward and neighbourhood. There is much work that will be done and we can look forward to some inconveniences such as we had with the Glentworth closure.

7. Dallington/Glentworth Culvert Improvement & Next Steps
This project took a little maybe much longer than the initial plans. Bad weather coupled with contractor inexperience and some plan changes pushed forward the completion date. One benefit has been a more attractive landscape as well as an access route into the ravine .

The walk way along the east side should also be getting new lighting as well as the planned walkway between Glentworth and Sheppard on the west. The money to do this will also come from the Aria community benefit funding.

As well, we can expect to see an underground storm sewer storage tank built just north of Glentworth (there is still work required to replace some of the metal piping that was rusting out.) See above item.

And we can expect to see sanitary sewer replacement along Esterbrook, Leith Hill and down Shaughnessy to Sheppard. We had heard about a December start date.

But why did the Transportation people fix up Leith Hill this fall? Do city departments not co-ordinate or communicate work plans?

8. Area Traffic Concerns Meeting (Nov 25 with councillor)
We are awaiting a writeup or notes from an attendee. This post will be updated when this info is available.

9. School Bus Parking
You might notice the school bus parking on Marowyne just up from Glentworth during school hours. The driver lives on Marowyne: the bus is not parked in front of her residence.

The councillor and the bus company and the driver have received complaints from our neighbourhood about this parking. The driver considers it her right to park regardless of her considerations for her neighbours.

A couple of years ago we managed to get signs on several streets that prohibit overnight parking but not short term daytime parking.


10. Aria & Phillips House
We are now seeing the rising of the towers above the treetops and await the final impact on our neighbourhood skyscape. Thank you, Lady OMB Chair.

You might not be aware that the Phillips House (part of the NYGH) is being renovated. The Shepways people have been fighting parking concerns due to its parking lot use by Aria people and possible bylaw contraventions. After our initial post, Sam Metalin reports that the parking lot has now been closed. City councillor and bylaw enforcement efforts were needed.

We should expect pressure to open road access to Aria from Ravenbury and/or Glentworth within a few years after Aria is resident occupied.

As well we should expect Aria visitor parking to become a concern on Clovercrest and Ravenbury and possibly to Marowyne, Ennismore and Glentworth. The Shepways have their own parking control officers.

11. Changes in the W33AC
W33AC stands for the Ward 33 Advisory Committee. Each of us, that is, residents of Ward 33, is a member who can participate and vote for its executive.

Last August both its Chair and Vice-Chair resigned. New elections are being held on Jan 11. 2010

One viewpoint for the role of W33AC is that of an independent umbrella organization on municipal matters for the entire ward that has a co-operative relationship with the ward councillor. This viewpoint requires a committee that provides for itself and has a self-sufficient membership.

An alternate viewpoint is that the committee is more tightly bound to the councillor's office, less independent and requires the councillor office to provide several administrative services.

The regular membership or meeting attendees seems to show a divide taking one side or the other.

For current information on the W33AC you can monitor its blog:
http://ward33forum.blogspot.com

For an open forum on Ward 33 mattters, you can look at this independent blog:
http://ward33forum.blogspot.com/

12 Our SLHA Website www.slha.ca
We continue to make changes. As noted above the Community Affairs topic now has shareable files for downloading on Basement Flowing matters. As well, we have expanded the writeup on the SICG. And under Community in Pictures we have some additions and a new way for some areas to look at our pictures.

We also have some "hidden stuff":

If you click on the underlined SLHA in the site banner, you bring up an aerial view (on Microsoft's Bing) starting at the corner of Sheppard and Leslie. You can navigate from and adjust this view.

If you pull down on the horizontal line below the banner, you have some YouTube Views of our city. Select "O Canada" for some rousing versions of our national anthem.

If you have an thoughts on what we can do to improve or change please send them in.