Acclaimed young people’s arts provider, UrbanArts, has outgrown its storefront premises at 19 John Street so they are moving in early July to a new location on Bartonville (off Weston, east of Jane). This is a move of more than 2km. Marlene McKintosh told WestonWeb that she has no idea who will move into the space as, “it’s up to the landlord”.
Unfortunately this will add to the ample supply of empty storefronts in Weston.
On May 7th in the House of Commons, MP Mike Sullivan, promoting his private member’s Bill C-60, referred to ‘muggings’ that are taking place in the area around Chaminade College. he stated, “Mr. Speaker, there were four muggings of students for their phones, from one school, in my riding last week”.
Here are the actual details:
1. Thursday April 18 @ 3:pm, Queens and Jane; three individuals tried to take a gold chain and cell phone from a grade 11 student. Chaminade College made a police report the next day as the student would only provide an oral report. An accompanying student was reluctant to make a report.
2. Friday April 26 @ 3pm, Laneway leading from Queens to Maple Leaf; three individuals asked students for their phones but the students said they didn’t have any; the individuals walked away empty handed.
3. Friday April 26 @ 3:15pm, on Maple Leaf; three individuals took a cell phone and house keys from each of two Grade 10 students.
4. Monday April 29 @ 4:20, Culford near Gracefield; three individuals demanded valuables from a Grade 10 student who was not in uniform (after sports practice). The student handed them his wallet and the individuals removed some TTC tickets and fled.
5. Monday May 13 @ 4:10pm, Venice and Queens; three individuals demanded valuables from a Grade 9 student with vague threats of repercussions for non-compliance. The student handed over his phone but it was returned to him when he asked for it back.
Map adapted from Google Maps.
Putting this all together it seems that although these incidents are serious, they do not constitute a crime wave by any stretch of the imagination and don’t really fit the definition of mugging. In incident 5, a phone was actually returned by the alleged thieves to the owner – hardly the actions of muggers or hardened criminals.
Who are these alleged ‘muggers’? It is likely that the same three bad actors are responsible for all these incidents. According to witnesses, they are between 16-18 years old, probably students themselves and (based on the timing of the incidents) travel eastward on their way home. They likely attend school on the west side of Jane.
What can be done? According to Vice-Principal Teresa Santoro in emails to staff, 12 Division police have increased their presence by car, bike, horseback along with undercover officers at lunch and after school. Chaminade College has issued directives to students to travel in groups, keep cell phones out of sight and avoid hot spots where robberies have occurred.
These are sensible precautions and while it is important that these three thugs in training are caught and dealt with before their crimes escalate, we should not elevate them to such figures of fear that students are afraid to report and testify against them. It is also more than likely that some students at Chaminade know exactly who these three characters are. That might be a more fruitful line of investigation.
As for Mr. Sullivan, he should be careful not to paint York South-Weston as a more dangerous place than it is. Even though his bill is commendable, the end doesn’t justify the means.
A long needed demolition and repaving of Weston Lions Arena parking lot is under way. The parking lot has closed and parking restrictions have been eased between 8 am and 11 pm on Hickory Tree Road for the duration of the work, which is expected to be completed by the end of June.
As an interesting aside, when Weston Lions Arena was proposed in 1948, raffle tickets were sold to raise some of the cost. Most of us have seen the prize; it’s the recently renovated house on the south-east corner of Scarlett and Lawrence. The original owner of 2205 Lawrence paid only a dollar. It was recently on sale in the $740,000 range.
This house cost only a dollar in 1948.
York Weston Tennis Club will have its courts repaved later this summer. The club will close August 15 for the work. The city will pay for the repaving while club members will be on the hook for the $30,000 – 50,000 costs of the acrylic finish which gives courts that classy green surface.
It seems to have taken forever and we’ve kept our heavy coats close to hand but spring has arrived after what seemed like the longest winter ever known. This past winter was a travel agent’s dream but now, parks are bursting with people and nature is putting on a show. Here are some photos taken in Lions Park this week.
A family walks through Lions Park.
The soccer field hosts football practice.
Tulips are blooming along James Gove’s walls on Little Avenue.
Lastly, while it’s nice to see nature thriving, some well meaning (but ill-informed) resident has scattered potato chips by the Humber presumably to feed the ducks and other birds that hang out there. Luckily there seemed to be no takers for this junk food. Feeding animals in parks is ill-advised. The City of Toronto asks residents not to feed birds in the parks system.
A Canada Goose wisely ignores junk food.
York South-Weston MP, Mike Sullivan pulled no punches when he announced his private member’s bill in Cruickshank Park today. Normally, building projects that affect the Humber must undergo an environmental assessment. During last year’s federal budget, the government removed this requirement from hundreds of Canadian rivers including all of the Humber and its tributaries, north of Bloor. As previously mentioned in Weston Web, private members’ bills rarely become law because in this case, the majority Conservatives will vote against it. The tactic is commonly used to raise awareness of a concern and this appears to be the goal of Sullivan and his party, the NDP. Sullivan would like protection restored to the Humber which is one of Canada’s heritage rivers. To make his point he even waded into the river in rubber boots. Sullivan believes the reason protection has been removed from the Humber is so that companies will have an easier time when building projects on sensitive land such as the Humber watershed. Enbridge, for example will have an easier time increasing the flow rate in one of their pipelines which travels through the Humber watershed.
Mike Sullivan standing in the Humber.
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority board member Mike Mattos talked about pollution entering the river from a variety of sources and the need for more protection not less. If the pipeline ruptures, as some have in the past, said Mattos, it could take hours before the flow is stopped.
Mary Louise Ashbourne with a map of the Humber Watershed.
Mary Louise Ashbourne, President of the Weston Historical Society emphasized the important part that the Humber has played in Canadian history and was of the opinion that while all rivers in Ontario are important, designated Heritage rivers such as the Humber deserve special protection.
Sullivan was handing out petitions supporting his argument that he will take to Parliament. Download a copy here. A YouTube video of the news conference is available here. The openparliament.ca transcript of the bill’s introduction by Sullivan is here.
The entrance to Cruickshank Park will be the scene of a press conference to be held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 30 by York South-Weston MP Mike Sullivan. He will unveil a bill to enhance ‘environmental protection of the Humber River by amending the Navigable Waters Protection Act‘.
The event will take place at the pedestrian entrance to the park at Weston and Church.
Eric Coplin−Duran
On April 27 (after we thought Weston had enjoyed a crime-free week), Police released a couple of crime bulletins requesting the public’s assistance in tracking down a man wanted in connection with an attempted kidnapping on Thursday, April 25 around 1 p.m. near 2079 Lawrence Avenue West. Two men allegedly attempted to force a third into a vehicle, assaulting him in the process. A brave passer-by shouted at the men and the suspects drove off without the victim. Police have identified one of the men as Eric Coplin−Duran, 18 who is considered dangerous. The police report can be found here.
This begs the question of whether the new security cameras provided any information regarding this incident as Weston and Lawrence are quite close by and the car, on the south side of Lawrence, would have therefore travelled east through the intersection. Apart from signs informing people of their presence, no actual cameras can be seen (at least by your correspondent after gamely squinting on several occasions). Perhaps they are so tiny that they aren’t visible. Have readers managed to spot any of the cameras?
A second bulletin released the same day reported an exchange of gunfire in the hallway of 1855 Jane Street. One of the alleged shooters by the name of Adrian Scott is being sought along with a second man.