Upcoming events

Frontlines is hosting a community BBQ at 1844 Weston Rd. tomorrow. There will be “food, performances by local talent, DJs, activities, and much more.”

Frontlines will also be having a carwash on Saturday.

Weston Buskerfest will take place on Saturday, July 29th from 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m, around Weston and Lawrence. Bring change to tip your artists!

There will be a raffle for a 40” flat-screen television. To enter the draw, spend $20 or more in Weston Village on the day of the eventand bring your receipts to the information booth in front of the RBC.

 

Mural Community Consultations

UrbanArts will be meeting on July 27 and Aug 3 at 6 pm, at the Weston Library from 6-7 to discuss proposed art murals.

Cree-Métis Artist Jason Baerg proposes a text based visual art project to reclaimate the Humber River in Akwe:kon / Tkaronto / Toronto. Using the founding Indigenous languages, this work is intended to significantly improve the visibility of Indigenous communities in the local environment and help renew greater connections to the land. Currently, Toronto has one of the largest urban populations of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in Kanata.

There are two proposed sites:

The first site is the Lawrence West Bridge… in Memorial Park. The second site is Scarlet Rd. parapets / bridge superstructures over the Humber.

The MDCA is hosting HumberFest on August 7:

Who was the man killed by police?

The Toronto Star has an article about the mystery of the homeless man killed by police in Weston last year. It was the second time he had been shot by police in Weston, both times after threatening them with a butcher knife.

The police have little idea who he was.

 

No one knew John Doe.

Not his real name, not his birthday, not where he came from. More than a year after Doe ambushed Toronto police officers with a kitchen knife in a dusty rail corridor in North York, leading one of them to fatally shoot him, all investigators can say is that he was a sex offender with a violent past.

Mount Dennis pop-up galleries this summer

The Eglinton Crosstown is sponsoring “Gallery City”, a series of pop-up galleries this summer, including in Mount Dennis, featuring work by local artists.

By Shirley Mpagi, From Gallery City
Joan McGivney, from Gallery City

The exhibition runs until August 25. Interested readers can find more information about the artists and locations at the Gallery City site.

Neighbour’s night out a huge success

The annual Neighbours’ Night out was a huge success again this year. Hundreds and hundreds of people showed up for food, entertainment, and socializing. The weather was perfect, and the music fantastic.

Many thanks to the organizers, and to Tony Serwatuk from Behind the Lenz for the photos.

A tale of two wards.

Councillor Pam McConnell. (from Twitter.com)

The recent and untimely death of Councillor Pam McConnell brought forth an outpouring of tributes. Many remembered her service to the community and the great things a determined councillor can achieve in a Toronto ward. Ms. McConnell may have represented Rosedale but she consistently voted to defend her poorest constituents, not the richest. She also fought hard to improve the public domain rather than work for private interests.

We can view Ms. McConnell’s recent voting record through a handy grid compiled by Toronto blogger Matt Elliott. The Google Docs spreadsheet itemizes how each Toronto councillor voted on important topics over the past few years. As part of the grid, Mr. Elliott also keeps a scorecard on how each councillor’s overall votes align with those of our right-leaning Mayor John Tory – recently described by some wags as ‘Rob Ford in sheep’s clothing’.

Ms. McConnell it turns out, voted with the Mayor only 41.5% of the time. In contrast, our own Councillor Nunziata voted with the Mayor a remarkable 92.5% of the time; more than anyone else on council. That’s loyalty but at what cost to the people in York South-Weston?

Mr. Elliott’s scorecard can be found at this link.

Ghost ride tonight

There will be a ghost ride tonight in honour of Gary Sim, who was killed riding his bike in the Mount Dennis area. The ride starts at Bloor and Spadina at 6 pm, and will end at Jane Park Plaza between 7:30 and 8.

Gary Sim
From The Star

The ghost bike movement honours cyclists who were killed by placing memorial white bikes where they were struck. 

Gary Sim, 70, was an avid bicyclist and bike advocate, and a lifelong Mount Dennis resident. He was struck by a van making a right turn into a driveway on June 30. He died of his injuries.

Another pedestrian struck in Mount Dennis

Another pedestrian has been struck and seriously injured in Mount Dennis.

An 86-year-old man was trying to cross Weston south of Eglinton when he was struck by a 2009 Hyundai heading southbound. He was sent to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The police are asking for witnesses to the accident to come forward.

This is the third time that a pedestrian has been seriously injured at that intersection in the past 10 years.

Your correspondent does not know what happened in this case. The police report implies that the pedestrian was jaywalking, which, I hasten to add, we all do. However, that intersection is just plain dangerous because it is skewed intersection“skewed”—the roads do not meet at 90º.

  • Crossing times are longer because the intersection is wider.
  • Older people sometimes have limited head and neck mobility, and may find craning difficult.
  • Drivers can take obtuse-angle turns at higher speeds.

Transport Canada recommends correcting skewed intersections so that the roads meet at 90º.