Without fear of flavour
Toronto.com has an article on the Weston Common and the activists who helped make it happen. It’s well worth the read.
“Art can change a life; it can change a path; it can change a destiny, a perspective, and open up opportunities,” Weinberg-Linsky said.
A reader alerted me to a danger at the Weston Station: twice daily, the VIA train goes through without slowing down—and boy, is it going fast. According to a spokesperson, the VIA train is going 121 km/h (75 mph)–a speed that was “determined by the railway owner”.
At this speed, the train generates a lot of slipstream, and it is passing close to passengers. Our reader said it leaves “a huge swirl of dust, newspapers, and plastic bags. A child, or pet [could] be hurled against the platform columns or on to another platform”.
The spokesperson said that VIA has not received any complaints about the trains’ speed, but concerned residents can leave a comment and contact VIA Rail’s customer relations department at customer_relations@viarail.ca.
Progressive Conservative nominee Mark DeMontis is hoping to become the next MPP for York South-Weston in the June 7 election. One thing different about Mr. DeMontis is that unlike some recent PC and Conservative nominees, he is willing to discuss issues with people and seems keen to participate in a public debate with other candidates.
He would like to know some of the priorities in the riding. Who better to let him know than the readers of Weston Web?
Views. Then tell me what do you feel are our priorities in #yorksouthweston ? You bet I’m listening…
— Mark DeMontis (@MarkDeMontis) April 16, 2018
Tonight, many will be glued to the box to watch game 2 of the first round playoff series between Toronto and Boston. MLSE has produced this short promo video and it features local content in the form of Peter’s Barber Shop here in Weston. Thanks to Mike Sullivan for the tip.
Go Leafs Go.
Weston’s least favourite store is back in business. California Cannabis has reopened, and has promised to donate a portion of its proceeds to Black Lives Matter–a move frustrating to those who see it as a donation to an anti-police group.
The CBC has a quite funny article with an interview of Grey, um, Greenwell, an employee. He said he didn’t know much about the donations, and said
“I think it’s more of like a front for everybody that thinks we’re bad. You know, it’s like, ‘Oh, potheads go there,’ or ‘If you smoke weed, you’re like evil,'” he said.
“It’s kind of like to show we’re not, you know, like horrible people. We’re not criminals.
Right.
The police have already promised to raid the illegal dispensary again–the fifth time it will have been shut down. Frances Nunziata says “The investigation will remain open until the store has been permanently closed.”
Three young men and a young woman have been arrested in relation to an attempted murder in Mount Dennis in which a man was stabbed in the eye.
The three men have been charged with attempted murder and possession of a dangerous weapon. The woman has been charged with making death threats.
Here is a notice from Toronto Hydro:
MacDonald Avenue
- Project ID: W18159
- Activity: Overhead Civil and Electrical
- Timeline: October 2017 – December 2018
- Status: Current
Toronto Hydro is planning to rebuild the aging overhead electrical system in the community to help improve service reliability. The rebuild includes upgrading overhead electrical cables and replacing hydro poles within the City of Toronto’s public property allowance in front of or adjacent to the lot. Throughout this project, planned outages may be necessary to switch from the old to the new electrical system and we intend to provide advance notice. Toronto Hydro crews and contractors will take extra care and precautions around the property. Please be advised that as a result of the project, our contractor may be trimming a number of the overgrown trees on the public road allowance in order to accommodate new hydro infrastructure. Upon project completion, affected areas will be restored.
So, instead of replacing MacDonald Avenue’s overhead wiring with underground cables, Toronto Hydro will continue to use a 19th Century method of bringing power to homes and businesses. This will ensure a continuing vulnerability of the power supply to ice storms, lightning strikes, vehicle collisions and falling trees. Speaking of trees; pruning them to make room for wiring is harmful and our trees would last far longer if they weren’t weakened by being trimmed.
The average life of a hydro pole is about 35 years so the MacDonald Avenue installation should last until 2053. Oh, and don’t hold your breath expecting that all of the old poles will be completely removed.
It seems that Toronto Hydro would rather spend its money on executive remuneration than on upgrading infrastructure, preserving trees and improving our streetscape. Yes, it would be initially more expensive to bury power lines but it would be an investment in the future and save money (repairs from the 2013 ice storm cost over $170 million) and inconvenience in the long run.