News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.
City Council passed a resolution last week to preserve the “use, heritage values, and attributes of York Memorial” after the fires that damaged the 90-year-old school.
Commenters here and elsewhere had wondered whether it made sense to continue running the school, given its low enrollment and ‘development’ potential.
City Council’s affirmation isn’t binding.
Weston’s schools are facing budget cuts under the new PC government. The French immersion and the IB program will both be trimmed if the budget goes ahead. The late-start French program also faces complete cancellation.
French immersion students in grades 4 through 6 who catch buses to Valleyfield in Etobicoke will no longer be able to. The draft budget says “the cost of delivering French Immersion (FI) and Extended French (EF) in its current form is so high, that a complete reduction in transportation services is needed to operate the programs with budget.”
The TDSB also says that they will be reevaluating the French programs. Our area is unusual, because we have late-start French immersion, and students start in grade 4 rather than in senior Kindergarten. The TDSB says that they will be looking at “existing entry points” to “provide a better experience for all students”.
Weston CI offers an International Baccalaureate Program, which gives advanced standing at university to high-achieving students. That program will continue to be offered, but “associated per-student fees will no longer be covered by the TDSB. [A] sliding scale will be created to support IB Diploma students who would benefit from financial support.”
In Peel Region, the IB fees are $250 for grades 9 and 10 and $2700 for grades 11 and 12.
When I first moved here, Weston was a sleepy little town. I mean that literally—we were terribly under caffeinated.
No longer! Black Cat Espresso Bar is the newest and hippest of the speed merchants to move to Weston. They’re moving into one of the new spaces at the south end of Rosemount, and they seem a little fancier than most of the other places in town, with oat milk, pour-over coffee, and stuff like that. Sounds great!
There was a line-up of eager plant buyers before the 9:00 am opening of the Roselands Horticultural Society’s annual plant sale at the Eglinton Flats. Roselands has been going strong since 1926 and uses sale proceeds to fund their work with local schools and with West Park Hospital’s Long Term Care Facility.
Roselands email: [email protected]
As 2021 draws near, the components of the Eglinton Crosstown Line are falling into place. CBC has a video of the train actually on a track (in Kingston last year).
The train will no doubt be a feature of the storage facility’s upcoming open house (part of the Doors Open event) on Saturday May 25.
From the Doors Open Site:
For the first time ever, public are invited to take a peek behind the doors of the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility (EMSF). It houses the Crosstown Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) where they are inspected, cleaned and maintained. Construction on the facility began in 2016, and was completed in October 2018. Light rail vehicles began to arrive in January 2019. The facility will initially be home to 76 light rail vehicles, with capacity to store 135 as service levels increase to meet future demand. The main building is built to LEED Silver certification, and includes high energy and water efficiency, green roofs, solar reflective paving, and vehicle charging stations for electric vehicles.
Join Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility on Saturday, May 25th for Doors Open, presented by Metrolinx and Crosslinx Transit Solutions. Come by for a tour of this world class facility, step into a brand new light rail vehicle and check out the evolution of the Crosstown project through an interactive display! UrbanArts has partnered with Crosslinx Transit Solutions to provide interactive programming and entertainment in the main parking lot of the facility. There will be free children’s activities, live music and refreshments for purchase.
Interior photography permitted, without tripod
Interior filming permitted, without tripod
Some uneven ground due to rails.
Date: Saturday May 25. 10:00 am – 5:00 pm.
Address: 85 Industry St., Toronto ON, M6M 4L5
Shakespeare in Action will be putting on Shakespeare Meets Hip Hop “a vibrant, interactive presentation that demonstrates how modern hip-hop shares many similarities with Shakespeare” this weekend.
The presentation features three professional actors, thumb-nail sketches of Shakespeare’s life and times, and key scenes & speeches from Shakespeare’s most popularly studied plays – including Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet.
In other Shakespeare news, SIA is looking for staff for their camp inHigh Park in and their production of Shakespeare in the Shell—which will be coming to Little Avenue Memorial Park in Weston. You’ll notice that I’ve buried the lede here—there’s going to be a professional production of Shakespeare in the bandshell in Little Avenue Park! Nice!
On Tuesday May 14, the Weston Village Residents’ Association held its annual general meeting inside the new Weston Hub. The Hub interior still needs some final touches but is essentially complete. Landscaping is a work in progress but it’s coming along nicely and will be ready for next year. The official opening is on May 25th and 26th.
WVRA Chair Dave Bennett opened by talking about some of the ‘heat’ encountered when the Hub was proposed. This was later echoed by Councillor Nunziata.
For some warm reading go here, here, here and here.
You’re welcome Dave and Frances.
The new space easily accommodated the 50+ people in attendance. LoriAnn Givran from Artscape, talked about the new facilities, Marlene Mackintosh from UrbanArts and Michael Kelly from Shakespeare in Action introduced themselves and the programs that they offer.
The highlight of the evening was to be a presentation from former Toronto Chief Planner Paul Bedford but because of illness, Mr. Bedford was absent but ably represented by colleague and Urban Lands Institute Executive Director Richard Joy. The presentation dealt with the ULI Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) Report tabled last August.
Richard dealt with the five big ideas from the report, namely,
Later, Councillor Frances Nunziata spoke and talked about local issues including the upcoming paving of Weston Road and widening of sidewalks in the stretch between Lawrence and Little Avenue.
During the break, some mouth-watering goodies were available (well done Suri) and attendees enjoyed a tour of the new facilities.
Some aspiring politicians were in attendance including Yafet Tewelde and Chiara Padovani.
It was a busy evening with lots of information – to hear a recording of the full meeting click the two links below:
Audio Part 1
Audio Part 2