Audits cost $750,000

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THE CITY OF Vaughan — that is, its taxpayers — has spent $750,000 on audits of four of its politician’s campaign expenses so far, says a report presented to council on May 12.

The audit of Mayor Linda Jackson’s campaign expenses and the incurred legal bills racked up a bill of more than $446,000, says the report.

“The report that was presented to council is just a part of our efforts to be both transparent and accountable,” said Coun. Alan Shefman. “The city incurs legal expenses as a result of the initiation of legal action resulting from any number of factors. We are bound to both act on certain legislative matters — compliance audits and litigation — as well as when someone or group initiates legal action.”

Sixty-eight charges were laid against the mayor in April under the Municipal Elections Act by special prosecutor Timothy Wilkin, who was hired by city council.

The audit revealed the mayor had spent $14,097 over the $120,419 limit set by the act. Her husband and campaign manager, Mario Campese, is facing five charges.

Jackson’s personal life was also in the public eye recently when her husband was charged with causing a disturbance while being drunk in a public place.

An e-mail was sent to Jackson for a statement related to the charges against her and the large sum taxpayers have paid to investigate her campaign.

“Unfortunately, I am unable to comment on either of your questions at the present time, as these matters are still in front of the courts,” replied Jackson in a return message.

Councillors called for Jackson’s resignation last December. Jackson responded at a press conference.

“I am remaining steadfast, and I have no plans whatsoever to resign my seat as mayor.”

This year’s show may not go on for Thornhill Village Festival

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DESPITE RUMOURS THAT the Thornhill Village Festival may be on hiatus this year, the organizer vows to put on a show.

The annual September street festival should be going into its 33rd year, but York Region won’t let the group set up a roadblock on Yonge Street because of traffic disruptions, says the festival’s organizer.

“We’re trying to salvage something,” said festival chair Rob Stitt. “There’s going to be something, but probably not held on Yonge Street. It’ll be much smaller.”

The festival, put on by the Society for the Preservation of Historic Thornhill, features craft vendors, entertainment, historical re-enactments, a petting zoo and a parade.

Stitt said they have been working with area councillors to help persuade the region to allow them to use the road. But so far, they’re not budging.

“Markham has been extremely supportive of this festival and wants to see it be successful,” said Markham councillor Valerie Burke. “People really look forward to it, and it’s been a long- standing tradition.”

Stitt said another problem this year is that they’ve booked the festival for Sept. 19, which falls on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. This holiday draws away a good chunk of the area’s Jewish residents.

“The population of Thornhill is much older,” he said. “It’s a core little group that keeps diminishing every year, and we have to rely on students for their community service.”

Richmond Hill resident is convicted in death of jogger

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A LOCAL RESIDENT has been sentenced to five years in prison and given a 10-year driving prohibition following the death of a local jogger.

The 35-year-old was found guilty of impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death.

On Nov. 29, 2006, the convicted was driving a black Subaru Outback station wagon on North Lake Road. He was headed toward Yonge Street.

The vehicle was travelling at a high speed when it veered off the roadway and struck the victim, who was on the sidewalk.

The driver continued along, striking a parked car and then a concrete light pole.

The victim was prounounced dead at the scene. The driver was arrested soon after.

According to York Regional Police, impaired driving is the number one criminal cause of death in Canada. Police point out that taxi charges are much cheaper than legal fees.

Dunlap observatory to reopen

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RICHMOND HILL’S David Dunlap Observatory is set to reopen this summer, after being closed since last August.

The site’s owner, a residential developer called Metrus Development Inc., announced that the Toronto Centre division of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will organize public viewing nights, special events and educational programming. The amateur astronomy group will be using the observatory’s 74-inch telescope — the largest in Canada.

“We’re delighted with the agreement, which will see the observatory reopen to the community during 2009, the international year of astronomy,” said Dr. Ralph Chou, president of the RASC, Toronto Centre. “It has been a pleasure to work with Metrus to achieve this milestone agreement.”

The land was donated to the university in the 1930s by the Dunlap family. It became an astronomy research centre until recently, when the land was put up for sale to fund a new research facility downtown. Metrus bought the observatory and its expansive surrounding parklands from the University of Toronto last year. As a result, research and outreach programming ceased.

“One of our main concerns was that the observatory dome would not be utilized; becoming a museum that no one could see,” said Michael Pozzebon, the project manager for Metrus.

But some who don’t want to see the property developed think allowing the amateur group to run summer programming could put the historic property’s facilities in jeopardy.

Ian Shelton, a University of Toronto astronomer, ran the outreach programs up until last summer. He said an extensive education is needed to operate the telescope, and that it shouldn’t be left to amateurs.

“They can do a huge amount of damage,” he said. “They have no personal experience, and no huge body of wisdom that they’re tapping into. You need an entourage of technical staff for support, and I don’t see any of that in place to support the RASC Toronto Centre.”

Last winter, Shelton, other scientists who have used the facility for research, and local activists banded together to try to get heritage designation for the property. They made their case to the Conservation Review Board, stating that the facility is not only historic, but needs to be preserved because it benefits the community through education.

“It’s so much better than going to a museum and seeing it simulated,” Shelton said. “It’s the real thing, and that’s exactly what it’s all about.”

“ They can do a huge amount of damage. They have no personal experience, and no huge body of wisdom that they’re tapping into.”

The Conservation Review Board hasn’t yet given its decision on the matter, although their decision would be a mere recommendation to council on whether or not the area should be protected.

“To us, that’s a good thing,” said Karen Cilevitz, the chairperson of the David Dunlap Observatory Defenders, on the length of time it is taking the board to make a decision.

The longer the jury stays out the better it is for the Defenders, we think.”

Mayor David Barrow has expressed his desire to see a portion of the land protected.

Transit trouble

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ASK WILLOWDALE RESIDENT David Slotnick what he thinks about the new Finch Avenue Light Rail Transit system that received funding from the Ontario government last month, and his answer might surprise you.

“The what?”

His response, though, is typical of many Bayview residents, according to Coun. David Shiner.

“It’s all a fog around here what’s happening with these LRT lines,” he said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty announced last month that the province will fork up the estimated $1.4 billion to pay for the project.

“We need to move quickly to build a better public transit system for commuters,” he said at the announcement.

Some studies have been completed for the line that will run from Yonge Street west to Humber College. But Metrolinx and the Toronto Transit Commission are now hoping to extend the line east to Don Mills Road and then south to Don Mills subway station.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” said transit advocate Steve Munro, a past winner of the Jane Jacobs Prize. “They have to figure out where you can fit a surface LRT on Finch Avenue and whether any of it has to be underground.”

Munro said the public hasn’t been consulted in the planning process and that if construction will go ahead as scheduled, in the fall of this year, there could be some problems on the way.

“This is something that Metrolinx is going to have to wrestle with,” he said. “The premier wants it built yesterday, but people get a bit testy when
you say you’re going to build something in their front yard without telling them. This has the makings of a serious political battle along Finch Avenue.”

“I think everybody’s in agreement that it’s a good idea,” said Brad Ross, the director of communications at the TTC. He said there will be public information sessions in June, but that the dates, times and locations have yet to be determined. The community will have an opportunity to express their opinions at those meetings.

“If things came up during these sessions that we hadn’t thought of, it’s unlikely, but nonetheless, we would take that into consideration.”

The 36 Finch Bus would be replaced by the LRT, with stops approximately 800 metres apart.

Abandoned North York puppy finds new home

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CHARLIE, THE four-month-old puppy who was found in a North York dumpster near Yonge Street and Finch Avenue, was officially adopted on April 9.

The tiny Lhasa Apso was brought to Toronto Animal Services on March 26, after a janitor discovered his body, which had been left for dead, sealed in a box and wrapped in a plastic bag.

About a hundred applications were received by Animal Services. But one from the Collins family, who live in Northumberland County, stood out.

Their submission included a summary of each member of the family, including the cat and dog, and a poem about Charlie.

They arrived an hour early for their formal adoption interview, and the puppy went home with them that day.

“Charlie was adopted into a new permanent home where we know he will be loved and cared for the rest of his life,” said Fiona Venedam, supervisor at Toronto Animal Services.

It was at the centre that Charlie was nursed back to health, received vaccinations, got neutered and microchipped.

Charlie’s story now has a happily ever after, as he has 470 acres of property to call home.

“Charlie is such a special dog,” said his new owner Mark Collins. “He is so sweet and good-natured and is already a big part of our family. We want to help Charlie forget whatever ill treatment he suffered in the past. He is in good hands now.”

Council votes to keep ‘OMB Folly’ street name

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DESPITE A PETITION against a bylaw that would name a road in a new Willowdale development OMB Folly, community council voted to keep the name.

“As the purchasers of these homes represent the future homeowners and residents of the community, we feel that the council’s decision to name the laneway OMB Folly has a direct and adverse impact not only on the future families residing in their new homes, but also the community members who see the street name every day,” wrote Stephen Maizels, the CEO of Hallstone Developments, the developers on the project.

Last fall, community council recommended the name Yonge Street and Finch Avenue-area roadway, saying that it expressed their opinion that the Ontario Municipal Board overstepped its jurisdiction when it approved the Basswood Park development.

The developer, Hallstone, appealed council’s decision against the new development, which was overturned by the provincial body.

People who have bought units in the development worry the name will reduce the values of their homes.

Just don’t call it a mall

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SHOPS AT DON MILLS, a new, large- scale, outdoor retail development, opened its doors on April 22.

The new shopping centre, located at the corner of Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East, boasts 100 new stores, including several retail stores that are unavailable anywhere else in Toronto. Salomon Sports opened its first non-resort store in the shopping centre, and funky fashion and houseware shop Anthropologie opened its first Canadian store in the mall.

“I’m getting a lot of favourable comments,” said Coun. Cliff Jenkins.

“I’m excited about the opening, and I’m excited about what it’s going to look like as a finished product.”

The shopping centre also offers a McNally-Robinson bookstore, chef Mark McEwan’s first gourmet food store and Glow, a restaurant that offers chef Rose Reisman’s healthy menu items.

“This is really meant to be a place for the community,” said Anne Morash, Cadillac Fairview’s vice-president of development.

While the centre is a shopping centre, it will also have office space with medical services, financial planning services and travel agencies.

There will also be a dry cleaner and a liquor store.

The property management company calls the centre an “urban village” because, unlike other malls, it is entirely outdoor, with a design that reflects a street shopping experience.

The new shopping centre replaced the Don Mills Centre, an indoor mall, which closed to make way for the new centre.

“We are happy to see some stores sprouting up,” said Simone Gabbay, a Don Mills resident and the founder and communications liaison for the Don Mills Friends group.

“We’ve been without any stores or any possibility to shop on this site for three years. It’s been a wasteland.”

But Gabbay said even though she’s pleased the centre is up and running, she’s concerned that the families, seniors and disabled people who used the old mall as a meeting place will not have facilities like they had before.

“The new stores will no doubt be attractive, but a climate- controlled, car-free environment would have been safer and far more convenient for everyone, especially for our seniors, disabled friends, and families with young children,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Morash said she and her team worked to meet the needs of everyone in the community, but that the outdoor concept was important to making the
development successful.

“ I’m excited about the opening, and I’m excited about what it’s going to look like as a finished product.”

“The people who live in this community were saying, ‘We want someplace to walk to, that’s not too big and overwhelming, and we just want to park once,’” Morash said. Because of that, there are two battery charging stations within the complex for wheelchairs, and there is a town square and many outdoor areas that are covered that people can use to socialize.

She said the mall is also pedestrian-friendly, with extra wide sidewalks on winding roads.

Morash added that she is confident that people will still want to shop at the centre when cold weather comes back next winter.

“Torontonians are a hearty bunch,” she said.

Premier announces Forest Hill pools will not be drained

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AFTER LOCAL RESIDENTS rallied twice last month to save the community’s school pools, Premier Dalton McGuinty pledged $12 million toward capital funding.

The pools at Winona McMurrich Junior Public School and Forest Hill Collegiate Institute will not be drained, as they were scheduled to be this June. How the $80,000 to $100,000 operating costs for each pool will be covered is still a problem for former mayor David Crombie and his Aquatics Working Group and will be tackled in coming months..

“We need to sit down together and find long-term solutions,” said school board trustee Josh Matlow.

Last year the school board announced that 39 school pools would close, citing insufficient funding from the province.

14-year-old will be neighbourhood’s youngest pilot

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A FOREST HILL resident will soon be the youngest Canadian to get his student pilot licence in history.

Mike Domb, a 13-year-old Fieldstone Day School student plans to get his student licence on his 14th birthday, on June 25.

“I take a lot of my friends flying with me,” says Domb, who currently must fly with an instructor. “It’s lots of fun — and it’s good for girls.”

Domb started flying with his uncle, also a pilot, at the Buttonville airport when he was 12. He soon convinced his reluctant parents to allow him to start ground school where students learn the basics of flying, like aerodynamics, math and decision making.

He was the youngest in his class, among 20- and 30-year- olds and retired people.

Domb’s favourite part about flying the Cessna 172s? Making the plane spin through the sky.

“The blood leaves your head, and you can feel it pooling at your legs. You get dizzy the first couple times you do it, but you get used to it.”

Eglinton LRT chugs along

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WITH A BOOST from the provincial government, the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit line took the next step forward last month. Premier Dalton McGuinty pledged the $4.6 billion needed for the new route, which will link the city’s east end to Pearson International Airport, with stops along Eglinton Avenue.

“We need to move quickly to build a better transit system for commuters,” McGuinty said in his April 1 announcement. “Our investments in transit will create jobs, help stimulate the economy and improve the air we breathe.”

But local politicians and community members remain divided on the issue, with some saying the city should have held out for a subway system.

“It’s a second-rate solution, and it’s the one that doesn’t accommodate the growth that we expect on these lines over the next decades,” said Coun. Michael Walker. “I think it should be a subway.”

The projected ridership of the 31-kilometre line is about 5,000 to 5,400 riders an hour along the route by 2031. A bus system would not be able to accommodate that level of ridership, but an LRT system could accommodate those numbers, according to the city’s preliminary planning report.

Bus stops are approximately 240 metres apart along Eglinton Avenue, but with LRT stops located 900 metres apart in the new system, Walker worried that the elderly and disabled will not be able to use public transit easily.

“People aren’t going to walk 400 to 500 metres when they can walk 40 metres to a bus stop.”

But bus service could be eliminated completely on Eglinton Avenue, and with 10 kilometres of the 31-kilometre line running underground between Leslie Street and Keele Street, local store owners are concerned business will suffer.

“There will be less foot traffic in the area during construction and then even less after completion,” said Steven Petroff, president of the Upper Village Business Improvement Area. “I am not optimistic that this will bring people to our area to shop. That’s one of our biggest concerns. But it’s something that we are just going to have to grin and bear it.”

Petroff said some business owners in the area are reconsidering signing leases for another year and are looking to relocate to a spot that will have more foot traffic in the future.

But Coun. Joe Mihevc, also the vice-chair of the TTC, said the new transit line will actually link communities and create a stronger city.

“ I am not optimistic that this will bring people to our area to shop. That’s one of our biggest concerns.”

“The Eglinton LRT spans the entire city, and it actually connects all six former municipalities as well. It has real potential to be a real community builder,” he said.

Ben Daube, of the Sherwood Ratepayers’ Association, said that a stronger transit system is needed with the growth expected at Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue.

“In the long term, Yonge and Eglinton is going to be even more important an intersection than it already is. People are saying it’s going to be the next Yonge and Bloor.”

Mihevc said that the city is completing the final environmental assessments, and, subject to approval, construction on the project could begin as early as 2010, with service beginning in 2016.

Field of dreams

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AFTER A LONG fundraising campaign, a divisive battle between local residents and Northern Secondary School, and a drawn-out planning process, a new playing field will be constructed this summer at the high school.

With the help of the community, alumni of the school and the school board, $1 million was raised for the project to replace the current field, which has been referred to as a “dust bowl” by local residents.

“Students will benefit, local residents will benefit,” said school board trustee Josh Matlow. “This will be a great community asset for the entire Mount Pleasant and Eglinton area. It also means that, aside from the use of it, the neighbourhood will look a lot nicer. It will be a beautiful, modern green field rather than a dust bowl.”

Construction is scheduled to begin in late June or early July, and the field should be ready for action by September or October of 2009, he said. It will be named the Clarke Pulford Field, after a former physical education teacher at Northern Secondary School.

“We have enough money to put a new field there that will have artificial turf, and it will be really one of the finest fields in the city,” Matlow said.

Dale Callender, president of the Northern Secondary School Foundation, said the details of what will be included on the field have yet to be confirmed.

Callender said he believes they will be able to obtain the list of things stakeholders agreed they would like to achieve with the $1 million raised. The architects for the project will confirm whether or not that is possible. Those aspects include markings for football and soccer, a rubberized, 400-metre, four-lane track, fencing, a scoreboard, refurbished washrooms and bicycle racks.

The planning process included an effort to welcome the local residential community as a partner in the field’s use, Callender said.

“We see the playing field as an educational setting for students, but also, because it’s directly in the community, it’s an opportunity for the use of the playing field during non- educational times. Part of the consensus was that we would make sure the community has access to it.”

Originally, the school planned to erect a dome over the playing field. Some residents were incensed when they found out about the plan, creating a divide in the community.

Dan Burns was one of those angry residents, but once the dome idea was ditched, he became part of the group planning for the field.

“I think it’s a positive feeling,” Burns said. “We’ve gone from a very negative situation to a very positive situation, and now we’ll all have more access to the field.”

“It’s about overall wellness and family time, partnered with building future leaders for tomorrow,” Callender agreed. “It’s a great partnership.”

Northern Secondary School will host a farewell picnic to the old field on May 9, with a barbecue and games for the entire community. They will also celebrate what’s to come.