The city's outdoor ice rinks opened recently and the other day I got the chance to get my skates out and go for a spin on one of our local rinks. It was a nice sunny day, relatively warm for this time of year. It was great to see all the families out enjoying the skating, as well as whatching the shinny players having a blast on the other pad.
The rink season opening seems to have gone relatively smoothly this year, which was a nice change of pace, as it's usually a very hectic time for the Parks and Recreation department, who are responsible for getting everything up and running.
We are also trying an experiment this year, opening the rinks up earlier in the fall than normal (we will also be closing them earlier than normal in March). Credit goes to local rink activists for this change, some of them have been arguing for years that with the short days and lower angle of the sun in November, the compressors would be able to keep up even with temperatures well above zero. In contrast, in March, when days are much longer, the sun much higher, things always get slushy on the rinks pretty quickly. It seems they were right, as the ice was in great condition when I was there, even though the temperature was around eight degrees.
I hope everyone gets a chance to get their skates out and enjoy one of our great outdoor rinks this winter!
September is always such a great time of year, when summer winds down, the kids head back to school, and people refocus their attention away from the rest and relaxation of the summer and towards new projects at work and new endeavours in the community.
Whenever I visit friends who have school-age children, I always get the impression the kids have grown at least an inch over the summer. A few carefree summer months spent outside in our parks and playgrounds always seems to do them a world of good. By September, however, without fail the kids are always excited to get back to school, to begin a new year full of new experiences, friendships and possibilities.
The rest of us would do well to remember this feeling of wonder and excitement at new possibilities as we head into the fall. This was a difficult summer in many ways, with a long labour dispute being the most obvious example. With a new contract in place, it's time to put this issue behind us and refocus our collective attention on what we can do to address the problems faced by our community and our city. There are many exciting projects already under way or just getting started this fall, in both our community and the city as a whole, from the tunnel being built at Dufferin and Queen, or to the new Transit City lines starting construction.
I know I'm excited by what the future holds and confident that we'll be able to overcome the challenges we face together. I hope you'll join me in this adventure. And when things get tough, when anxiety and doubt creeps into our thoughts, it would be good to remember the way our children face the unknowns of a new school year: full of excitement and wonder as they move forward to discover the new possibilities and opportunities that await them.
After 2 ˝ years of closure, the Bloor/Gladstone Library has finally reopened to the public on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009. I hope that you have had fun celebrating this milestone event with some family entertainment, refreshments, and a special presentation from Heritage Toronto.
The new library includes several features which attracts a much broader spectrum of the public. I was very glad to see that there were dedicated spaces for little children, a reading lounge for adults, and a vibrant zone for teens for them to “chill-out”. Amenities have also been provided to outdoor nature-loving people, including a reading garden, more trees, as well as a partial green-roof. It gives me great pleasure to find that this new neighbourhood “gem” continues to be as beautiful as ever, just as it was historically.
To complement the expansion of the facility, the library will be expanding its capacity by 70 000 new books, CD’s and DVD’s, and magazines.
I’m quite glad that the historic structure has been preserved. Having grown up in this neighbourhood, I, along with many long-time residents, can still owe it to this library to be home to many cherished memories as a child. This new library will also serve many more generations to come, as it has for the last 94 years.
As most residents may know by now, the City of Toronto was forced to open a new dumpsite in Campbell Park, which is located at Campbell and Wallace Avenues. This has been a very difficult decision of all of us, as no one wants to see a dumpsite open in any park land. However, Campbell Park was chosen because it is directly owned by the city, it has a paved area which will allow for easier cleanup, and it allows for easy access.
I do agree that it would be more ideal to have dumpsites in parking lots. Unfortunately, this is not always possible, as most parking lots that are directly owned by the City of Toronto are too small, not easily accessible, and not paved. Other parking lots that are adequate in size and accessibility are not directly owned by the City of Toronto, and therefore, cannot be used.
I have recently paid a few visits to Campbell Park to try to understand what residents must feel. The Medical Officer of Health will continue to monitor this site to ensure that it will not become a health hazard. I thank you all for your understanding and patience.
I sincerely hope that the labour disruption will be resolved as soon and as fairly as possible. I will also continue to make periodic checkups on the site to make sure everything is under control. Should anyone have any inquiries, or would like to share their stories and concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our constituency office.
Yesterday, I spent the day walking through all the streets north of Bloor in Ward 18. I like to do these walking tours once a year, over a few different days, to get a chance to see every street in the Ward myself and look for any problems or issues that need to be addressed.
I was happy to see that the Ward looks to be in pretty good shape overall. The roads looked to be in good condition despite the harsh winter, although I noticed quite a few potholes in some of the laneways that I've asked Transportation to fix. Garbage dumping seems to be less of a problem than it used to be a few years ago and there also seem to be a lot fewer run down properties these days. It's great to see people taking pride in the neighbourhood and making more of an effort to keep things clean and well maintained.
I stopped on Bloor near Symington to admire the new planters on the north side. I helped get these planters designed and installed through our Clean and Beautiful City program and they finally got installed earlier this spring. The condo board has agreed to maintain them and have done some very nice plantings recently. It's so nice to see a touch of green on a section of Bloor Street that has an abundance of concrete and not enough trees or greenspace.
I also spent some time up near Dupont and Osler checking out the railway construction being done by GO Transit and listening to the racket coming from the two diesel-hammer pile drivers they have on site. It's easy to understand why the people nearby who are having to live with all this noise day in and day out are getting so frustrated with GO. I've been in contact with both GO Transit and the Minister of Transportation about all this and fortunately it seems like they are getting the message that they need to do a better job on all these railway projects they are proposing. The community has really mobilized on this issue and all the work people are doing is really making a difference in getting GO's and the Province's attention.
I'll be getting started on the streets south of Bloor tomorrow to see what's happening in that part of the neighbourhood.
