The house that garbage built in York Region – rental mayhem 101

What comment can I offer on the lack of care for rental homes in York Region? What’s sad is home owners who buy rental properties, in fairly nice neighbourhoods, are turning them into rental ghettos. It’s said to see how individuals can come into a area and treat it with no care. Now there are some basic considerations to home ownership, but one that seems to allude G.T.A residents is the basic decency to keep their neighbourhood clean. Why do you put out garbage and leave it on the curb for a week; knowing it won’t be picked up until next week? Now I know what you are thinking. Maybe they are on vacation right? Wrong! I have seen this time and time again. Homes that are rented out and garbage left on the street; including glass, paint cans, and other items. Unfortunately with an interest rate hovering at the lowest in many years this problem can only get worse; with investors trying to make a quick buck. What’s interesting is this type of issue rarely happens in an area like Leaside, Unionville, Whitby, Oakville, Woodbridge or other portions of the city. Why? Maybe it’s because residents care and want to ensure that their investment remains intact. There is little tolerance for individuals who buy a home and don’t maintain it. It’s sad because I am not sure if this problem will ever be fixed. We take the taxes, but forget the neighbourhood. In some areas people don’t care and I am not even sure why. Maybe they just like it that way?

Related articles

• Challenges await new GTA immigrants (cbc.ca)
• Housing Starts Slide In Latest “Housing Recovery” Disappointment; Permits Rise On Expectations Of Rental Surge (zerohedge.com)

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It’s not exactly Toronto the good anymore, eh?

So what is Toronto becoming?

• MGM wants to build a massive casino on Toronto’s waterfront, preferably turning Ontario Place into a mini Vegas.
• Ashley Madison wants to sponsor Toronto Zoos, as long as they get naming rights
• Dennis Hof looking to expand to Toronto and build a Bunny House
• Giorgio Mammoliti wants to build a dedicated red-light district in Toronto

What is happening to Toronto? It’s simple, Toronto is broke! Year’s ago we talked about the hollowing out of Toronto, forcing families to move to the suburbs, such as Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and farther. I am not saying that this is the reason. The majority of jobs are still in Toronto, however what will Toronto look like in 20 years? Yesterday Rob Ford said “he is all business”, and he will entertain any business idea. I am not sure if Torontonians would have supported Ford Nation if they knew what the vision was for Toronto. This is definitely not in the same scope of David Miller. As a mayor he seemed to have a different vision for the city. The question is what happened to the debate over these ideas? I am starting to hear rumblings of dissatisfied voters in Scarborough and other parts of the city. Sure, I am not taking stock from a large base, but these are individuals who were stark supporters of Rob Ford coming in to clean house.

Toronto Residents: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. 
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”? 
Toronto Residents: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies over Toronto! The Don river and Lake Ontario boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…Mel Lastman rising back to power! Human cooperation, politicians actually working together… mass hysteria!

So will Toronto become the new promised land?

Related articles

• So who really runs the city of Toronto? (thegtapatriot.wordpress.com)
• MGM targets Toronto for ‘spectacular’ casino resort (ctv.ca)
• Game over for Rob Ford in Toronto? (thegtapatriot.com)
• Rob Ford non-commital on Pride (thestar.com)
• Nightlife at Harbourfront could fall victim to whining locals (thestar.com)
• MGM eyes Toronto for sprawling integrated resort and casino (theglobeandmail.com)
• Woodbine location favoured for Toronto ‘entertainment destination’ (theglobeandmail.com)

Keep it simple stupid Air Rail link options dead on arrival

Toronto Skyline (Photo credit: Bobolink)

Keep it simple stupid Air Rail Link options dead on arrival

It was actually a novel idea and it was nice to see a unity at City Hall. They may have been a bit far reaching, however it would have been nice to see connections at Eglinton and maybe St. Clair. However this was “dead on arrival”. As indicated on NewsTalk1010 this morning, the Government said “what part of express rapid air link to you not understand”.  Well I guess council got it’s answer? In some sense it was nice to see a decision actually made by Metrolinx. It would have been nice for them to offer an opinion and some decisions in regards to Transit City.

On Wednesday council will consider a motion put forward by Councillor Frances Nunziata – a close ally of Rob Ford – that calls for a major revamp of the Air Rail Link planned to run between Pearson Airport and Union Station by 2015.  

Read More

Related articles

• The TTC will TCB with LRT, we’ll SEE? (doorleader.wordpress.com)
• Trains and Ontario’s Government – GO and Ontario Northland (patrickboyer.wordpress.com)

The bigger story: Canadian Election is the lowest in history at only 59 percent

CLOSE TO 10 MILLION CANADIANS DID NOT BOTHER TO VOTE!!!

OTTAWA — Early figures indicate Canadians avoided the ballot box more than ever before on election day.

Just 58 per cent of eligible voters visited the polls — from a high of 69 per cent in Prince Edward Island to 48 per cent in Newfoundland, according to preliminary numbers.

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URGENT NEWS! Viva Strike is back on for York Region…

 

YRT - VIVA BRT Strike

I am listening to the news and it seems that the VIVA strike is back on for tomorrow morning @ 4AM. There has definately been a break down somewhere down the line. The news is on CFRB and 680News at the moment. The information below is from 680news. Make alternative plans now!

Note: This does not affect YRT buses, however there is no way that they can handle the load, so the contracted TTC buses and GO Transit may become good alternatives. I will try to post information about alternatives a bit later. 

Update: You can arrange a lift through Carpool Zone or to call the YRT/Viva Customer Service Centre, at 1-866-668-3978. Extra customer service agents would-be available on the phone and at the main service centres.

http://www.680news.com/more.jsp?content=20080924_194001_11804

Opinion: I am starting to wonder, is it is time for Metrolinx to take over ALL transit services in the G.T.A (the Greater Toronto Area) and make it an “essential service”? Or is this a rejection of ATU Local 113 and Bob Kinnear?

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2008/04/26/5395786-cp.html

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080418/transit_strike_080418/20080418?hub=TopStories

http://www.cfib.ca/legis/ontario/pdf/on0375.pdf

Families torn by grief because of a drunk driver on the 403 going in the wrong direction. This madness must end!

This is why the laws must be changed. A life has been snubbed out because of a possible drunk driver. I am not sure how one can justify going in the wrong direction on a provincial highway? The way the laws stand he will probably get a “slap on the wrist”, if convicted in Ontario. I am not sure how anyone can condone these actions anymore. If any political leaders are listening, its time for the laws to change, now and protect the public against this serious and unforgiving offense.
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Several years ago, before he moved to Canada, met his wife and had two beautiful daughters, Herminio Del Valle was told in a dream not to drive.

So he never bought a car, thinking all the while he was preventing a horrible accident.

To get to work, he turned to long-time pal Pablo Guzman, who had also emigrated from the Dominican Republic and got Del Valle his job at a Burlington aluminum factory. A trusted employee, Guzman was given the keys to the factory to open the shop early each morning.

That’s how the two men found themselves on Hwy. 403 in Mississauga around 4:45 a.m. Friday, when an allegedly drunk driver in a pickup truck going in the wrong direction hit their car head-on. “He was always driving people here and there,” Guzman’s friend, Patricia Moreno, said inside his Woodbridge home yesterday, Guzman’s crying wife, Rocio, and three children sitting next to her.

“Especially widows. He was always helping them,” she said, her voice drowned out by sobs. “Now, she’s a widow.” About 15 km south in North York, Del Valle’s widow, Carmen, sat with daughters Catherine, 9, and Natalie, 7, surrounded by family who had flown in from the U.S.

“Everything was for his family,” a shattered Carmen said in Spanish with a family member translating. Carmen had arrived at the Guzman home hours after the crash Friday with condolences, only to learn her husband was also dead.

“My dad was the best daddy,” Catherine said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “He used to try to get me the stuff that I need.”

Each of Guzman’s children — Victor, 8, Gleny, 6, and Santiago, 4 — have been coping in different ways.

“Where’s daddy?” Victor asked Moreno yesterday. “Heaven,” she said.

“I want to go to the CN tower to be closer to daddy,” he replied.

Gleny was found in her closet Saturday, holding a dress her dad had just bought for her.

Santiago clutched a toy truck in his hand while he sat on his mother’s lap.

“He knows it was a truck,” Moreno said. “So he says that truck killed his dad.”

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Toronto Transit Strike – The people are mad as hell!

A midnight strike by the TTC caught many people off guard, some showing up early this morning expecting a train, bus or streetcar only to find the lines abandoned. Last night, clubgoers poured out of bars when news of the strike spread.

“No way, no way,” Jorge Bayona, out with friends at Yonge-Dundas Square, said at 11:40 pm. “You’re kidding me. We live an hour away.” The shock on his face escalated to panic, and he and his friends started trying to conjure up contingency plans.

Danielle Consett, 25, also expressed anger at the TTC’s union for voting against the tentative agreement – in favour of a last-minute strike.

“It’s a danger to society,” she said. “It’s selfish. We have rights, too. We have the right to know about a strike 48 hours in advance.” In subways, an announcement was made at 11:23 p.m. telling ticket collectors over their private intercom that service would be shutting down at midnight.

A public announcement didn’t start until almost 11:30 p.m.

Many people showed up this morning at bus stops and subway stations on their way to work unaware therewas a strike.

“It’s closed?” asked Dora Loyuk, 27, watching someone try to open doors at College. “I had no clue…” Loyuk was heading to work in the Richmond and Peter Sts. area. She said it will take her about a half an hour to walk.
“I’m going to have to call in and say there is no subway today. If they can give me more time to walk, then that’s fine.” At the Pape station, commuters who had not yet learned of the strike were stunned to find the doors locked.

“They should be shot,” said one man, apparently stranded from reaching his job. “Some people have to work, you know,” he said.

read more | digg story

Father of slain muslim teen charged with murder

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – A 57-year-old man from Mississauga, Ont., has been charged with murder after his 16-year-old daughter died overnight.

Aqsa Parvez was rushed to hospital Monday morning in critical condition after a man made a 911 call in which he allegedly said he killed his daughter.

The teenager died in hospital late Monday night.

Peel Regional Police have charged her father, Muhammad Parvez, 57, with murder – a specific degree will be determined later.

He made a brief court appearance Tuesday morning and was remanded in custody pending another court appearance Wednesday.

Aqsa Parvez’s friends have said she had been arguing with her devout Muslim family for months over her reluctance to wear a hijab.

read more | digg story

Lack of transit link between airport and downtown Toronto embarrassing

It’s an embarrassment that Canada’s busiest airport still isn’t linked to Toronto’s downtown core by public transit and getting it done should be a priority, federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon said Friday.

In a speech to the Toronto Board of Trade, Cannon called it unbelievable that a world-class city like Toronto doesn’t have the transit infrastructure that’s so common in big cities around the world.

“It’s an embarrassment, I do believe that, and I hope the government of Ontario will see fit to change their mind on that,” Cannon later said in an interview.

The provincial government has allowed an environmental assessment to get bogged down for two years now and has dragged its heels on a project that could reduce gridlock, he said.

He said the province should do whatever it takes to get the important project launched, and could pursue a public-private partnership like the $2-billion Canada Line rail-based rapid transit service linking downtown Vancouver to its airport and beyond to Richmond, B.C.

read more | digg story

GTTA and the MoveOntario 2020 Plan – Phase 2

It looks like the GTTA has received funding for the following projects. Maybe I am still in disbelief until I see shovels in the ground? I am not in favour of all of the plans listed, but this definitely will be some good news for once for public transit in the Greater Toronto Area. What seems to be lacking is funding for Transit City, other than the head start funding. What is interesting is the Durham BRT funding, which will be a definite boost to transit in Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa.
By: Andy MJ (a.k.a “The G.T.A Patriot” / Toronto, Ontario)

MoveOntario 2020 Foundation Investments Total: $791.3 million

• Hamilton A-Line, James-Upper James corridor and Airport connector – $6.9 million
• Hamilton B-Line, King-Main corridor – $17.4 million
• Hamilton James Street North GO/VIA Station – Gateway to Niagara – $3.0 million
• Halton Region Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) – $57.6 million
• Bolton GO Transit service improvements – $600,000
• Dundas and Hurontario higher-order transit corridor development – $26.5million
• Mississauga Transitway Hub: Airport-Renforth Gateway – $39.0 million
• York-VIVA Highway 7, Pine Valley Drive to Kennedy Road – $62.0 million
• York-VIVA Yonge Street, Richmond Hill Centre to 19th Avenue – $19.0 million
• York-VIVA Yonge Street, 19th Avenue to Newmarket – $29.0 million
• Toronto-York Yonge subway extension to Richmond Hill (Phase 1) – $423.7 million
• Toronto-TTC Transit City Light Rail Transit (LRT) head start – $7.1 million
• Toronto Yonge Finch-Steeles BRT – $17.3 million
• Durham-Highway 2 BRT Spine – $82.3 million

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See more information from the link below:

http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=7454

Merging the TTC and GO under GTTA control?

The Toronto Star, CityTV (Breakfast Television) and other media outlets are reporting that the TTC maybe “high-jacked” by the Liberal Government of Ontario, which may have been secretly planned all along. Rumors are flying high that the TTC may be taken over by the Government of Ontario and merged with GO Transit, under the umbrella of the GTTA (Greater Toronto Transit Authority). Many have believed that this would eventually happen, since the TTC has become so large and important to the welfare of the GTA that it may have become just too large for the City of Toronto to handle. Of course speculation is that this may have been their plans all along. Many have wondered, for a while now, why the province was so adamant on expanding the TTC into Vaughan, and beyond, when it seem illogical for Toronto to care on managing transit into the other regions of Toronto. Greg Sorbara, one of the proponents of the plan, tied up funds to ensure that the expansion into Vaughan took place. If this is the case it may have simply been the master plan of the province. Now the Liberal Government has a majority and there would be no stopping them from doing this. Of course this is only rumored, however one has to wonder if this was not the plan, than why bother with the GTTA? The Metropass has passed the mythical bar of $100, now costing $109 dollars. With the TTC complaining about funding, almost every year, the province may simply believe that the TTC is just too much for the City of Toronto to handle, removing control of the Toronto symbol from David Millers hands.

Ironically, moving the control of the TTC to the province would allow Toronto to better balance their books, now that council passed the new taxes. In some ways it would seem that the province may have been waiting for the results. Or it maybe a simple choice of choosing what they feel is best. We know that the Liberal government, although they promised, has not uploaded services that were downloaded during the Mike Harris years. What would happen if the province simply decides to take control of the TTC, covering all costs and leave everything else as is? Would, removing the TTC from Toronto’s books balance the budget? It definitely would help, however how would service be affected? Would the province run the service as is, or run it like GO Transit? Would they merge services with GO Transit? Would they start Zone fares? Would you be able to jump on the “GO” and then to the TTC seamlessly? There are hosts of unanswered questions. Or, is it time for the TTC to simply grow up?

The TTC is a Toronto icon, from the storied streetcars of yesteryear to the way the subways were originally created along Yonge Street. I will not go into a rant about the TTC not being able to innovate and change the way they do business. The TTC, unlike other transit systems across North America, receives little Federal funding for operating costs. However, at least the Federal government did kick in the needed funding for the extension of the subway to Vaughan (ill-conceived, but done nonetheless). If this really does happen then some of the moves the government made, along with their promises for Move2020, would make sense. What we should debate is whether this is a good idea or a bad one? I am not sure if this is a good or bad idea, but do not be too quick to jump on the bandwagon? Does the province understand the needs of Malvern, King Street West, Don Mills, North Etobicoke or the Beaches? What about those routes that do not make a lot of money? Will they be continued or operate like other jurisdictions? Do they think streetcars or buses are more important? Do they care to support the “Transit City” initiative or Subway expansion? What does this mean for the YRT and VIVA? How about Mississauga Transit? These are all unanswered questions, which Torontonians, and GTA residents, should think about and want answers to. What maybe good for Markham, Vaughan, Mississauga and others, may not be good for Toronto, and so visa versa. The debate on merging the TTC with GO, and surrounding systems, has been going on for years, with pros and cons on both sides. This was not on the table during the last provincial election; however loosing the TTC may be the evolution of progress or the greatest public transit “coup” ever conceived by the Province of Ontario.

Read more news from the Toronto Star Article, below.
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/269896

Andy MJ
a.k.a. “The G.T.A Patriot”
Toronto, Ontario

Gas-fuelled power plant on agenda for Toronto and Mississauga

Buried in the release of Ontario Power Generation’s 2006 financial results last Friday was an intriguing paragraph: “OPG is exploring the potential development of a gas-fuelled electricity generation station at its Lakeview site and is continuing with the decommissioning and demolition of the Lakeview coal-fired generating station.”

There is, as you might expect, a story behind this story and it sheds some light on how dysfunctional our electricity system has become over the past few years.

First, some background:

Ontario Power Generation, or OPG, is one of the successor companies that emerged when Ontario Hydro was broken into pieces in 1997. Still government owned, it runs all the old Ontario Hydro power plants, including the coal-fired facilities, which contribute to our air pollution and global warming and which the governing Liberals have promised to close.

In 2005, OPG’s Lakeview site, along Mississauga’s waterfront, became the first of the coal-fired plants to be closed.

But the Ontario Power Authority – an agency set up by the Liberals to plan for future electricity needs – says a replacement power source will be needed in the Mississauga area by the year 2011.

Hence, OPG’s interest in building a gas-fired plant on the old Lakeview site.

OPG has lined up a partner for the project – Enersource, the local electricity distributor, which is 90 per cent owned by the City of Mississauga and 10 per cent by Borealis, the infrastructure investment arm of OMERS (the municipal employees pension fund).

Also reportedly backing the project is Hazel McCallion, Mississauga’s formidable mayor (although, uncharacteristically, she did not respond to requests for an interview for this column).

With such an array of backers and a province thirsty for more power, the Lakeview project would seem to be a sure thing.

But not so fast. The power authority wants a competitive process before making a decision on a new plant. In this respect, the authority insists it is just following government policy, although insiders suggest the authority harbours a bias against OPG and in favour of private-sector suppliers.

As it happens, there is at least one private-sector firm interested in building a new gas-fired power plant in south Mississauga – Sithe Global, which already has regulatory approval for a site called Southdown (on the east side of Winston Churchill Blvd., between Royal Windsor Dr. and Lakeshore Rd.)

And more private-sector suppliers might come forward if they were allowed to make bids based on the OPG-owned Lakeview site, as the power authority has apparently suggested – to vociferous objections from OPG.

In any event, the power authority says the competitive process won’t begin until next year. That will create a tight timetable, however, as the electricity is said to be needed by 2011, and it takes three years to build a new gas-fired facility.

read more | digg story