City News Release: City of Toronto gets ready for winter season

The City of Torontos fleet of snowplows, salt trucks and sidewalk plows are geared up and ready to handle whatever winter throws at the city this year.

Site Maintenance

Over the course of the coming weeks, we will be migrating our employment information to a seperate website to help serve our constituents better. Employment information can now be found at our new Ward 39 Jobs site.

There may be some small technical errors on the website in the interim; if you spot anything out of the ordinary, please send an email to our website administrator Lionel Tao at ltao@toronto.ca with the subject heading "Website technical difficulties".

Thank you for your patience and continued support.

Bed bug information, courtesy of concerned citizen Anthony Little

Concerned citizen Anthony Little has compiled his knowledge of bed bugs and preventative measures that one can take into a word document, which he has asked us to share. Click below to find out more about bed bugs and what you can do to protect yourself.

A message from Councillor Mike Del Grande

The 2010 Toronto Municipal Election is now over, and I'd like to thank all of those who supported me throughout the campaign. I pledge to continue serving Ward 39 and its residents in the coming four years.

Fact Sheet on Parking in Driveways and the New Zoning Bylaw

The topic of the new zoning bylaw and how it affects driveway parking has been receiving a lot attention in the media as of late. In response, the City has put up a fact sheet clarifying some of the issues involved. The fact sheet can be downloaded here (.pdf format).

TTC service change to 39 Finch East routes

A variety of service changes are coming to the 39 Finch East TTC bus routes, effective October 12th, 2010.

• General increase to 39 Finch East local non-express service.
• A brand new 199 Finch Rocket route, which stops at major express stops between Finch and Scarborough Town Centre.
• Some changes to the 139 Finch-Don Mills, which will now serve Senaca College westbound.

For more information, visit the TTC's website, or read on below.

Emerald ash borer found in Ward 39

The emerald ash borer is an beetle native to Asia, but has been found as an invasive species in parts of the United States and southwestern Ontario. The species kills all species of ash, and has been responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of trees in Michigan alone, and countless more in the rest of the affected area.

This presents a major difficulty for the City, as 6% of the City-owned trees are of the ash species. The insect has recently been discovered in our ward, specifically the Silver Springs area. The City of Toronto's Urban Forestry department is working with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to addressing this problem in various manners, which are described in full at the City's site on the issue.

If you notice any of these signs of emerald ash borers in your neighbourhood, please contact our office, and we will ensure that it all necessary steps are taken to contain the threat.

Useful Links
Urban Forestry: Emerald Ash Borer
www.emeraldashborer.info

What should I know about walking my dog off-leash? **UPDATED**

Can I walk my dog without a leash?
The city has designated off-leash parks which have special signage and designation, which can be seen here. Off-leash dog walking is prohibited in all other parks unless otherwise signed.

Where are the off-leash parks?
A list of off-leash dog parks can be found on the City's website, here.

Are there any off-leash parks in Scarborough?
At the moment there are no off-leash sites in Scarborough, however two sites have been proposed; Botany Hill Park at 277 Orton Park Road, and Wanita Park at 5 Meadowvale Road. Both sites are still in the evaluation process, and may or may not be converted into an off-leash area in the future. Blantyre Park at 180 Fallingbrook Road has already been denied application.

At the current moment, the off-leash park closest to our ward is Sunnybrook Park near Eglinton Avenue and Leslie Street.

What can we do to get an off-leash park in our neighbourhood?
The process for creation of an off-leash site is resident-driven. To establish an off-leash park, the area must have a local dog-owner association, and the association must then submit an Off-Leash Area Application Form.

**NEW** Ursula Hummel, a certified dog trainer and resident of our ward, is starting up just such an association. If you would like to help out, you can get in touch with her here.

What do I do if I see people walking their dogs without a leash in our ward?
Please give our office a call at 416-392-1374, or email us; we will forward your complaint to Toronto Animal Services. Be sure to include your name, address, and phone number so we can contact you, as well as the time and location of the incident.

Useful Links
Parks, Forestry, and Recreation
Toronto Animal Services
People, Dogs, and Parks
Off-Leash Dog FAQs
List of current off-leash areas
Off-Leash Area Application Form
List of proposed off-leash areas
List of denied applications for off-leash areas

Community Council Approves 975 Units at Bridlewood Mall on August 17th

Dear Friends and Neighbours

I had originally sent out an e-mail to all my councillor colleagues last month to defer this item until the neighbourhood got a good deal. Not one councillor responded to my e-mail.

I was told point blank by a councillor that my position would not be supported. From this, it was evident that lobbying had occurred by the Developer.

Consulting with members of the Citizen's Advisory Group and Stand Up Bridletowne I embarked to get a visible benefit for our community.

Subject to both City Council and Library Board Approvals:

The Bridlewood Library which is the 3rd busiest Community Library in Toronto will expand. It will move next to Shoppers Drug Mart commencing October 1st. Funding of $2.4 million dollars will be dedicated to the Library with $300,000 coming from Councillor Kelly's ward.

It will temporarily occupy 8,000 square feet with a further 1,200 square feet to be occupied. The Library will sign a 20 year lease.

Further the Advisory Group will have one last opportunity for changes and comments on the Finch Warden Revitalization Report which will go to Council.

The 975 units will be in two phases. The first will be 475 however, the Developer indicated that he would start with a 200 unit building to see how well he can sell units. There is still discussion that the full development can take 2-15 years. In the short term, Any building would commence in 2012. One amendment was accepted by Community Council to provide 1 car spot instead of a .9 spot for all one bed room units. I do not want to see cars overflow onto side streets.

Along with you, I was shocked that any development would occur on a parking lot. Unfortunately the Official Plan allows for this and without any height restrictions. The original proposal asked for about 1400 units with included tall towers of up to 38 stories. The tallest under this plan will be 25.

We could not stop this development and in addition, with the support of the Planning Department we did not have the resources to hire Community Planners and fight this at OMB. With Councillors on side it was a done deal.

I am grateful to Mr. Adam Brown, who while doing his job for the Developer, acknowledged my push to have something of substance (the Library) for the Community. A last minute agreement prior to the Community Council was worked out with the Library Staff, Developer and Mall Management.

The anxiety is over and a conclusion while not popular was rendered. I will have to monitor the effects of Traffic, Sewers, Electric Power,TTC service, social and other issues that may arise from this decision. As always, I ask you to help be my eyes and ears to alert me to problems or potential problems that may arise.

Thank you for working with me to make the best out of a very unpopular situation.