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Toronto Sun: Council orders signs removed for City Hall windows
October 2, 2015
Don Peat
Toronto Sun
Rob Ford signs displayed in his office windows at Toronto City Hall Friday, October 2, 2015. (Stan Behal/Toronto Sun)
City Hall staff were ordered by council Friday to remove all signs from the exterior windows “immediately.”
The request, put forward by Councillor Josh Matlow, was a less-than-subtle bid to get rid of the two giant “Rob Ford Councillor” signs that have been displayed in the Etobicoke councillor’s office window for months.
Ford’s window is prime real estate — it looks out over Nathan Phillips Square and is just above the front doors to City Hall.
Toronto Star: Forest Hill residents win first round in fight over trees
Property owner who wanted to build a two-storey house on Chaplin Cres. that would mean cutting at least 14 mature trees says he’ll appeal to the OMB.
September 24, 2015
Betsy Powell
Toronto Star
The ravine property at 256 Chaplin Cres. includes numerous mature trees that would have to be chopped down with a large home is built there. Photo: RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR
The Toronto and East York committee of adjustment has refused a property owner’s request for variances to build a large home on a ravine lot in Forest Hill.
Some 22 residents, and the city’s forestry department, had objected to the plan because of the loss of trees and canopy coverage.
“We’re elated,” said Lucianna Ciccocioppo, a neighbour who led opposition to the project at 256 Chaplin Cres. “We look forward to seeing the revisions of the plans.”
Post City: Are stacked townhomes the new condo in Toronto real estate?
September 3, 2015
Angela Hennessy
Post City
Stacked townhouses, Weybourne and Lawrence
If you can’t build it, stack it. Or that’s what a land developer might plan to do.
With very little truly available space left in the city, developers continue to find new ways to build up within small spaces in Toronto. Enter the stacked townhome: the latest trend in real estate in the Greater Toronto Area, which has entered many neighbourhoods across the city.
Several more are slated for Midtown.
On the surface, stacked townhomes appear to work with a variety of problems that include zoning restrictions on height and density that prevent large condos from being constructed, while creating new property within highly sought-after city space. But they also create concern amongst residents and local councillors who say they are not an appropriate solution for all avenues and can ruin the integrity of the neighbourhood where single-family dwellings have long been the norm.
South Bayview Bulldog: Who will help give Davisville Village a Hub — and a heart?
August 15, 2015
South Bayview Bulldog
John Hiddema, Stephanie Rickard Chadda and Chris Trussell have a dream. They’re among many residents of Davisville Village who want to see the Ward 22 community with a modern place for recreation, health care and social services. Things like a swimming pool, advice to the elderly and immigrant families, daycare and play areas can easily be imagined in such a place. It would be a community social centre open to everyone, regardless of address, and a heart for Davisville. They call this dream the Midtown Hub and John, Stephanie and Chris have identified a nearly-one acre parcel of land on the southwest corner of the crumbling Davisville Public School property at 43 Millwood Rd.
WHO Global Age-Friendly Cities Announcement and National Institute on Aging Launch
TED ROGERS SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AT RYERSON UNIVERSITY LAUNCHES NATIONAL [...]
Toronto Star: Toronto councillors want legal Grenadier Pond skating
September 18th, 2015
David Rider
The Toronto Star
Pushing for safe, legal skating on Grenadier Pond, councillors urged bureaucrats to balance their legal liability concerns with a need to let Torontonians enjoy their city.
Councillor Josh Matlow said a staff report recommending legal skating on the High Park pond only if the city launches a rigorous, expensive monitoring and safety program points to the need for a “rethink.”
“With the logic that has been followed on this, one could argue that we should have signs up saying you shouldn’t walk on our sidewalks because we don’t maintain our sidewalks perfectly ... so maybe somebody could have an accident, maybe we’ll be liable,” said Matlow, noting he skated on Grenadier as a kid.
“To simply have the default position, to just say ‘No you can’t’, I don’t think is the kind of city that we want to create.”
