Toronto in review for the week ending July 13, 2012
Welcome to the 'Toronto in review' podcast for July 13, a roundup of interesting events and news out of City Hall.
On Tuesday, the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games Organizing Committee celebrated its three-year countdown to the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. The celebration at City Hall began with a flag raising and proclamation declaring July 10 Pan Am Day in Toronto. There were also sports demonstrations and musical performances on Nathan Phillips Square. Two cultural projects were also unveiled: "Play Me, I’m Yours" sees 41 pianos, painted by artists from Pan American countries, placed across the city for public use. The second project, called "Fresh Eyes", features giant photographs capturing the eyes of new Canadian citizens mostly from Pan American nations. These images fill the windows of City Councillors’ offices overlooking Nathan Phillips Square.
Summer and car washing seem to go together. However, many of us don't realize where the soap, grease, heavy metals and dirt that we rinse off our cars can end up. The storm sewer system – the grates on the side of the road – takes rainwater from the streets, and releases it, untreated, into waterways and eventually into Lake Ontario. This causes pollution and can harm aquatic life. To avoid contaminating local waterways, use a commercial car wash facility to wash your car. A City bylaw also prohibits the discharge of any water other than stormwater into the storm sewers. Alternatively, wash your car on a grassy lawn or gravel surface, where the wastewater can be absorbed by the soil. For more tips, visit www.toronto.ca/water/or call 311.
On Wednesday, at Council, Mayor Rob Ford joined Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, Chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, to receive recognition from the Ontario Electronic Stewardship for Toronto's successful electronic waste collection and recycling program. Toronto, with its unique curbside collection program, is the number one municipal contributor to the Ontario Electronic Stewardship milestone of capturing 100,000 tonnes of end-of-life electronics. More information is available at www.toronto.ca/ewaste.
Council recognized the positive economic impacts of the Microsoft Corporation's Worldwide Partner Conference currently taking place in Toronto with a ceremony and presentation at this week's City Council meeting. Mayor Rob Ford delivered welcoming remarks on behalf of Council to Mike Tremblay, Vice President of Public Sector for Microsoft Canada, and presented a congratulatory scroll. The conference is the largest corporate meeting ever to be hosted in Toronto. It is estimated to have an economic impact for the city of more than $52 million. More than 16,000 delegates from 156 countries are attending. The main conference activities are taking place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and at the Air Canada Centre.
Meetings coming up at City Hall next week (July 16 – July 20):
- There are no meetings scheduled for Monday.
- The Property Standards - Etobicoke York Panel will meet on Tuesday.
- The Bid Committee will meet on Wednesday.
- There are no meetings scheduled for Thursday or Friday.
Weekend road closures
Two special events this weekend will involve road closures.
For the Bloor West Village BIA Festival, a series of road closures running off Bloor Street will take place on Saturday from 7 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. The closures will affect Windermere Avenue, Armadale Avenue, Beresford Avenue, Kennedy Avenue and Glendonwynne Road.
For the Church Street Village Fair, Church Street from Alexander Street to the south side of Wellesley Street East will be closed in both directions from Sunday, July 15 at 8:30 a.m. to Monday, July 16 at 12:30 a.m. Wellesley Street will be open during the event.
Those who need to drive in the general vicinity of special events should allow extra time to get to and from their destination. A more complete list of events and road work is available at www.toronto.ca/torontostreets.
And finally, Jamie Bell Adventure Playground will officially reopen with a ribbon-cutting event on July 13 at 2 p.m. Councillor Sarah Doucette will be joined by Mike Holmes, community supporters and sponsor representatives to officially reopen the playground. A fire at the playground on March 17 destroyed a large portion of the popular structure. The entire rebuild project was filmed for a fall 2012 episode of "Holmes Makes it Right" on HGTV Canada. The Jamie Bell Adventure Playground is located at 1873 Bloor Street West in High Park.
Thanks for listening to 'Toronto in review'.