Ernest Ave. sidewalk and boulevard construction

 Looking west from Perth Ave.Ernest Ave. sidewalk construction: Looking west from Perth Ave.

The Paton Rd. closing / Erwin Krickhahn Park expansion is not the only construction happening in our neighbourhood this week. Over the last couple of days, city contractors have been busy installing a new widened sidewalk and boulevard strip on the south side of Ernest Ave., connecting Perth Ave. to the West Toronto Railpath.

Although this may seem like a minor project, it has some serious benefits to our community:

  • There will finally be a continuous sidewalk along Ernest Ave.
  • Walking to the West Toronto Railpath will now be safer, as pedestrians will no longer have to mix it up with the trucks heading in and out of Solways Metals.
  • The sidewalk will connect directly to the new location for the Boys and Girls Club, making it much safer for the kids.
  • There will be a boulevard strip separating the sidewalk from the road, allowing for a tiny bit of much-needed greenspace here.

I look forward to seeing this completed!

 Looking east from the Railpath.Ernest Ave. sidewalk construction: Looking east from the Railpath.

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Ernest Sidewalk

The City actually wanted a wider sidewalk for more safety but Solways threatened to sue so the City compromised with this sidewalk. There will also be some new barriers to keep Solways trucks off the Railpath. Getting this done was pushed forward by residents and the Councilors office with some help from MLS.

If anyone should be sueing Solways should be us

These people (Solways) have caused nothing but problems for the community over the years they been here, never ever given back to this community. To many to name. BUT, everytime I complained to our councillor. I was told they have a right to be here, yes they do, but we have paid a price for it and we will for many years to come, specially with the contaimination that is on that location. I'm very surprised and thank god, that's if you believe in one, no one has ever been killed by a truck. One day I was on my porch and I seen a wheel come off a truck, luckly there was no other person on the road.

In theory yes

I have been working on this since 2003 and have amassed an extensive stack of paperwork on the topic dating back to 1975. I have somewhat dragged MLS into this century, they caused this problem in the first place in 1953 and then everybody passed the buck after that and then MLS fell asleep for a few years. I have done some area tours with new MLS head JimHart and another residents which have been helpful but at the end of the day their hands are somewhat tied by the bad choices made from1953 until 1996. At one time not even the City gave a crap about this area but that has changed a bit; the legacy of idiotic choices lingers. One of the best things is that Railpath now exists where in 1977 the City of Toronto thought they would do us a favour by putting in a truck service road that would have turned this area into a wasteland.

The sad part is that Solways still uses the road as if they owned it. Those days are coming to an end though and one look at new sidewalks, new townhouses, and the BG club tells the story.

Scott back in the 80's when I

Scott back in the 80's when I and others in the community took on the city and provincal goverment in regards to the enviroment they laughed at us. They soon learned that in numbers, a community has power. We changed their way of looking at us. And over time, we now have a cleaner, safer community we can live in...in a health perspective. We were told that when the Juntion Tiangle was being developed, there was no thought process in the repercussions of having industry mixed in with residential. Back then the factorys that were here were really a storage depot for companies in the US to store their goods here for redistribution through out the province. Yeh, I guess we can blame all those before us because they didn't know any better. Now we do.

Why the change and attitude towards Solways, it's good

People have complained for years about Solways, they have this attitude, because our 3 elected officals have not come down hard enough of them has made their heads big. I went to their office many times in the past. The last time when I was their I was told bt a witness, that one of their staff stole a butterfly from Holly's garden. I was the organizer for that each butterfly cost someone $100 dedicating it to a love one they lost. The police was involved could not find the worker. Most scrape yards, do not allow walk in only by driven in. Unfortunately men who are homeless or addicts or both, steal or find metal and bring it there for $$$. I myself and neighbours were victims of thieft have had stuff stolen from our property for years. The unsafe trucks and unsafe load has been as issue as well. Good to hear that pressure is been put on them. This I support