Neighbourhood Happenings

Registration dates, events and activities for the whole family.

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Earth Hour at High Park

Earth Hour High Park Lantern Walk

Date: Saturday, March 27, 2010
Start Time: 6:30 pm End Time: 9:00 pm

Location: Howard Park Tennis Club

On March 27th, cities around the world will turn off their lights for Earth Hour, an event to raise awareness about climate change.

Craft a beautiful glass jar lantern, learn simple things you can do everyday to combat climate change and then head out into the park for a lantern-lit night hike with the Nature Centre's interpretive staff.

This is a pay-what-you-can event, with funds raised going to support the High Park Nature Centre.

Pre-registration is required. Please be prepared to bring a clean glass jar large enough to hold a tealight or votive candle.

For more information on Earth Hour, please visit http://wwf.ca/earthhour/.

Email: naturecentre@highpark.org | Phone: 416-392-1748

Location Details
Howard Park Tennis Club
430 Parkside Drive
Toronto Ontario CA

Directions: On west side of Parkside Drive, one stop light south of Bloor and Keele

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Now that parent teacher interviews are around the corner here are a few questions to keep in mind when attending your interview.
1. What skills does my child need to work on?
2. What activities can we do at home to strengthen those skills?
3. Does my child complete his/her homework on time?
4. Are there any concerns about class work that I should know about?
5. What are my child's strengths?
6. How can I help enrich those strengths?

Keep an open mind and be honest. If you have concerns that the teacher is not aware of here is your chance to voice them. Being open about the teacher's concerns can help your child now before they fall behind or the concern becomes a serious problem.

Both Adam's office and the Police were called today

For the organizers of the New Railpath. I have a concern you should beware of. When I was walking on Ernest Avenue at around 12:30PM heading to the new Railpath, I noticed that there were truck marks made from the mud that went right onto the path. This is a safety concern. The drivers must of known that they were on the path, because they need to go up a small step to get on the path. When I got there, there were 2 big trucks at the entrance of the path, waiting to get loaded with metal. Both the Toronto Police traffic unit and Adams office were called.

railpath access solutions underway

Are you saying that trucks waiting for Solways were driving on the railpath? Did you actually see that?

There are some City and Railpath contractor trucks that are still using the path to finish off a few things.

Peter Leiss at Parks told me today that they will be putting rocks in place to block access at all streets. In terms of Solways they are not 100% sure as Solways has moved rocks in the past with their Bobcat. Parks may put up some kind of unmovable structure.

Peter also met with Go Transit about the recent issues with Go Staff driving on the Railpath (and being not very accountable about it). The word came down from above and GO is totally on board about not using Railpath. At Randolf there will be foldable bollards and Go and Parks will share the key with Go only being allowed to cross directly to their land. As much as most of us disagree with Metrolinx/GO about diesel in fairness I must tip my hat to Metrolinx head Robert Pritchard for getting this dealt with fast and offering to pay to repair any damage that had been done by GO.

In the future Parks trucks will drive on Railpath for maintenance reasons but they are trained to drive in parks.

The tire marking were made from the Trucks from Solways

Scott, I seen the tire marks myself they were made by the trucks from solways, they were the same size tire that the trucks had. The tire marks were a straight line, went halfway onto the path, they are doing this to back up. I should of taken pictures with my cell phone. I was on my way to an appointment, I was in a rush, but I did see couple of other people looking at the same thing. What I can gather is the trucks track the mud from the open lot next to the new boys and girls club and muddy up the road going in and out from solways.

The other thing is I don't think solways really cares

I have dealt with Solways in the past, protesting in front of their place years ago, even the drivers who were taken their metal to Solways got aggressive towards me, been treatening, they didn't scare me. The drivers tell me that Solways are untouchable, because of the money they have???
I meet a staff member of solways some two weeks back in the park, who said lives in the neighbourhood and he has pretty much the same attitude as everyone else at Solways. He told me that Adam or the City can't do anything to Solways.
So I don't think Solways really cares about there trucks backing out into the pathway, thinking that they might endanger someone lives.

Holiday Lights

A schedule for the Cavalcade of Lights Festival close to our 'hood:

Bloor West Village
N-W corner of Bloor St. West and Jane
First Lighting: Thursday, November 12, 6 pm
LED Lighting Exchange: 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Bloorcourt Village
S-W corner of Bloor St. West and Concord
First Lighting: Saturday December 5th
LED Lighting Exchange: 1 – 3 pm

Bloordale Village
Bloor St. West (from Dufferin to Landsdowne)
Light, Art & Food (LAF)
Saturday, Nov. 21, 4 – 8 pm

Nathan Phillips Square:
November 28 – December 31, 2009.

The festivities kick-off on Saturday, November 28 at 7:00pm with the lighting of Toronto’s official Christmas tree, fireworks and live musical performances by Steven Page, Matt Dusk, Keshia Chante, and Fritz Helder & the Phantoms, under the music direction of Adrian Eccleston. The concert culminates in a spectacular fireworks display at 8:00 p.m., followed by a skating party on the iconic rink with tunes provided by DJ Tony Sutherland. A Fair Trade Market featuring crafts, clothing, accessories and Christmas decorations from around the world will also be open on November 28 from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Holiday Train

The Holiday Train is coming once again to the Junction!!!! On Tuesday, December the 1st from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm you and your family can enjoy live entertainment and a visit from the brightly decorated holiday Train in the Stockyards. The train will pull into the yard beside Rona on Ethel Avenue. Santa will even make an appearance. Bring some non-perishable food for the food bank. Hope you can make it out!!!

Railpath Slate of Neighbourhood Names Ideas

A complete list of neighbourhood name suggestions has been chalked on the West Toronto Railpath. The list of name ideas stretches from Dupont to Bloor and includes all 185 suggested names to date. It is a chance for the neighbourhood to see how we might "wear" a name. Perhaps you'll see something you like or maybe it will spark an idea. If you have a comment or suggestion, we would like to hear from you at www.fuzzyboundaries.ca

High Park Events in October

Don't forget Fall events closer to home:

Walking Tour - Tramping on the Trails
Date: Sunday, October 11, 2009
Start Time: 10:30 am End Time: 12:00 pm
Location: Benches across from Grenadier Cafe and Teahouse

Haunted High Park
Various dates, please visit http://www.highpark.org/ for more details.
Location: Colborne Lodge
Description: Visit Colborne Lodge and its grounds at night and hear ghostly tales and legends that have been told about the Lodge and High Park. Period refreshments included.
Pre-registration and pre-payment required. $10 + GST for adults, $5 + GST for children.

NOTE: Not recommended for children under 8 years of age.

Walking Tour - Autumn Splendor Photo-Buff Walk
Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009
Start Time: 10:30 am End Time: 12:00 pm

Location: Benches across from Grenadier Cafe and Teahouse

Fall Colours

With the long Thanksgiving weekend almost here, many people are making plans to travel for at least part of the weekend. For anyone thinking of making a trip north to see the autumn colours, you might be interested in this web site that details the Ontario Fall Colour Progression http://www.400eleven.com/colour-progressing-report.html

Local Author Event

The Perth Dupont branch of the Toronto Public Library is having an event with local author Kristen Den Hartog on Tuesday, October 27 at 7 p.m. Kristin will be discussing her first book Water Wings. The library has copies of the book available at the desk.

Over the summer I read her most recent book called The Occupied Garden which was an amazing recounting of her Dutch family's experience living through the war in The Netherlands.