Old Business Day at Council

I drove Sheppard Avenue from Victoria Park to Yonge St at 8:15 this morning.Ironically, the most efficient intersection was Leslie/Sheppard which has begun its massive reconstruction project. The police officer hand-directing traffic was doing a bang-up job. I was thinking he should be posted there permanently!

On June 14th, Council will reconvene to deal with unfinished business from last week. Of chief concern to our ward is the No Fault Grant Progam for the August 19th flood. We can't send out our notice of terms until Council finalizes them. The item has been held for 2 months by another councillor. Once the terms are approved. I will be mailing out a notice to all 700 homes in the Ward who had incidents.

Community Bulletin - Toronto Police Services, 33 Division

Annual Open House


You are invited to 33 Division's Annual Open House and Child Safety Day. Come and join us on Saturday June 17th between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm at 33 Division, 50 Upjohn Road Toronto.

Free admission, hot dogs and drinks are included. Participate in Gun Play No Way(trade in toy guns for a loot bag),bike rodeo, face painting, clowns, balloons, Elmer the Safety Elephant, child fingerprinting, Police displays, tours of the station, police vehicles and many other activities .

Come and see special demonstrations by the Toronto Police Mounted Unit and the Winged Wheels Precision Motorcycle Team. Participate in a special tribute to "Brigadier" and the officers of the Toronto Police Service Mounted Unit.

See you all there!

Tent Caterpillars

Our office has received calls from a few residents who are having problems with tent caterpillars. Please find below a briefing from our Forestry staff on these pests. Hope it helps.


Toronto is dealing with an overwhelming number of calls in the last two weeks, due to the widespread infestation of Eastern Tent Caterpillar (ETC).

The ETC is a concern to the public because the tents are ugly. This pest is not a serious threat to the health of trees. It primarily infests certain varieties of crabapples, and this year especially, Shubert choke cherries.

To deal with this pest most effectively and at the same time limit public concerns, we suggest the following steps:

a) Refer to the ETC fact sheet on the website www.toronto.ca/trees. There is information on the pest and useful recommendations for the control.

b) Explain that this pest only feeds on the leaves of fruit trees and will not spread to other tree species. Explain that ETC is a cosmetic problem and a nuisance and in most cases will not kill the tree. Crabapples usually flush second set of leaves later when ETC completes the feeding.

c) There are some useful things that the homeowner can do to control this pest as well.

Prune or cut away the small branches with the tents. This should be done during the daytime, when most of the caterpillars are in the tent. The cut should be clean, taking care not to tear the bark. The tents can be mechanically destroyed by stepping on them, or put in the paper bag and disposed or composted.

If the tents are attached to thick branches, they can be destroyed by squeezing them with a rug ball tied on a stick or with a hard brush. Also they can be washed off by a jet spray of water using a gardenhose.

Destroy ETC wherever you find them, squishing them rather than using pesticides.

Thank you.

The Forest Health Care section.

Don Valley Parkway closed this weekend.

Don Valley Parkway closed this weekend for spring maintenance

The Transportation Services Division will be performing a number of maintenance activities on the Don Valley Parkway this weekend. In order to undertake this work safely, a full closure of the Don Valley Parkway will be required.

The Don Valley Parkway will be closed in both directions from Highway 401 to the Gardiner Expressway from Saturday, May 13 at 2 a.m. to Monday, May 15 at 5 a.m.

Specific activities that will be undertaken during the closure include:
• road resurfacing in various locations
• demolition work at the Leaside Bridge
• TTC track beam replacement at the Bloor Viaduct
• spring catchbasin cleaning (required to ensure proper drainage)
• pavement markings and sign maintenance
• guiderail and asphalt repair
• grass-cutting and garbage pick-up
• Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera maintenance
• RESCU sensor installation at various locations on the Don Valley Parkway
• expressway sweeping operations.

“The work that we are doing this weekend on the Don Valley Parkway is important maintenance work to keep the roadway in a state of good repair,” said Gary Welsh, General Manager, Transportation Services, City of Toronto. “The amount and detailed nature of this maintenance work meant that a series of overnight closures was not a good option. Therefore, after careful consideration, the only feasible option was a weekend closure.”

During the closure, motorists can use Victoria Park Avenue and Don Mills Road as alternate routes. Whenever possible, the public is encouraged to consider using public transit as a convenient alternative.

You Can Help the Mapstone Family

We've received the following message from the Parent Council at Kingslake Public School. They are grieving the violent death of Kingslake parent, Dale Mapstone, and anxious to help her surviving children. May I say that this is a wonderful little school in the heart of your Ward 33 and it is so indicative of their spirit and compassion to reach out to all of us on behalf of these two children who need our help.

Parent Council Chair, Trudelle writes:

As you may have seen on the news lately, Dale Mapstone, the mother of two young boys was laid to rest today. In conjunction with the School we have established a trust fund for her two children.

Donations to this fund can be made at any TD Canada Trust Branch. The account # for your donation is 6388798 at branch 0087. The funds raised will go to the children to assist in their educational needs. Could you kindly spread the word in your next newsletter, on your blog, and to all community groups and networks.

(Please pass this info along as far as you can. If you have any further questions, give us a call at the office @ 416-392-4038 and we will forward them on to Kingslake P.S. Thanks, Shelley Carroll)