Toronto Mayor Rob Ford offers sweeping apology

Mayor Rob Ford rolled out of rehab and back into City Hall Monday promising he’s cleaned up his act and will fight to win this fall’s municipal election.

An apologetic Ford — back from a two-month leave of absence — appeared on the verge of tears at times as he read a 17-minute statement in which he admitted his addiction to drugs.

“My commitment to living clean is now unwavering,” Ford told around 20 members of the media at an invite-only press conference in the mayor’s office. “To the people of this great city, I want to offer a public apology. I used poor judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions.

“When I look back at some of the things I have said and some of the things I did when I was using, I am ashamed, embarrassed and humiliated. I was wrong and I have no one but no one to blame but myself,” he added.

Despite spending almost eight weeks in several hundred hours of “intensive therapy” at the GreeneStone Muskoka rehab, Ford quickly reignited the circus-like atmosphere at City Hall. He dodged questions from reporters throughout the day and surrounded himself with a protective ring of City Hall security guards.

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The embattled mayor took a temporary leave on April 30 and fled the city the next day to seek help for a “problem with alcohol.”

That sudden exit came just as news broke about a second video which appeared to show Ford smoking crack cocaine. The Toronto Sun also obtained an audio recording of him making several obscene and racist comments in an Etobicoke bar.

“I decided that enough was enough. I had become my own worst enemy,” Ford said about his decision to enter rehab. “I knew it was time to take action. It was time to get help, professional help.”

Ford said he believes GreeneStone “saved my life.”

“I now realize that I was blind to the dangers of some of the company I kept. And those associations have ended,” he said.

“I can proudly say today that I have begun the process of taking control of my life.”

Although Ford has spent more than a year repeatedly denying he suffered from addiction, the civic leader admitted on Monday that he had a problem with drugs and alcohol.

“I was in complete denial,” Ford said. “I had convinced myself that I did not have a problem.

“It soon became obvious that my alcohol and drug use was having a serious impact on my family, on my health, and on my job as mayor.”

The end of Ford’s speech quickly veered into a list of his administration’s accomplishments over the last three years.

“There’s still much more to accomplish,” Ford said. “I plan to continue fighting for the taxpayers of Toronto.”

Councillor Joe Mihevc suggested Toronto residents are “past their Rob Ford addiction” and doubted people will believe Ford’s speech.

“My sense is his redemption song was written by his political strategist rather than by his personal counsellor who is working on his addiction issues,” Mihevc said. “This is about really getting the mayor back into the swing of the election.

“This is not about addiction, this is about leadership for this city and whether you would want a man with that weak a skill-set to be leading this city and embarrassing us all over again for another four years.”
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Liberal Adam Vaughan wins in Trinity-Spadina

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have grabbed a key Toronto riding from the New Democrats with candidate Adam Vaughan’s decisive win in the Trinity-Spadina byelection.

NDP candidate Joe Cressy was unable to keep orange a riding that former NDP MP Olivia Chow won easily in the 2011 general election.

Conservative candidate Benjamin Sharma was a distant third place, just ahead of Green Party candidate Camille Labchuk.

Vaughan, who resigned his seat on Toronto Council in May shortly after gaining the Liberal nomination in Trinity-Spadina, was ahead all night with more than 50% of the popular vote at deadline.

The Liberal win echoed the results of the general provincial election on June 12 that saw an Ontario NDP incumbent lose to a Liberal competitor, and raises questions about the NDP’s continuing relevance with downtown Torontonians as provincial and federal Liberal Leaders appear to move to the left on the political spectrum.

Over the years, Trinity-Spadina has switched back and forth between the Liberals and the NDP.

Olivia Chow had held the riding since 2006, taking it from the Liberals, but resigned in March to run for the Toronto mayor’s job.

Chow had won the riding with more than double the votes of her nearest competitor, Liberal candidate Christine Innes, in the 2011 general election, capturing almost 55% of the 65,611 ballots cast.

Voter turnout on Monday appeared to be low as predicted.

Byelection day may have come on a quiet Monday squeezed between the weekend and a statutory summer holiday but there was nothing sleepy about a campaign that pitted human rights activist Cressy against high profile former Toronto Councillor Vaughan.

The Liberal campaign got off to a sloppy start when Trudeau blocked Innes’ candidacy and she slapped him with a defamation suit.

The campaign was marred with vandalism of approximately $6,000 worth of Cressy election signs, including one on the candidate’s own front yard.

The pair clashed over the Line 9 pipeline through Toronto with Cressy accusing Vaughan of misleading voters by suggesting Trudeau was opposed to it.

Vaughan emphasized his local roots as a journalist, and the child of one of the city’s leading activist families.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne attended a rally in support of Vaughan Saturday, while NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair was in town to back Cressy.
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2014 CHIN Picnic crowns its bikini winners in Toronto

TORONTO - Pegah Donna remembers attending the annual CHIN Picnic as a teen with her family after they moved to Canada from Iran.

Her favourite part was the Miss CHIN bikini pageant, the picnic’s trademark event.

And now, at the not-so-tender age of 39, Donna took to the stage Saturday afternoon as one of 22 female pageant contestants for this year’s CHIN Picnic, a multicultural outdoor festival now in its 48th year.

“My family, when we came to Canada we always used to go to CHIN, and when they started doing the bikini pageants, I was always the person sitting in the audience and I was cheering everybody on and I thought, you know what, why not be a good example for women, especially from where I come from,” said Donna, who comes from a family of moderate Muslims.

When asked why it took her until now to slip into a bikini and flaunt her bod in front of a large, CHIN Picnic crowd, the self-employed event planner said she wanted to wait until her parents and siblings were comfortable enough with the idea.

“I wanted to be sure that my family was OK with it first, and they really were, I just didn’t have the courage to ask ... My family, they are very open minded and they gave me their blessing.”

This year’s picnic is being held at Exhibition Place and featured a Mr. CHIN competition, as well.

Lenny Lombardi took over running the CHIN Picnic — the Toronto Sun is one of the sponsors of the annual Canada event — after his father, broadcaster and CHIN creator Johnny Lombardi, died in 2002.

“The picnic, when it was first initiated back in 1966 ... it was a celebration of (my dad) getting his first license as a multicultural broadcaster,” said Lombardi. “Over the years, CHIN radio has evolved in serving so many more cultural groups ... We’ve evolved in serving the needs of newly emerging communities.”

Lombardi went on to say that the memory of his father lives on through the picnic.

“My dad had a tremendous passion for this picnic because it really was a reflection of his dream,” said Lombardi.

The CHIN Picnic continues Sunday at Bandshell Park and Exhibition Place on Sunday and again on Tuesday, Canada Day. from noon to 11 p.m. Admission is free.

Events and schedules can be found at scotiabankchinpicnic.com
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Newborn's remains found in North York park

TORONTO - The “lower half” of a newborn was found in a storm drain in a North York park Monday, according to Toronto Police.

Det. Nick Nei, of 31 Division, said the remains found at Heathrow Park, in the Jane St.-Wilson Ave. area, seem to be that of an infant less than a month old.

City workers dispatched to clean the drain made the grisly discovery just after 9 a.m. Ontario’s coroner had completed an on-scene investigation by late Monday afternoon.

“What I’m hearing is that it is half of a child ... the lower half,” said Const. Victor Kwong, adding that homicide investigators are monitoring the situation closely.

Nei told media gathered at the scene that investigators have little to go on so far and will be looking to the public for help.

“Look around to your friends and neighbours, people you may know, people you may have come across (who) may have been pregnant or had a child and you don’t see that child or you haven’t seen that child yet,” said Nei, adding that the dead baby’s mother may “need some help.”

He urged anyone with information to contact officers at 31 Division.

Nei said the search area will include a creek that runs from Exbury Rd. to Wilson Ave. and all the sewer pipes that feed into the park drain where the child’s remains were found.

Nei acknowledged that the remains could have washed into the park’s drain from another location. He also said the drain was last cleaned two weeks ago, and that it is possible the body part could have been there since then.

Nei could not confirm the gender, ethnicity, or exact age of the child, explaining there was dirt and debris covering the infant’s remains.

These details, he said, will be determined through ongoing forensic investigation.

Kwong said that by late afternoon, York Region Police had lent a hand by bringing in dogs to find a “scent trail to see where it originated.”

According to the City of Toronto, Heathrow Park is a 2.2-hectare park that features two playgrounds, a splash pad, a walking path, and “open green space.”
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Toronto's first 'official' street map

TORONTO - With more than 5,600 km of roads that make up the thousands of different streets scattered throughout our city that covers more than 630 sq-km (much greater if we’re going somewhere in the Greater Toronto Area) getting from here to there can be a monumental task.

In the old days a paper map supplied by the gasoline companies (another thing they don’t provide like clean windshields) would do the trick. Today we have on-line Google maps or even better GPS systems some with add-ons that let people avoid construction or accident locations.

How much easier it was when James Grant Chewett, one of the city’s most prolific citizens (architect, surveyor, contractor and financier) presented Torontonians, of which there were 9,254 (give or take a few) with the community’s first “official” street map.

Some of its features remain obvious. Things like the Don River, the site of Fort York (then known as the Garrison), Toronto Island (although in this map it’s a peninsula connected at the east end with the mainland) and many of the streets that make up the simple, but usually traffic-choked crisscrossing layout in the downtown core (Hospital is now Richmond, Newgate now Adelaide, Peter, John, Duke, Duchess, Princes now Princess, etc., etc.). An easy name to define as to its origin is Front ‘cause that’s just what it was back then, the front street of the town.

Running from west to east (or east to west if you were arriving by stage coach from Kingston) and in places skirting the north side of the marshes (Ashbridges) is what was originally known as Lot St. for the numerous lots or parcels of land fronting on this thoroughfare and running north exactly 1¼ miles (100 of the 66 foot-long surveyor’s chains or 6,600 feet) or one concession to the Second Concession Road, an east-west thoroughfare we now know as Bloor St. although its namesake, a pioneer brewer and land speculator spelled his surname Bloore. Lot is now Queen for the then young Queen Victoria. The other Yonge honours Sir George Yonge, Secretary of War in the Cabinet of King (King St.) George III.

Interestingly, the 1¼ mile x 1¼ mile grid pattern just mentioned is reflected in the layout of today’s major east-west and north-south city streets (Bloor, St. Clair, Eglinton, Lawrence, York Mills-Wilson, Sheppard, Finch and Steeles and Yonge west to Bathurst, Dufferin etc., and Yonge east to Bayview, Leslie, Woodbine, etc.) all 1¼ miles apart.

There’s much more to Toronto’s early maps. Check out Nathan Ng’s fascinating website oldtorontomaps.blogspot.ca where I have no doubt you’ll be educated and entertained for hours.
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Street light art installation nightmare, Weston residents say

TORONTO - Some Weston residents are in the dark over the purpose of a new city art installation.

And a few will be blinded by the lights as the 30 street lights art structure will be shining in their bedroom windows.

The light display — called Nyctophelia, meaning love of darkness — cost $250,000 and was funded through Section 37 of Toronto’s Planning Act, where developers give a percentage of money from their developments for art projects.

The lights are located on Dennis Ave. — a one-way, eastbound residential street — that meets Weston Rd. south of Eglinton.

The permanent installation, which is expected to be completed this summer, isn’t very visible from Weston until one is right on top of it.

Councillor Frances Nunziata says the community was consulted and approved the art and location in 2009.

“It lights up Weston Rd. It was dark and nothing was happening in that section. The area has been an eye-sore and people complained how ugly it was with weeds and trees,” Nunziata said.

“This will be an incentive to redevelop the strip.”

Sarah Todd lives across the street from the new light show and is in no hurry for it to shine.

“They say it is art … I just don’t get it. It is going to be a waste of hydro,” Todd said.

Area resident Daleon Phillip says the installation doesn’t represent art.

“There are too many lights. It’s just confusion. What were they thinking?” Phillip said. “People are going to have to put foil on their windows to sleep.”

Another Weston resident, Anna Fisico, says there are other locations where the lights would be more suitable.

“It could be put on Black Creek (Dr.) or it could have been put on the part of Eglinton (Ave.) that they are rebuilding and it would have been beautiful,” Fisico said.

“It should be on a main intersection.”
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Toronto cop James Forcillo committed to stand trial in TTC shooting

TORONTO - At Old City Hall comes the only decision that could satisfy this city.

Following a preliminary hearing, a judge has committed Const. James Forcillo to stand trial for second-degree murder in the troubling shooting of teen Sammy Yatim last July on an empty Dundas St. streetcar.

The flurry of bullets that struck the knife-wielding 18-year-old still echo to this day.

Bang after bang after bang after bang after bang after bang after bang after bang after bang. Nine shots fired at a skinny kid standing at the streetcar doors with a puny blade that glinted in the headlights of a cavalry of police cars that had arrived on the scene.

His death didn’t make sense. Not then, and not a year later. But our myriad of questions stand a better chance of being answered now with a trial slated to go ahead sometime in 2015.

The officer’s prelim was originally scheduled to continue until Friday, but Justice Richard LeDressay — an Oakville-area judge purposely brought in from outside Toronto to ensure there was no question of bias — had obviously heard enough and ruled Tuesday that there is enough evidence to send Forcillo to trial.

What that evidence is remains sealed under a publication ban. And yet we have seen so much of it already thanks to the horrifying citizen cellphone videos that captured the shooting in the early hours of last July 27.



The streetcar, its passengers having fled minutes earlier, stands stopped near Trinity Bellwoods Park. “Drop the knife, drop the knife,” the officers can be heard demanding as some stand with guns drawn and pointed at the lone man inside.

Yatim can be seen through the streetcar window in a baseball cap, black T-shirt and white pants. Police sirens fill the background. Then just forty-one seconds into the video posted on YouTube, the bullets fly. Three shots at first. A six second pause and then six more shots follow.

The sheer volume of bullets is impossible to comprehend. As is what happens next. Even as the young man lay crumpled on the floor of the streetcar, with little doubt that he must have died in such a hail of bullets, the sound of a Taser can be heard as well.

The shocking video has been seen almost one million times.

And there are still others. In CCTV footage posted online from a nearby convenience store, the teen is seen pacing back and forth inside the streetcar before he stops at the door. As the police shout at Yatim to drop the knife, he responds: “You’re a f---ing p----, you’re a f---ing p----.”

Seconds later, he is dead.

And in yet another disturbing YouTube video, Yatim’s legs can be seen twitching as his prone body is hit by bullet after bullet.

The most staunch police defender could not be anything but troubled by what is depicted on these tapes — there was no apparent effort by the police at de-escalation, no calm effort to talk him down or to attempt any other approach to avert the senseless tragedy that unfolded. Was the Taser on the way? Why didn’t police wait for the sergeant who could operate the stun gun when there didn’t appear to be any immediate threat of danger?

Instead, it looked like an execution.

But these viral videos are not the whole story, of course. There were eyewitnesses on the streetcar who will detail what led up to this deadly encounter. There is critical footage from inside the TTC car itself that we have not seen. There is testimony from Forcillo himself and his fellow officers.

When the preliminary hearing first began in April, Forcillo’s lawyer, Peter Brauti, warned that there is much more to what happened that summer night than we know. He predicted that the “frightening” evidence will eventually change many minds.

Perhaps — but now that will be for a jury of his peers to decide. And for the health of this city, that is a good thing.

Because nothing short of an exhaustive trial on these second-degree murder charges will satisfy a public still sickened and outraged by what happened to a kid on an empty streetcar, surrounded by police, almost one year ago.
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Toronto's building on up

TORONTO - Toronto looks like a city of cranes from 42 storeys above on University Ave.

The south-facing view from the penthouse condo at University and Dundas St. W. shows panoramic vistas of the skyline stretching to the lake.

And speckled around these landmarks are a few dozen construction cranes — the indication the city is growing and continues to build.

“It is Toronto’s new normal,” said Bryan Tuckey, CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD). “When you see what’s happening in the City of Toronto, it’s not a condominium bubble — it’s a very significant, public policy-driven shift to higher density.”

There are 154 building cranes in the air right now in Toronto. That translates to 46,362 units being developed, mainly in highrises, and 89% of those units are sold, according to BILD.

Toronto may be destined to be a land of glass towers, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t willing to throw stones at them.

Condo development has become a contentious issue in recent years between those who say they are creating adequate housing for the future and those who believe too many projects at once is oversaturation.

BILD claims the number of developments is slated to grow steadily in the next 10 years, and future construction follows the requirements for Ontario’s Places to Grow Act, the provincial plan for growth and densification in existing communities.

In the last five years, about 60% of new homes sold have been highrises. New home construction in 2013 created more than 207,400 jobs in the GTA and the City of Toronto generated $11.1 billion in new home construction.

For builders, it’s the challenge of providing housing for 100,000 people coming to the region each year from immigration, migration from other parts of Canada, and people starting families.

According to the builders association, the development industry must build between 35,000 to 40,000 new homes each year to keep up with demand.

“When you look at what Toronto is going to be in 20 or 30 years, Toronto will be the third-largest metropolitan area in North America, with only Los Angeles and New York being larger,” Tuckey said.

But analyst Don Campbell, of the Real Estate Investment Network, warned condo developers and the province to closely monitor the city’s long-term demand for the next decade.

“The trend that we see is the size of the units get smaller, therefore trying to keep the market in an ‘affordable level.’ Our studies are really focused on who’s next rather than who’s now,” Campbell said.

“Developers are developing what is required right now — in essence, a condo factory. The demand right here right now is size for sheer affordability. Take that out 10 years from now, you’re going to see a lot of one-bedroom ghettos. That may be a harsh term, but it’s painting a picture,” he said.

“All these one-bedroom units that we have now are going to become quite useless to Generation Y (families) 10 years from now (who need more space).”

While buying a condo unit is still approximately $230,000 cheaper than purchasing a single-family house, prices are rising.

Condo prices have increased by 6.4% from last year in the GTA and even higher in Toronto at 7.6%, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).

Compare that with detached homes price increases of 8.3% in the GTA and 9.2% in Toronto.

“The condo market has been quite resilient,” said Jason Mercer, TREB senior manager of market analysis.

“We saw record occupancies last year of new condominium apartments, and over the last few years, we saw a lot of construction and a lot of completion that has led to a lot of supply in the marketplace for condos. Yet, we’ve seen enough demand relative to that supply to continue to see upward pressure on pricing,” Mercer said.

But as more condo towers pop up, so do concerns of residents who are impacted by what they call overdevelopment.

The Toronto Entertainment District Residents Association (TEDRA) notes a large number of condos are slated for their community. The group’s concern is that when they attend meetings and ask for a vision from condo developers, they don’t receive a satisfactory answer.

“As you see already, we have an enormous amount of traffic congestion and when we go to these development meetings, we always ask about infrastructure and we never get an answer. But they keep approving them,” TEDRA executive director Mike Yen said. “If we don’t have an answer, why do they keep approving them?”

“It’s an area where condo developers advertise to come here because it’s eclectic, fun, vibrant — but if they’re tearing all that down, what do we have left? One of our main fights is saving restaurant row (on King St. W.). We’re losing heritage buildings and businesses that are vibrant and successful,” Yen said.

“No one wants to live in a forest of condos with no green space and nothing to do.”

BILD contends the public and the industry need to clearly identify where they want shovels in the ground “so it fits in the community in a sensitive way.”

Builders recognize that areas close to transit are attractive, such as North York Centre, along the waterfront, Liberty Village, downtown and Etobicoke. BILD also examines other cities, such as Calgary and Copenhagen, Denmark, as examples of how they can build more effectively.

Tuckey said he believes there should be a mix of housing options and that the condo market is self-regulating. If units are not sold, they’re not built.

“I think we still should be able to have housing choice for the different phases of people’s lifestyles,” he said. “At this juncture, there just isn’t enough supply of ground-related to meet that market, so people are forced up longer they’d like, out — and we see people moving farther from the city to find places to live, or they move back in with their parents.”

Ute Lehrer, a York University environmental studies associate professor who has studied condo development in the GTA for 15 years, said there needs to be an overall vision for the city when it comes to condo planning.

“It’s not the question of numbers, it’s the question of quality,” she said. “We talk too much about overbuilding in Toronto, but we don’t talk about the form of the building. It’s lacking interest from the builders’ side to build for the long-run. They are thought through for 20 or 30 years, but 10 years in they already start to leak. They need to think about quality over a cheap deal.”

BILD maintains building up is simply an inevitable — and a sustainable and beneficial part of Toronto’s future.

“The residents of Ontario and the GTA spoke very clearly 10 years ago that they wanted to stop the outward expansion — what they perceived as sprawl — of the region,” Tuckey said.

“Change is difficult for all involved. This is a significant change that public policy has decided to implement in Ontario. (Builders) are on the front lines implementing this change.”
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Toronto's TTC streetcars — then and now

TORONTO - Several weeks ago the suits at the TTC invited a bunch of us media (not medium) types to go for a ride on their new Bombardier modified Flexity model streetcar.

While most of the ladies and gentlemen on board the new car raved about any number of things, because of my interest in history I couldn’t help but wonder whether the newspaper and broadcasting people (television didn’t come to our city for another 14 years) of 1938, the year the Presidents’ Conference Committee “Streamliner” (PCC) was introduced to Torontonians, recorded a similar “Wow”, “Holy Cow” and “What a vehicle!!”?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any specific comments about the new vehicle in any of the Toronto papers. And who knows what the on-air people might have said.

The closest I could come to statements praising the “state of the art” PCC were contained in an ad placed by the TTC. It trumpeted the numerous improvements the new cars had over the existing Peter Witt and “ancient” wooden vehicles in the fleet.

Everything from “a swift, smooth, noiseless ride, “steps inside the front door spaced for safety and just the right height”, “form-fitting seats”, and “airy in the summer, electrically heated and ventilated in the winter.” The PCC is “designed to give you the best transportation service money can buy.”

And speaking of money, the initial PCC order was for 140 vehicles at a cost of $3 million or $21,500 per car. And the new Bombardier vehicle? Two hundred and four vehicles will cost $1.2 billion or nearly $6 million per vehicle. Impossible to compare costs but just for fun, a bottle of Coca Cola in 1938 was a nickel; a copy of the Telegram newspaper 3 cents.
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York police crack down on street racing

There’s no outrunning a police helicopter, says York Regional Police Const. Ivan Roach.

The air support officer spoke out on Friday as the force launched its annual crackdown on street-racing and stunt-driving.

The campaign — dubbed Project ERASE (Eliminate Racing Activity on Streets Everywhere) — will see York police target illegal street racers.

The effort will include a police helicopter, acting as eyes in the sky for officers on the ground.

While in the air sitting by a helicopter pilot, Roach looks for illegal activity such as racers setting up — and relays it to officers on the ground.

He can usually spot racers setting up from “kilometres away.” Cameras on the helicopter help provide video evidence later of their activities.

“I don’t know why you would bother,” Roach said.

“We can come up and sneak up on people. They’re not going to see us coming and I can see them way off in the distance,” he said.

Since beginning work as an officer in 1999, Roach has witnessed his fair share of deadly collisions.

“I’ve seen some horrendous crashes and some of them have been the result of street-racing,” he said. “I’ve seen bystanders get hit by a street-racer. I’ve seen innocent bystander cars cut in half. I’ve watched young men die as a result of street-racing.”

So far this year, the OPP has laid almost 400 charges related to street-racing, said Insp. Mark Pritchard.

“Those are 400 charges that are far too many,” he said. “It’s totally preventable, people are driving in this manner for their own entertainment and not only risking their lives but your lives and the lives of our families.”

In the past two years, almost 150 people have lost their lives on OPP-patrolled highways in “either aggressive or speed-related” collisions, Pritchard added.
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