LITERARY BLIND DATE
WHAT’S ON
SURPRISE YOURSELF WITH LIBRARY’S MYSTERY BOOK PROGRAM PAGE A4
HAVE COFFEE WITH BUSINESS LEADER PAGE B1
T Banner Aurora
We make it easy.
he
goldbook.ca
Publicationmail agreement #40051189
$1 STORE SALES / 24 PAGES
■
■
Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014
yorkregion.com
905-853-8888
your local ONLINE business directory
Seniors fear loss of on-site care Alternative Community Living being replaced BY SEAN PEARCE
spearce@yrmg.com
There’s a palpable sense of dread in Carol McMurray’s fourth-floor unit at the Keswick Gardens Seniors Apartment building in Georgina. That’s because, on April 1, Keswick Gardens and six other senior citizens residences around York, four of which are run by the region, will closing their on-site Alternative Community Living offices and replace personal support workers with staff from Community & Home Assistance To Seniors (CHATS) and Care First. Alternative Community Living provides assistance to seniors, including housekeeping, medication organization and cooking. Instead of an on-premise office, service will be provided through a hub-and-spoke model and a mix of scheduled and unscheduled visits where care is up to 15 minutes away. Aside from Keswick Gardens, the buildings to be impacted include Hadley Grange in Aurora, Cedar Crest Manor in Markham, Heritage East and Armitage Gardens in Newmarket, Genesis Place in Richmond Hill and Kitchen-Breedon Manor in Schomberg. Ms McMurray and her mom, Mary Baker, have been living at Keswick Gardens for nine years and 15 years, respectively. Ms McMurray helps her 95-year-old mother as much as she can, but, at 71 herself, she knows she’s not getting any younger and appreciates the peace of mind of knowing her mother will STAFF PHOTO/SUSIE KOCKERSCHEIDT
See WORKERS, page A5.
Jenny Flynn consoles Keswick Gardens resident Heather Osborne about changes to the Alternative Community Living program.
Collision numbers pile up at busy intersections
Woman searches for cause of mysterious odour
Do you know where you’re most likely to be in crash? JEREMY GRIMALDI
jgrimaldi@yrmg.com
Smell seeps into Wellington, Bayview area
There are countless measures municipalities can put in place to make our roads safer, from speed limits to red-light cameras. Regardless of these changes, though, car crashes, along with the resulting death and injury, will likely remain as long as there’s human error, York Regional Police said. Last weekend, after towns and What do you cities were pelted think are York with snow, York Region drivers Region’s worst suffered through intersections? more than 100 Email editor Ted collisions, GTA McFadden at motorists saw tmcfadden@yrmg. more than 600 and Ontario drivcom ers witnessed more than 1,600. Numbers such as these may leave you wondering where in the region you are most likely to be involved in a car crash. A top 10 collision rate and frequency list is kept by the region to better understand the movement of traffic and whether sites can be made safer for motorists. The numbers and locations may
BY BREA BARTHOLET
In trying to identify a mysterious odour seeping through her neighbourhood, Natalia Boudinov has hit a bit of a roadblock. The smell, described as “organic and country-like” by Mrs. Boudinov, has been exceptionally potent at times around the area of Wellington Street and Bayview Avenue, but the source has yet to be identified. After noticing a slight smell two years ago, Mrs. Boudinov never thought much of it until recent months, when the odour began to get stronger and more frequent. It was the strongest Jan. 16 when she went for a walk, the seven-year Aurora resident said. To express concerns She noticed it along Halldorson Avenue and had to turn around about the smell, call the and leave because it was almost York Region health unit nauseating. at 905-895-4511. To gain more information about the odour’s cause, Mrs. Boudinov expressed her concerns to the town. In an email to a staff member, the mother of two mentioned she noticed other residents in the area were covering their noses to avoid the smell Jan. 16. “I just want something written down on paper that the odour isn’t toxic for us to be breathing, but even if it isn’t toxic, we shouldn’t be exposed to this smell,” she said. Mayor Geoff Dawe reached out to MPP Frank Klees and the Environment Ministry regarding the issue, Aurora
WEIGH IN
CONCERNED?
COURTESY OF YORK REGIONAL POLICE
See DRIVER, page A5.
This map shows the location of fatal vehicle collisions in York Region last year.
There is a
See TREE, page A5.
safe alternative to Liposuction
UltraShape v3
35
% OFF OFF
During the month of FEBRUARY
Call today to book your consultation!
905-853-3200 • www.yorkvein.com Dr. Philip Kritzinger MD • 647 Davis Drive • Newmarket
C
M
Y