Beach Citizen of the Year nominees sought
Volume 50 No. 6
BEACHMETRO.COM
May 18, 2021
NOMINATIONS ARE now being sought for the 2021 Beach Citizen of the Year award. The award honours someone who has shown a long-standing commitment to improving the community. Nominations can be made for anyone who has worked hard to improve life for others in the Beach community; had an impact on a broad spectrum of community members; or made a tangible contribution over a
long period of time and inspired others to participate more in community life. The prestigious award dates back to 2001 when it was founded by Community Centre 55, the Beaches Lions Club and Beach Metro News. Past winners have included Gene Domagala, Thomas Neal, Paul Babich, Carole Stimmell, Sheila Blinoff, and Vicky Tsorlinis in 2019. A winner was not selected in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Two fox kits found dead near Boardwalk den THE TORONTO Wildlife Centre (TWC) says two fox kits were found dead near their den under the Boardwalk in the Beach on Saturday, May 15. In a Twitter post, the TWC said: “2 fox kits were sadly found dead early this morning in an area close to the Beaches fox den. There’s currently no evidence to suggest this past week’s acts of vandalism were directly linked to the death of the kits. Once we have more information, we will tweet an update.” The act of vandalism referred to in the post relates to incidents from late last week in which the surveillance camera placed in a tree near the fox den was taken down, and the home of local TWC volunteer was vandalized. Police are investigating those incidents and anyone with information is asked to contact 55 Division at 416-808-5500. The TWC said the two dead fox kits were found on the morning of May 15. The cause of death is not known. This is the second year in a row that a fox kit has killed near the Boardwalk den. On the weekend of May 16, 2020, a kit was found dead near the den. At that time, TWC said the kits wounds were consistent with a “large predator attack” and they said it was more likely to have been from a large dog than from a coyote or coywolf. Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford has stressed the need for people to stay away from the foxes this year and to keep their dogs on a leash. “It is very sad news to hear of
the two kits dying near the Boardwalk Saturday morning,” he said in statement issued on the weekend. “The city has taken extensive measures to keep the den safe, working with Toronto Wildlife Centre and the community to ensure we have significant fencing and other barriers to protect the family. It’s important to remember these are wild animals and need to be treated and respected as such. In the fall, the city will be taking additional steps to close up this area so the foxes might find a home in a quieter, less prominent area.” When it was first noticed that the fox family was back in the den under the Boardwalk for this year, officials pleaded with people to leave them alone. Unfortunately those requests were ignored as photographers and other routinely gathered at the site of the den while other people were feeding the animals. That was also the case last year in what had originally started as a feel-good story at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also ended with bad behaviour including threats of violence against TWC volunteers. “The foxes at the beach have a special part in this pandemic story,” said Bradford. “As we’ve followed their journey over these two summers we’ve been reminded of important steps we all need to take when caring for our natural environment including keeping our pets on leash, not feeding wild animals and keeping distance so wildlife don’t get desensitized to human contact.”
The nomination form is available online at www.centre55. com/community_programs/ citizen-of-the-year. Those wishing to make a nomination can also contact Jade Maitland at Community Centre 55 by email at jade@centre55.com for info. Nomination deadline is Aug. 20 by 5 p.m. The winner will be announced in Beach Metro News, and honoured with a ceremony at the Millennium Garden in the fall of this year.
Woman seriously injured in Beach crash
PHOTO: ALAN SHACKLETON
Lucas Walker gives the thumbs up to his rock snake on Kew Beach this past weekend.
Rock snake on Kew Beach growing in popularity A ROCK snake along Kew Beach is growing in popularity, literally. The rock snake was the idea of seven-year-old resident Lucas Walker, who started making it parallel to the Boardwalk near the plaque for the Leuty Lifeguard Station earlier this month. Since then it has started to increase in length with others contributing their own painted rocks
to the snake. The goal is to see it stretch for a mile of painted rocks. As of this past weekend, it was at more than 500 feet long. Lucas said he’s pleased with the response to his rock snake. “It makes me feel happy and that was the main goal, to make people feel happy.” For more info, go to his Instagram at @lucas.explores.
INVESTIGATORS WITH Toronto police Traffic Services are asking for witnesses to Wednesday night’s crash on Queen Street East in the Beach involving a blue Lamborghini, a street car, and two parked vehicles to come forward. A 29-year-old woman passenger in the Lamborghini suffered lifethreatening injuries in the crash which took place just before 9 p.m. on May 12. According to a police press release issued on May 13, a 42-yearold man was operating a blue Lamborghini convertible eastbound on Queen Street East toward Maclean Avenue in the curb lane. At the same time, police said a TTC streetcar was travelling eastbound on Queen Street East in the left passing lane. Police said the driver of the Lamborghini accelerated in the curb lane in an attempt to pass the streetcar and “in doing so sideswiped the streetcar and then struck two parked cars on the south side of Queen Street East, west of Maclean Avenue.” The driver sustained non-life threatening injuries, police said. Officers with the Traffic Services unit are investigating, and are asking local residents, businesses and drivers, who may have security or dash camera footage of the area or incident, to contact them. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-8081900, or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477 or online at www.222tips.com
Appeal board hearing on Gerrard Street East plan slated By Alan Shackleton
A BID to sever a single-family home lot on Gerrard Street East is heading to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal next month. If approved, the house at 2165 Gerrard St. E., between Main Street and Norwood Road, will be demolished and replaced by a pair of four-plexes and two laneway houses for a total of 10 residential units. The developer, P & R Developments says the proposal meets the
City of Toronto’s need for “missing middle” housing. Opponents, however, say the severance of the lot and the loss of the house will set a precedent for future developments and change the character of the neighbourhood. Missing middle is a term used by municipalities and developers to describe housing that is generally medium density and medium affordability. Examples include duplexes, laneway housing, low-rise walk-up apartments, and more. The city is currently pushing for an
increase in missing middle housing. Development proposals for 2165 Gerrard St. E. have been in the works for more than a year, and have been met with resistance by many neighbourhood residents. The current proposal is going to the LPAT on appeal by P & R Developments after the severance request was refused by Toronto’s Committee of Adjustment (CoA) in December of 2020. The LPAT hearing is expected to take place in June.
The CoA denied the severance request for a number of reasons including “the suitability of the land for the purpose for which it is to be subdivided has not been demonstrated to be in the interest of public good” and “the adequacy of roads, vehicular access, parking and loading facilities has not been adequately demonstrated.” In a statement sent to Beach Metro News last week, P & R Developments said the proposed development will be a benefit to the community while providing much-
needed housing options. “P & R Developments is a missing-middle developer. We believe in building projects that maximize the amount of livable space while maintaining the look and feel of the neighbourhood,” said Rolf Paloheimo, president of P & R. “The community benefits when it is open to more people. Toronto is in the midst of a housing shortage, and it is exacerbated by a lack of options between expensive singlefamily housing and highrise condoContinued on Page 3