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Events Calendar
Mike Barrett/Metroland
York Regional Police Sgt. Aaron Sidenberg calls in another sighting as media joined police in action as they nabbed distracted drivers while peering out the windows of public transit buses. Police also unveiled signs, to be featured on select buses in York Region, meant to remind drivers they are being watched.
Police on a bus: ’Put down that phone’ KIM ZARZOUR kzarzour@yrmg.com Ever feel like you’re being watched? You should, because you are.
York Regional Police wants you to know that officers have their eyes on you when you’re on the road - and even when you think you can’t be seen, they see. That little trick you do, when
you tap at your cellphone between your knees, below the steering wheel? They’re onto you. Hiding the phone under your thigh?
They’re onto that, too, and you can thank public transit buses, towering above your car in the next lane, for revealing your secret. l See YORK, page 9
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NEWS
Rental market is ’dog eats dog,’ car accident victim finds LISA QUEEN lqueen@yrmg.com Car accident victim Michael Graziano has learned the hard way how the soaring real estate market is hurting tenants. As he limps with a cane past packed boxes to join his wife Terri at the dining room table of their rented Aurora home, Graziano said it’s not only prospective homebuyers being squeezed by skyrocketing prices. Following a two-month search after learning they had to find a new place to live, the couple have finally found a rental unit, although they are less than thrilled with the state of it. They are moving into the three-bedroom upper level of a house at $1,550 a month this month even though they had paid rent until the end of April at their current home. Graziano, the drummer with the locally renowned Sean Bourke Band, was seriously injured in February 2013 when his van was hit head-on by another vehicle on Hwy. 9 near Schomberg. After being rescued with the
Steve Somerville/Metroland
Accident victim Michael Graziano and his wife, Terri, pack up their belongings as they prepare to move. Jaws of Life, the then-Newmarket resident was transported to hospital in Orangeville before being airlifted to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto in critical condition. Now 61, Graziano suffered numerous injuries, including a broken hip, shattered elbow, broken legs and ankle, dislocated shoulder and separated knee cap. Graziano, who continues to
play in a pub band a couple of times a month, still faces multiple surgeries. "It took my whole life away from me," said the Canada Post letter carrier, who hasn’t returned to work. He receives monthly federal government disability benefits of $1,174 while 56-year-old Terri, a social service worker who has
chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, also receives a monthly federal government disability cheque for $570. They have also received a lump sum disability payment last May from Graziano’s work benefits, although the monthly payments were terminated in September 2015, as well as an advance from his lawyer in anticipation of a lawsuit. Although they are able to pay their current rent of $1,510 plus utilities, choosy landlords in this market would rather rent to an employed tenant with a paycheque, the Grazianos said. "(The search) was horrible since the beginning of February because it didn’t matter how much money we had in the bank, people couldn’t trust that we were able to pay the rent," Terri said. "They saw (the disability benefits) as too much of a risk. About 15 times, we were turned down, sometimes before we even got to the place, because we shared what our situation was. You can’t go in there lying. Nowadays, they want a credit check, they want to see your bank statements, they want pay stubs, they want references."
The couple offered one landlord three months’ rent in addition to first and last months’ rent but were still turned down, in one case to tenants who paid a year’s rent in advance. "That’s how bad it is," Graziano said, adding they searched for an apartment in Aurora, Newmarket, Keswick and Bradford before finding one in Aurora. "It’s really dog eat dog." There was no point in looking in the south part of the region because rents are too expensive, he said. Lee Webb, a lawyer specializing in housing issues at the Richmond Hill-based Community Legal Clinic of York Region, which provides legal information and advice on rental housing and other issues, said the housing crunch is difficult not only on low-income earners but middle-income residents as well. "There is a rental housing crisis in York Region and this is driven both by a lack of tenancies or lack of rental apartments and also by the high cost of housing," he said. l See RENTAL, page 9
EDUCATION
Pickering College student debates for Canada TERESA LATCHFORD tlatchford@yrmg.com Pickering College’s Sterling Mancuso represented Canada at the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship. This month, the Grade 12 student took on 121 of the world’s best high school debaters in Sydney, Australia. He placed 41st overall but was 12th in the debating category and qualified for the final rounds. He qualified for the national team last fall after
achieving a second-place finish in the extemporaneous and parliamentary debate categories at the Independent Schools’ Public Speaking Competition in Vancouver. He earned the eighth highest score out of 158 national and international debaters. "It is obviously a tremendous honour to be representing Canada at a world event such as this one. That being said, I feel less pressure knowing that there are 14 other strong Canadian competitors here
demonstrating the best our country has to offer," Mancuso said. "I’ve seen some of them perform and I can say that Canada’s reputation is in good hands here." Mancuso got his first taste of debating through his Grade 8 English class. His first two debate topics were the legalization of marijuana and the abolition of the Canadian Senate. He continues to debate because he wants to improve. "I tend to get nervous right before I get called up-
on for an event; however, once I begin speaking, the nerves tend to dissipate," he said. "If it is a prepared category, I fall into something of a holding pattern. For the impromptu events, my mind is too busy trying to think of something to say to be busied by worries." The World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship is an annual English language debating and public speaking tournament for high l See STUDENT, page 2
Submitted photo
Pickering College’s Sterling Mancuso, Grade 12, holds a Canadian flag in Austrailia.