Vallhalla Newsletter August 2015

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We had a warm hot humid August. Summer has been too short for me.

The background picture this month is looking south from the storm water managment system in Atkinson Park.

A number of Town Staff and Town Councillors have been on vacation in August. Some for a second time. So I am still waiting for some responses.

When I was working in the corporate world, I was happy to receive three weeks vacation a year. Vacation time could not be accumulated. I guess times have changed.

This is interesting: The Personnel Cost for Town Staff in 2011 was $17,988,554.00 in 2015 it is now $21,629,776.00 This total does NOT include fire services. I wonder how many new staff were hired between these years to have a 20.24% increase? If this percentage increase is just wages ... where do I sign up? LOL

BREAKING & ENTERING: On August 29th a breaking and entering was reported to YRP on Valhalla Court.

I know there was some items stolen from the inside of a car on Hollinghead a few weeks back but I don't see that posted on the Crime Reports List.

If you see anything suspicious, vandalism, ... please report it to the police at (905) 830.0303.

Boulevard Trees:

A number of trees within Valhalla have been marked as infested with the Emerald Ash Borer. GREEN DOT A number of trees have been injected with the serum to kill the borer. The problem is, the tree can look perfect this year but it could be infested. It takes two to three years for the tree to die off. You may have noticed other trees throughout our area that have are marked with a red “R”. These trees will be cut down and replaced. You can find them in our parks and boulevards. Why are they are dying? 1. The California Pines within our area have a fungus disease 2. Some trees have been damaged from past storms. 3. Other trees have been damaged by road work; example the trees on Spruce. So sad to see this happening, The cost both financially and astatically is enormous. It will be decades before we see our streets look close to the same.

The slideshow above was taken at Wilson Park. We seem to forget how close the train really is. It was reported to staff that the locked chain gate has so much give in it that there is now a path from this point down to the end. People are using this area as a short cut to Industrial Parkway, to get closer to the train, or to party at night. That is fine ... but my concern was for a parent who is sitting on one of the park benches and their child goes through the gate. The parent may have a difficult time getting the child back out since a large adult would need to climb the fence.

The above slideshow shows the progress of "The Joint Operation Centre" construction. It seems to be moving along.

In the background you can see the water tower by highway 404. The canopy has been constructed and is currently sitting at the bottom of the tower. I'm presuming they will paint it before it is hoisted up to the top of the tower. From speaking to the region, our town council needs to vote on what side our Town Logo will go on. I gave the region my thoughts.

Water Pooling at Spruce St. & Keystone Crt

On August 27th staff called stating they will have this part of the road repaired in October

The slideshow below will display before and after pictures of work completed by the town, region, and contractors over the last month within our area.

Fire hydrants

I spoke our Director regarding the Fire Hydrants. If I heard correctly he contacted fire serves to find out what colour the fire hydrants should be painted and they said to paint them all red. When I brought up the North American Standard regarding flow rates & identification .... it sounded to me that our fire services and town staff are not concerned with this and it will NOT be implemented. If I heard correctly the flow rates are the same throughout our town. I certainly hope that is true. The Director stated he will talk to staff when they get back from vacation but now the Director is on vacation ... so I cannot give you any answers at this time. I did inform the Director that there are streets within Valhalla where the contractor has not painted the hydrants and suggested the final cheque to the contractor not be signed. I also suggested he may want to look at the quality of the work. It seems strange that fire hydrants on some streets within our area have been painted but others have not. I asked if the contract goes by street name or area block. From my notes I wrote block.

After this discussion, I e-mailed staff the National Fire Protection Association colour code system and links to other municipalities / regions within Ontario who have adopted this system and why. I have not heard back. At the present time, I don't think a visiting fireman from another municipality would know the flow rate of our fire hydrant he was connecting to in Aurora. The colour coding system would resolve this.

Graffiti / Tagging

Requested an update from our Town Bylaw Department regarding the Graffiti / Tagging we reported in Valhalla and the Nokia (Tim Jones) Trail. Another DVD was created and presented to the Bylaw office:

Good morning Eric,

The Parks Department is aware of the graffiti in their Parks and Trails and our IES Department for the graffiti on the areas they deal with. If there are any further graffiti in the Parks and Trails you can contact them directly.

The graffiti has been removed from the mailbox in the area of 86 Old Yonge Street and the fence across from 21 Old Yonge Street. Bell and Canada Post have been notified to remove the graffiti from their locations.

Good afternoon Eric,

The graffiti has been removed from the Canada Post Boxes on Closs Square.

An e-mail was sent back to staff late afternoon with a picture showing that the mailboxes on the walkway between Closs Square and Moorcrest have had not been done. The mailboxes at Old Yonge and Closs Square have been cleaned.

In my opinion, our area looks so much better without trash flying around and graffiti. I just dread garbage day in our area on a windy day. We are all picking up neighbours garbage for days after.

Coupons Available

I have the following coupons available that expire December 31st, 2015. It may save you some funds if you are enteraining people from out of town.

Just e-mail me if you want any of them.

2 for 1 Tour of the historic Elgin and winter Garden Theater Centre with the purchase of a second admission.

$15.00 off Family Pass to the Art Gallery of Ontario

25% off adult admission & 10% off children 12 and under Medieval Times Dinnter and Tournament

$4.00 off all day ride pass Fantasy Fair

2 for 1 Hockey Hall of Fame

$20.00 off One Year Family Membership of the Royal Ontario Museum

30% off regular rates at the Royal Ontario Museum

Discount available for advanced online ticket purchases only.

$5.00 off family admission to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

Speed Cushion Pilot Project for Old Yonge

I asked staff for an update regarding the Speed Cushion Pilot Project including the road count results for Old Yonge that our Town hired a contractor to conduct.

On August 24th I was sent the following answers to my questions:

QUESTION: What were the traffic volumes for Old Yonge?

ANSWER: The average daily traffic was 2,651 vehicals per day.

QUESTION: What streets have been selected for the piolt project?

ANSWER: Mavrinac, Conover, Kennedy West, McMaster, and Stone Road

Question: Where did Old Yonge rank from all the streets tested?

ANSWER: Sixth

QUESTION: If the residents from one of the five locations do not what to participate in the pilot will the next one down be selected?

ANSWER: Yes, if there is strong opposition

The following message was sent to Councillor Abel:

Hello Councillor Abel:

Hope you are well and enjoying this great weather.

I was informed by staff that Old Yonge came in SIXTH place for the traffic pilot with 2,651 vehicles per day. As per your motion, the first five streets are selected. Is it possible to revise the pilot to six instead of five since Old Yonge residents have done everything that was requested of them over the years, including a custom survey as directed by town staff where all but one resident objected? I think subscribers are just going to throw their hands once I inform them within our neighbourhood newsletter.

I don’t think it makes a difference at this point, especially if the other five are thousands more, but the region did have Old Yonge blocked off at St. John’s Sideroad for one day during the contractors counter study. Another thing that puzzled me was where the counter was located. (Almost directly across from 100 Old Yonge) I’m just thinking of the GO TRAIN commuters and residents that live in the town homes and all the streets north of Hollingshead going south bound where the counter would not be registered. The same is for all those commuters going NORTH bound that do not go past Hollingshead. I’m sure there is a reason, but I cannot truly understand this. In my opinion the best way to do a traffic STUDY for Old Yonge would be to have a counter were it was installed but also one at the entrance of St. John’s Sideroad / Old Yonge and another at Batson / Old Yonge. It would be interesting to see the results.

I received the following message from Councillor Abel within 12 minutes.

I'll check into it, and get back to you.

Thanks for the heads up.

I did inquire last week, so it's good some info is being communicated.

Regards

John Abel

Joint Operations Center

View the Slideshow Below

The plan is to add a monthly picture to the slideshow from Wilson Park so you can see the progress of this 24 million dollar project.

Community Mailboxes Correction: Last month I stated the footings had been set for the new mailboxes located across from Wilson Park, at Attridge Drive & Moorcrest. According to our new mailman there was a cable pulled under the ground. As you may know, or previous mailman has taken a new position inside the post office. With our previous mailman you would know the approximate time your mail would arrive. This would make it easier to have any correspondence ready to mail. With our new mailman I cannot figure out the schedule. Sometimes delivery is in the morning, other days it is late afternoon.

Atkinson Park - fresh wood chips have been placed as requested.

The charts / graphs for

Aurora Homes Sales Statisitcs

have been updated.

Click the home below to open a new window.

To view ALL the homes currently for sale within Valhalla click here.

This link will only be available for a few weeks.

September 2015 Town Events

Monday September 7th Labour Day

Ribfest Fri. Sept. 11th, Sat. Sept. 12th, & Sun. Sept. 13th

First day of Fall Wednesday Sept. 23rd

Collection Schedule:

Thursday Sept. 4th Garbage, Green Bin, and Recycling

Thursday Sept. 10th Yard Waste, Green Bin, and Recycling

Thursday Sept. 17th Garbage, Green Bin, and Recycling

Thursday Sept. 24th Yard Waste, Green Bin, and Recycling

Volunteering

How many hours have you volunteered this month? Try something you may enjoy doing.

Until next month, keep safe, keep laughing, stay healthy, and say hello to everyone you meet. Do what you can to help those around you. There is always someone worse off than you. How fortunate most of us are.

Cheers, Eric

Web site: www.McCartney.me

E-mail: eric@mccartney.me

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