Shelley Carroll

Since 2007, when the Canada Food Inspection Agency confirmed the presence of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in Ward 33 (specifically, in the Sheppard Avenue East and Highway 404 area) my staff and I have provided you with information about EAB.  For those of you who don’t know, EAB is an introduced insect pest from Asia that attacks and kills all species of ash trees.  There is information about EAB sprinkled around other parts of this website and you may have seen articles about it in some of my previous newsletters.

In early 2009, 11 trees in our ward had to be removed as a result of EAB; 1 in Muirhead Park, 4 in Old Sheppard Park, 3 in Clydesdale Park and 3 on the boulevard of Victoria Park, just south of Old Sheppard Avenue.  EAB spreads very quickly, which is one of the reasons that it is difficult to contain.

Currently, an EAB survey is being conducted in Ward 33 by Urban Forestry staff, with the intent of mapping the spread of this insect and to study the effectiveness of different survey methodologies.  Many of you have likely seen green sticky traps hanging high in some of our ash trees.  The traps are designed to catch adult beetles that are just about to emerge from infested ash trees; they do not pose a risk to human or environmental health.  At this point, the vast majority of traps have caught adult beetles and EAB has been established throughout Ward 33 and in other surrounding wards. 

The information that is being collected through this survey is important to help staff understand the extent of this issue and how to formulate the best response.  If you see any of these green traps on the ground, please call our office or 311 to report it so that staff can ensure that they get put back in the trees in a timely manner.

If you are interested in finding out more information about EAB, please visit the City of Toronto website at http://www.toronto.ca/trees/eab.htm.

33 Division is proud to announce the new Toronto Police Service TPSLinks Automated Notification System to increase communication between the police, residents and business owners within Toronto.  TPSLinks utilizes advanced technology that allows the Toronto Police Service to send informative messages to notify community members about safety concerns, emergencies, missing persons, amber alerts and such occurrences as road closures and community events.  TPSLinks will also provide helpful instructions to assist during an emergency or major incident.  For more information and to register for TPSLinks notifications, Toronto residents and business owners are asked to visit the Toronto Police website at www.torontopolice.on.ca  and click on the TPSLinks icon (located on the right-hand side of the page).  In order to receive TPSLinks System Notifications from 33 Division, please indicate “33 Division” when you register.

For further information contact:

PC Kelly Downie (5535), 33 Division

Crime Prevention Officer

Written for the Bayview Post – Aug 09              

 With Stimulus Funds delivered, massive city building projects are getting underway with great fanfare. Funding and private retail partners in place, the Union Station overhaul finally has the go ahead. For car drivers, a whole new route out of the downtown business district opens up shortly as the extension of Simcoe Street to Lakeshore Blvd will be unveiled. And you can bet all three orders of government will be fighting for the shovel, and the credit, as the Sheppard LRT line begins construction.

 A project equally as massive began this past winter without much fanfare but just as important as any transportation expansion. The first of thirty projects to improve North York’s storm water management began in Don Valley East in a ravine near Sheppard Ave East and Leslie Street. Nearing completion as the summer closes, the project replaced a washed out storm water culvert, and the water infrastructure leading to the culvert.  The old culvert and sewer pipes were designed for the 2 to 5 year storms of the past, the new culvert is over a meter and a half wide and both sewer pipes and culvert are now designed to deal with 100 year storms such as the one North Yorkers experienced in 2005.

 At one time or another, we’ve all endured the slight inconvenience of contractors taking over our streets to flush water mains or reline our sewers. 2009 however will go down in history for the residents surrounding the culvert project at Sheppard and Leslie as ‘The Summer to Forget’ largely due to the invasive nature of the project. A forensic review of the project, from start to finish, is now required in my view.

These projects, known as the Basement Flooding Mitigation Program, are on a scale usually reserved for highways, waterways and industrial areas. When contractors arrive to install water infrastructure large enough to deal with a 100 year storm, they bring enough trucks and equipment to choke a section of the 401, let alone a sleepy little street in a North York subdivision. But that is exactly the type of street where all 30 of these projects will happen, because that is where the storm water problems are. In the case of the first project, there has been damage, disruption, and yes, additional flooding throughout the course of the construction.

 The greatly improved culvert is now fully installed. It absorbed all of the extreme rains of August 8th and 9th, quite a test. However, the City of Toronto owes it to all of the residents waiting for Basement Flooding Mitigation projects to conduct a thorough review of the first job done. I will be requesting this review at the first Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting in September.  Future contracts must include far more safeguards and far greater sensitivity to the families and children who must live their lives along side these massive water infrastructure projects.