Did you have a fun time at the Summer Event in the Park?

Close to 800 residents of Ward 5 and from the surrounding area had a great time eating corn on the cob, ice cream and watermelon at York Hill District Park on August 12. Our only question was whether the multitudes of people came to see their ward Councillor or Elvis!!

It was great to see so many people out to our event and to enjoy a wonderful summer evening in the park. Most of all I enjoyed meeting and talking to residents. See you all next year!!

A Busy September - Don't miss out !

The residents of Ward 5 have a busy late summer and fall coming up with a range of different events taking place over the next month.

Garbage Double-up Week

Blue Zone - Week of Sept 2

Yellow Zone - Week of Sept 9

It's time to clean out all of your excess summer accumulation of non-recyclable junk. This is the third double-up week organized under the Greening Vaughan program. Double-up week allows residents to place up to six items of garbage for pick up.

If you are not sure about when your garbage pickup will take place, go to www.greeningvaughan.ca and simply enter your address to find out.

TERRY FOX RUN Sunday September 14th  9 a.m. - 12 p.m.        Thornlea Secondary

Come join me for Thornhill's Terry Fox event. For the last couple of years since the Thornhill run started up, I have biked the course laid out through the streets in the area. It would be just great to have more Vaughan residents join me on September 14th! Not only to do you get an opportunity to raise money to support cancer research, you will have a wonderful time taking part in all the accompanying activities including live music, face-painting, clowns, jumping castle, obstacle courses, refreshments, hamburgers and hot dogs and a great silent auction. See you on September 14th at Thornlea Secondary School - 8075 Bayview Avenue ( located at the corner of Bayview and Willowbrook) 

Environment - Greening Vaughan Day                     Sunday September 21st, 2008 - 10:00 - 3:00                   Garnet Williams Community Centre

Each year we have attempted to expand the number of items available at the annual Environment/Greening Vaughan Day program held in each ward. This year, at the Ward 5 event being held at Garnet Williams Community Centre, we will have green bins and blue boxes available for sale as well as free mulch for your garden. Remember that mulch helps to retain moisture in the soil resulting in less need to water your plants during the hot days of summer.

Thornhil Village Festival                                     September 20, 2008 - 9:00 - 4:30.

Don't miss Thornhill's wonderful fall festival taking place in the old Thornhill Village area in both Vaughan and Markham. Be there for the parade at 11 a.m. and then enjoy the afternoon with great food and a huge assortment of activities, from crafts available for sale, to art galleries - both historical homes, the McDonald House and the Armstrong House will be open. Drop by to see, for the first time, a City of Vaughan booth. And of course don't forget to drop in and say hello as our booth will be set up in its usual place, near the entrance to the festival at Centre and Yonge.

Gallanough Resource Centre Family Fun Event September 21, 2008 -  2:00 - 4:00

Every year our local community resource centre, The Gallanough, holds a family day event at their location at the south end of Brooke Street. This year it will feature the live music of Doug Barr. Doug will highlight songs from his four albums. These original songs and Doug's performance is carefully crafted to offer young audiences as much musical, stylistic variation and physical participation as possible.

Yonge Street Study Public Meeting 

September 16, 2008,  7:00 p.m. - Rosemount Community Centre 1000 New Westminster Drive (Northwest corner of New Westminster and Bathurst)

The second public meeting to provide an opportunity for interested residents to have input into the ongoing study of Yonge Street from Steeles to Highway 407 will take place at the Rosemount Community Centre at Bathurst and New Westminster. This study will provide a blueprint for the future development for the Vaughan part of Canada's main street. The importance of the study is even more significant with the impending subway development that may be announced in the very near future. In order to be prepared for the new pressures for development that will only increase over the next few months and years, the City is conducting this major study that will result in a plan to chart the future development of Yonge Street. 

Thornhill Green is Open

The first new "park" in Ward 5 in at least the last ten years or so opened to great fanfare on August 17. The Green is situated on North Park Road, just east of Disera Drive, in the Thornhill Town Centre area which features the new commercial centre and the Liberty Condominium buildings. For the residents who have lived in the area for a couple of years already, the opening of the park was a most welcomed event.

Over 500 residents of the area appeared for the festivities which included free food and ice cream, face painting and buskers wandering amongst the crowd. The Mayor and members of Council cut the official ribbon and for the first time unveiled the plaques revealing the name of the park.

The park features a children's playground, benches for residents to sit and an extensive walkway system that makes its way through the rehabilitated woodlot at the east side of the park. The woodlot contains a variety of trees including 100+ year old maples.

Thornhill Green is unique in a number of ways. First of all its name was chosen based upon local residents indicating their preference in an internet poll. Secondly, the local developer, Liberty Development Corporation donated $350,000 to assist in the design and construction of the park. Finally, partially because of the generous donation by Liberty, the City built its first urban park at this location. Rather than attempt to do what the City normally does in building a park, at this location we attempted to build a public space that would be more reflective of the needs of a high density population living in the condominiums and town houses that dominate the area.  

The Fall Agenda

In future editions of W5 I will be elaborating on my agenda for the Fall. I will also make every effort to keep you up to date with events around city hall including what steps will be taken following the Council decision to hire a special prosecutor to review the election expenses audit of Mayor Linda Jackson and the charges that may be forthcoming under the Municipal Act.

In this edition, I would like to describe my first initiative of the fall dealing with single use plastic water bottles.

The first item that I intend to bring to Council's first Committee of the Whole meeting on September 3 will deal with single use plastic water bottles. While you may have heard recently about the City of London prohibiting them, I have been doing research over the summer on what the City of Vaughan might do.

This interest comes from three sources. First, as some of you may know, one of the ways that I keep an eye on Ward 5 is to either run or walk through our streets - just look for a grey haired guy huffing and puffing away at around 7:30 in the morning!! One of the things that I have always noticed is the amount of litter scattered around. But more important I have seen the dramatic increase in the number of plastic bottles dumped on our streets. A few weeks back I decided to do a count during my approximately five kilometre run. In that short distance I spotted at least 31 abandoned plastic water bottles!

The second source of inspiration are the words of our Commissioner of Engineering, Bill Robinson. Bill is one of the major proponents of the quality of tap water available to the residents of Vaughan. As a result of his initiative, the City has recently replaced all of the drinking fountains in our fitness centres with new taps that allow easy fill-up of reusable bottles.

The final source of inspiration comes from all of the recent articles and reports that report that York Region water is just about the best water available anywhere. Why on earth would anyone want to buy an inferior product when we already pay for and have access to great water.

The recommendation going to Council will be to ban all single use plastic water bottles at all meetings and events sponsored by the City. While perhaps more of a symbolic gesture, the idea is to make the point that we should be drinking our own water as well as being stewards for the environment. As City officials, we should lead issues wherever we can.

I can be reached at 905-832-8585 ext 8349 or by email at alan.shefman@vaughan.ca

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