Vallhalla Newsletter June 2015

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Can you believe summer is here already? Where does the time go? We've already had so much rain in June, it maybe a record. No point in activating the underground sprinkler system this year.

To the left is a slideshow of summer flowers. Mine are the yellow ones growing on the lawn and then go to seed. LOL I don't want to put any weed killer on the lawn because my dog "Bro", who is not even a year old, eats grass, branches, ... anything for that matter when we are outside. My backyard is starting to be overtaken by Creeping Charley. It is so difficult to get rid of because of the travelling root systems under the ground. A Robin has decided to nest on the bend of my eavestrough in the back. What a mess ... Before I had a chance to take it down, the eggs were already in the nest.

Our Newsletter is getting way too long. SORRY ... Unfotunately some items will have to wait until next month such as my requested opinion on the Highland Gate Development Proposal. I did attend the second public meeting. I will state now that Geranium developed "Friday Harbour" in Innsifil. They fought for EIGHT YEARS with many groups. It went back and forth to the OMB. It passed.

One of our neighbours said to me a few weeks ago; "Aurora has so many Ants, I think it was built on an Anthill." I have to agree. They are everywhere this year.

Walkway (Old Yonge to Yonge St. beside McAlpine)

As you may have noticed, the walkway from Old Yonge to Yonge Street was blocked off this month. Do you recall from our Newsletter a few months back regarding my concerns with this walkway? When it rains, the water flows into the cracks and disappears ... A few weeks ago after the rain, I noticed a hole forming beside the walkway about halfway down on the McAlpine side. First I thought it maybe a groundhog hole but looked more closely and noticed that it maybe the start of a sink hole. I kept an eye on it over the next few weeks. The hole grew larger and deeper. I thought I better report this since the probability is high that the dirt under the cement sidewalk and the cement curb holding up the fence may fall through.

REFER TO THE SLIDESHOW ON THE RIGHT.

So the following e-mail was sent to staff on Sunday June 12th:

Hello ______

Just thought I should bring this to our Town’s attention. Attached is a picture of a sink hole that was small a few weeks ago and has now opened up and is about two feet down. I don’t know how wide it is and if it is underneath the walkway but the probability is high that it is. I presume it will only get worse overtime.

The sink hole is located on the walkway between Old Yonge and Yonge Street beside McAlpine. The hole is on the property McAlpine is leasing

Cheers,

Eric

On Monday I had to go to my office to deliver papers and noticed that the walkway was being inspected by our town staff. When I came back home, the walkway was blocked off.

I never heard back from staff and was wondering if that was the reason or was there another reason why the walkway was blocked off. So I sent another e-mail. The following message was received June 16th:

Eric,

This sink hole has undermined a good section of material under this walkway, we made the decision to close the walkway to protect the public. Weather permitting our contractor will be onsite tomorrow to repair this issue.

Regards,

I reminded staff that water is disappearing within the large cracks of other sections of the walkway caused by frost heaving and poor design. In my opinion, there could be other areas of this walkway that also have soil erosion beneath them. Unless the cracks on the walkway are filled and/or repaired water will continue to wash away soil.

As you probably noticed, the sink hole problem ended up becoming a big problem. There was an army of people and equipment working on this section for three / four days. The barricade was moved to the side around 9am Monday June 22nd. The sidewalk closure had caused a major inconvenience to our neighbourhood for those that use the walkway daily; although, the barricade did not deter some. A few residents took the risk by walking over or removing part of the barracked to find when they walked half way down they could not pass.

On the morning of Tuesday June 23rd, after the storm from the previous evening, I noticed the gravel fill / cement the contractor put within the hole by the fenced either settled or washed away. SEE PICTURE in slideshow. The SINK HOLE had formed again. What can I say? This walkway was built back in the late 80's. As far a I know, we never had a problem like this before.

Reported this to staff again along with the sand that washed onto the streets within Valhalla from the storm. I also asked if the Town contractor gauranteed his work. The following was staff reply: Good morning Eric;

We have our street sweeper out this morning cleaning up various areas in Town from the storm last night, we will add your area to the list.

And we will also follow up with the walkway issue.

Thank you

Sent the following e-mail back to staff:

Thanks ___, the sand / dirt is soaked and there are now multiple cars and trucks on the street. I would suggest having the sweeper come by after a few dry days. I have removed the debris from most of the drains at then end of Hollingshead so the water would go down early this morning.

I apologize to all for the inconvenience, but I am sure you will agree for the safety of everyone, the walkway needed to be closed until it was repaired.

Please refer to the SLIDESHOW regarding the walkway on the right.

Graffiti / Tagging

Over the last month, new Graffiti has been posted in our neighbourhood. I had reported this to staff who stated the following; I ‘ll inform Bylaw about the tagging, they will want some photo’s so they can follow up with police as YRP tracks this type of behaviour. Then we will remove. The Graffiti / Tagging has also occured on the Nokia "Tim Jones" Trail just north of St. John's. A web page was created with the slideshow below and forwarded to BYLAW. Some of the Tagging is one to two years old. Others are new over the last few weeks.

Update regarding "An idea!" from last month. Naming of connection Walkways

THE IDEA: Aurora has numerous walkways that connect developments, parks, streets, … some are very long. In order for residents to easily describe the location of the walkway, since these walkways do NOT have a specific municipal address, … would it be an idea to give these walkways a name? The town could sell naming rights to raise funds for other projects, keep a reserve fund to specifically maintain these walkways (fencing, lighting, cement, damage,,) funds needed to increase service levels, … provide liquid equity for unforeseen problems, or for smaller items that could not be passed in the budget?

Example: Highland Chev Buick and/or the owner of all the car dealership buildings may want to purchase the naming rights for the walkway from Old Yonge to Yonge and call it Highland Stroll … The name would make it much easier to report problems to our Town staff, emergency services, direct residents, …

Our Town could also honour a long time staff member who has gone above and beyond … or a memoriam option for staff who have passed while in employment with the Town.

Recevied the following e-mail from Councillor Kim on June 11th

Hi Eric

A few weeks ago, you forwarded everyone an email with a suggestion of selling the rights to naming pathways to generate revenue for various town causes.

I thought that was a terrific idea. Are you ok if I run with this and put in a motion?

Regards

Harold

The following message was sent to Councillor Kim

Hi Councillor Kim (Harold)

Absolutely ... I would be honoured ... ... I don't know if you can give your colleagues a heads up, just in case they maybe doing the same. FYI: none of them have contacted me to say they would be creating a motion on this idea. Is it possible for more then one councillor to be on a motion? FYI: If you read the Valhalla Newsletter, http://valhallanewsletter.com/valhallanewsletter/VAL2015MAY/

you will know what councillors responded who also felt as you do.

To be on the safe side, you may also want to discuss this with staff before creating a motion. There maybe some detail(s) from law(registry), parks, infrastructure, bylaw, zoning, ... that we do not have insight too.

Purchasing naming rights for these walkways is one nice advantage but the BIG advantage to all residents and maybe even emergency services is to know what location we are all talking about when we currently say, "You know, the walkway over there .." A name would make things so much easier for reporting problems and direction.

As an aside: Please don't forget the staff recognition portion for long time employees who have gone above and beyond in their job for our town. Hopefully it will never happen, but if an employee passes unexpectedly that IS CURRENTLY WORKING for the town, this maybe another way for staff / our town to honour that employee with a memoriam. (Have the family / staff who worked with the employee select the walkway that best suites that employee.) For other staff, it would ONLY be if there is no staff recognition program currently in place. At one time, I was told there was none. All the players have changed since I had made that suggestion sometime ago so if it was me, I would suggest to both Human Resources and the (new) CEO sit down and make a draft program for items to recognize staff that have gone above and beyond in their duties. When completed, present to the directors / managers then present to council for approval. I had suggested a number of things in the past that I had personally done for my staff corporately over the years, that had cost hardly nothing but meant so much to them. .....

Cheers,

Eric

Received the following message from Councillor Kim on June 26th

Hi Eric,

The motion was passed with little effort. ................... everyone was happy with the motion. I mentioned that this was not my idea but that of an active and caring resident.

Here is a link to the motion: UnNamed Walkways

Rainstorms

The slideshow below will display pictures of the storm and how the water traveled down the sidewalk because one of the culverts is plugged. This was reported to staff before the storms. Street sweepers had been requested for our area. On Wednesday June 25th, the street sweepers cleaned the Valhalla area. There was so much sand and dirt still on the road that another e-mail was sent to staff to have the street sweepers come back over the next month.

Old Yonge Speed Cushion Update

During this month, noticed the counter on Old Yonge in front of 100 Old Yonge. Sent the following e-mail to staff:

Hello Mr. ___________

Noticed there was a road counter installed on Old Yonge about ½ way up in front of 100 Old Yonge Street.

Was that put in by our Town?

Do you have any updates that I can add to our Neighbourhood Newsletter?

Cheers,

Eric

Staff Reply:

Hi Mr. McCartney,

Yes, the counts were conducted by the Town in response to Council motion for pilot project for installing speed cushions at five location in the Town. So, we conducted traffic counts for 20 locations in the Town and the worst five will be getting the speed cushions.

Hope this helps,

Thank you

Hmm, I thought we already had Old Yonge counted a number of times. When the counter was placed, I think one day the road was cut off for Regional work. Wonder why it needed to be counted again ... You know me for questions. Anyways, I sent staff the following e-mail.

Are the counters placed in the middle section of each road counted?

There did not seem to be much traffic on Old Yonge for some reason during that week. Not sure if it was blocked off for some reason.

Is Old Yonge one of the five?

Staff Reply:

I have not received the results for the counts from the contractor.

Say what? Our town has even contracted out the road counters! I presume that is why one of my questions was not answered. In my opinion a counter should be placed at both ends of Old Yonge plus one in the middle. Why, some times people take Batson to Moorcrest to Attridge then go down Raiford or Twelve Oaks to go onto Old Yonge to St. John's.

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.

So ... when all this was happening, I noticed something strange on the floor of my garage. My garage was now starting to sink. Refer to pictures below.

GARAGE FLOOR CONTINUED ... What is going on? It must be the Ants like my neighbour was talking about! LOL After speaking to some specialists in the field, my floor cannot be lifted because the concrete is broken into small sections. So I will need to take this section out and pour it again. My home was first occupied in 1987 and it took this length of time for this to happen. From what I have been told, the wire mesh that was put down holding the cement together rusted and fell apart weakening the cement where a cavity existed. In all probability the cavity formed because water was allowed to drain between the inside of the floor to the foundation. I cannot stress enough the imortance of ensuring the water from your gutters is flowing away from your foundation.

Working with a number of builders over the years, they all have devised their own method of constucting homes. To reduce building overheads such as time, material, and labour thus giving the builder a greater profit margin, they sometimes (often) go with a lower grade product and/or remove items the customer will never see. When things get too busy, they will outsource to a contractor. That contractor outsources again ... the result is often a lower quality of workmanship performed. The builders I have worked for fill the garage area with infill soil and gravel then flood the garage. They then lay REPAR down over the garage floor area then pour the cement. The REPAR strengthens the floor and helps prevent it from cracking. The builder of my home (I won't name names) used a wire mesh. Some don't use anything.

Today with the new building codes, but also to have less claims regarding water seepage complaints from Buyers who make an official complaint to the NEW HOME WARRANTY PROGRAM (Tarion), builders within our area place a dimpled polyethylene membrane around the foundation walls. Our problem is that most all our homes do not have this membrane installed unless they have been repaired or you have a new infill and/or renovated home. There are different thicknesses of this membrane blanket that builders use. The good builders use a thick blanket.

Back in 2003, I was asked by a well known builder to sell his INVENTORY homes that his sales staff had a problem selling on Sunset Beach Road in Oak Ridges. Within two days I had sold two. Half the homes on the street are one builders and the other half are the same builder who constructed most of our homes in north Valhalla. Luckily the builder I was representing never had a problem. One summer day I drove up the driveway of a home I had sold a few weeks prior, to check the home and ensure the work was completed my customer requested. When I got out of my vehicle and shut the door, I heard a terrible cracking noise then a very large bang. The house beside the home I was going into from the other builder started breaking apart. Large cracks formed and the garage wall fell in. What are the odds? I was on the phone ASAP. Do you know what the problem was? The builder’s contractor used a wrong mix of cement for the foundation for ALL those homes plus more. The foundation could not support the weight above. These homes had already been sold. People were about to move in just a few weeks. Every home the contractor poured foundations for over "X" months had the wrong mix of cement. Each home had to be repined around the entire home. I know there was at least two on the street that had to be taken down / demolished and constructed again. Hopefully this was all disclosed to all the Buyers of these homes over the years.

Another item I stated would cause problems for consumers back in 2003 was when builders in our area started using plastic water pipe instead of copper pipe because it was less expensive and some contractors found it easer to work with. I stated back then it was my opinion down the road there will be a problem with the red, blue, orange, or white dye pipes and / or the connections. THERE IS. If you plan on remodelling, I would discourage you from using plastic piping inside your home. Most everyone in Valhalla has copper piping except for the infill homes or those of you who may have renovated. Here are some brands to avoid for plastic water pipes. PlumbBetter, IPEX, AQUA, WARMRITE, Kitec XPA, AmbioComfort, XPA, KERR Controls and Plomberie Amelioree. If you or members of your family plan on purchasing a home, do your research. You can usually tell the type of wiring, piping, flooring, ... from going down into the unfinished portion of the basement. For the age of windows look for a date between the glass panes. For the age of toilets, look under the lid. There are numerous tricks to find the age of a home and the mechanics of it. The best solution is an MPAC and a GEOWAREHOUSE report (Land Registry). You may want to check your attic at least once a year. Get a flashlight and check the attic ceilings. If you see stained circles or black portions you may have a moisture problem. If you see tunnels in the insulation, the possibility is high you have visitors. When I moved into my home there was little to no insulation in the attic. Blown-in attic insulation settles overtime. If you plan to increase the level of insulation in your attic, ensure that it is done correctly and make certain your contractor installs insulation baffles along all the perimeters of the attic. Air must circulate within your attic or it will sweat. If your attic starts to sweat, you will have more problems. When most of our homes were built, the standard for attic insulation was R32<->R35. R40 <-> R50 is now the standard. Additional insulation in your attic can really save on your heating / cooling bills and make your home much more comfortable. Some of our homes will be limited to the amount of insulation that can be used because of the design and pitch of our roofs.

Project / Planning Application Status

There are a number of projects / development plans for Aurora. Here is a link to ALL of them as of a few weeks ago if you are interested. Application Status

Howard Johnson's Hotel

Months back we discussed the Howard Johnson's Hotel building on Yonge Street. How it was becoming an eyesore, ... An e-mail was sent to our mayor and councillors voicing our concerns and suggested that this building could be a suitable location for a nursing home or low income housing. Neighbours over the last month have asked me again the status of this building ... Why did it close? ...Why is it not open? ... Noticed this document from our Town that may answer a number of your questions. Yonge Street Property

Parks and Recreation Committee

Not sure if you know, a few months back I was appointed to our Town's Parks and Recreation Committee. There are a number of items I had noticed over the years so I jotted them down and submitted my numerous questions, ideas, and suggestions to the Committee Chair. I was not sure if they should be mentioned at the committee level, staff directly (like I normally do), or maybe they should not be mentioned at all. I was asking for direction. It took sometime to obtain a response over the months for a number of reasons that was no fault of the chair. A few weeks ago I was requested to have a one on one meeting with the Director and Supervisor. Unfortunately, the manager and the committee chair were unable to attend. For me, the meeting was both informative and educational. I wish every taxpayer could hear what I heard. Most all my Why's? were answered and most actually made sense.

A number of the ideas and suggestions reported had already been given to staff. Staff liked the suggestions so a number of them had already been implmented or will be over the next year.

It was my opinion, our Town does not need to pay consultants or spend tens of thousands of our tax dollars on small things that can make our parks even more enjoyable and educational for both the children and residents. Please refer to the slideshow to the left.

PASSED: A Hopscotch layout will be painted on the asphalt at Atkinson park. In my opinion, this is a very low-cost item that will help the children in our area get more exercise and learn their numbers at the same time. Did you know this game was brought to Britain by the Romans? The Romans used it first to help their soldiers obtain better balance and agility. If residents embrace this idea and enough people phone the Parks Department stating they like it AFTER IT HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED .... the possibility is high from my understanding, that it will be installed in other parks within Aurora.

PASSED: Aurora LOGO with the words "Thank You !" will be painted on the park waste containers. The "Thank You!" with the Aurora Logo will look great and may even help as a reminder to visitors / residents to put their garbage in the waste container instead of somewhere in the park. A few weeks ago after some sort of soccer tournament at Craddock Park, I went there as usual the next morning walking the dog and picking up garbage along the way. Even though there are "SIX" garbage containers available for people to dispose of their garbage, you would not believe the garbage that was left on the ground. It took me close to an hour to clean it all up. For some reason I had brougt a number of bags that day. A Red Tent and Banner was left behind that was reported to our town.

PASSED: Childrens Project Have students / children paint the trash cans. There are numerous benefits for the children that I cannot get into now. See example that has been included from Craddock Park.

PASSED: Chess / Checker Board Table The table will be intalled in the old Town Park located infront of the old Wells Street School which has been converted to condos. Suggested that the table be placed in an older demographic area of Aurora for a test run. If it catches on, it maybe placed in other parks. Some municipalities have four or five tables close together. This is an opportunity for residents to be outdoors, get some fresh air, socialize, plus get their mind working without overexerting themselves physically.

PASSED: Designated KITE Flying AREA. Every child or anyone for that matter should be able to have a safe area to fly a kite without it getting tangled in a hydro line or trees. Since St. Andrews College has closed their fields to the public and especially those with dogs, it is my opinion our Town should have a designated SAFE area just to fly a Kite. Some municipalities around the world have an entire weekend devoted to the sport of Kite Flying and make it a major weekend festival. It really is brilliant to see them all in the sky at the same time and those that are very serious regarding this sport. Do you remember the movie Mary Poppins?

CHANGES:

The signage for our Parks and Trails will be changing. The new standard for our park benches will be a cement slab base with a maintenance free metal bench instead of wood. This was proposed years back. There are so many changes happening within our town that I cautioned staff to test every product first. Look at the bollards on St. John's Sideroad beside the walkway. The paint came off the top of them within two years. Now that council passed the budget for the signage it would be very upsetting for everyone to have all these signs made and installed to find they will be unreadable / faded in a few short years.

PASSED: Signage for NOKIA Trail "Tim Jones Trail" not to feed wildlife and pick up after your pet. The square signs on the boardwalk railing, reported previously, have been removed and will be replaced. Two new entry signs have already been installed.

PASSED: Town Map Will now be revised with a date printed / revision date. Trails printed will be named. Park features missed on the map will be added. Example: Parking, Lookout, Shade Structure, Playground, ...

PASSED: Logs at Craddock Park The very large Poplar logs that had been cut down from the last ice storm, will be properly placed for seating around the perimeter of the soccer field.

Other suggested items / ideas need to be made by one of our elected officials. So those ideas / suggestions will be passed on to them. Example: Requesting staff to create a report containing a project plan, including costs to upgrade parts of our Trail system with pavement, lighting, educational signage, art, ... to match it to the Newmarket level for specific short sections. The report would be given to the Park & Recreation Committee & Trails Committee for discussion ... I walked the Nokia trail just north of St. John’s again a few weeks to the Newmarket side. So sad to see the tagging & graffiti.

PARK CLOSED: A number of residents over the years have been complaining about the noise within our Parks at night. It was my opinion that most residents may not know that our Town has a bylaw stating that ALL parks are closed to the public after 11pm. Other municipalities have the time posted at the entrance of their park. Refer to the picture of Brick Works Park in Richmond Hill for example. So while I was at the last Park & Recreation Meeting, I moved that any Town Park that abuts onto homes, who's park signage may require replacement in the future to include the CLOSED hours on the sign stating. Park Closed from 11pm to 5am. Felt that this notification would provide a warning for those who intend to use the park during those hours so the bylaw could be more easily enforced and may help residents abutting these parks to have a more restful sleep. ..... It ended up that no one liked the idea including the director. Most felt the parks should be open 24hrs a day and that the children should have a place to go and talk. Really ... at 3am? Obviously these people don't clean our parks everyday. It's good for members of any committee to disagree so you can try to understand their view. But everyone! Well people, I tried. If you are having difficulty sleeping because of the noise in one of our local parks, report it to the police and also report it to our Parks Department. Our Parks Department will post the bylaw on case by case bases. This is just one example of how one municipality can be so different from another.

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.

On Saturday morning June 13th, you may have seen a bunch of over exuberant volunteers riding down Yonge Street on a BIG Bike in support of the Heart & Stroke Foundation.

Our team raised $3,285.00 this year and also received the Team Spirt Award for that day. A BIG Bike "thank you" to all of you who helped me to echeive my goal. Over $700.00 was raised.

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death for Canadian men and women. I support this foundation each year to help create more survivors. All of the money raised through the Big Bike will go to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, where they’ll use it to develop life-saving treatments that brings hope to heart disease and stroke patients. In the last year alone, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has helped created 165,000 survivors of heart disease and stroke.

Thank you again!

July 2015 Town Events

Wednesday July 1st Canada Day ... Hope to see you at the parade!

Concerts in the Park Wednesday July 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th

Theatre in the Park Friday July 10th and Saturday July 11th

Collection Schedule:

Friday July 3rd. For the 1st week of July our collection day for Yard Waste, Green Bin and Recycling will be moved to Friday July 3rd.

Thursday July 9th Garbage, Green Bin, and Recycling

Thursday July 16th Yard Waste, Green Bin, and Recycling

Thursday July 23rd Garbage, Green Bin, and Recycling

Thursday July 30th 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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