Vallhalla Newsletter October 2015

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The background picture this month was taken on a cold rainy day (Oct. 29th) looking at St. Andrew's College from Yonge Street. There is actually rainbow in the picture.

Crime Report

Please note; because you are being informed monthly of the crime within our area, you may think Valhalla is a high crime neighbourhood. Really it is not compared to other areas within Aurora and other municipalities. We seem to have sudden spurts now and then. The graffiti portion lasts a year or two when either they move on or “usually” young adults grow out of it, ... The less crime we have within our area the better for numerous reasons; i.e. home/car insurance rates, overhead costs to our town and us, home/area property value, beauty within our area, ...

Drugs - Old Yonge & St. Johns SR Oct. 23rd 11:45pm Cannabis

Vehicle Stops Qty 5 Oct. 21st Old Yonge / Raiford

Vehicle Stops Qty 2 Oct. 21st Yonge St. / Valhalla Ct.

Street Check - Qty 4 Old Yonge in last 30 days

Street Check - Oct. 14th Spruce

Traffic Stop - Qty 9 Old Yonge in last 30 days.

Assault - Odin Cr. Oct. 21st

Community Policing - Street Check -Moorcrest Oct. 17th

Community Policing - Street Check - Old Yonge/Burgon Oct. 16th

Over the last month, YRP have stoped 51 Vehicles at St. John's / Yonge St.

Take this link to report community concerns (traffic, graffitti, disorderly use, dumping) to York Regional Police: https://onlinereporting.yrp.ca/communityconcerns.html

The following was received by York Regional Police on October 18th:

Hi Eric – Apologies for the delay in response. Unfortunately, there is no definition for the icons on the map but we will reach out to our vendor and see if that is a feature we can add in the future. For your information, a street check in this case would be considered something like a traffic warning, where no ticket was issued or a response to a call from the public for a suspicious person or vehicle.

Please feel free to let us know if there is anything else we can assist with.

Have a great day,

Vandalism October 30th

Boy I must be a sound sleeper. Numerous fences within our area including mine have been damaged. Posts pushed back and broken, boards removed, and some taken down. I phoned the police to report the incidents. When I called the police at district one, I was transferred. The first thing the officer asked was "Do you have any video?" After taking the information she asked if I wanted to report the incident online or have a police officer come to my house. I said no but I did suggest that they have a person in charge to come by the area to view the damages. Her response was "Oh!" The officer sounded more like a customer service employee. Then she asked if I would like more patrols in our area. I said sure especially tonight. (Halloween) I was then transferred back to district one. When I told the officer I was transferred and what the other officer stated regarding more patrols. This officer said: "We don't do that anymore. Would you like to leave a message for the chief?" I then said; You need to talk with your other colleagues to ensure you are all on the same page. Thank you for your time. The next day I decided to create an on-line report to ensure the vandalism was recorded for our area. So much for their motto "To Serve and Protect!" Disappointing Please refer to the slideshow below showing some of the damages.

Did you happen to notice;

1. A large amount of graffitti that we had reported has all been removed? Our area looks much better. Unfortunately, I am still reporting a new type of tagging. Our Town has been taking quick action to remove. Today I noticed more.

2. The canopy for the NEW Water Tower by HWY 404 has been installed and has our Town Logo on it as requested to the region months back while under construction.

Reported / Updates to our Town

The following streetlights are on 24 hrs.

1. Streetlight in front of 62 Moorcrest

2. Streetlight in front of 135 Spruce

3. Streetlight in front of 40 Attridge

The road repair request on Spruce is finally in progress. When completed the water should flow freely into the storm sewer instead of a small pond across at the side of the road. See photo below;

Are you ready? This season brings a lot of wet weather. Ensure the water is flowing well away from your foundation. Check your eaves troughs to ensure they are clean and clear.

Aurora Cenotaph

Aurora Cenotaph

Over the last month, I was taken back regarding proposals and plans for the Aurora Cenotaph. Do these groups and our Town Council know the history of the Cenotaph? It is called the Aurora Cenotaph because it is centrally located between ALL the municipalities that helped to finance it. The fallen names from the three municipalities are named on it. In my opinion, it belongs to ALL the municipalities who actually helped build it. So why is Aurora footing the bill? Should the other municipalities not have a say on what happens to the Cenotaph and the lands around it? There is now a request to put a military vehicle on the "Peace Park" and you and I are to paying for the foundation. Was this military vehicle even used by the individuals remembered on the Cenotaph? Is this not a place to reflect and remember? Should the other municipalities not have a say on this?

I thought someone should say something to our elected officials since they may not know the history. The following e-mail was sent to our Town elected officials in Aurora Thur. Oct. 15th.

Not sure if you know, but the Cenotaph located on Yonge Street, across from Canadian Tire was built by at least three municipalities. It also honours those fallen within those municipalities. As a child growing up in King, we would visit this site to honour the fallen.

If I am reading the paper correctly, our Town of Aurora will be contributing $15K towards the project … have the other municipalities agreed to the changes on this land … ? If these municipalities have been informed and agree to the project, what are the other municipalities contributing towards it?

Only ONE member of our elected officials bothered to respond. That council member asked if I had spoken to the finance department. I stated the following;

Hello Councillor Gaertner:

To answer your question, I did not e-mail Mr. _____

From my recollection of the original agreement, Aurora provided the land since it was centrally located but everyone split the costs to build and maintain the grounds and the cenotaph. There was maintenance performed on the Cenotaph no more then five / six years ago. Who paid for the restoration? Was this a federal / provincial grant?

I’m certain there would be no argument from any of those municipalities that have interest since really the land and all items on it is owned by ALL the municipalities that participated since their residents are honoured at that location. Even if the agreement says otherwise, it is only proper protocol that they should have a say. If a proper presentation was made to these councils … , I think the likelihood of them not wanting to participated to honour their residents that gave their lives would be slim. What would the residents of that municipality say if they did not? What about the families of those honoured …

Sincerely,

Eric

So Councillor Gaertner asked the Finance Department for help on the matter.

Finance did not know and asked Parks and Recreation if they could shed some light.

Luckily they knew the history. If it is not already, would it be an idea to have the following information on a plaque at the Cenotaph? Here is the following e-mail received by staff.

the Cenotaph land was owner by Walter Wood and sold to the War Memorial Association in 1924 , the War Memorial Association raised funds by appealing to the residents of Aurora King and Witchurch to pay for less than half the cost of the cenotaph, the remainder of the cost was paid for by Sir William Mulock , no tax payers dollars were required for the project , The War memorial Association ,more recently known as the War Memorial Board dissolved in 1997 when the land and remaining cash assets were transferred to the Town of Aurora , The Aurora parks department have been maintaining the grounds for at least the past 40 years. The most recent restoration of the Cenotaph occurred in 2007 which was partially funded through a financial grant from Veterans Affairs $25,000 the balance was paid for by the Town of Aurora , I am not certain as to whether or not King or Witchurch assisted.

The land and all its contents are owned by the Town of Aurora.

From reading the response from Town Staff I sent the following to Councillor Gaertner.

Hello Councillor Gaertner:

From Mr. Tree’s reply, it is my opinion that BOTH King and Witchurch-Stouffville should have a say on anything that is happening on this land and the Cenotaph. It is also my opinion; that since both municipalities have residents that are being remembered and honoured at this location, it would only be just that both municipalities contribute yearly to the Town of Aurora Parks and Recreation department in maintaining this area even if it is only $500.00 a year. At least it is something. Hopefully it will never happen, but there is a possibility in the future one of those municipalities may have a fallen resident that served that could be honoured at this location with the rest of their residents who have been honoured and remembered.

Sincerely,

Eric

Eric McCartney

The following is a response from Councillor Gaertner on October 17th.

Hi Eric,

I think that this is something that all of council has in mind for the future. Is everyone aware of your work on this?

Thanks,

Wendy

I replied to this message from my cell phone on Oct 17th stating the following;

No...

So, hopefully Councillor Gaertner and Staff will now make recommendations to council.

PowerStream / Community Mailboxes

PowerStream

In October we had three power fluxes. PowerStream had two crews in our area when the second last one occured. One of the crews told me they cannot find the problem and stated that it must be the squirrels. Well ... I have heard of this before and we certainly have a number of squirrels.

Just received the following from PowerStream

October 2nd 7:48am restored 7:46.06am The A-2F-3 locked out. Feeder closed back in successfully via SCADA. Bird contact at the A10TA2055 located at 17 Cooperage Road.

October 7th 4:05:08 PM restored 4:05:10 PM The 41M41 autoreclosed at the same time as the A-4F3 loced out - unknown cause.

October 19th 7:56:20 am restored 7:56:52 am The A-2F3 loced out. Feeder closed back in successfully via SCADA. Animal contact at A10TA2055.

Community Mailboxes

The Councillor who forwarded the suggestion and Canada Post never got back to me regarding our suggestion of placing the Community Mailboxes in the street connection walkways. It would have saved Canada Post a lot of money and personally I think it would have resolved a number of concerns. The slideshow below will show the installation of these mailboxes. They sure do things quickly. Have you noticed that some of the mailboxes are not even? Some are higher or lower then the one next to it. Instead of pouring a cement slab or using the existing slabs that the YRT left they put down prefabricated bases with brick. The first day after installation two of the bricks were on the sidewalk at Craddock Park. Wonder how many the town contractor will pick up ploughing the sidewalks this winter.

Hopscotch Update at Atkinson Park

Requested an update from staff regarding the Hopscotch installation. The following is staff response;

Eric,

We’ll deal with the graffiti as we need to deal with some other area around town. Picnic tables will be stored for winter and over the next 2-3 weeks you should see them disappearing. As for the hopscotch – thanks for the reminder, it had completely slipped my mind. WE’ll endeavour to get something down in the next couple weeks but temperature and rain will play a factor in this happening as it will affect proper paint application. If it does not happen I will put it in my 2016 spring file.

Thanks Eric!

All the picnic tables from our parks have already been removed. They will be placed back in the parks after the winter. You should see the chain being put up at the Craddock Park entrance after the Santa Clause Parade.

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.

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.

November 2015 Town Events

Wednesday November 11th Rememberance Day Ceremony at the Cenotaph

Saturday November 14th & Sunday November 15th Aurora Artists Studio Tour (Two Artists located in Valhalla are opening their homes) here is a link. www.AuroraStudioTour.com

Saturday November 28th Santa Under the Stars Parade

Collection Schedule:

Thursday Nov. 5th Yard Wate, Green Bin, and Recycling

Thursday Nov. 12th Garbage, Green Bin, and Recycling

Thursday Nov. 19th Yard Waste, Green Bin, and Recycling

Thursday Nov. 26th Garbage, Green Bin, and Recycling

Most of you should have received a 2016 desk calendar, pen, plus a brochure to the Aurora Studio Tour over the last week. If you have not received your desk calendar and pen by the end of November please let me know and I will try to get one to you.

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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