Vallhalla Newsletter February 2016

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Background Picture / Daylight Savings

The background picture this month was taken from the internet to remind us to move our clocks, electronic equipment, appliances, vehicel clocks, ... forward by 1hr before we go to bed on Saturday March 12th. Daylight savings officially begins on Sunday March 13th at 2pm. We loose one hour sleep. I know ... just when it was getting brighter in the morning. If you have my desk calendar the date is correct. If you are using our Town's calendar it is not correct for both March and November. I will let town staff know with a few suggestions.

The weather has been a roller coaster.

The picture to the right shows the temperature at 7am on the 13th of February. Have we really experienced winter yet? If you remember from our high school geography, 1" of rain is equal to 10" of snow if the temperature is around -1 celsius. If the temperature is colder it can even be more. Can you imagine if all that rain we had was snow? We would have no where to put it.

Crime Report The following are incidents reported to and by police over the last 30 days.

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, ...

Yonge St / St. John’s

Drugs
Vehicle Stop - Traffic Stop - Qty 32
Community Policing - Street Check - Qty 15
Vehicle Stop - Graduated Suspension - Qty 6
Vehicle Stop - Carless Driving - Qty 1

St. John's / Old Yonge St.

Vehicle Stop - Traffic Stop - Qty 15
Community Policing - Street Check - Qty 1

Old Yonge / Twelve Oaks

Community Policing - Street Check - Qty 1

Hollingshead Drive

Vehicle Stop - Traffic Stop - Qty 1

Walton

Theft from vehicle - Qty 1

Walton / Mark

Vehicle Stop - Traffic Stop - Qty 2
Vehicle Stop - Street Check - Qty 1

Yonge / Batson

Street Check - Qty 1

Surveillance system installation update.

Have not had much time for additional installation. It's been too cold anyways.
I've learned to go back so many days to view and save footage to another device.
I think the cameras are detering people from dropping garbage and letting their dog poop on my lawn.

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

Below are the current . A U R O R A . Weather Conditions

Steet Speed Signs within Valhalla

While walking during the windy weather I hear this rattling sound and then notice the sign moving. The bottom bolt was out. I looked on the ground and could not find the bolt. I then reported the problem to our town. The next evening while walking I hear the rattling two more times. Different locations, same type of sign, with the bottom bolt missing. Can the wind loosen these bolts?

Locations

40km sign at 5 Buchanan

40km sign at 42 Raiford

40km sign at 38 Moorcrest

How many more are there? I suggested to the town they may want to install a lock washer with the bolt. If it happens again after that they may want to change the type of attachment. The following is our Town's response: Hi Eric, Good idea!

In my opinion these signs should never have been installed anyways. When the town installed these signs six years ago and our council at the time approved it I thought wow, more sign pollution, the expense and upkeep, more visual pollution ... It is my opinion there should only be one large speed sign at the entrances to each subdivision stating speed limit 35km unless otherwise posted. Better still ... "Drive like your kids live here"

The slideshow below will show the problems when first spotted then the corrections.

Street Lighting Update

LED Lighting update:

Streetlight proposed to staff & contractor that can be directed.

On February 1st staff were notified that some specific areas within Valhalla Tree branches required trimming around the streetlights. As you know, LED illumination is different. When leaves on the tree grows, some of the street illumniation would be useless. On February 12th I received the following message from staff. (Eleven days)

Hi Eric

Thanks for letting us know about the trees blocking the street lighting in your subdivision. I will take a look at it in the next few days and where we can prune in house we will. There might be some scenarios where we will have to bring in our contractor with an aerial lift device.

The only issue that I see popping up is that some of these trees are mature and established so pruning back limbs to help facilitate the broadcasting of light may result in awkward looking trees for a few seasons. We will try our best when we prune to balance function and aesthetics.

Have a great weekend

The following reply was sent back the same day.

Thank you ______!

You are correct regarding the mature trees.

The trees around the spaceship designed streetlights from Batson south are also a problem since they are at a much lower height then most and have no arm going over the road.

It is unfortunate that our town did not replace those costly to maintain streetlights when the roads and curbs were installed with our town standard.

Thank you for your service.

Happy to report that you should already notice a difference on the streets where the LED lighting has been installed.

Old Yonge Street Lighting

Never heard back from staff or the Town Contractor who stated he would get back to me the next day last month. I called his number in London Ontario and left him a message and also sent another e-mail as a reminder. On Feb. 16th I received the following message back from our towns contractor.

Hi Eric,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I was on vacation last week and I had spoke with the engineering department before I left with the impression that they were going to follow up with you with regard to the lights on Old Yonge St.

As we discussed, we are contracted to retrofit existing lights that meet the equivalent of lighting of what was there, or improve it where needed. In the case of Old Yonge St it appears that more infrastructure (poles) would be required into order to get light levels up to the needed standard (those standards are not mandatory but given the safety concern you noted it seems this is an issue that the municipality needs to address).

You mentioned that ______ had a consultant do a report, I hear that _____ no longer works at Aurora, and was told the best option is to contact the operations department, specifically ______. He can be reached at _______________

You can request a copy of the report and take it from there, if Aurora determines that they want to proceed with new lights they could contract us to do so or hire a contractor to do the work.

Let me know how the discussion with ______ goes and if there is anything else I can do to assist you in this matter.

The following message was sent to staff and copied to all our councillors the same day:

Hi _____:

Can you give me an update regarding the lighting for Old Yonge Street?

The last I heard, the additional lighting was to be installed last year but there was some confusion that it was not included in the RFP for the LED lighting and it now had to be budgeted.

From my understanding, the consultant report for lighting agreed with the residents that additional lighting is required.

In order to reduce costs for the town it was agreed we would use existing poles and to obtain PowerStream approval to use those poles.

Unfortunately, the new LED lighting illumination no longer reaches the sidewalks. The actual lights are not that high up on the poles and are almost half the height as the lights on Buchanan, Hollingshead, Closs, … reducing illumination further. The light arms south of Hollingshead on Old Yonge are very long reaching over the boulevard. I suggested different fixtures before they where installed to the town but when ________ got back to me the fixtures were already installed.

The consultant two years ago suggested five of the six locations we suggested on Old Yonge alone. YRP Detectives suggested more light on Old Yonge just south of Closs Square on the west side because of drugs, vandalism, … the consultant did not agree according to staff.

FYI: I was personally very very close to being hit at Twelve Oaks and Old Yonge about a month ago even before the lights were changed to LED.

I was half way through the intersection when a SUV from Old Yonge turned into me and my 100 lb dog.

I’m more concerned now for the elderly and physically challenged who would freeze or not be able to move fast enough or anyone for that matter.

The Town has been informed on numerous occasions regarding our concerns for this road along with a survey for street cushions that all but one resident who has now moved agreed to.

All of these items have been documented numerous times over the years. If a resident or family member is injured it is possible they may use the information from our neighbourhood newsletters to build a case.

Hopefully for the safety of our residents something will be implemented soon. The number of collisions, traffic stops, street checks, crime, vandalism have all increased according to YRP Crime Map.

Luckily the snow on the ground makes things brighter at night.

Thank you for your time.

On Feb. 18th I received the following e-mail from staff.

Hi Eric,

I talked to ______ regarding this project and he will give you a call to discuss the below email. (the above e-mail)

Regards,

As of the writing of this Newsletter I have not received a reply from that person but did send an e-mail reminder to that person requesting a call or e-mail so I may put that staff members response within our newsletter.

I find it so disappointing when our elected officials and staff say they are going to do something and they don't. Over the last few months I have had three different councillors e-mail me stating they will look into a specific issue (NOT THIS ONE) and get back to me. After two weeks goes by I give them a reminder. I'm still waiting. I guess I'm suppose to be pleased that three of our eight councillors contacted me. Trying to understand what is going on. Hopefully this is only happening to me.

Mail Delivery

Two newsletter subscribers have now asked that I say something about our mail delivery. It seems that a number of us are receiving mail that does not belong to us. If it is letter mail, please do the neighbourly thing and hand deliver it to your neighbour. It could be important. If you put it back into the outgoing mail slot it maybe overlooked and could take a few more days or more to get to the proper party. It could be too late depending on what it is. I'm not surprised this has / is happening because of the hour that some of our mail is being delivered to the community mailboxes. You need a flashlight to insert in the correct compartment. With the days getting longer, we may not have this trouble. If this is happening often I would like to suggest you contact Canada Post at 1-866-607-6301.

Docupet - Pet Licensing

As reported last month our town has partnered with "DOCUPET" for pet licensing. I was delighted that our town implemented a few of our suggestions but did not know they were going to hire an outside source. In my opinion this is a very easy application to program and groom to our town. Have no idea what this is costing all of us. I was curious to see what a resident would need to do to purchase a tag on-line. So, I went ahead and tried to order the my tag on-line at https://aurora.docupet.com OMG! Does no one from our town test the application before it goes live? Tried phoning docupet support. The phone at docupet just kept ringing. I called town staff responsible along with additional e-mails that included suggestions. The following are some of the problems found when trying to order a tag on-line

Did not work with my internet browser. I had to use another browser to get some of the widgets to work.
Did not allow me to key in the name of my veterinarian
Does not display date format required for any of the date fields. Example: Should it be MM/DD/YY or is it DD/MM/YY or YY/MM/DD
A calendar that is suppose to be useful is far from useful. Suggested they remove it. If your dog/cat is ten years old the widget subroutine is making you click way too many times creating errors.
Asks for the owners age but does not explain why. Should it not just say: "As the owner of the pet are you 55 or over? Y/N
There should be a declaration that "According to your vet your dog is currently vaccinated for rabies." Yes "Y" or No "N".
Error messages should display when a field is not keyed correctly or are missing.
Field for your pets breed. Depending on your browser nothing is displayed

There were a few more errors that I cannot remember at the moment but wow. How could this ever have happened? Why does our Town not test and check things? I ordered my tag on Feb. 4th. and I still have not received it. So if I was stopped by a bylaw officer what would happend? What if my dog was lost? It just seems to me that if you order a tag, it should be at your home within ten working days at the max. Please note, once all the problems are corrected and depending on how much this is costing our town, the web site is 100%+ better then what we had. You can upload a picture(s) of your pet, write notes, there is some helpful advise, shows pets that are currently lost, discounts for pet tag owners, ...

Power Stream

After all this crazy weather I have no outages to report. We have been very fortunate in Valhallah.

Time Saving Tip

If you have a waste basket lined with a garbage bag that you empty often, why not put some additional folded bags at the bottom of the basket.

Space Saving / Organization Tip

Pressure curtain rods are useful for a number of purposes.

Try one under your kitchen sink.

The charts / graphs for

Aurora Homes Sales Statisitcs

has been updated.

Click the home below to open a new window.

To view homes currently posted "For Sale" on the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) click here.

This link will be active for two weeks from the posting of this newsletter.

It is my opinion, because of current pricing, you will see numerous properties being posted "For Sale" within Valhalla.

If these Sellers have no idea where to move too they maybe in for an unfortunate surprise.

The Town sent me an e-mail requesting that I help promote the

Aurora Community Recognition Awards

If you know anyone who has contributed to our town please nominate them.

Here is the link http://bit.ly/20h3j7t

Some of the Awards are;

Volunteer Service Award

Youth Volunteer Achievement Award

Environmental Award

Achievement in Sports Award

Arts and Culture Award

Community Organizer / Organiation of the Year Award

Good Neighbour Award

Not-For-Profit Organization Award

Good Business Award

Accessibility Award

Citzen of the Year Award

Nominations will be accepted until Friday, March 4th. For more information regarding each arward please click here -> http://bit.ly/20h3j7t

UHD=Ultra High Definition Are you ready?

UHD is not four time the resolution as full HD. It's 9.6 times. Reviewers are stating when you are watching a UHD program transmitted in UHD it is like looking through a window. An entire new brand of Blu-Ray player and Blu-Ray discs will be created. There is much discussion by the main players not to include UHD 3D but in my opinion this would really be the time to do so. With the resolution so high you will not require to have the room as dark. Have you ever watched Titanic or Avatar on 3D Blu-Ray? It's amazing! In my opinion most people don't care about UHD. They just want to watch a clear picture. I know most of my friends could care less. Personally I'm excited living in an age where the technology just keeps getting better. What will the new iPhone 7 bring in September? There are numerous new items behind the curtains that are waiting to be introduced to the public after we spend our funds on the current stuff. If you are thinking of purchasing a UHD Television or UHD Blu-Ray player wait a year. From my understanding there are still problems with the micro code software and adapters. Will all your old Blu-Ray discs play on a new UHD Blu-Ray player? From my understanding the answer is yes but no one would confirm to me if any of your DVD or 3d Blu-Rays would play. For those households connected to a FIBER network, I foresee over the next few years there will be a reduction in new purchases of movie discs and players. Households will prefer to download them instead.

HD resolution = 1280x720

Full HD resolution =1920x1080

UHD resolution (layman's 4k) = 3840x2160

DCI 4k (academic) resolution = 4096x2160

1280x720 = 921,600 pixels

4096x2160 = 8,847,360

921600 divided by 8847360 = 9.6

Thus, 4k is not 4 times HD resolution, it's 9.6 times.

FYI: There are already discussions for 8K UHD.

There are old films that I would like to remain as is. To change them to UHD would just not make them the same in my opinion.

M A R C H useful dates

Sunday March 13th is daylight savings time. Turn your clocks forward one hour before you go to bed Saturday March 12th.
Thursday March 17th is St. Patricks Day
Sunday March 20th is the first day of Spring and is also Palm Sunday
Friday March 25th is Good Friday
Saturday March 26th is the Aurora Easter Egg Hunt at the Aurora Seniors' Centre. For more information take this link http://www.aurora.ca/thingstodo/pages/special%20events/easteregghunt.aspx
Sunday March 27th is Easter Sunday

Collection Thursdays
March 3rd Garbage, Green Bin, & Recycling
March 10th Green Bin & Recycling
March 17th Garbage, Green Bin, & Recycling
March 24th Green Bin & Recycling
March 31st Garbage, Green Bin, & 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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