Infill Housing # 4

You never know when construction sites will be active. Work could start first thing in the morning or it could be busy for just a few hours in the middle of the day. So it's hard to predict. Neighbours next to infill construction might be up all night with a baby or sick child, they could be working the night shift, they might be sick themselves or maybe just plain tired. Regardless, builders are allowed to start working at 7 am on weekdays. It can go on until 8 pm.

When I was a child, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Sunday was a day of rest. It was a restful, quiet day, meant to be spent with family.  Stores were closed and very few activities were running. Of course that day is long gone. Today's noise bylaw offers us a brief respite on the weekends. You can work from 9 am until 7 pm.

So we know we are in for a noisy summer. Things haven't been too bad so far. My parent's house is about five minutes north of us, closer to the Ottawa River. That neighbourhood is built on rock so when infill houses are constructed there, neighbours have to put up with a lot of drilling and blasting. Here it's mostly clay so we have been spared the drilling and blasting. Instead we have only the noise of the machines and the loud thuds as they deposit the dirt and debris into waiting dump trucks. Last Friday, however was different.

In order to hook up the new house to water and sewer, a trench had to be cut, pretty well right across the street in front of our house. Apparently all the neighbours were supposed to receive written notice that our street would be closed for five days because of the open trench. No notice was received. A worker casually mentioned it to us, when we happened to be outside, the day before.

Now that was noisy! As the machine banged its way through the pavement  the noise was tremendous. Our whole house was shaking. That probably didn't do our foundation any favours.




Neighbours only three doors down were having a family wedding that very day. Our block was to be closed to traffic for the annual block party on Sunday. Here's what it looked like at the end of the workday last Friday.



We left the next day but it sounds like there was plenty of action. The young neighbours, with all their little kids, weren't happy that the worksite was not properly secured. Bylaw officials and our local city councillor were notified. Besides the hole and the noise, one neighbour has had her phone and internet cable cut twice so far. This is what it's like to live near infill construction.

Because real estate folks have declared our area a desirable neighbourhood, developers are crawling all over the place, outbidding people who just want to buy a house and live here. Developers come onto our streets. knock down houses (many of them in fine shape), then disturb the neighbours with construction for months. Often they build houses that simply don't fit in with existing homes. Sometimes, the builders stay; they actually live in the new houses. Most of the time however, after all the disruption, they sell the new place, make their profit and move on to another conquest. The city allows all this, in the name of intensification of the core, which we're all supposed to embrace.

Simon and Garfunkel famously sang, "Silence like a cancer grows." We could change that to, "Infill like a cancer grows. " It really seems that once one house on a block is knocked down, others soon follow. On this one side of this one block, we have just heard that a fourth house will soon go up for sale. Surely they won't all be destroyed.

Premier Doug Ford ?!

How it pains me to write those three words together - Premier ... Doug....Ford.

This is a sad day for many of us in Ontario. I can't believe this is happening again. When Donald Trump ran for the leadership of the Republican Party, most of us thought it was laughable, until he won. Even after he won, we never thought he had a real shot at capturing the presidency. Again, the unthinkable happened, We've had a year and a half of watching him stumble through every aspect of his presidency, making a mockery of the highest office in the U.S., bringing us all to the brink of nuclear war and now starting a trade war with his allies. You might think that the Ontario electorate would look at that scary American situation and ponder. They might come to the realization that you shouldn't hand over power to simple minded people, with no political experience, who promise you more money and old fashioned jobs.

However last night that is just what millions of folks in Ontario did. They gave this very simple- minded, inexperienced buffoon, the keys to the premier's office. One caller on CBC radio in Ottawa this morning happily stated that he was going to have more money in his pocket and pay less taxes - just what Rob Ford promised him. Which goes to show that if you continually tell the people a simple,  straight-forward message and appeal to their selfish nature - they will buy that message.

What make me the saddest today is to acknowledge that there are so many selfish people in this province  - people who are only thinking of themselves and their bank accounts. Maybe when they put their children or grandchildren in school and have to put up with larger class sizes because teachers have been cut, or maybe when they try to put their parents in a long term care home and can't find one, or maybe when they're waiting in a hospital emergency department, maybe then they'll come to the realization that we all need to pay taxes so that we can receive important government services.

Was the Liberal government without fault? Of course not. Plenty has been written about the gas scandal etc. And yes, they had been in government a long time. However, I think there have been some positive achievements as well. Having free prescriptions up to age 25 is a wonderful advantage, as is free university and college tuition for needy families. It was brave of the Liberals to stick to their guns and press ahead with the much needed, improved sex education curriculum in Ontario schools.

Last night, after watching the three leaders speeches, I felt sick. Doug Ford is so simple. He thought it was appropriate to bring up the memory of his  brother, who many remember as a crack-smoklng embarrassment of a Toronto mayor. Please don't remind us of your family background Doug! I would have been happy if Andrea Horvath had won, but last night I found her to resemble a shrill teenager. And then there was Kathleen Wynne. She spoke with grace, humour, warmth and intelligence. It was a classy speech that started with her praising people from all different backgrounds and areas of the province. Contrasting her speech with Doug Ford's reminds me of listening to Barrack Obama, next to Donald Trump.

It's a sad and scary time indeed.

Toronto the Good!

As usual, I am late in posting this story. 

It is starting to feel like it happened a while ago now - those multiple deaths along Yonge Street in Toronto on April 23rd. For the families involved, it must still seem like a nightmare.  When something like that happens, it is easy to become fearful and suspicious of others. While it is important to be vigilant, I would like to write about the goodness of Toronto, by recounting an incident that happened to me there, while visiting my daughter, just days earlier. 

On Thursday April 19^th I found myself at the corner of Danforth and Greenwood. My right leg was giving me trouble. Norah dropped me off at the Danforth Greenwood Walk In Clinic. All I had to do was walk across the street and then walk about ten steps into the clinic. However, that simple task was suddenly impossible.

Partway across the street something happened to my right knee. Whenever I tried to put any weight on that leg, a searing pain went up the back of my knee. Somehow I managed to inch across to the other side of the street and was so grateful to have the clinic wall to lean on. I had no idea about how I was going to manage the remaining distance. To passersby I was not an impressive sight – a grey-haired grandma, tilting to one side, while leaning on a wall, at 9 am.

Fortunately a kind-hearted man stopped and offered to help. I asked if he could see if there were any crutches at the walk -in clinic. He went into the clinic and came out with the pharmacist and an office chair. "Better than crutches!" he declared. The two men helped me onto the chair and rolled me into the clinic. Everyone in the clinic:  the pharmacist, the receptionist, the kind x ray technician who supported me as I transferred from chair to x ray bed – they were all so very kind. 

It was a long day. Norah re-arranged her day, then stopped and bought me a pair of crutches before she came to rescue me. She took me to have an ultrasound and later in the day, delivered me to a waiting wheelchair at Union Station. I was clearly no help to her at that point, so she shipped me home!

In the end, this is not a serious injury. I was walking again, after a few days. I've had lots of tests done and this week I hope to get a more definite answer as to why I still have so much fluid around my knee. 

In those minutes on Danforth though, my physical status changed abruptly from able-bodied to disabled. I'm so grateful to the many people who helped me out. I felt very well cared for, by folks I’d never met. I like to think that's what Toronto is really about.

Infill Housing # 3

So, those lilacs? The ones in full bloom, at the right side of the property? The day after my last post, the new owners arrived on site and ordered their  removal. So, just like that, they were gone. I know; different strokes for different folks. Those lilacs were at the very edge of the property. If they wanted them, they could have been saved. However, most homebuilders don't appreciate the value of mature trees, which provide beauty, texture, oxygen, shade and privacy. Trees also take up space and these days it's all about maximizing the space.

Here's what the property looks like now, without the lilacs as a border. Thank goodness the one large mature tree at the back is staying.

So, I just couldn't stop myself from taking this next photo. When this truck showed up, about an hour after the lilac trees were ripped out, I thought it was pretty ironic. Green with envy indeed! Most of the greenery has been destroyed!

I can only assume that this company was there to give an estimate on planting small bushes, some new tiny trees and no doubt, a tall fence.

This latest shot shows the placement of stakes, outlining where the house will be situated on the lot. You can build within 1.2 meters of the side property line and that's where they all build - right to that limit.