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Riverdale

I'm curious how they determined this, though I'm not at all surprised.

Let's assume there are 250 homes on each West-East Street located between Broadview and Logan.

If each home has one car and they drive to work and then back home then that is an easy 500 trips just for people who live on that street.

Because the streets are all one-way, then each driver needs to circle around on the street above or below them on one part of that trip. So 500 trips are than added to the other street. Based on this simple math it is easy to reach over 1000 trips per day on any one street. Add in homes that have two cars, people who drive and pick up the kids at lunch, tenants in basement suites and visitors and these numbers seem very reasonable.

The Riverdale Traffic Committee stated that they will continue to push forward the no left turns from Carlaw onto Simpson and Langley which would force that traffic to be diverted onto neighboring streets. So we need to continue to monitor them monitoring us. We also need to remind the Riverdale Traffic Group that they purchased city homes in an established neighborhood and people are paying top dollar to move in because it is established. If they really want no traffic on their street they should consider a move to nice cul-de-sac in Don Mills or Willowdale.
 
The St. Louis Wings & Ribs at the corner of Danforth and Carlaw has delivered letters to nearby homes, explaining that they will be applying again for a patio license. They were refused a patio along the side frontage in the past, and the City ended up giving them a small patio on the Danforth side. It's somewhat ridiculous that the sidewalk space on the Danforth is squeezed, when the restaurant has a spot along Carlaw that would accommodate a really nice patio but for what was presumably the hand-wringing of some nearby residents (many of whom probably moved to the area in part because of the cafes and patios along the Danforth).

Anyway, there is a "town hall meeting" on Monday, May 25 at 7 p.m. at the restaurant.
 
Ocean's Treasure Fish Market, on the SE corner of Carlaw and Danforth, has closed. There was a sign in the window thanking patrons, and saying that the owners would first take a short break and would then seek a new location on Danforth. I assume their rent was hiked, and they couldn't come to an agreement with their landlord.

Just as the swanky new De La Mer fish market opens down the street.
 
Signs went up in the last couple of days. The latest incarnation is "Sports Rivals" or something to that effect. The place always seemed busiest anyway when there was a game on the big screen TVs.

I noticed this morning that the paper is off the windows. I passed by quickly, but it doesn't appear they made that many changes to the interior. What they did do is take part of the half-wall surrounding the patio, on the Carlaw frontage, and make it look like the boards around a hockey rink. It is cheaply done and looks just as ugly and one would imagine it to be. They don't appear to have extended this "treatment" further north along Carlaw, or on the Danforth side, but maybe that's still to come.
 
Man, the signage is terrible, and if I recall correctly, they have spelled their name "Sports Rivalz" with a "z", which is a crime against the language that cannot be forgiven.
 
It gets worse. An hour or so ago when I walked by, they were painting the ground of the patio white - I can only imagine that they are going to make it look like an ice hockey surface.
 
The coffee shop opening on NW corner of Carlaw and Danforth, just north of Baskin Robbins, is Marvel Coffee Co. Sign went up yesterday. Assume this is a second location, and not just a relocation of their spot at Danforth and Donlands.

This is their Donlands location:
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It gets worse. An hour or so ago when I walked by, they were painting the ground of the patio white - I can only imagine that they are going to make it look like an ice hockey surface.
Oh my god, you're right -- the fence around the patio look like rink boards.

Launching a hockey-themed bar in the summer -- how brilliant is that?
 
According to the Toronto Buildings Dept website, the Second Cup at Danforth and Hampton, across from Carrot Common, has applied for a sign permit for a new sign. Might that location be getting the "Second Cup Coffee Co." revamp that first happened at the John/Queen West location?
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Looks like there is some internal struggles at RTG. The 350 of us who signed the Petition received this email earlier this week.

May 26, 2015 — OPEN LETTER

Dear Councillor Fletcher,

I am resigning from the Riverdale Traffic Group.

Unfortunately, it appears I have joined the Riverdale chapter of the Flat Earth Society. The leadership of the RTG is ignoring sound science for selfish reasons.

An independent civil engineering report, peer reviewed by three experts in urban and traffic planning, is being ignored to accommodate Langley Avenue over the needs of our community.

The report concluded 60% to 91% of the traffic on Langley Avenue between Carlaw and Logan Avenues is residential. That means the existing No Left Turn on Northbound Carlaw and Langley isn’t doing the job it was put up for: eliminating thoroughfare traffic.

Toronto Police confirmed that with $400 tickets and 3 demerit points we are punishing our neighbours for trying to get home.

The RTG leadership has flat-out refused to put removing this punitive and pointless traffic redirect measure on the agenda for discussion.

Also, the RTG draft proposal includes a 24/7 No Left Turn on Northbound Carlaw at Simpson Avenue. Despite the increased danger of massive Bell Canada transport trucks forced to use Logan Avenue to access the Simpson Avenue facility, the RTG also refuses to discuss the matter.

We are forcing Logan Avenue residents to unnecessarily bare a greater traffic burden and safety risk with the proposed Carlaw and existing Langley measures.

The RTG does not have checks and balances in place to prevent southern street representatives from running roughshod over the needs of residents on the northern streets in the study area. The RTG Chairman is a Langley Avenue resident, and so is the Vice Chair and there is a third representative, putting the balance of power in the hands of those concerned more with their own street. Measures are adopted without votes. There is an absence of order.

The RTG Chair is also hostile to criticism, accusing residents and street representatives opposed to certain measures of being “selfish” when, in fact, it’s the RTG which is acting in interests of Simpson and Langley Avenues at the expense of the rest of our neighbourhood.

Most incredibly, One Way signs are not “off the table” despite the clear findings of the impact study and the broad-based outcry heard at the May 13th public consultation meeting at St. John’s Presbyterian Church.

I urge you to revoke the mandate of the Riverdale Traffic Group.

The RTG is not listening to the community.

The RTG does not represent the community.

Thank you for your consideration,
Michael Hainsworth
michael@hainsworth.com
Former Bain Avenue RTG Representative
 
I'd be shown that letter by someone else. The infighting has clearly begun in earnest.

In the article in today's Star, not impressed with how Fletcher is hanging staff out to dry. Really unprofessional. Staff are likely in a difficult position - damned if they do, damned if they don't (if they'd recommended strategies, as Fletcher seems to suddenly be suggesting they ought to have done, they would have been blamed for imposing top-down solutions on the community). As for her complaint about staff being focused on development applications - they have the staff and budget given to them by Council. On that issue, the buck stops with Fletcher and her 44 colleagues on Council.

I'm not sure why anyone is surprised this has happened. It was clear from the RTG website at the beginning that they had a clear idea of what they intended to accomplish. Of course the rest of the community was going to have different ideas. This has all been managed very poorly by Fletcher. And when the Toronto Star notices, she manages to point the finger at the one group that can't defend itself - City staff.
 

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