Yorkville is a world devoted to tourists, luxury spending
What`s left to be said about Yorkville? Once it was an interesting, even exciting, neighbourhood that first became famous in the 1960s as Toronto`s hippie hangout. Then the forces of gentrification moved in and turned it into boutique central. Though a number of art galleries remain, it has long since lost any sense of being essential; instead, it`s the place to go if you`re a tourist and you want to spend thousands of dollars on a leather jacket. Turns out that there are lots of people willing to drop that much on a coat, or at least who want to see what that kind of schmata looks like.
Earlier this month, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released a decision which highlights the obligations of parties signing a buyer-agency agreement. In the fall of 2005, Helen Clubine was looking at properties in the Orangeville area with her real estate agent Zoi Boussoulas.
By early January, 2006, Clubine had inspected a property known as Willow Hall several times, and was finally ready to put in an offer to purchase it.
The Gatineau developer selling lots on the street where the city evacuated six families this week because of the danger of a landslide said he thought saplings growing behind the houses would prevent any erosion or collapse.
Jean Costa, who is still trying to sell 30 lots on Lafrance Street north of Lavérendrye Boulevard, said yesterday he was astonished when Gatineau officials showed him cracks in the soil behind six houses and told him a landslide could start at any time.
Q: We purchased a condominium unit in Ottawa. The vendor did not reveal on the Seller Property Information Statement that there had been a longstanding water infiltration problem. We are planning to pursue the matter in small claims court to seek damages due to expensive remediation work that had to be undertaken.
A firm proposal for an innovation centre in Ottawa is only weeks away, according to a group of business, civic, and education leaders.
At a public meeting yesterday, The Ottawa Partnership (TOP), a coalition to promote economic growth, announced it`s looking seriously at two downtown properties for a centre that would will accelerate the development and commercialization of new high-tech ideas. The centre would bring the most cutting-edge elements of government, business and education in Ottawa together under one roof, along with the venture capitalists who to fund new companies.
General Motors of Canada will be seeking big changes to labour practices when it starts contract talks with the CAW later this year, according to an industry source with access to a company document.
The source, who asked not to be identified, said the automaker is seeking to eliminate what it says is a $30-an-hour labour cost disadvantage versus non-unionized U.S. plants operated by Japanese-based competitors.
City council faces a dilemma Monday when it apportions this year`s property tax rates -- cut taxes for business and apartment owners, industrial properties and shopping centres, but force homeowners to cough up a little more.
Even with the city`s $314-million budget completed in late February, council must still decide how to divide the overall tax pie before the end of the month.
City schools, groups getting into the spirit of beautification
Earth Day is expanding to Earth week and beyond as local groups, schools, organizations and the city get into the spirit of reforestation and beautification.
"It`s a start and, hopefully, enthusiasm will grow," said Earth Day committee chairman Chuck Beach, in a telephone interview this week. The committee came together after a group of interested people realized there was a need for an organized approach to events planned for Earth Day on Tuesday or for other days next week and down the road.
"A lot of groups are doing great things. We needed to see what we are doing collectively," he said.
County not digging fake farm subsidies; Officilas say many developers pretending to be farmers
The county is battling what it calls antiquated farmland subsidy legislation, as it tries to weed out savvy developers masquerading as farmers.
"As soon as you try to prove they aren`t farming, suddenly a seed drill comes across the property and there are five chickens running around," said Basil Clarke, deputy mayor of Ramara Township.
Provincial legislation, which allows a 75 per cent tax subsidy on agricultural properties actually being farmed, has left loopholes that some developers are abusing, members of a county subcommittee were told this week.
A Hamilton man has been jailed 135 days after being found guilty of nine violations of the Ontario Fire Code.
Stephen Birch was handed the sentence yesterday by a Justice of the Peace who heard the charges against Birch, landlord of a three-storey lodging house on Greenaway Avenue that 13 people lived in.
Durham College plans to expand Whitby Skills Training Centre
WHITBY -- Durham College is dusting off an old proposal to expand its Skills Training Centre in Whitby and tweaking it to include a new focus on the energy industry. The Champlain Avenue building, which houses much of the college`s skilled trades programs, would be expanded by 40,000 feet under the $25-million proposal. It would include an addition to the back of the building and another floor added to the front, with construction to be completed by 2010.
Two years after the Canadian navy cancelled plans to put Raytheon radar installations along the east and west coasts, the general manager of Raytheon`s Waterloo plant is optimistic the military will adopt his company`s technology under a new program.
Hammond Power Solutions Inc. overcame the shocks afflicting the Ontario manufacturing sector in the first quarter, recording a 20 per cent sales increase to $48.4 million and a 43 per cent rise in net income to $5.1 million.
The Guelph-based maker of electrical transformers was not untouched by the impact of the strong Canadian dollar and surging prices for copper and other inputs, but it said this week it "continues to succeed with its market expansion and channel growth in the United States and Canada.``
The medical officer for the Renfrew Country and District Health Unit said Thursday he will make a case to re-open a Health Unit office in Deep River, not in Petawawa like Mayor Bob Sweet has been advocating.
Dr. Michael Corriveau, who has been medical officer for the district since 1987, said when it comes time to make a decision on where the office will open, he will suggest Deep River to the unit`s board of directors.
This comes after a presentation made in March to the Health Unit`s board of directors by Mayor Sweet, advocating for the office in Petawawa because there is currently no office north of Pembroke.
Mill Street project will have some impact on city`s housing needs.
Niagara Regional Housing is confident the apartment building on Mill Street will be ready for residents within three months.
The staff visited the site this week and made some minor recommendations to the builder, NRH community program manager Maryellen MacLellan said yesterday.
When the apartment is complete it will have a slight impact on the city`s affordable housing, MacLellan says.
As of the beginning of April there were 4,301 households on the NRH`s affordable housing waiting list. That figure includes 774 Welland households.
Hwy. 20 retaining wall crumbles; Regional committees back emergency replacement
Mike Hunter may be a friend of Marlene Stewart Streit Park but he doesn`t want to live in it.
His Fonthill home sits between Canboro Road and Regional Road 20 on a hill above the former provincial highway and across from a long drop into The Pit, as it`s popularly known.
Holding the sandy soil in place beneath his home and off the highway are trees and a dry wall running from Pinecrest Court to the intersection of Canboro Road and Regional Road 20.
Taxpayers not happy; Residents wonder what their tax dollars are paying for, they say city services are inadequate
Joe Harris used a cane as he walked to the podium at Tuesday`s Welland city council meeting.
Harris, who`s been living on a disability pension for the past five years, was at the meeting among a half-dozen Welland taxpayers concerned about this year`s tax hike.
The tax increase was originally proposed to be 6.99 per cent. But following presentations by taxpayers, councillors made a few last-minute budget cuts Tuesday night and brought the increase down to 5.37 per cent.
It amounts to an extra $56.65 a year on the tax bill of an average Welland home assessed at $142,000.
Hydro losses cause anger; outages are tough for business
Sporadic power outages are not just annoying, they have been costly to a few businesses here.
A loss of hydro late Thursday afternoon, which lasted until after 8 p.m., prompted an angry call to The Chatham Daily News by Gord Myers, owner of the Pain Court Market.
Myers admits to being frustrated when he made the call Thursday evening, adding he had cooled down when contacted by The Daily News on Friday.
Politicians have wish list for Queen`s park visit ; transportation issues expected to dominate discussions in Toronto
Niagara`s politicians go to Toronto Monday in the hopes of bringing home GO Transit.
Monday marks the kickoff of Niagara Week in Toronto, an annual spring blitz of provincial politicians by regional councillors, mayors and business people.
A key request will be funding for transportation, St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan said. That would include money for a regional transit system and a GO Transit link to Toronto.
McMullan said he would like to see GO bus service to Niagara "very soon."
