Access to Healthcare Services Is Everyone’s Problem

“Cancer patients have been complaining about the lack of parking all day”, the compassionate and understanding admin said to me as I arrived 30 minutes late for my appointment in the Cancer Clinic at the Humber River Regional Hospital.  I had arrived at the campus in time for my appointment but then found myself driving around from parking lot to parking lot, along with dozens of other cars carrying sick people to the hospital, only to discover that every single lot was completely full.  There was literally no patient parking anywhere on the multi-billion-dollar complex.  Again.  The same thing had happened on the day of my previous appointment.  I had paid $120 for a parking pass that was completely useless.  What was I going to do?As I exited the rear of the complex, I drove past three giant, passive-aggressive signs at the entrances of the three, large, half-full City of Toronto building parking lots that said, “PRIVATE PROPERTY!” and “NO HOSPITAL PARKING!” in bold red letters.  Clearly the city was aware of the problem.  Clearly the city felt it wasn’t its problem.  Driving back around to the front of the complex, I noticed a tow truck on stand-by, waiting like a vulture for a patient to become sick enough or desperate enough to leave an unattended vehicle.I drove North of the hospital until the city’s unnecessary “no parking signs” in the adjacent residential area ceased to bloom. I passed dozens of cars, many of which had parking tickets for daring to park on a city street near a hospital for too long.  The city was not only aware of the problem; it was also actively profiting from it through parking fines.  When I eventually found a legal place to park my vehicle, the walk back to the hospital took 20 minutes.  I’m able-bodied and in good health.  Most hospital patients cannot walk for 20 minutes to go to and from their chemotherapy sessions.  It’s unthinkable.The CEO of the Humber River Regional Hospital, Barb Collins, is very proud of the many awards it has received.  It’s unfortunate that none of these awards are related to the very real, lived, patient experiences that have repeatedly been brought to her attention, like this one.  Imagine the negative impact on the health of a cancer patient who has to deal with the frustration and expense of recovering a towed vehicle at the same time as chemotherapy, all because of “not my problem” finger pointing and poor planning for patient parking!  Perhaps if a “fewest patients’ cars towed” award were created the Hospital would actually address the problem and add it to its list of “achievements”, since awards, not patient care, seem to be the executive priority.

As hydro bills continue to climb, families in North York are suffering

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath met with numerous residents of 2901 Jane St. in North York to discuss the impact of skyrocketing hydro rates on their families. “Hydro rates are out of control in this province because of bad decisions made by the Liberal government to privatize more and more of our electricity system,” said Horwath. “Instead of looking after her friends on Bay Street, the Premier should take real steps to help families throughout the GTA by making hydro affordable.” Residents of 2901 Jane St.  told the NDP Leader about the challenges they are facing as retired people living on a fixed income. Even after switching to equal billing and receiving small rebates through the Ontario Electricity Support Program residents are still struggling, some going so far as to not cook or use electricity at all between 7am to 7pm. The residents of 2901 Jane St. are not unique in their struggles.  Hydro bills have been skyrocketing out of control for many Ontarians all across the province. “I hear stories like these regularly from people I visit,” said Horwath.  “Hydro rates are too high, they have been for a long time and Kathleen Wynne isn’t doing much about it.  In fact, she is making it worse by continuing to sell-off Hydro One which will drive rates even further up.” The NDP Leader urged the Liberal government to do the right thing and cancel her plan to sell-off Hydro One because it will only make electricity more expensive for families, businesses and community organizations in Ontario.

California Sandwiches: A delicious gem in Downsview

Tucked away in an industrial mall at the north-west corner of Sheppard Ave. W. and Chesswood Drive is California Sandwiches where they make the best hot Italian veal sandwiches on this side of mama’s kitchen.It’s a family business that reaches back into the history of Toronto and the heart of little Italy.  In 1969 Christina and Giuseppe Papa opened a small grocery store at 244 Claremont Avenue between College St. and Dundas St. -a block away from where I grew up on Clinton Street. It was a typical mid-block grocery store that served the local neighbourhood.Their timing couldn’t have been worse.   The area’s first supermarket, the Power Store, had just opened on Bloor Street and as more people bought cars and refrigerators their shopping patterns changed.  The local mid-block grocery was dead.  With seven kids to feed they had to do something to survive.   The answer came out of Signora Papa’s kitchen.  It was hot juicy Italian veal sandwich with a ‘to die for’ Sunday sauce that nobody could resist.They began making the sandwiches at the rear of the store.  In the early days, Gina Severino, one of the five daughters (who now operates a California Sandwich shop in Woodbridge) remembers her brother hustling orders for sandwiches in pool rooms and at construction sites which she helped delivered on her bicycle.As the fame of the sandwiches spread, deliveries expanded with orders from as far away as the downtown area.  California Sandwiches became a favorite of many Bay Street law firms. Toronto Council often ordered them when the meetings extended through the dinner break.In 1993, two of the sisters, Mary and Yolanda open a second California Sandwich shop here in Downsview which has been dishing out sandwiches: veal, chicken, steak, smothered in mama’s sauce, onions cheese and mushrooms, since that time.Before she died, their mother made them promise that the business would never be franchised.  There are now 12 California Sandwich shops each one owned by a different member of the family.  Everyone has their own unique décor but what they all have in common is the family recipe and a devotion to quality.So how is a California sandwich different from any other sandwich?  Everything is made to order, fresh and from scratch.   It doesn’t sit there waiting for you like a burger in a fast food chain:  Each sandwich is made to your specs.  You can order your sandwiches hot (spicy), medium, or sweet with a side of olives, rush it to your table and wash it down with a bottle of pop or an ice cold beer. Enjoy!

Community Meeting on the Future of the Jane and Finch area

Dozens of community members from the area met at the former Regina Paget school site on Norfinch in early December to discuss the future of the area. The meeting was organized by Community Action Planning Group  - York West (CAPG), whose mandate is to influence the development of the area and its social environment.Many problems in the area can be traced to poor planning decisions from 20 or 30 years ago, such as poor transit connections, which are made more difficult because of the physical layout of the neighbourhood. The group organized a meeting to inform community members of community benefits that may be used in the near future and how these can help shape the Jane and Finch area.One of the biggest changes to the area will be the construction of the LRT along Finch, which is scheduled to see construction start in 2018-19. Not only will this create better transit for the area and clean up the roadways for drivers, but there are a number of other benefits for Jane and Finch. Participants at the meeting learned that there is a big push by an organization called Toronto Community Benefits Network(http://www.communitybenefits.ca/) to create local jobs out of it, but there are also other opportunities.Metrolinx, the agency that will be building the LRT and creating the jobs in the process, also needs to have a place to park all those new trains. They have chosen to buy and re-purpose the empty field north east of Jane and Finch next to the mall. CAPG and the local City Councillor, Anthony Perruzza, have worked to have the City set out a number of policies to create more than just a car house for the LRT. You can see the details of the City report on what these added community benefits could entail once approved here: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2015.MM11.23For more information or to get involved email the group here: jf-capg@mail.com

Breaking Barriers through Art in Toronto

Ojo Agi is a Toronto based Nigerian-Canadian artist. Her artwork seeks to explore races or identities that are often ignored in contemporary art. In 2012, Ojo worked with Alex Folzi on an exclusive t-shirt collection. In 2015, Ojo Agi's art was featured in a pop-up gallery in Ottawa, Ontario.HA: Tell me about yourself. Can you explain your transition from a Tumblr account to a personal website?OA : My name is Ojo Agi and I'm a visual artist currently based in Toronto. I've always loved making art and about six years ago I started posting my artwork online. I received a lot of positive feedback, which encouraged me to continue making art, but the downside of social media platforms is that you lose control of the context once you post online. People were reposting my work and it was rarely credited back to me. Two years ago I made my own site, which has helped to contain my work and act as an online portfolio.HA: What is the message that you try to convey through your pictures?OA : Growing up, I rarely--if ever--saw people like me represented positively in the media I consumed. So writing stories and drawing pictures has been my way of making up for it. At the core of it (message), is representation, but simply representing women like me in non-stereotypical ways has also been an act of resistance against white supremacist, patriarchal standards.HA : Where do you gather inspiration for your art work? Are there any artists who have influenced your work?OA: I take in inspiration from so many sources--photographs, fabrics, people on the street, other artists. Some of my favourites are Dessie Jackson, Stella Blu and Daniel Segrove but I have many, many more.HA: When "marketing" your work to people what techniques have worked and what has not ?OA: I'm still trying to figure that out! But I can say that exposure for exposure's sake is not beneficial. I have to learn to market myself to the right audiences and be selective with how I choose to show (and, therefore, brand) my work. This means saying no to some opportunities and working to create my own if I can't find what I'm looking for. For example, I hosted a pop-up gallery in May 2015 which had a great turnout and helped showcase my art locally. It also set the tone for how I want my work to be shared with the public and gave people an idea of the standard I'm looking for.HA: Have you faced any criticism or misconceptions concerning your work? How have you tried to alleviate such circumstances in which you felt that you were misunderstood?OA: Once someone commented on my Instagram photo that I only drew racially ambiguous people. It was absurd since I was in the middle of posting my "Daughters of Diaspora" collection which was based specifically on reference photos of African models (my Nigerian friend included).I thought a lot of it was chalked up to the commenter's ignorance about what looks "black" or "African" enough. The conversation went back and forth but ultimately I can say this: if there is something you feel is missing in art or media, then create it! One person can't (and shouldn't) represent everyone. So if there's a gap, look for ways you can fill it.

The Economics of Flushing your Toilet

Water is free. It falls from the sky. So why is the water bill so high? When you think about it, we have a pretty amazing system. You flush your toilet, it flows down to Lake Ontario where it is cleaned at a disposal plant before it is dumped into the lake. They then suck it up from the lake, purify it, pump it up to your home where you open your tap and drink it. The price of the water is determined by how much it costs to clean it, deliver it and take the waste away.The Toronto water system, through most of its history, operated at a loss. Downtown homes didn’t even have water meters. You paid a flat rate for water based on the number of taps in your home. In 2005 the city made a conscious policy decision to restructure the water payment system so that the cost of water would rise until it reached the point where it actually covered the costs of cleaning, delivering it and removing all waste. Right now in the Keele St. and Finch Ave. neighbourhoods the sewer system is being rebuilt. It’s the water rate that is paying for this upgrade.The 2005 decision included a policy of annual increases in the water rates. Between 2005 and 2016 the price of water rose from $1.35 per cubic meter to $3.45 per cubic meter, an increase of 255%. The expectation was that as the price rose and water became more expensive people would start to take measures to conserve it. Apart from wanting to cover the real cost of supplying water, the city’s secondary objective was to get you to use less water. Toronto council has increased the price of water by an average of 9% a year each year since 2005. If they had done that with your property taxes or TTC fares there would be a revolution to rival the Boston Tea Party.The standard toilet most people have in their homes uses seven gallons (US liquid gallons) or (26.5 litres) of water to flush. In 2005 it cost you three and a half cents to flush that toilet. Today that cost has grown to nine cents a flush. If the average household size is three people and each flushes the toilet three times a day, the actual cost of water to flush the toilet in your house is $296 a year; up from $115.00 in 2005.Modern low flow toilets use a fraction of the water. The new standard six litre toilets use four times less water than the toilet most people sit on. The water bill for flushing this toilet is $ 69. That’s a savings of $227 a year. If you buy one of the new three litre ultra-low flow models your savings increases to $261 a year.The cost of a new low flow toilet ranges from $112 to $568 with the average around $270. If you can install it yourself, all the better. If not, allow around $200 for installation charges.That means that your new toilet will pay for itself in about two years.Get off the pot, go to your local hardware store, pick out a low flow toilet and stop flushing your money down the drain!

Silhouettes

***Special Winter Story***I’m repeating it in my head. Saying it over, and over again, and loudly, so that maybe I’ll start to believe it, to live it. The lights around me are twinkling, glittering, hopelessly trying to make this grim day shine. The songs are playing on a loop, both in my head and on the radio.“Tis the season to be jolly,”Teeth chattering and wheezy, I stomp my frozen feet trying to bring back some feeling, any feeling.In the distance there are children hurrying home, away from the flint-grey skies, with ears on fire and icy-blue because they refused to wear a hat. My boots crunch over the dead leaves as I saunter home, wind howling and nipping at my frosted skin. The first signs of winter grew boldly. My eyes gaze over my surroundings; the cold winds have peeled away every last leaf that clung desperately onto the branches of the giant tree just a few hours ago. Appearing barren and succumbing to its mighty will, fall surrendered, cowering in the past.My clothes feel damp and my eyes heavy.“Fa la la la la, la la la la,”High above me the dark clouds hang, commanding winter to come forward. There is no horizon, just grey. Defeated, I reach my home grievously trying to leave this day behind me just as the icy layers begin to lower down. I dare not look back upon a world so stark and bereft of colour.When it settled, the empty skies fell silent and a gentle hush from the wind cloaked the land, still strong enough to steal your breath. I stare into the fire I have made, watching the fleeting flames as they crackle and pop back at me before hissing to life again. I emerge from my den, intrigued as to what my frigid world, so grey and dark, has become.Opening the door, the cool air hit me. While the snow flakes dance and shimmer around me, I stare across the snowcapped trees and catch a glimpse of what’s to come. I step forward, leaving behind the empty shell of who I once was. Before me the path glistens, taking on a multitude of colours the way crystals often do, yet ice and snow on broken concrete is all it is. All this beauty over everything dead, but colours appear brighter against the pure white blanket.Finally looking up, I see the snow delicately falling, feather-like, gently kissing my cheeks before melting. Flushed with relief, cheeks burning from the cold, I feel lighter. Fresh sheets of snow cover everything; untouched, untainted, unharmed. Snow has a grace and elegance so pure, soothing to the hard edges of the cold world.The milky moon hung in the sky as only an ornament could. The frosty air swirls around me making my bare hands tingle, while silhouettes of winter branches cascade over the ground. I realize I’m just standing there, letting the world move around me. Everything can seem so desolate at times, but winter is a wonderland.

Winter proofing your home: You could cut your energy bills by 30% for free!

Winter is here with its blustery cold winds that keep the furnace running at all hours, consuming energy. As prices for electricity and natural gas continue to rise, home owners and tenants are always on the lookout for opportunities to reduce their monthly bill. In collaboration with the Ontario government, local electricity and gas companies have partnered with non-profit company GreenSaver to help reduce energy consumption, in some cases by up to 30%! Best of all, the programs are free for qualifying households.There are two main programs: Home Winter Proofing, in collaboration with Enbridge, which focuses on improving the heat-retention of dwellings; and, Home Assistance, in collaboration with Toronto Hydro, which focuses on reducing electricity and water consumption. Both programs aim to assist low-income households, who qualify, based on the number of people living in the household and a corresponding income threshold. For example, a family of 4 people qualifies for the Home Assistance program if it has an annual income less than $43,500 and qualifies for the Home Winter Proofing program if it has annual income less than $61,000. Households that receive one or more allowances or benefits from the Ontario government, including disability, allowance for seniors, guaranteed income supplement, and several other support programs also qualify for both programs.Qualifying households will receive a scheduled visit from a home energy expert who will identify opportunities to upgrade the residence to reduce energy consumption. Upgrades may include insulation in walls, ceilings, and roofs; weather stripping and draft-proofing for doors and windows; programmable thermostats; new high-efficiency refrigerators, freezers, or dehumidifiers; low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators; and energy-saving light bulbs.There’s no catch! The upgrades identified by the assessment are all provided for free and warrantied against defects. The best part is that each upgrade contributes to reducing electricity or natural gas consumption, especially during the winter months when warm air escapes through small leaks and through walls and ceilings with poor insulation.To see if your household qualifies, visit www.greensaver.org/consumer/ or call 1-888-855-3106 to speak with a home energy saving expert and to apply for the programs. If you don’t qualify for the free programs, don’t worry, GreenSaver also offers cost-efficient energy conservation upgrades for your home on a non-profit basis. Visit www.greensavercontracting.ca to request a quote.Chances are that you’ll save money in the long run by investing in improving the efficiency of your home today. By working together to save energy, not only are we reducing our monthly utility bills but we’re also reducing our impact on the environment, a worthy goal that our whole community shares.

Tolls are Not the Way to Build a City

The City’s Mayor recently proposed to put up tolls on the Gardiner and the DVP in order to raise money for transit and roads. Many people support this idea as the environmentally responsible thing to do and just as many more think that out of town drivers need to pay their fair share too.This line of thinking, however, has many problems. For starters, this new levy is going to hurt working people that have no travel options the most. If you work downtown, but have no other mode of transportation and cannot afford to live downtown, this will be very unfair to you. Most people cannot afford to live in the core of the City any more. If that is where you work or study you are not driving there by choice. Nobody drives downtown without a reason during rush hour nowadays, the commute is awful. Let us not forget that the drive in the 401 is awful, because Hwy 407 costs money to use. If we force cars and the people that drive them off our highways for environmental reasons, but Lakeshore Blvd and Avenue Road become rush hour parking lots, will that reduce the carbon foot print of the City? Where is the study that shows that the effects seen in other places will work here? What options are being built for commuters and when will these be available for them?Many of us do not have an easy transit route downtown and a car isn’t an option for many, but is instead the only means of getting to the place where you make a living. Tolls may, in theory, provide some resolution for the transportation needs of suburban commuters, but do not solve their real life transportation problems for the next 10 plus years. The poorer you are as a regular commuter, the worse tolls will make your situation, because tolls are after all a flat tax that hits the working people relatively harder.Tolls are not used normally to pay for major infrastructure projects as it is being proposed in Toronto, but instead for operational maintenance. Tolls are normally used to repave roads and other operational costs and City’s alone do not build major infrastructure project in North America. The City is short of money, because the Province has structured it that way and it lacks the power to make a better choice, but it is still a poor choice. We must remember that the Gardiner and the DVP are Provincial highways, but the government is making the City maintain them. There is no natural disaster we are dealing with, but rather, we are dealing with the downloading that has been happening for decades now.Furthermore, to think that tolls would allow Toronto to build new subways lines, more LRT’s or more highways is not thinking outside the box. It’s defying reality. You would never be able to raise enough money from this type of taxation tool. Tolls will be bad for the health of the City in the long run because they accentuate poverty.Most of us do not like user fees instinctively. Not too long ago in the Advocate, Howard Moscoe wrote an article about hospital parking fees and we had a good response from our readers about that article (http://www.downsviewadvocate.ca/2016/01/enough-with-hospital-parking-fees/). There is no difference between parking fees in a hospital, the fee you pay nowadays for your passport renewal, fees to use libraries or public parks or any number of other fees that are new and that keep on adding to the cost of living for working people.The truth is, neither property taxes nor tolls will build a City. In order to build a City we need the Province and Canada to come to the table with plans and the funds to build and maintain our infrastructure. Hundreds of millions of dollars that were available to the City of Toronto and other cities yearly throughout Ontario in the past are no longer there. They came from Provincial coffers through income tax, a much more progressive taxation method. We must change the existing conditions of Toronto and other cities to truly fix our transit problems. The services we all share and use collectively, like roads, libraries and hospitals need to be funded properly, but tolls will not solve our current problems.