July 20 - Update

Dear Friends and Neighbours, The Weston Village BIA has announced that the Weston Farmers' Market will be able to open for this season! They are planning to open on Saturday, August 1st from 9 AM at 16 John Street. There will be strict regulations in place to ensure the safety of vendors and customers due to COVID-19. There is also an opportunity for students to work at the Weston Farmer's Market market over the season! Please click here to see the job description and how to apply. Please be advised that the York Recreation Centre pool will unfortunately remain closed due to technical issues impacting the pool. The start-up of aquatic programs has been postponed and will re-open as soon as possible. For up-to-date information, please check the City’s website for Pool Closures and Service Alerts. In the interim, the following locations provide alternate swim options:  Smythe Outdoor Pool – 61 Black Creek Trail  Weston Lions Outdoor Pool – 2125 Lawrence Ave West Amesbury Outdoor Pool – 155 Culford Road Joseph J Piccininni Community Centre - 3169 St. Clair Av West   Giovanni Caboto Outdoor Pool – 3167 St. Clair Av West  I held an initial community meeting on February 24, 2020 to discuss the development partnership between Weston Park Baptist Church and Castlepoint Numa. The land at 1871 and 1885 Weston Road is subject to redevelopment, and residents who attended the community meeting were able to provide input on what they would like to see included on the site. Castlepoint Numa have just launched a website with information about the project, the presentation materials and meeting minutes from the February 24 Public Open House, an anonymous feedback form, and a section that provides all questions and comments received to date as well as their responses. This information is available at www.westonpark.ca and will be continually updated.  Beginning on July 21, Metrolinx is making wearing a face covering on GO Transit and UP Express mandatory. A face covering is to be worm while onboard GO & UP Express vehicles and in stations. For more information on steps being taken by Metrolinx to ensure customer safety during COVID-19, please visit their website. The provincial government is proposing to extend the expiry date for most marriage licenses. This applies to those issued between December 1, 2019, and the end of the province-wide Declaration of Emergency due to COVID-19. Couples with a qualifying unused marriage license issued during this timeframe would have up to 24 months to use it and would not need to replace it. More details are available here. For Youth Initiative (located at 1652 Keele St) have launched the For Youth Initiative Future Fund Campaign aimed at raising money to help fund post-secondary education for youth in York-South Weston! This September, they are hoping to award 25 scholarships to 25 local young people - but they will need some support from the community to do this. If you are able to, please consider making a donation that will directly impact our youth. Donations can be made here. Thank you! Sincerely, Frances

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CITY-WIDE UPDATES: City of Toronto launches ParksPlayTO and Summer in the 6IX to provide free outdoor programs for children and youth in Toronto Beginning today, ParksPlayTO will offer free drop-in and activity-based, recreation programming Monday to Friday each week at multiple locations. ParksPlayTO will offer activities such as nature exploring, gardening, active games, arts and crafts, family fitness, story-telling and music circles for children and their caregivers. Any child age 12 and under accompanied by a caregiver age 18 or older can participate in ParksPlayTO. Caregivers can bring up to four children and must remain at the park to participate in the program. ParksPlayTO morning sessions will begin at 9:15 a.m. and afternoon sessions will begin at 1:30 p.m. Summer in the 6IX, which also begins today, is a free program designed for Toronto youth, aged 13 to 24, offering opportunities to drop in, meet up with friends and participate in fun, themed activities. Summer in the 6IX will offer a range of programming including dance, fitness, ecology and sports as well as leadership, employment, arts and media. Summer in the 6IX will be available to all Toronto youth at a variety of Toronto parks. There will be three sessions offered a day at multiple locations across the city seven days a week. These two new programs were developed alongside Toronto Public Health with a strong focus on health and safety. Programming is designed for participants to maintain physical distance from other individuals and groups. Equipment will be sanitized between uses, or individual supplies will be provided. Staff will conduct a verbal health screening with each participant prior to the program start and collect caregiver or participant contact information. Registration is not required. People can just head to the park when activities are scheduled. Click here for a map of locations and program/workshop details.

City of Toronto to shift Gardiner Expressway lane reductions between Jarvis and Cherry Streets for final phase of project

The City of Toronto has achieved a construction milestone in the Strategic Rehabilitation of the Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis and Cherry Streets. Crews have replaced the concrete deck and steel girders on the north half of the expressway, the westbound off-ramp to Sherbourne Street and repaired the westbound off-ramp to Yonge-Bay-York Streets, and will now transition to renew the south half of the expressway for the final phase of work. At 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, July 26, the westbound off-ramp to Yonge-Bay-York Streets will reopen to traffic following repairs that closed the ramp on April 18. At 5 a.m. on Monday, July 27 the work zone will transition to reopen the north half of the expressway and fully close the south half of the Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis and Cherry Streets so crews can replace the concrete deck and steel girders of the expressway. Two lanes of traffic in each direction will be maintained on the newly completed north half of the expressway from the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) to York Street. The project is on-track for completion by Spring 2021. From Saturday, July 25 to Monday, July 27, there will be traffic restrictions on the Gardiner Expressway from the DVP to Jarvis Street to safely transition the work zone. To read the full news release and find out more details about expected traffic restrictions, please click here. City of Toronto update on COVID-19 There are 15,144 cases of COVID-19 in the city, an increase of 107 cases since Friday. There are 111 people hospitalized, with 26 in ICU. In total, 13,498 people have recovered from COVID-19, an increase of 121 cases since Friday. To date, there have been 1,137 COVID-19 deaths in Toronto. Case status data can be found on the City’s reporting platform.  Toronto continues to be in Stage 2 of the provincial reopening plan. As part of Stage 2 reopening, a total of 119 community and recreation centres, including 29 locations with indoor pools reopened to the public today for limited use. Residents can visit community recreation centres to make use of lounges, meeting and multi-purpose rooms, indoor pools, computer labs and washrooms. Gymnasiums, fitness or active areas, kitchens, studios, saunas and whirlpools remain closed. Visitors must wear a mask or face covering, will be screened upon entry and asked for contact information for contact tracing, should it be required. More information is available on the City’s website. As COVID-19 continues to circulate in the community, residents visiting a beach or park must practise physical distancing and avoid crowding. Torontonians are reminded to respect parks and beaches for the enjoyment of all. Bonfires, littering and parties involving excessive alcohol are not permitted. If a litter bin is full, residents are asked to take their garbage with them so it can be disposed of properly. Barbecues and hibachi grills are not allowed on beaches. Provincial Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act orders and the City bylaw on physical distancing remain in effect. Yesterday, the City received 62 complaints related to parks use and physical distancing. Officers have cautioned nearly 4,600 people this month about physical distancing, alcohol, bonfires and littering bylaws. Bylaw officers issued five tickets yesterday. This weekend, enforcement officers from Municipal Licensing & Standards, Toronto Public Health, Toronto Police Service, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario were out to increase inspections of liquor-licensed establishments in the city and address businesses that continue to disobey provincial orders. Inspectors investigated 26 complaints about restaurants and bars this weekend. A total of 10 were found to be non-compliant. One charge and nine warnings were issued for failing to provide for distancing on an outdoor patio. Toronto restaurants and bars are open for delivery, takeout and outdoor dining only. Customers can only be inside a restaurant or bar to access an outdoor dining area (i.e. walk through to a back patio), pick up food, pay or use the washroom. While within the enclosed public space, customers and employees must wear a mask as required by the establishment’s mask policy and the City’s Mask or Face Covering Bylaw. The City’s website is updated daily with the latest health advice and information about City services, social supports and economic recovery measures. Check the City’s COVID-19 web page for answers to common questions before contacting the Toronto Public Health COVID-19 Hotline or 311.

For the latest updates from the City of Toronto, please click here.

For the latest updates from the Federal Government, please click here. 

For the latest updates from the Province of Ontario, please click here.