Toronto Real Estate Report

It's Getting Cold

As winter slowly approaches here are a few facts about winter in Toronto.

1. The snowiest day was on December 11th, 1944 with 48.3 cm of snowfall. The City was shut down, all traffic except emergency vehicles was banned from the streets.  The armed forces cleared the roads and sidewalks.  Home deliveries of milk, ice and fuel were cancelled and funerals postponed.
2. Statistically Toronto has a 57% chance of having a White Christmas, according to Environment Canada.  Snow does fall before Christmas, but most of it falls from mid Janaury to March. However, over the last 170 years, it has always snowed in Toronto after the first day of Spring.
3. Early in 1999 a series of snowstorms hit the City, with the first and the worst arriving on January 2nd, dumping somewhere between 20-40 cm of snow.  Four more storms followed, dropping a record 118 cm of snow in 12 days, which was 4 cm more than the average annual for the city. The Mayor at the time, Mel Lastman called in the military and more than 400 troops arrived to get the City moving again. Snowstorms are extremely expensive to clear.  Toronto usually spends $65 million annually on snow removal, by the end of January 1999 the snow had cost the City $70 million!

 Now what would Ford do? Forget the gravy train, what about the snow plows?

Complaint about the City?

Who do you call to complain about the administration of the City of Toronto? Did you know that the City has an Ombudsman? The office opened in April 2009 and processed 1057 complaints in the first year.

The office is only to be used as a last resort, after you have tried to sort it out with the City officials. Here are a few facts from the website:

• Ombudsman are impartial investigators of the public’s complaints about the administration of City government, including its agencies, boards and commissions.
• We look at problems when the public service’s procedures and processes have not resolved the complaint.
• The Ombudsman does not question an organization just because someone does not like or disagrees with a decision. You must be personally affected and be able to demonstrate that you have a legitimate complaint as a result of a decision, act, omission, or recommendation.

To read more about this office, check out the website Toronto Ombudsman

Send an email at ombuds@toronto.ca

Or call the office at 416-392-7062 to complain or have them speak to your group about specific City services they may be affected by.

The Ships are coming!

Do you love Tall Ships?  The Redpath Toronto Waterfront Festival takes place this weekend from June 30th to July 4th.

According to the website, this is what it's all about:

The Redpath Toronto Waterfront Festival is an annual festival celebrating Toronto's waterfront, managed by the Waterfront  Business Improvement Area (BIA).  The Waterfront BIA is dedicated to raising the awareness of Toronto's urban waterfront by promoting Toronto as a "Waterfront Destination". Numerous recreational and cultural activities add to the allure of this unique neighbourhood with the Waterfront Festival positioned as the signature event.

Over the 5 day Festival, 15 international and local ships will participate, a fleet not seen here since 1994.  The Festival will enhance the Toronto lakeside experience by delivering a premiere event that will also provide environmental educational programming through its interactive Green Village, as well as cultural entertainment through unique "TALL SHIP" experiences.

Check out the website for the complete details: Redpath Toronto Waterfront Festival

A garden of joy

I love my garden.  Getting it ready in the spring, cutting away all the dead stuff, weeding, putting down fresh wood chips, and planting flowers and a few new perennials each year.  I enjoy having my coffee in the backyard, surveying my handy work, seeing what is about to blossom and enjoying the peaceful setting.  A welcome start to a busy day ahead.

As I stopped by this spring to touch base with many of my clients, they often walk me through their gardens and it's evident how much joy a garden brings, it's not all about granite counters when it comes to enjoying your home.

Unfortunately not everyone has the opportunity to enjoy a garden but now the garden-lovers version of Lavalife has sprung up in Toronto.  Matching wanna-be green thumbs with backyards to share, they plant and tend the garden in your backyard and share the vegetable bounty.

Check out the website if you're looking for a "match made in your heavenly garden": Sharing Backyards

Happy Canada Day

The City is action packed on Canada Day!  Take your pick from a variety of events throughout the city and take advantage of all the fun this city has to offer.

Canada Day Jam – at Woodbine Park noon to 9 p.m. presented by New Country 95.3.
Visit Canada Day Jam

Canada Day at Harbourfront Centre – from 11 am to 11 p.m. a free event that includes concerts, various performances and exhibits. Visit Harbourfront

Canada Day at Ontario Place – Enjoy a full day of festivities including performances by Canadian musicians, Inuit performers and a fabulous display of fireworks as the Canada Dry Festival of Lights displays a fireworks show as the conclusion of the day.

Canada Day at Queen’s Park – from 11 am to 5 p.m on the lawn of Queen’s Park.  Over 25 free attractions including stage performances, cultural dancing, children’s singing, face and mural painting, arts and crafts, inflatable games, strolling performers, hockey and basketball shooting, rock climbing and much more.  Visit Queen's Park Activities

Have fun!

Toronto is Entertaining!

This City is full of fabulous activities every weekend.  Who needs a cottage when you can hop from one music venue to another, participate in a wide variety of cultural events or enjoy a day by the lake at Ashbridges Bay, Harbourfront or the Toronto Island.

This weekend is brimming with a variety of fun things to do.  Here is just a small sample:

TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival runs from Friday June 26th through to Sunday July 5th, visit
Toronto Jazz Festival

Toronto City Roots  Festival runs free concerts at the Distillery District through the weekend of June 27th & 28th, visit Toronto City Roots Festival

Pride Week 2009 kicked off June 19th and runs through to Sunday June 28th, visit Pride Toronto

The Film Racing 2009 Tour – Toronto filmmakers were challenged to create original short film over a 24 hour period June 19/20th.  The resulting films will be screened at the Bloor Cinema from 7-9 p.m. and will include a selection of top films from other cities on the 2009 tour.  Visit The Film Racing Tour

Now I love a Muskoka chair as much as the next girl, BUT when you’re in the city it can sure be fun!  No wonder our housing market is so strong in Toronto, who wouldn’t want to live here!

The Big Red Ball

We stumbled upon it yesterday.  Friday afternoon lunch with my kids downtown, and a stroll through Nathan Phillips Square.  There is was, a huge inflated red ball wedged under a concrete walkway.  We were drawn to it, tried to make sense of it, people were taking pictures.  Was it an accident?  Did it get stuck there?  Can we touch it?

We walked around it, took a picture, my daughter touched it.

Turns out it's part of the Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity.  Which offers 10 days of theatre, dance, music, discussion, visual arts, literature and more.

The concept behind the RedBall Project, from Kurt Perscheke, is about engaging the public and how they react to it.  It has traveled the world from St. Louis, to Barcelona, Paris and Sydney drawing people in and giving Perscheke the opportunity to observe.  It moves each day and is scheduled today at the John Street Roundhouse at 255 Bremner Blvd. at 11 am.

To read about how Toronto is reacting, check out the article entitled "Artist puts the ball in our court" and get more information on the festival:  Luminato Schedule of Events

Toronto has it all!

Toronto.  What an incredible city.  It has so much to offer, no matter what your needs or interests are.

There are a huge variety of events throughout the year that draw people out of their homes or from other cities to enjoy cultural events, music, arts, sporting events, environmental causes, the list is endless.  That is only one of the many things that make Toronto so desirable, and what will help our city to weather the economic and housing slow down that appears to have landed.

Here is a list of just a small number of events that I have noticed taking place over the summer and into the fall:

The Beaches Jazz Festival, The Virgin Music Festival, Buskerfest, Caribana, The Nordic Festival, Queen West Art Crawl, Car Free Day at Dundas Square, The Toronto Film Festival and Nuit Blance, which I attended last night.

We started at Yonge/Bloor, headed west to the Bata Shoe Museum where I was able to participate in a huge Paint by Numbers exhibit.  The city streets were packed, everyone seemed to be out and enjoying the huge variety of events taking place, from visual presentations to live action art in the street.

Then we headed to College, to experience "Zombies in Condoland".  College Park was flooded with people, tents were set up to allow you to put on make up and costumes to experience the role of a Zombie.  Then down to Dundas Square, again crowded and full of energy.

I love Toronto.

(I think this guy has a condo on the market......)