HVRA Board Minutes

Tuesday, July 17, 2007   7 p.m.

Kensington Gardens

Present:  Gus Sinclair, Sandra DeAthe, Jane Auster, Jane Perdue, Leslie Thompson, Sue Dexter, Stuart Schoenfeld, Richard Gilbert, Michael Heydon

Regrets:  Katrina McHugh, Margaret Beare, Tim Grant, David Booz, Richard Longley, John Pham

Guests:  David Hlynsky, Shirley Yanover

1. Chair's Welcome: The meeting commenced at 7:05 p.m.

2. Agenda:  The agenda was approved with the addition of four items under Other Business:

• a. Directors' & Officers' liability insurance
• b. Ontario Place helicopter Richard G.
• c. Bloor Visioning Study Sue D.
• d. Brunswick House patio Sue D.

3. Approval of Minutes: The minutes of March 13, 2007, May 15, 2007, and June 19, 2007 were passed without changes. Moved by Sue Dexter, seconded by Jane Auster.

4. 60 Borden Street
Shirley Yanover gave an update on the disturbing situation at 60 Borden Street, thanking the Board for its support, and stating that the corner had been turned on the problem.  Twenty-four people were present at the meeting on Friday, July 6th in Councillor Vaughan's office to discuss the problems; one of the attendees was a police officer.

A 2-hour meeting was held with the Habitat people, who administer these homes; they were very sympathetic and called the landlord on behalf of the neighbours to resolve the pressing issues.  Adam Vaughan also called the landlord, and was generally very supportive of the neighbourhood.  Six of the worst offenders have been evicted from 60 Borden, although all of them are appealing.  This is a concern, as the six are due to leave this weekend, and may blame neighbours for the eviction and therefore exact some form of retaliation.

Some of the difficulties in dealing with 60 Borden Street have been exacerbated by the police, who treat the tenants as mentally ill, thus assuming nothing will happen if the perpetrators are charged, so the police write no reports and lay no charges.  The opinion of the meeting was that we should take this culture of non-response up with the police, as this has become part of the problem.  The tenants know that little or nothing will happen to them as a consequence of the police being called.  Events as serious as incendiary rockets sent into neighbours' yards and starting fires have elicited no actions from the police.  If left unchallenged, the perpetrators have license to do it again; this is clearly a criminal act and should be treated as such. 

80% of the funding for Habitat comes from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MHLTC), and our information at this point is that they have a very poor tracking system for monitoring patients as they are moved from one place to another.  Consequently, problems are not noted and dealt with before they get out of hand, they are simply moved from one facility to another.

Action:  Shirley and David will put together half a page of recommendations that would assist in tracking this anti-social behaviour - "who would do what".

Habitat has asked MHLTC to set guidelines for funding.  HVRA should talk, with the help of Adam Vaughan, to the MHLTC about their policies for funding these organizations.  Stuart suggested that changing policies like these might be best handled by having a social scientist write a report - Stuart will scout around to see if any colleagues are interested.

The guests left at 7:45p.m.

A motion was made by Richard Gilbert that the Board approve two letters, one to Division 14 to request police assistance over the short-term for the neighbourhood, and the other to the Provincial authority urging policy changes to the weakness in their system, and specifying that we want to work with them.

5. Committee Reports

     a.      Environment                                            

         i.      Trees                      Jane A.
Jane is watering the sakuras on Bathurst and requests help.  Sandra will give a hand with the large and heavy buckets required to be carried across Bathurst Street at risk to life and limb.
The tree inventory people are out and about doing the project.

         ii.      Solar                      Sue D.
Sue reports she is generating kilowatt energy from her roof.  Excess power will be exported to her neighbours.  There have been slight problems with the bureaucracy - lots of forms to be filled out; Sue will share her form with the other 40 people.  The materials supplier needs a better system, although the crews were great.

         iii.      Graffiti                   
No report.

     b.      Membership                       Gus and Richard G.
The content part of the web site is under control, the membership part is not.  A meeting is needed with Jason, Richard G, Katrina, and Gus before August 4th.  Jason may need to re-work the membership section as bits are not working properly.

     c.       Community Liaison             Gus
Fall Fair - we have never had security at the Fair, but now are required to have 2 guards.  Two off-duty police officers will cost $800 each, private security $600 each, although police approval  is needed to do this.  This is a requirement of the Had of Permits, Parks & Recreation.  If we have to have guards, we will have to change how we do the Fall Fair. 

     d.      College Street                                 Richard G.
Adam is working on the patio matter and the pilot clearway is set for next year - it is supposed to go to Council this week.  Enforcing the numerous violations this year has not been discussed; this will be addressed after the Council meeting.

     e.      Zoning
No report.

      f.      Communications                             Michael
Michael no longer has a contact at the Gleaner; neither the Annex nor HV is in the paper this month.  Action: Gus will talk to Brian Burchill at the Gleaner.

     g.      U of T Liaison                                Sue D.
The idea of giving the Robert Street field back to the City was not well received.  We might trade them something for the field, or get more consideration for use.

     h.      Community Police
We need to find out from Margaret whether she got a response from the police about her letter concerning 60 Borden.

6. Other Business

a.      D & O liability insurance issue was re-opened for further discussion.  The question of the likelihood of being sued was raised, and a number of possible reasons cited, e.g., a solar panel malfunction, an opinion on development.

What is the cost, what is the benefit, what is the likelihood?

We have checks and balances in place; for example, no individual sends out letter under the HVRA letterhead without being vetted by at lest two other Board members.    We reflect the community.  We facilitate, we don't decide.

Possible risks:         - Fall Fair (we have separate insurance for the Fair)
                              - Annoyed people
                              - Solar equipment suppliers
                              - Business may hold us responsible for their collapse if a                                                      patio application is denied

Good discussion, no decision.

b.      Ontario Place helicopter                  Richard G.
The helicopter has been going to and fro and hovering over the city approximately every 14 minutes.  Richard spoke to the City By-law people, the Airport Authority, and Transport Canada, with little result.  This has been going on for a couple of years, but is much worse this year.
Richard Gilbert moved that the Chair be authorized to write a letter to the Minister of Transport on behalf of the Board complaining about the noise from the sightseeing helicopter from Ontario Place.  Seconded by Sue Dexter and carried.

A discussion followed about the big problem noise has become in Toronto, and the suggestion made that the Board should take this on as an issue.  Complaints are constant, and the Toronto noise by-law doesn't kick in until 11 p.m.   Action:  Gus will raise this with Adam to request him to have a comprehensive report on the level to the problem.   Currently, the owness is on the victim to prove the problem.

c.      Bloor Visioning Study
Annex reps spoke to the Dominion Store to get them involved in the Bloor Visioning.

d.      Brunswick                                      Gus
The Brunswick has not applied for a patio, although they said they had.  They have started to put out benches on the side of the building at night for the smokers, who are loud and boisterous.  While they can't serve alcohol, the can have the benches.  This is very much like a patio.

Meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.  Next meeting August 21, 2007, same time, same place.