Jade Wong, Fire and Life Safety Educator, Toronto Fire Services gave an informative presentation on the three pillars of fire prevention: prevention, detection and escape.

For residents living in condominium buildings, the building fire alarm system protects the entire building and includes smoke detection in the hallways and common areas.  In each unit, there is an independent smoke alarm that alerts the residents of the unit of any smoke.  If the smoke alarm in the unit activates, residents are advised not to open their suite door for ventilation, as this will set off the building fire alarm system.  It is recommended that balcony doors or windows be opened to ventilate their unit.

If there is a fire in your unit, residents are advised to evacuate immediately, and to activate the pull station on their floor before using the stairwell to exit.  

If the fire alarm system is ringing, but there is no smoke in your unit, it is optional for residents to evacuate.  If there is smoke and you are unable to leave, close any gaps at the suite door with towels or tape, go to your window or balcony and call 911 to alert firefighters that you need to be rescued.

Unattended cooking is the number 1 cause of fires in the home.  To prevent cooking fires, wear short sleeves and/or tight fitting clothes while cooking, keep your counter clear around the stove and make sure the stove is turned off when leaving your unit.  It is recommended that you keep a pot lid or baking sheet to extinguish any grease fires, since water is not effective.

Smoker's material is the number 1 cause of fatal fires.

Fire prevention tips:

• "give a heater a metre"
• blow out candles before leaving home
• put candles on a sturdy holder
• don't use power bars if they have any black marks or from a dollar store

It is recommended that residents fill out a "In Case of Emergency" form and leave it in an envelope taped on the back of their suite door.  This will assist paramedics in the event that the resident is unconscious or unable to provide medical and contact information in the case of an emergency situation.

Fire extinguishers have a limited life span.  In reality, they can only be used for small fires since they operate for about 5 seconds.  Using a fire extinguisher in the kitchen can damage stoves, cabinets and counters.  Fires in newer appliances can be extinguished by unplugging them, since they are designed so the oxygen is self contained to the appliance.

CO2 detectors are part of the building fire alarm system and located on parking garage levels and in furnace rooms.

Michael L. spoke to the owners of the Ethiopian Restaurant at 4 Irwin regarding how the 646 Yonge Street development would affect them.  They are a long term business operated by the same family.

An update was given on 2023 priorities.  Completed to date: the BCCA Constitution has been updated, we are in compliance with the Ontario Non-profit Corporations Act and the Breadalbane off leash dog park was opened May 9th.  We are working on installation of the Great White Oak bench in Queen's Park this June or July, street furniture installation this year, planning for the Bay Cloverhill Green Loop pedestrian walk and replacement of the non-operational fountain in Queen's Park with a sundial.

Robert Jarvis of Just Be Woodsy spoke about how his company reclaims fallen Toronto trees and creates beautiful furniture and accessories.  (See the previous Notice for more details).

Kathryn H. spoke about area developments, including the Toronto East York Community Council approval for the 25 St. Mary project, bricking of Luke Lane behind Immix (formerly Halo) at 494 Yonge Street in mid-June and a proposal to renovate historic Oddfellows Hall at 450 Yonge Street.  Cathy C. discussed the updates to 10 St. Mary, including the retention of the heritage office building, retail along Yonge Street and a new condominium tower on St. Nicholas that would cantilever over the office building.

Sidewalk safety –  Project Safeguard is the Toronto Police Service program that targeted bikes/ebikes riding on sidewalks, especially food couriers.  The inaugural program last fall in 52 Division was successful and the program will be relaunched this Spring. 
 
The Sidewalk Safety Committee had a very productive meeting with Councillor Dianne Saxe on May 2nd.
At last week’s City Council meeting Councillor Saxe passed a motion to require micro-mobility couriers to be easily identifiable and educated about traffic rules.  She also asked for the City's recommendations to deter ebikes from sidewalks which replaced the original request for police enforcement. Letter of Support was sent.  This matter will be brought before the June 28th Infrastructure and Environment Committee.
 
Updates from the CPLC Meeting included a presentation on fraud prevention.  Inaugural survey results were presented top issue of concern is encampments, followed by sidewalk safety and TTC assaults.  Bay Cloverhill concerns included sidewalk safety, parcel thefts and shoplifting.  Toronto Police emphasized that they continue to patrol the TTC, with on duty officers instead of off duty coverage.  They are working on improving timely answering for non-emergency police calls.  The Executive is looking into organizing a community event in August.

Cathy C. outlined the process for the coordination of special events with the City and event organizers.  St. Joseph Street continues to be challenging, given the limited number of volunteer auxiliary police to direct traffic.

Letters of support were sent out for the 25 St. Mary  development, City's carbon budget, micro-mobility couriers and Avenue Road pedestrian safety.

The Federation of South Toronto Residents Associations (FoSTRA) has partnered with the Build Ontario Line Differently coalition to improve communication with Metrolinx.  Anyone interested in participating would be appreciated.  Volunteers can contribute to the newly formed Environmental Committee that will be meeting in mid-June.

There were no recent issues with homeless people at the Dundonald TTC exit, which was reported to the TTC in February.  Residents didn't support Gasbusters Toronto in attempting to get a ban passed on the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in Toronto
 
There is a new community care program in the Downtown area with peer workers who are dedicated to safe disposal of unused or expired medications, safer drug use equipment, needles, and other medical supplies to prevent HIV, HCV, and STBBI infections, accidental ingestion, misuse, and environmental contamination.  More details will be shared on social media and anyone interested in this program can contact [email protected].

Councillor Moise is bringing participatory budgeting to Toronto Centre Ward 13.  This initiative involves residents proposing and voting on neighbourhood projects. The Bay Cloverhill neighbourhood is in Zone 1.  There will be a virtual information session on Thursday, May 25, 2023 from 6:30 pm to 8 pm and in person pop-up information sessions on  Saturday, May 27th at Dr. Lillian MacGregor Park and Barbara Hall Park, as well as from  Friday, June 23rd to Sunday, June 25th at the Councillor's Pride Toronto booth.

Upcoming special events, town halls. meetings and a mayoral candidates meeting were previewed.

The next meeting will be held Monday August 21st.

In 2016, Robert Jarvis recognized that downtown trees provided an opportunity to turn waste into beautiful furniture and décor that would eliminate landfill dumping.  It is the ultimate in recycling, by recognizing that the urban forest could be honoured by continuing to serve Toronto residents in a different format.  When trees have to be removed for construction or if the tree is unhealthy or in danger of breaking, the City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department and professional arborists cooperate with coordinating selected trunks or branches to be given to Just Be Woodsy.
 
The workshop was first located in a former slaughterhouse at 2 Tecumseth Street in the Niagara neighbourhood.  As often happens in downtown Toronto, the location was slated to become a condominium development.  The workshop moved to 772 Warden Avenue in the Golden Mile area in 2022. 
 
In addition to selling beautifully crafted tables, benches, cubes, shelves and charcuterie boards plus more, Just Be Woodsy offers workshops where you can learn about the urban forest and refine your woodworking skills.  Custom design is an option, as is the creation of a statement art piece. The showroom is currently open Friday afternoons, or by appointment, however opening hours may be extended soon.  If you want to learn more, visit their website at www.justbewoodsy.com, email [email protected] or call 647-515-8998.

Just Be Woodsy works with arborists, the City’s Park, Forestry and Recreation Department and contractors to utilize the wood of trees that must be cut down due to location, age or illness. Once a local Toronto tree is cut down, portions of the trunk are taken to the Just Be Woodsy workshop.  The salvaged wood is stored for at least a few weeks before being milled into sections.  The next step is to put the wood into a massive electric kiln to dry out for 5 days. 
 
The refined wood is then turned into unique and useful furniture and décor items.  Beeswax oil moistures the unstained wood and retains the beauty of each individual tree.  Each piece of wood is laser marked with the type of tree and the geographic coordinates of its original location.

Toronto has 212 different species of trees.  They vary from soft wood to hard wood, heavy to light, patterned to variegated, light yellow colour to dark brown.  So far, the following types of wood have been recovered: