by Kris Scheuer, Town Crier

The board voted to spend about $4 million on improvements to Davisville, Maurice Cody, Eglinton, Hodgson and Spectrum Alternative.

There was fear in the community that this wouldn’t happen. Board staff, parents, residents and school officials had spent months meeting on how to expand and improve programs and facilities at these sites, but May 31 a TDSB committee voted against the idea.

But when the trustees met June 23, the recommendations were approved with a 19-1 vote.

“They approved everything I was hoping for and more,” Matlow said after the vote.


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Tales from a Yummy Mummy by Ertica Ehm-Living Room Politics

Josh Matlow is now running for local City Councilor and I couldn’t be happier. I’m actually EXCITED about POLITICS! The City of Toronto is in desperate need of fresh ideas: a new era of transparency where taxpayers are truly part of the process. We need politicians to stop behaving like they’re in kindergarten and begin putting the City’s needs before their own personal agendas.

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Boys from the Yonge-Eglinton neighbourhood mix it up with a little street hockey. A city committee is looking at dropping an unenforced city bylaw that prohibits playing ball games on the street.

Tuesday evening, five teens were playing on a quiet, leafy street northeast of Yonge St. and Davisville Rd.

“We play here pretty often in the summer — it’s never a problem,” said Christian Iriotakis, 13. A few cars passed, and each time the boys quickly moved the goalpost out of the way; most drivers smiled and waved. Christian and friend Owen Singer, also 13, just recently learned street hockey was illegal.

“No, I don’t think it’s going to stop us,” Owen said.

Out with them was school Trustee Josh Matlow. “We need to be reasonable about what we decide to criminalize in our society,” he said as he hit a green ball into the net. “Canada’s national sport being played out in the city is part of our fabric and culture. Why is this illegal?”

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Dr. Spence introduced the idea last fall as part of this Vision of Hope, a sort of mission statement for Canada’s largest school board. Critics raised objections to the $345,000 price tag on what amounted to an educational pep rally, and trustee Josh Matlow was censured after he characterized it as a “drunken spending binge.”

The event was scaled down from full-day to a half-day, and hardcopy commemorative booklets were re-imagined in a digital format to bring the cost to taxpayers closer to $120,000.

But some critics remain concerned.

“This is a time when the board has deferred $30-million from [building] maintenance and we’re asking parents to support school closures because we don’t have funds,” said Mr. Matlow. “To turn around the next day and ask them to spend their money on a vanity affair is a slap in the face.”

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