Volume 49 No. 13
BEACHMETRO.COM
Work continues on Macey Avenue housing
September 22, 2020
Beach Pick Me Up event helps lift spirits, clean beaches
By Ali Raza
CONSTRUCTION HAS begun on the modular apartments on Macey Avenue with cranes expected to be on the southwest Scarborough site in early October. The City of Toronto has also selected two not-for-profit operators for its modular housing initiative, which aims to build prefabricated affordable housing at two locations in the city to alleviate homelessness. The Neighbourhood Group and COTA Health were selected for the request for proposal to operate the first phase of the initiative at 11 Macey Ave. and 150 Harrison St. in the west end for a 35-year term beginning this fall. TNG is a community-based organization that helps vulnerable people through a variety of programs and services. COTA is an organization supporting adults with mental health and cognitive challenges. Combined, the two will oversee support services with 24/7 on-site staffing at the modular homes. The supports include housing stability and eviction prevention, personal recovery relating to mental health and substance use challenges, establishing personal crisis response plans, assisting with medication, harm reduction and relapse prevention, daily living activities, rent collection, and community support connections. The two operators will work with Continued on Page 2
PHOTOS: ALAN SHACKLETON
The Beach PIck Me Up event was held on Sunday to help lift community spirits and clean the beaches of litter. Top photo, event co-host HGTV’s Tiffany Pratt and her dog Poppy, event co-host Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford, and residents Dora Attard, Mira and children Yasmina, Mattias and Elyanna. Photo above left, Camille, left, and Anisha, right, help clean Woodbine Beach. Photo above right, Duncan and Lochlan joined their mom Alisha and dog Asher at the Beach Pick Me Up event.
Secord school takes outdoor learning to next level By Alan Shackleton
AS STUDENTS return to elementary and high school classes across Toronto, an East York school is taking outdoor learning to the next level as the education system finds ways to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with numerous other safety precautions being taken by schools including the wearing of masks, physical distancing, and
high levels of sanitization, outdoor classrooms are one of the solutions school boards across the province are using to keep students and staff safe from the virus. Secord Elementary School on Barrington Avenue, northeast of Main Street and Danforth Avenue, has 11 outdoor classrooms set up on its property, all of them provided with stumps donated by local arborists for students to sit on or use as desks.
Principal George Vlahos said much of the credit for the creation of the outdoor classrooms goes to parent Phil Pothen and the members of the school council and the community who helped make it happen prior to Secord opening its doors to students last week. “Parents reached out to me and quickly got together on a plan,” said Vlahos of conversations he was having with parents in late July once it became apparent that
schools in Ontario would reopen to students in the fall. Pothen, a parent of students at the school, a member of the parent council and a planning lawyer, was able to come up with a plan for where to locate the outdoor classrooms on the school’s property. He was also able to establish a connection with the arborists to provide the clean, dry stumps for the outdoor classrooms. “Parents spent a couple of days
getting the schoolyard mapped out and getting the logs ready,” said Vlahos. “Another parent got us some plywood, painted it and now we have outdoor blackboards attached to the fence. It was a big team and community effort, and it could not have happened without the parents and community who really came out for us.” A Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6 school, Secord had 660 students Continued on Page 4