Doly Begum MPP for Scarborough Southwest
We are here to help!
3110 Kingston Rd, Unit #5 416-261-9525 • dolybegum.ca DBegum-CO@ndp.on.ca
Volume 49 No. 23
BEACHMETRO.COM
FOR A second year in a row, Michael Garron Hospital and Toronto Hustle are teaming up to hold the CRUSH COVID event. The event will allow cyclists from around the world to help raise money to battle the mental health impacts of COVID-19. In 2020, CRUSH COVID took place shortly after COVID-19 lockdown began in Ontario. Participants, including Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford, rode their bikes indoors and $250,000 was raised for Michael Garron Hospital’s Emergency Response Fund. The event ran for 24-hours straight, received attention and support from across the country and even across the world. The 2021 CRUSH COVID: Ride for Mind event is highlighting the pandemic’s growing mental health impacts and the transformative power of communities finding new
ways to connect and inspire action during the pandemic, said a press release from Michael Garron Hospital. Mental health impacts taking a toll on residents include issues of isolation, lack of social interactions and stress. The 2021 event takes place on March 12 and 13, which also marks the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 lockdowns. “We can’t wait to welcome cyclists from across Toronto and around the world back to this unique virtual event to help address the mental health crisis that has emerged from the pandemic, particularly for the most vulnerable among us. We’re so grateful to every cyclist gearing up to join us,” said Mitze Mourinho, President of Michael Garron Hospital Foundation, in the hospital press release. Bradford is also gearing up for his second straight year in the fundraiser. Continued on Page 4
Local runner set to take on the hills of the Beach for charity By Jayson Dimaano
IMAGINE RUNNING the hills of the Beach, up and down every road between Queen Street East and Kingston Road twice, for a total of 111 kilometres. Then imagine saying you are going to do it all in under 12 hours. That is exactly what Ethan Peters is planning for Sunday, Feb. 28. Peters let Beach Metro News know about his plans for the run to raise funds for Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation (CAMH), earlier this month. He’s calling the event Running
416-690-1032 • beyrima.ca RBerns-McGown-CO@ndp.on.ca
February 23, 2021
CRUSH COVID fundraiser slated to help hospital By Jayson Dimaano
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The Hills of The Beaches. “In the beginning it was just family and friends I reached out to. I was worried it was going to stay with family and friends. When (Beach Metro News) reached out to me, I said maybe this is expanding more than just family and friends. I want to impact more people,” said Peters. “I want to do something crazy that is going to knock some socks off and hopefully people can see the issue I’m tackling and people can donate (to the issue, which is on mental health).” Peters lives on Hambly Avenue. Continued on Page 4
Hitting the hill at Moncur Park
PHOTO: ALAN SHACKLETON
Marigold and Alice enjoyed some tobogganing on the hill at Moncur Park late last week as snowy weather arrived in the city.
MPP served notice of pending litigation over comments about landlord’s dealings with tenants By Ali Raza, Local Initiative Reporter
Journalism
BEACHES-EAST YORK MPP Rima Berns-McGown has received a notice of pending litigation from Ranee Management’s lawyers for her recent Tweets and comments. She was sent the notice on Feb. 17 in a letter by lawyers representing the property management company requesting her to delete Twitter posts, and “agree to not make defamatory statements about Ranee Management.”
It comes as tenants unions from Crescent Town and Goodwood Park Court apartments (the latter owned by Ranee) meet with the Landlord and Tenant Board for process hearings to determine whether or not tenants can have consolidated hearings and if the adjudicator will determine whether tenants can bring expert witnesses to appeal at the subsequent hearings slated for March and April 2021. Berns-McGown, who is the Ontario NDP’s critic for poverty and homelessness, is expected to be a
witness at the hearing if allowed. “This is a scare tactic, trying to make me be quiet, they want me to not lend credibility to the case,” she said of the legal notice. Since March of last year when the COVID-19 pandemic began, tenants at apartments at Crescent Town and Goodwood Park have been demanding to negotiate with landlords collectively as a solution for rent relief and to alleviate evictions due to income loss or illness resulting from the pandemic. Continued on Page 4