Yorkville is home to Toronto’s beautiful people, uber chic hotels, very expensive restaurants, and designer boutiques with a Winners thrown in for good measure. This exclusive neighbourhood also attracts beautiful people wanna bes, people watchers, tourists, and locals who have sussed out reasonable restaurants, cafes, and shops and go to the cinema at the Cumberland. And many of us eat meat on the street that we purchase from the local hot dog vendors. If the city has its way, meat on the street may disappear from view in Yorkville and that would be a pity.

Why can’t 5-star hotels peacefully co-exist with hot dog vendors? Just because you can afford to stay in a 5-star hotel doesn’t mean that you don’t just love to chow down on a dog once in a while. Bloor Street is going to be renovated with granite sidewalks that will be widened and decorated with planters. The master plan is to convert this strip of Bloor Street into Toronto’s version of New York City’s Fifth Avenue. The powers that be don’t believe that hot dog vendors belong on this new exclusive side walk. In fact they are not guaranteeing that 11 hot dog vendors along the strip will be allowed to return.

I have never heard or read about 1 person who complained about the presence of a hot dog vendor in any neighbourhood, including Yorkville. Why doesn’t the city deal with the pan handling that is rampant in Yorkville and does offend locals and tourists alike? Instead of deciding that people along the newly renovated Bloor Street in Yorkville don’t want the hot dog vendors there, why not allow the 11 hot dog vendors to return? If the people don’t want them there then the hot dog vendors won’t make a living and they will move on. If they make a living then the message is clear. People in Toronto’s Yorkville do eat hot dogs.

Have you found a flyer under your door or in your mailbox that says, “There’s no point in hiding”? Although this sounds like the kind of warning that you would expect from a bookie trying to collect a bad debt, it is in fact a warning from Toronto Animal Services for owners of unlicensed cats or dogs. In the first place I’d like to know how Toronto Animal Services would know if your dog or cat was unlicensed.

Toronto Animal Services is paying 16 college students $20.20/hour to help enforce the licensing of cats and dogs. Until the end of August it is their job to go from house to house distributing information on a city bylaw that requires all cats and dogs be licensed. If you are home when the newly appointed Pet License Police arrived at your door you will be asked to purchase a license if your pet/pets are currently unlicensed or they will leave the paperwork with you for completion at a more convenient time.

The first step in getting you to license your pet/pets is a written warning. Failure to heed the warning will result in fines anywhere from $240 - $5,000. Pet licenses are not terribly expensive, and certainly a better option that getting fined for non-compliance. They range anywhere from $15/year for a cat that has been spayed/neutered to $60/year for a dog that is not spayed/neutered. However there may be some seniors and others on limited incomes who find this a hardship. And for others the blanket application of the bylaw seems ludicrous. There are many indoor cats that never go outdoors in their lifetimes. What would be the purpose for licensing those pets? I’m all for the licensing of pets, but I do not approve of how the City of Toronto is going about it. Nor do I believe that indoor cats should be required to be licensed.

There are currently 75,000 people living in long-term care nursing homes in Ontario. These are not anonymous, disposable people that we have discarded to live out a miserable existence in sub-human conditions. These people are our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. And, one day, we could be one of these people. So, let’s fix the sick system now and ensure an old age with dignity for everyone.

Nursing homes are graded on 400 standards of resident care and Toronto’s nursing homes are failing miserably. Provincial inspection reports analyzed by the Canadian Press show 30 of the city’s 37 nursing homes were cited with 147 violations last year. As pitiful as this sounds, nursing homes in Toronto had a lower percentage of infractions than homes in the city’s suburbs, which had the highest percentage of homes cited for violations in the province. In Mississauga there are reports by the Canadian Press that inspections resulted in 97 violations in 13 of the city’s 15 nursing homes.

Organizations and individuals trying to whitewash this dreadful situation are saying that the infractions were administrative violations and not related to resident care. However it is documented that approximately 75% of Toronto nursing homes were cited for violations specifically related to resident care. Some of the standards that these nursing homes failed to meet were providing 2 baths a week and daily tooth brushing. What makes this even more unbelievable to me is that this isn’t criminal. Perhaps it’s time that we made treating human beings in a sub-human fashion a criminal offense. Maybe then our seniors would be treated with respect and dignity.

July 18 – July 27 is the 20th anniversary of The Beaches International Jazz Festival and it promises to be bigger and better than ever! Over 1 million visitors are expected to take in performances by more than 700 artists.

July 18 – July 20 the action will be at Woodbine Park, located at the corner of Northern Dancer Boulevard (situated between Coxwell and Woodbine Avenues) and Lake Shore Boulevard East. Come early to reserve your place. There will be a special area available for people who use wheelchairs/scooters. Follow the link below for the complete line-up and schedule at Woodbine Park.

July 24 – 26 is time for Streetfest, which takes place along a 2 km stretch of Queen St. East. It is absolutely FREE and there will be live performances by 50 bands - Big Band, Swing, Dixieland, Smooth, Post-Bop, Afro-Cuban, Fusion, Funk, R&B, and Soul. Follow the link below for the line-up and schedule at Streetfest.

July 26 – July 27 the action will be at Kew Gardens with plenty of FREE continuous concerts on the main stage. Come early to stake out your place. Bring along a blanket or chair and stay a while. There is a licensed lounge just a stone’s throw a way in case you work up a thirst. There will be a special area available for people who use wheelchairs/scooters. For a complete schedule and line-up at Kew Gardens follow the link.

Leave your car at home and take the TTC. The congestion and street closures will make driving and parking a nightmare. Take the 92 Woodbine South Bus from Woodbine Subway Station or the 22 Coxwell Bus from Coxwell Station or the 501 Queen St Streetcar east from the Queen or Osgoode Subway Stations. If you do decide to drive please make note of these street closures: During Streetfest taking place on Thursday July 24th, Friday July 25th, and Saturday July 25th Queen Street East will be closed from Woodbine Ave. to Beech Ave. from 6:00 PM - 11:30 PM nightly.

Casinos in Niagara Falls and Windsor have had a serious drop in American visitors and that has negatively affected casino revues. It is projected that provincial gambling revenues will drop from $2.02 billion in 2005/2006 to $1.77 billion this year. A strong Canadian dollar, sky-high gasoline prices in both countries, and long line ups at border crossings will certainly not be luring more Americans to our casinos any time soon. In order to get Americans to come back to Canadian casinos there has to be a hook. That hook may be allowing sportsbook gambling in Ontario casinos.

Sportsbook gambling allows a gambler to bet on the outcome of individual games – soccer, hockey, football, baseball, basketball, etc. Until now the only type of sports betting allowed in Ontario has been multiple parlay betting where the gambler selects the outcomes of 3 or more sports games on a parlay ticket, which is a government run lottery. Sportsbook gambling could bring Americans across the border in great numbers because the only place in the U.S. that sportsbook gambling is currently permitted is in Nevada.

Federal and provincial legislation would be required in order to make sportsbook gambling legal in Ontario. I can’t imagine why anyone would object since sportsbook gambling is alive and well on offshore and unregulated Internet sites and with illegal bookies. Why shouldn’t we make it legal and reap the economic benefits? North American professional sports leagues have traditionally opposed sportsbook betting in cities with a professional team, but these leagues are not helping our economy in the current downturn. Ontario casinos already have sportsbook gambling infrastructures in place with TV screens, scoreboards, and seating. I’m in favour of allowing sportsbook gambling in Ontario casinos. How about you?