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Newsstand: December 22, 2014
Even as we finish buying presents and look forward to a few hard-earned days off, the world keeps turning and things keep happening. Many of those things are terrible and heartbreaking. In the news: 14-year-old Amaria Diljohn was struck and killed by a TTC bus, the overhaul of Nathan Phillips Square hits some (possibly permanent) snags, and a new program helps women gain their footing after leaving abusive relationships.
Amaria Diljohn, a 14-year-old Scarborough teen, was struck and killed by a TTC bus on Friday around 5:40 p.m. Beyond that, details are so far scant; Diljohn died at the scene, but it’s unknown if she had been riding the bus that hit her, if there were witnesses, or why the driver left the scene. Police are investigating the incident as a hit and run. The driver, 27, has turned himself in but has not yet been charged. Diljohn’s grandmother, Denise Thompson, said she’s not necessarily concerned about the driver being charged: “If they charge whoever, if they don’t charge whoever, it’s still not going to bring her back.” Diljohn’s mother Crystal expressed disbelief and bewilderment over the driver leaving the scene, saying, “I don’t understand how you run over somebody and don’t feel that.” The accident took place just steps from Diljohn’s house at Finch and Neilson.
More than $11 million in planned upgrades to Nathan Phillips Square have been cut so the City can meet its $60-million budget without going over. The overhaul of the square, intended to make it “one of the world’s foremost public spaces,” has been plagued by issues, including delays. Mayor John Tory called the problems both “not acceptable” and “not businesslike.” With the cuts and scaled-back version of the changes taken into consideration, the project is slated for “substantial completion” by the end of 2015.
“Martha,” the subject of this Toronto Star story, came to Canada and found herself trapped in an abusive relationship. But after coming into contact with an innovative social program, she has left her relationship, become financially independent, and even managed to bring her daughters to Canada from their native Botswana. The program, run by Interval House and called Her Home Housing Project, finds income-geared apartments for women in abusive relationships. Finances often seem to be an insurmountable barrier to women considering leaving an abusive relationship, but Her Home Housing Project gives those women one year to live in an apartment they can easily afford before they transition to market-rate rent. Martha, for example, lived for a year in a $1,050-per-month High Park bachelor apartment. She paid $300, which allowed her to pay all of her bills and even send money to her daughters. There are currently 15 apartments in Toronto operating as part of this program, and in November, Interval House expanded the program into Ottawa and Hamilton.