On Jan. 29, a neighbour of the new temporary homeless shelter at 348 Davenport Rd. wrote to the office of Ward 20 Councillor Joe Cressy asking how they could help. Did the facility need food? The neighbour said her and her husband would be happy to prepare meals and they were also happy to donate clothing. “Please let us know how we can help,” she concluded.This heartening letter represents everything good about a city, doesn’t it? Welcoming neighbours reaching out to an emergency shelter that was opened quickly by the city to help mitigate the acute shortage of shelter spaces this winter. Indeed, it’s a very local manifestation of the citywide outrage that built in December and into the new year as Mayor John Tory and a majority of city council members resisted opening more emergency shelter beds as temperatures plummeted below zero.The kindness contained in this letter happens all the time in the background, but what’s notable about this one is the offer of goodwill came from the owners of what was, for a few weeks, the most famous car in Toronto: the Annex Tesla. Four days earlier, a director of the Davenport Triangle Residents Association (DATRA) spoke to the press of his organization’s opposition to the shelter going into their neighbourhood, implicating the Tesla and its owners in the opposition, suggesting they were worried about their car being vandalized out of “jealousy.” This came after a DATRA newsletter declared the Annex had enough “social problem” housing already.It seems the good couple were thrown under the Tesla, as it were.After I wrote about the issue two weeks ago, they got in touch to say they were and are supportive of the shelter, and forwarded the letter of support they had already sent to the councillor’s office as proof. Though they wish to remain anonymous good Samaritans, it’s important to set the record straight.The Tesla owners say when they sent their email to ...
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