This is an abandoned house on King Road just slightly west of The Gore Road in Caledon, Ontario just outside of Bolton. This isn’t your typical abandoned house, the condition of the place is very good (from the outside at least), the brick work is nice the roof stillin good condition, windows still there although the bottoms of them are boarded to try to prevent intruders. I can’t find out much info about this house, so if anyone knows please drop me a line, the address is 7403 and it has been abandoned at least 2 years if not longer. Photos were taken earlier in the year with my zoom lens, click on the pictures for larger photos.

 

You may or may not have noticed but franchise restaurants have been struggling greatly in Bolton, Ontario leaving a long line of failure to the already struggling retail space in the town. Joe Warmington from the Toronto Sun wrote an article about the issue exactly a year ago and not much has changed in a year, in fact its has got worse.

In the past two years many franchise restaurants have failed such as; Boston Pizza, Coras, William’s Coffee Pub, Little Caesars, KFC / Pizza Hut and there are others that continue to struggle.

In the case of Boston Pizza, they have managed to re-open under new ownership and appear to be making a better go of it the second time around. Coras hasn’t been so lucky, it has been left vacant and abandoned for over a year now, their lease was terminated with them owing $62,460.63. The owner had put his life savings into the restraunt and has lost everything, Coras failing is a bit odd and cause for concern considering how popular they are throughout the GTA, usually you will find Coras with a lineup out the door they are that popular. Startup franchises like Little Caesars came and went so fast you may not have not even noticed them. For KFC / Pizza Hut it appears they simply gave up after many years in Bolton and are just closing down.

So what is the problem? Why is Bolton, Ontario Restaurant Franchise Death?

According to the Toronto Sun article the most likely cause is that Bolton simply does not have a large enough population to support businesses in the town. With 27,000 residents Bolton has enough commercial development to service double that and with no new residental developments on the horizon things are unlikely to improve any time soon.

Mayor Marolyn Morrison seems mostly unconcerned and dismissive of the concerns of local businesses struggling and failing saying only that “There are plenty of businesses doing very well here too.” and “Businesses don’t always go under because they have a lack of clientele,” she said. “They go under for other reasons, I will leave it at that.”

According to the town’s official plan Bolton won’t get bigger until 2021 which is a long time away. For the time being franchise restaurants and other businesses will likely continue to struggle and due to the glut of retail space available right now Bolton you likely won’t see any further commercial development which means areas like that large empty field next to Walmart & LCBO will likely sit vacant for a long time.

If you are looking for a cool snack on a hot summer day then the Happy Days Ice Cream Parlour in Bolton/Caledon, Ontario is the place to go. They have over 32 Flavours of hard ice cream as well as soft ice cream, frozen yogurt, old-fashioned milk shakes and homemade waffle cones. Always a nice place to stop for a quick snack, the prices are reasonable and the portion sizes are very generous. They are located at 33 Queen Street, just north of King Rd. Click here for their website.

If you have ever watched shows on TV like Auction Kings on Discovery or Storage Wars on A&E and are curious what a real auction looks like then you might want to check out the new Auction House in Caledon which has just opened up. Located in Bolton at 21 Parr Blvd. the Caledon Auction Depot holds weekly auctions on Friday nights and Saturday late mornings. There is everything from art, brand new furniture, electronics, tons of jewellery, rare coins & money, sports collectibles and more. I must admit I do find it quite interesting to watch and there are deals to be had if you know your pricing.

From the Toronto Star, here is a follow up to the violent murder in Caledon/Bolton, Ontario of Krystina Armstrong by her own son Luke Armstrong.

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Luke Armstrong thought his mother was the devil, “who had to die for mankind.”

On the night of April 30, 2010, the trouble 18-year-old Caledon high school student repeatedly stabbed Krystina to death while driving his Jetta — and then nearly decapitated her afterwards.

He and his mother were on their way to a local Dairy Queen to meet his father George and his younger sister Hailey after watching her perform at a school play.

On Friday, Justice Bruce Durno accepted Armstrong’s plea of being not criminally responsible to second-degree murder because he was suffering from a profound psychotic mental disorder at the time of the vicious and relentless attack.

The teen was kneeling over his 54-year-old mother’s lifeless body, her seat belt still buckled, when OPP Constable James Shay arrived at what initially appeared to be a minor hit-and-run collision around 9:38 p.m. on Simpson Rd. in Bolton. The officer smelled booze on the teen’s breath and was about to charge him with impaired driving.

Armstrong appeared stunned and was covered in blood when he exited the car.

“Is she dead? She’s the devil…,” Armstrong told the officer. “She tried to stab me. I killed the devil.”

Krystina had been stabbed more than 100 times, including 26 wounds to her face, 12 to the back of her neck, 11 to her chest and five to her abdomen. There were also 13 defensive wounds to her right hand.

Armstrong told Shay and another officer that he killed his mother for “mankind” and that his hand was cut when his mother “took the knife from her head” and cut him with it.

At the hospital, he told Cst Dwayne Smith that he knew what he did was a sin. “I was still driving when I stabbed her,” he said. He said a song written by rap musician Eminem told him to “drown his mother” but he decided to stab her instead.

Two days later in hospital, Armstrong asked if he was speaking to television’s Judge Judy when he was remanded by a justice of the peace.

Court heard how Krystina and George separated in 2007 after 13 years of marriage, partly over parenting issues involving their son’s discipline. Krystina had just moved into a new home on the day of the tragedy.

Armstrong had a history of violent outbursts, once breaking his mother’s finger during in a March 2009 in an argument over his lunch while she was driving.

He was diagnosed with ADHD at 14. Had uncontrollable temper outbursts and had set fires.

School officials called Armstrong’s father in the day of the tragedy saying he was acting strangely and appeared dishevelled.

During a ride with friends, he said he hated women and mumbled “everyone is in danger and “people are going to die.” He also talked about conspiracies and was acting paranoid.

In the days before the tragedy, Armstrong asked his mother if he had been named after Lucifer and if she knew anything about the Illuminati, a rich and power full group that ruled the world.

In accepting his plea, Justice Durno told the court he hoped Armstrong will received the treatment he needs.

The Ontario Review Board will review case and determined when, if ever, he will be released from hospital, Durno said.

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Previous articles:

• Caledon Crash now a Murder Investigation – Update
• Caledon Crash now a Murder Investigation

Ontario Provincial Police have announced human remains found late last month in Oro-Medonte and Lake of Bays Townships, and in Muskoka belonged to a 45-year-old Bolton/Caledon area man.

Whoever chopped up the body of a Bolton man and scattered it throughout cottage country was likely an amateur and not an underworld figure, a veteran homicide investigator says.

“People who are in stressful situations do strange things,” said Mark Mendelson, a former Toronto police homicide officer who now heads Mark Mendelson Consulting Corp., a private investigation firm.

His comments came after the OPP on Monday identified the body parts found in three regions north of Toronto as belonging to Morris Conte, 45, of Bolton, Ontario. Conte, a father of four and recreational drug user, had low-level ties to bikers and mobsters in York Region. Police have ruled his death a homicide.

OPP spokesman Const. Mark Kenney declined to comment on the cause or time of death, or what pieces of Conte’s body were recovered. He did confirm that Conte’s identity was determined through testing at the downtown Centre for Forensic Sciences.

Remains were found May 22 in Oro-Medonte Township’s Sugar Bush area, north of Barrie. Also that day, pieces of his body were discovered in Lake of Bays Township, east of Huntsville.

On May 28, a construction worker found yet another set of remains northeast of Bracebridge, on the shoulder of Stoneleigh Rd. off Muskoka Road 117. All of the body parts were left in plain view.

Mendelson said mobsters tend to be more efficient at getting rid of bodies of their victims, rather than cutting them into pieces and scattering them in places where they’re sure to be found. “Organized crime people (often) put them into barrels and pour in cement,” said Mendelson.

Mendelson also wonders if perhaps more than one person was involved in the body disposal.

As first reported here, Caledon OPP now say a woman found dead after a minor collision in Caledon was a homicide and the man charged with second-degree murder in her death are mother and son.

Krystina Armstrong 45 years old, was found dead in the passenger side of one of the vehicles involved in the two-car collision on Friday is a victim of homicide and did not die as a result of the crash, police said. The Ontario Provincial Police identified the man behind the wheel of that vehicle as Luke Armstrong, the victim’s 18-year-old son. He was arrested at the scene Friday and remanded into custody on Sunday. He is set to appear in an Orangeville court on Thursday for the continuation of his bail hearing, said Caledon OPP Constable Jonathan Beckett.

“This case is very complex and this investigation will be ongoing for some time to cover off all the details of what happened before, during and after the event,” Constable Beckett said, declining to share specifics since the matter is before the courts.

Police were called to the scene of the minor crash on Simpson Road, at 9:40 p.m. Friday night, he said. “Once our officers arrived on scene, it quickly became apparent we were dealing with a much more serious incident. Quite often when police officers are dispatched to calls for service, sometimes the initial details we’re given do not turn out to be what we end up investigating.”

Josh Stevenson, who knows Mr. Armstrong from high school, was surprised by news of the young man’s arrest. He remembered him as a “pretty good kid,” but also troubled.

And Mr. Armstrong’s relationship with his mother was strained, he said.

“I know was his parents were divorced and that he didn’t see his mom,” Mr. Stevenson, 18, said.

Marital problems had torn apart the family. Krystina Armstrong a former travel agent had been split from her husband, George, for more than a year and had found a home on Rolling Hills Lane in Bolton’s south end, a few kilometres away from her old life.

Luke was to continue living with his father on Old King Rd. His younger sister, Hayley, was moving in with her mother.

Mr. Armstrong began his high school career at Robert F. Hall Secondary School in Caledon, Ont., before transferring to Humberview Secondary School in Bolton where his father, George, lives.

Luke’s Facebook page which was still active as of Monday night.

Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact Det.-Const. Matt Noble at 519-927-3041 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

The Caledon resident was a passenger in a vehicle that was involved in a “minor collision” on Simpson Rd. on Friday evening, Ontario Provincial Police said in a statement released Sunday night.

Const. Jonathan Beckett would not identify the woman or comment on how she died, except to say it was not as a result of the collision.

Nor would he release the name of the 18-year-old driver who was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder, citing the need to notify the victim’s next-of-kin before any names could be released.

However, a family friend said the victim was Krystina Armstrong and the young man charged with murder as her son, Luke.

Armstrong was legally separated from Luke’s father, George, and was in the process of divorce. She moved into her new home on Station Rd. in Bolton the day she was killed, according to the friend.

Luke, a student at Humberview Secondary School in Bolton, lived with his father, said the friend.

Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact Det.-Const. Matt Noble at 519-927-3041 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

The following is information about the Bolton By-Pass currently being planned out, the above picture is the route it will take through Bolton, Ontario. Richard Whitehead, Regional Councillor for Caledon’s Ward 3 & 4 was kind enough to type out and provide all this useful information that until now seemed difficult to come by online.

The “Bolton by-pass” is the name commonly given to the western arm of the Bolton Arterial Road System (B.A.R.). It’s called the by-pass because it is the only part of the system that will carry “all” vehicle on a north south route without going through Bolton’s core.

About 20 years ago, a process was started to identify a road network to carry increasing traffic volumes in, and through, Bolton as it continued to grow. The final system called for a road network for both the East and West side of Bolton plus an east – west industrial collector in south Bolton. The study not only included roads in Caledon but Coleraine Drive in Brampton as well.

The Eastern arterial allows for all types of vehicles south of King Street down to Mayfield and only light vehicles north of King Street.

The eastern route was completed some years ago with the rebuilding of the Town Line from Mayfield Road to King Street as a two lane road (capable of widening to four lanes) built to carry all vehicles including heavy trucks. The road north of King Street has been rebuilt all the way up to Castlederg sideroad and is paved from there (Mount Wolfe Road) all the way to Hwy 9 but only for light vehicles.

The road network carries considerable traffic at commuter hours to Bolton, East Albion and many communities north of Hwy 9. It also relieves traffic, particularly truck traffic, from the south hill and the Bolton core that is going south to east on hwy 50 and from Mayfield Road to King Street east in York Region.

The industrial connector is the George Bolton Parkway but is only completed from Coleraine Drive to Hwy 50 and has not been completed from Hwy 50 to the Town Line.

The western arterial route (Bolton by-pass) is the most complex and most expensive part of the B.A.R. It has been further complicated by the need to replace virtually all of the utilities in the corridor to facilitate further development in the industrial area and to provide services for the residential area west of Coleraine Drive (Greenpark).

For several years now, the project has been proceeding in phases with the majority of the utility work being installed first (hydro, water, sewers, gas etc). Phase one of the road work was to build the four lane arterial from Mayfield Road. This is substantially completed but there will be traffic lights installed at Parr Avenue, The George Bolton Parkway, and Healey Road at a later date.

Phase two is the section from Healey Road to Holland Drive and should be substantially completed by spring.

Phase three is going to tender as we speak. It will be the section from Holland Drive to just past Harvest Moon. This complex section will include the construction of a new King Street connection to downtown Bolton starting at Harvest Moon. This will create a new four way signalized intersection on Coleraine at Harvest Moon and King Street.

From this point on, construction of the by-pass will be the responsibility of the Region of Peel who will complete it from Harvest Moon north to Duffy’s Lane and then through the river valley to Hwy 50 north ending just on the north side of James Dick Construction. This section of the arterial road will be very expensive and will include such features as a possible round about at Coleraine and King Street / Duffy’s Lane, and a lengthy span bridge over the Humber River. This part of the road will continue as a four lane road to Duffy’s Lane and a two lane road (with four lane capability) after that. The bridge will be equipped to handle four lanes.

Construction of the Region’s share of the road commence in 2011 with completion in 2013.

At the same time, the small remainder of the of the Greenpark subdivision will be completed as King Street West is straightened out to meet the new arm of Coleraine Drive.

As you know, the Province is intending to extend the 427 north to Major Mackenzie Drive in about 2015. Effectively, this will bring all 427 traffic to Hwy 50. Peel is recommending, in this event, that Major Mackenzie be extended into Brampton, as a regional road, and that this new road swing up to intersect Mayfield Road near, or at, Humber Station Road.

At the same, it is recommended that Coleraine Drive (in Brampton) be rebuilt to a four lane standard and intersect this new Major Mackenzie extension instead of Hwy 50 as it does today.

The effect will be that all traffic north bound on 427, or hwy 50, and that is westbound or using the Bolton by-pass will be diverted from Bolton.

Consequently, the Bolton by-pass will process a very large volume of inter-regional traffic.

The funding needed for the B.A.R. has been, and will continue to be, enormous. Ontario, Peel, Caledon, Brampton and the development industry area are all partnering in the project. The total cost including connections from the 427 and the full B.A.R. with utilities may top $100 million. Very little of the cost will be financed from debt.

This road network should significantly relieve traffic congestion in the Mayfield – Town line – Queen Street intersection and reduce through volumes in Bolton.

Google Canada today revealed more than 130 Canadian cities to be viewed in the 3D environment of Google street view mode. Among those cities are Bolton, Orangeville and surprisingly many parts of Caledon, Ontario. Even the smaller the towns of Caledon Village, Caledon East, Alton & Mono Mills are mapped as well as many of the main roads through all of Caledon. Mapping by the famous google camera car was done this past summer, I actually saw it in person in Orangeville one weekend.

Street View is a free feature in Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Maps for mobile. It was first launched in 2007 and it now includes imagery from 18 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. To start exploring, simply visit maps.google.ca and zoom in to the lowest level or drag the orange “Pegman” icon from the left side of the map onto a blue-lined street.

Google Street View has also become a great tool for real estate, it provides people an easy way to show what is around the house that is for sale in the neighbourhood, gives people a better idea of a property and area instead of just blindly showing up. However on the other side of things Google has come under fire for privacy concerns surrounding the service and has addressed those issues by blurring out the faces of people in the photos, as well as licence plates on vehicles.

If you see anything of interest in the Caledon area on Google Maps Street View please leave a comment here.