Most-read stories of the week: Roundabout resident, mould forces tenant out of Cambridge home, where to find convenience stores selling alcohol

Meet the man living in the middle of a Kitchener, Ont. roundabout

Drivers going by a Kitchener roundabout may have noticed something unusual – a tent set up on the centre island.

CTV News got in touch with the man living at the centre of the roundabout, who you could call the king of Bleams Road and Manitou Drive. But his real name is Josh.

“King of the castle on top of my mountain top,” Josh screamed, laughing.

His tent has been there for about a month after recently moving from Port Elgin.

“I figured it wasn’t in a park, so nobody’s going to complain. And I figured nobody would be walking through there and there’s not a bunch of houses around,” said Josh.

While many people don’t experience homelessness by choice, Josh chooses to live this way.

“I feel better outside, but I wouldn’t go into a shelter anyway because there’s a lot of drug use in there and there’s like bedbug problems and violence problems,” he said. “I’m living an adventure. My life is like a movie.”

Although, he does say there are supports available for those who need them.

“Kitchener is like the best place I've ever been for something like this. Yeah, there really are good people down here and they take good care of you,” Josh said.

Ontario mother still paying rent, despite not being able to live in mouldy home

A Cambridge, Ont. woman has been renting a home for six months but hasn’t been able to live in it.

Shortly after Lindsay McCarthy, a mother of three, moved into the home she started to notice black mould.

An environmental assessment later confirmed her suspicions.

“Some of it is airborne and some of it is surface,” McCarthy explained. “The airborne [mould] is extremely toxic to humans.”

CTV News obtained a copy of the mould assessment. It stated there were at least five types of mould found in the home in areas like the garage, bathroom, dishwasher and attic.

McCarthy said she brought up the mould issue with her landlord right away.

At first, she said, he was willing to help.

“Once he started to see the costs of relocating us and storing all of our belongings and actually getting us out of the house so the mould be remediated – then he backed off and wasn't helping us at all,” she explained.

Then in April he hired a property management team.

McCarthy said she’s been dealing with them ever since – but it hasn’t been easy to get answers.

“I'm so upset. I, honestly, I don't know how this man sleeps at night.”

McCarthy claimed remediation teams were supposed to help on two occasions, but were then cancelled.

The Landlord Tenant Board will look into her case but that won’t happen, she said, until October.

EV owners shocked by charging rate at Waterloo condo

Electric vehicle users at a Waterloo, Ont. condo were shocked by a recent update to their building’s EV charging stations.

People living at 188 King Street South said the price to charge their EVs unexpectedly jumped from 25 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) to 75 cents per kWh.

“They’re gouging us is the bottom line,” said resident Otto Altenhoff.

“They suddenly sent us an email where they were changing the fee, out of nowhere, to 75 cents per kilowatt hour, which is an unheard of rate,” condo owner Shaher Al Marashded said.

Residents said they are using Level 2 chargers that are typically found in homes and commercial facilities. Level 2 chargers are slightly faster than Level 1 chargers and, according to the provincial government, most Level 2 chargers offer approximately a 35 km range per hour of charging.

People using a Level 3 charger typically get a 250 km range per hour of charging.

“Fast charging is more expensive,” Louise Levesque, the senior policy director at Electric Mobility Canada, explained. “We pay for the convenience of having the charging going really fast, but Level 2 charging is low charging, so we expect that price to be much, much lower.”

“I live in the building, I pay a condo fee every month and the infrastructure is in place. So over a period of time, they can get their money back and after that, they can make a small profit,” Altenhoff argued.

When it comes to setting the rates at private facilities, technology expert Carmi Levy said there is no governing body to provide oversight.

“Unfortunately, the EV rate is very much the Wild West, simply because it’s an open market. There are no rules if you’re a condo corporation, if you’re a building, if you’re a garage structure. You can pretty much charge whatever you want,” Levy said.

Shaher Al-Marashdeh and Otto Altenhoff stand near an EV charger on August 28, 2024. (Ashley Bacon/CTV News)

Regional police investigating reports of ‘harassing drone’ in Ayr, Ont.

Waterloo Regional Police are looking for the operator of a drone that dropped an unknown substance on homes and vehicles in Ayr, Ont.

It happened Tuesday morning in the area of Stanley and Main Street.

But police said it’s not the first time a drone has been spotted in the neighbourhood “engaging in harassing behaviour.”

“On several occasions, a drone, believed to be a first-person view (FPV) drone, has been operated between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., flying over residential homes and dropping an unknown substance onto houses, vehicles and property,” police explained in a media release.

Residents hope it doesn’t happen again.

“That is very concerning,” said David Guthrie. “You don’t want to see any neighbour encounter a situation like that, especially if there’s young children involved. You never know what people’s intentions are nowadays, unfortunately. I hope police catch the person.”

A red and black quadcopter drone is seen flying in this stock image. (Pok Rie/Pexels)

Convenience stores where you can buy beer, wine and cider starting next week

Convenience stores across the province can start selling beer, cider, wine and other alcoholic drinks next week.

A new list, posted on the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s (AGCO) website, shows more than 4,600 businesses have received a new liquor licence.

Those include standalone convenience stores, gas stations and big box grocery stores.

The sale of beer, cider, wine and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages begins on Sept. 5 at convenience stores, while newly licensed grocery stores can stock their shelves on Oct. 31.

All participating businesses will have some strict rules they must follow. Even though many convenience stores are open 24 hours, they’ll only be allowed to sell liquor between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. Grocery stores, meanwhile, can only sell beverages with an alcohol content of 7.1 per cent or lower by volume and wine with an alcohol content of 18 per cent and below.

The AGCO said they would also be hiring more staff and step up enforcement in Ontario.