PICTURE BY GEREMY BORDONARO/GLEANER NEWS
Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) was among the speakers at a late September Bells on Bloor event celebrating the installation of bike lanes between Shaw Street and Avenue Road. Organizers characterized the communal ride during which cyclists — including activist Albert Koehl, Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), Gideon Forman from the David Suzuki Foundation, and Jared Kolb from Cycle Toronto — rode a ring around Bloor Street, Sherbourne Street, and Queen’s Park Crescent, as a victory lap. For further information on Bells on Bloor, please visit www.bellsonbloor.org. —Annemarie Brissenden

READ MORE:

CHATTER: Ground-breaking bike lanes launch on Bloor Street (August 2016)

NEWS: Bikes blessed for another season (June 2016)

FOCUS: An early advocate for bike lanes (June 2016)

NEWS: Bike lanes for Bloor Street (May 2016)

The faster we lower speeds, the more lives we save (October 2015)

Early brewer the basis for Bloor Street’s name (May 2015)

The Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) mourned the passing of long-time board member Steve Klein, who passed away last month after a struggle with lymphoma. He loved travelling with his family and had a strong relationship with his daughter.

Klein joined the HVRA board in early 2009, bringing new ideas with his quiet but solid presence, continually pushing the association to remain responsible to its members and take on the challenges within the neighbourhood. He donated many volunteer hours to the HVRA, most recently helping to redesign its website, as well as organize the annual pumpkin festival. This popular event is run in conjunction with the Harbord Street BIA and returns to Harbord Street between Spadina Avenue and Borden Street on Nov. 1 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

—Noelle Defour/Gleaner News

READ MORE:

CHATTER: Pumpkin festival (November 2015)

The Kensington Hospice recently celebrated its fifth anniversary of providing palliative care in the Annex. One of the seven health services provided by the Kensington Health Centre, the hospice has 10 beds and provides end-of-life care that not only meets the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of its patients, but also supports a patient’s friends and family.

“All kinds of care, physical care was the largest, but also the care from the nurses were very helpful for her,” said the friend of one patient who preferred to remain anonymous. “The nurses even helped me sometimes; we’d have little conversations and I realized that the little conversations helped me to come to terms with what was going on.”

The non-profit health centre welcomes charitable gifts, with donations being used to improve the facilities, acquire new equipment, as well as fund research and enhancement programs. In addition to the hospice, the health centre provides long-term and community care, a screening clinic, ophthalmology services, and runs the Eye Bank of Ontario.

—Noelle Defour/Gleaner News

Just after 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 20, 66-year-old criminal defence lawyer J. Randall Barrs was leaving his office at 23 Bedford Rd. when he was shot multiple times by a man dressed as a construction worker. The alleged shooter, whom the Toronto Police Service has identified as 51-year-old Grayson Delong, was under surveillance by Halton Regional Police following his release on bail due to his suspected connection to a break-in in Peel Region. One plainclothes officer rushed towards Delong, who was attempting to drive away in a car with stolen plates. The officer shot at Delong, who was treated at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre for serious injuries before appearing in court, where he agreed to remain in jail pending the outcome of his 15 charges relating to the shooting.

The Special Investigations Unit is investigating the shooting, and Delong is scheduled to appear back in court on Oct. 31.

—Summer Reid/Gleaner News

Creating a spot to gather

PICTURE COURTESY ROBERT CRAM: A Quebec quarry worker marks granite destined to become part seating, part art installation in four parkettes set to launch on Bloor Street in 2018.

By Geremy Bordonaro

Humans have been moving stones to create monuments since at least prehistoric times, an act that is taking on a very local incarnation, thanks to the Bloor Annex Business Improvement Area, which is installing four parkettes along Bloor Street between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street.

Placed at the rights-of-way at Howland Avenue, Brunswick Avenue, Major Street, and Robert Street respectively, the parkettes will provide many user-friendly amenities like a water bottle refilling station and stone seating made of granite sourced from Quebec quarries.

[pullquote]“We’ve been taking stones from places and carrying them to other places to create these communal, interesting spots where people can gather”—Robert Cram, DTAH[/pullquote]

Part art installation, part seating structure, the granite is meant to bring a more human aspect to the landscape, explained Robert Cram of DTAH, the Toronto-based architecture firm responsible for the design of the parkettes.

“This concept was based on something that we, as humans, have been doing for a long time,” Cram said. “We’ve been taking stones from places and carrying them to other places to create these communal, interesting spots where people can gather.”

The granite stones, reclaimed off-cuts, weigh upwards of 10,000 pounds and are 2 to 4 feet tall. Cuts to the rocks for seating are specifically being carved with care by Cram.

“The concept for sculpting the stone came from [Isamu] Noguchi, the Group of Seven, and other people who have done these simple techniques into stone,” said the designer, whose design will give each stone “a beautiful modern look that will complement the history of the layers the stone already has”.

Brian Burchell, chair of the BIA (who also publishes this paper), is spearheading the $1.8-million street revitalization plan that includes the parkettes project, said he believes “they will soften the area, creating spaces that are relaxing and non-commercial; an oasis in a very busy landscape.

“You might think it’s unusual that the chair of the business association is advocating for non-commercial spaces but it’s exactly what we need to make the space more human.”

“From a park point of view, [the goal is] to have an integrated public art landscape, not something plunked down in the site, [but] something that becomes part of the site, [and] something that will work at all different times of the year,” said James Roche, a partner at DTAH, which has worked with other BIAs on similar projects.

“Increasingly, Bloor Street is becoming a destination and we want to make that experience as enjoyable as possible,” said Burchell. “I fully imagine seeing people meeting at these parkettes and them being a place where people can have respite from the completely commercial nature of the street.”

“What’s interesting is the scale of the project,” added Roche. “It’s almost like it’s going to be one of those things where someday someone wakes up and says ‘Wow, this is quite the transformation.’”

In the end, Cram believes that these parkettes will give a sense of connectivity unlike anywhere else in the city.

“When you walk down Bloor [Street], there will be this continual language to it. When you go through, the Annex will have this kind of personal aesthetic that will feed into [its] image.”

Work on the parkettes is expected to begin in 2018.

Read more:

NEWS: Bloor Street goes green (April 2016)

CHATTER: Ground-breaking bike lanes launch on Bloor Street (August 2016)

ON THE COVER: An Annex bee celebration (July 2016)

CHATTER: Family festival celebrates 20 years (July 2016)

NEWS: A permanent home for storytelling (July 2016)

Visioning a future for Little Italy

PICTURE COURTESY DTAH: Astra Burka, who organized the discussion on the future of College Street from Bathurst to Shaw streets, lauded the Bloor Annex BIA (whose chair publishes this newspaper) for its plan to transform “a series of left-over parcels of land into a sequence of vibrant, dynamic, public green spaces”.

By Annemarie Brissenden

Is Little Italy a victim of its own success?

That question was top of mind for those attending a meeting on the future of College Street from Bathurst to Shaw streets at the Royal Theatre last month.

Jane Jacobs loomed large as City of Toronto planner Graig Uens moderated a panel of experts from the city during a discussion that was driven largely by questions from the audience.

“In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs asked what makes great neighbourhoods start to decline,” said one speaker. “The answer was its outstanding success. I believe that’s the point that College Street is at.”

For Astra Burka, Little Italy began to change around 1990, when making tomato sauce in laneways, baking bread in the early mornings, and gatherings on Friday nights started to give way to absentee landlords, condominiums, and retail chains.

Deciding it was time to develop a long-term plan, she organized the September meeting, bringing residents and businesses together with the city for the first time.

The architect, filmmaker, and self-described urban thinker for the future of Toronto set the stage for the evening with an overview of some of the challenges of College Street, followed by some opportunities for improvement inspired by models from home and abroad.

[pullquote]“Commercial taxes are not equitable…. Two businesses sitting side-by-side can have widely different assessments”—Djanka Gajdel[/pullquote]

Imagine, Burka asked, if there was a vision that unified the street and included pop-up shops, inviting and visually interesting storefronts, and viewed the street architecture — like planters and bollards — as a canvas for art?

She contrasted this with College Street as it is right now: a visual chaos made up of overhead wires, fenced-in spaces, and trees failing to thrive. Newspaper boxes line patchwork sidewalks with haphazard concrete squares that are punctuated by empty storefronts.

“If we want to have vibrant and exciting neighbourhoods, we have to figure out how to sustain the tapestry of small businesses,” said Djanka Gajdel. “The commercial taxes are not equitable. This is the underlying issue that is affecting all small businesses. Two businesses sitting side-by-side can have widely different assessments.”

Panelist Rebecca Condon, an economic developer officer for the city, agreed that the assessment process, overseen by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (a provincial arm’s-length body) is not transparent.

“Commercial tax streams at three times the residential rate,” said Condon, “and the city is trying to reduce that ratio.”

“The answer is in large part political,” added her colleague Randy McLean. The city’s Beautiful Streets manager explained that “the province sets the rules, while the city acts as a collection agency.”

The situation is made worse by the tax breaks that are given to landlords with commercial spaces that have remained vacant for a certain length of time, disincentivizing them from finding new tenants. It also paves the way for huge box stores?(as much a threat to the area’s character as the empty storefronts), the only ones that can afford the commercial taxes.

For many in the audience, pop-up shops would be a good alternative, as well as small owner-operated businesses that would break up the monoculture of cafés and sushi places.

“Cafés might not be the most creative use of corners or arterial space,” said one audience member. “I’d like to see more creative use of space. I don’t want one type of space.”

“Specific types of retail business that can be viable tend to be market specific,” answered Condon, adding that successful pop-ups need “a champion storefront; a landlord prepared to offer short-term low-rent leases that test out the market viability without requiring a lot of resources up front”.

“One of the hardest things we battle is rents and occupancy,” said Lenny Lombardi, chair of the Little Italy College Street Business Improvement Area (BIA). “The most we can do as a BIA is beautify the street as much as possible.”

Antonella Nicaso, a streetscape designer and capital project coordinator for the city’s BIA office, said that BIAs often trigger a neighbourhood’s rejuvenation.

“BIAs provide excellent solutions, local knowledge, and the ability to maintain projects after they are constructed.”

But Lombardi stressed that the BIA’s mandate is to serve its ratepayers, the business community from Shaw to Bathurst streets.

“Our biggest priority is promotion and generating business for merchants,” he said.

As the evening closed, it was clear that a future direction for College Street was beginning to emerge: burying wires, adding artistic elements and seating, recruiting more small owner-operated businesses, and, mostly, rediscovering what makes the neighbourhood its authentic self.

Burka characterized it as a good first start, but she would like more ideas to emerge.

“We all share the space together. Let’s be crazy and do something. We need imagination. We need guts. We have money. We have talent. Let’s go for it.”
READ MORE:

NEWS: Bloor Street goes green (April 2016)

Spadina Avenue high-rise not a bar for height

By Annemarie Brissenden

A 25-storey, 334-unit apartment building is providing the model for a new mixed-student residence at the northwest corner of Spadina and Sussex avenues, but not in the way local residents’ associations would like.

“It’s effectively the same height as 666 [Spadina Ave.],” said Scott Mabury, vice-president university operations, University of Toronto, of the proposed development, which includes a 23-storey building and a separate 3-storey townhouse complex. The 2.2-hectare site assembles six properties at 698, 700, 702, 704, and 706 Spadina Ave., as well as 54 Sussex Ave.

[pullquote]“Coming in at 11 storeys is pretty respectful”—Sue Dexter, HVRA[/pullquote]

The high-rise includes a four-storey podium that “has been designed to frame both Spadina and Sussex avenues with a height and massing that is generally in keeping with the surrounding built form, and will animate the street with new retail uses” according to a Bousfields Inc. report on the planning rationale for the university.

Yet, Sue Dexter of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) fears that using “666 Spadina [Ave.] as a justification for that kind of height” sets a dangerous precedent that will lead to a wall of towers along the eastern edge of her neighbourhood.

Julie Mathien of the Huron-Sussex Residents’ Organization (HSRO) wrote in an email that it “remains concerned about the height, density, and lack of resident mix in the proposed new development at Spadina and Sussex [avenues].”

Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) agreed.

Noting that he is the third councillor to work this file, Cressy applauded the university’s willingness to start consulting with the community long before it submitted its application to the city, but said, “the application isn’t there yet.

“We still need a more sensitive built form, but the height doesn’t reflect that yet.”

Height is but one of the concerns.

Dexter said she’d like to see a “mix of students that better reflects the community,” and points to 666 Spadina Ave. as a model of what works, explaining that about 60 per cent of that building is students. She would like the proposed residence to include graduate students, as well as faculty with families.

“We have a crying need in the neighbourhood for family housing,” she added.

Cressy also pointed to 666 Spadina Ave. as a model, particularly for how its owners are managing their own application to add an 11-storey mixed use, 128-unit rental apartment building and eight stacked townhouses to the site. The original building — which is included on the City of Toronto’s Inventory of Heritage Properties because it was designed by architect Uno Prii — will remain intact.

“A lot of the stuff we’ve said is important, they are responding to,” said Cressy of the applicant, who like U of T, met with the city before submitting a formal application to rezone the site. “The built form is appropriate and transitions to Robert Street.”

“Coming in at 11 storeys is pretty respectful,” said Dexter, cautioning that the 666 Spadina Ave. proposal needed further study. “By comparison with the university process, 666 is very responsive…. The university talks a lot but they don’t change their process.”

Mabury pointed out that after 2.5 years of public consultation, U of T has adapted the proposed “quite significantly”, reducing the number of students it will house from 800 to 550. It is anticipated that the tower will be made up of 60 per cent first year students and 40 per cent upper years, all commingling on the same floors.

“Nobody has a built a resident with that diverse a population in Canada,” said Mabury. “We are trying to balance what we hear [from the community] with the needs of U of T and its students.”

And what the university needs more than anything are spots for students in first year.

“That’s part of our guarantee; after that students want to move out into the broader marketplace.”

READ MORE:

CHATTER: Two new rezoning applications submitted to city (September 2016)

NEWS: Tall tower before OMB, as city battles back with block study (August 2016)

NEWS: Planning for the future (May 2016)

DEVELOPINGS: Annual review reflects tension between community activism and OMB (March 2016)

MORE how nice!:

A warm carbon blanket! By Hock Estique (September 2016)

A clear path! by Dot Tedline (August 2016)

Planning! by Train Waits (July 2016)

Water, water, everywhere! by W.H. Consin (June 2016)

How to meet your quota! by Otto Mobile (May 2016)

A carpet of green! by Don Mower (April 2016)

Ottawa has enacted mortgage rules that are a bitter pill for new prospective homeowners to swallow, but they are a very clever way to try to cool the nation’s housing market and keep many from sinking under the weight of too much debt.

[pullquote]The federal government has tinkered with the rules around mortgages six times since 2008 and have thus far been unable to get the genie back in the bottle. This latest stress test may do it without causing the bubble to collapse.[/pullquote]

The changes require those making down payments of 20 per cent or less to qualify for a mortgage at a higher standard than the rate that the bank is offering. Ottawa’s new lending regimen requires lenders to apply a stress test to the application to see if they have income to support the mortgage as if it were based on the bank’s posted rate (currently 4.64 per cent). Banks routinely offer mortgages at half their posted rates and until now qualifying for what the bank was actually offering was enough. This change effectively reduces how much one can borrow. Since rising interest rates are the real risk to the housing market the government has found a way to program a “what if they go up?” threshold into lending practices.

The federal government has tinkered with the rules around mortgages six times since 2008 and have thus far been unable to get the genie back in the bottle. This latest stress test may do it without causing the bubble to collapse. Low rates have largely driven this situation, so striking at the source of the problem is wise. This may bring the market down to earth, or at least to point where a Toronto house price can be viewed from terra firma.

Toronto has seen year-over-year gains in the average value for a detached home — currently $1.3 million — increase by 20 per cent in just 12 months. At $1.58 million, the average value in Greater Vancouver is higher, but its market has begun to cool due in some measure to the introduction of a province-wide foreign buyers tax. There is some evidence that the Chinese investors are migrating to Toronto to skirt levies on British Columbia purchases: year-over-year sales (not values but number of properties) fell 26 per cent in Vancouver, but rose 23.1 per cent in Toronto.

The Canada Revenue Agency also has a hand in the federal plan to cool the housing market. The actions of speculators have contributed to the inflation of the housing market bubble without the consequence of needing to pay capital gains taxes on their profit. They achieve this by making a declaration that the house they are “flipping” is their principal residence. To date, that declaration needed only be made to oneself on a form to be kept in one’s own records. Now, according to the announcement, all real estate property transactions must be declared on the annual tax return on Form 3, including those involving principal residences, and failing to do so will void the capital gains tax exemption.

Many of these changes have a direct impact on Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC) insured loans. The CMHC loans are for mortgages for houses purchased at a value less than $1 million and with down payments of less than 20 per cent. Arguably this has less and less to do with Toronto prices and is not at all relevant to the Annex, where values are much higher. But one must bear in mind the “trickle-up effect” described by local realtor Louis Adams, “the guy trying to sell his $800,000 property now has a smaller pool of possible purchasers and his chances of buying into [and inflating] the $1 million plus market are thereby diminished”.

Only time will tell if the federal government has got the medicine right for the market this time. Since real estate is the only thing churning the economy at present, it’s important not to kill the patient with the cure.

READ MORE:

EDITORIAL: Train derailment changes the conversation (September 2016)

EDITORIAL: “An egregious breach of trust” (August 2016)

EDITORIAL: Turning the Queen Mary (July 2016)

EDITORIAL: Mayo no, marijuana maybe (June 2016)

EDITORIAL: It just makes census (May 2016)

EDITORIAL: An injection of leadership (April 2016)

Dangerous summer for Toronto pedestrians and cyclists

By Mike Layton

Recent statistics from the Toronto Police Service show a disturbing trend — collisions between vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists are on the rise.

Since June 1 of this year 542 pedestrians and 541 cyclists, a total of 1,083 people, have been hit by drivers (cars) and there may be more, since many go unreported. This is an increase of almost 10 per cent over this time last year. Twelve of these collisions were fatal. This means there are close to 10 collisions daily and someone is killed once every two weeks. Sadly, last year 39 pedestrians and four cyclists were killed in collisions.

[pullquote]We also have a responsibility to build our streets in a way that creates a safer environment for the most vulnerable road users.[/pullquote]

Our city must recognize that some street users are more vulnerable than others and every effort must be made to protect these vulnerable road users. Sometimes these changes impact the convenience of other road users, but we value safer streets, and saving lives, over convenience.

Yes, part of the solution is everyone following the rules of the road. Pedestrians, cyclists, taxis, delivery vehicles, and drivers, we all have rules to follow and when we break them, we put ourselves and others at risk. However, we also have a responsibility to build our streets in a way that creates a safer environment for the most vulnerable road users.

There is a movement and policy around the world called Vision Zero and New York, London, and many other cities are adopting it. Vision Zero demands more action by their city governments to prevent the deaths of vulnerable road users.

Toronto could be doing much more. Earlier this summer, Toronto City Council passed a new Road Safety Plan, but failed to fund it properly. In the Road Safety Plan, we committed to Vision Zero, but we did not act to achieve it.

Council voted against Councillor Wong-Tam’s motion, which I supported, to accelerate the funding for this plan so we could implement it sooner and save more lives. Councillors passed a Road Safety Plan without doing everything we could to implement it; they voted and said they believed in Vision Zero, but didn’t put the resources in place to save more lives sooner.

In June, city council adopted a new Ten Year Cycling Network Plan as a roadmap to improve safety across Toronto. This plan includes 525 kilometres of cycling infrastructure (190 kilometres of which are on quiet streets). Like the Road Safety Plan, the Bike Plan is a good idea on paper that will make Toronto streets safer, but council failed to adequately fund it. City Council voted against my motion to accelerate the funding for the cycling network so that we can save more lives sooner. Instead they supported building the 10-year plan, but doing it in 12 years.

One positive story is a motion that I was able to pass in my role as Toronto and East York Community Council chair. Recognizing that speed kills and that as vehicle speed decreases the risk of a fatality decreases dramatically, last year we voted to reduce the speed limit on all local residential streets in the former City of Toronto and East York boundaries to 30 kilometres per hour. The speed limit changes are being rolled out this year and early next year.

Earlier this month, Sarah Doucette (Ward 13, High Park) introduced a similar motion at the Etobicoke York Community Council to reduce the speed limit on all local residential roads to 30 kilometres per hour in the former cities of Etobicoke and York, but the proposal was defeated by a vote of 9 to 2.

We need to do better as a city. Over 1,083 people hit by drivers in a four-month period is unacceptable and is a clear sign that we need to place safety over convenience and reprioritize our city resources to save more lives sooner. I recognize change on our roads is difficult, but we should have no choice in this matter.

We must protect the lives of vulnerable road users first and invest in building a safer and more sustainable city.

Mike Layton is the city councillor for Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina.

READ MORE: 

NEWS: Bikes blessed for another season (June 2016)

LETTER: Keep pushing bike safety (September 2015)

MORE BY MIKE LAYTON:

FORUM: Curious story of Christie Pits pool liner ends in extended hours at Alex Duff (August 2016)

FORUM: A tribute to a friend (June 2016)

FORUM: Large problem, small solution (March 2016)

FORUM: Happy New Year from a new Dad with a new perspective (January 2016)

College Street organization hosts Mandel’s Dreamery installation

PICTURE COURTESY OF ONTARIO JEWISH ARCHIVES: For Fentster curator Evelyn Tauben, pictures of families standing in front of their storefronts evoke the sense of accomplishment early immigrants felt for building not just a business, but a new life.

By Clarrie Feinstein

When you walk along College Street, you are struck by it immediately. Both out of place, yet oddly at home, it brings the contrast of now and then into sharp relief. And it reminds you of a time when Yiddish was the language of Kensington and the market a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood.

It’s the Mandel’s Creamery sign, which until recently marked 29 Baldwin St., even after the creamery was replaced by a café. It’s now a temporary window installation at 402 College St. thanks to the Ontario Jewish Archives (OJA), which saved the window from destruction after a new business replaced the Italian café that had preserved the heritage sign.

“[Yiddish] was the common language of the European immigrants who had arrived,” said Dara Solomon, OJA director. “Yiddish became symbolic of European Jewery.”

And the sign now has become a symbolic representation of what was a portal to connect Jewish residents to their past and a visual record for all Torontonians to witness.

The sign also marks the transition of a community assimilating into Canadian society as the writing contains a combination of Yiddish and English, often referred to as Yinglish. “This sign marks the moment in history when the residents were beginning to actively become a part of Canadian life,” explained Solomon. “That began with the language.”

This past summer, Evelyn Tauben, curator of Fentster Gallery, breathed new life into the old sign by partnering with Solomon to display Mandel’s sign in the storefront of Makom, a grassroots Jewish organization.

It’s the third installation for Fentster, which takes its name from the Yiddish word for window and is an art collective focused on Jewish themes.

“It’s a real return to our roots,” Tauben said. “It’s a compelling image and a real reminder of the accomplishment these early immigrants felt…you see the families standing outside their storefronts, feeling so proud of their establishments. But they built more than a business, they were building themselves a new life.”

By 1931, 80 per cent of Toronto’s Jewish population of 45,000 lived around Spadina Avenue, establishing businesses, synagogues, and organizations. Today, these Jewish establishments are memories of an earlier era. The installation provides Toronto residents with a glimpse of what College Street used to look like, and a reminder of the delis, kosher restaurants, grocers, and Jewish community centres that occupied the once bustling, Jewish downtown street.

Mandel’s Creamery, which opened in 1915, was one of those businesses. Jewish residents began to leave the area after the Second World War, but Mendel’s Creamery remained until the late 1970s, even as all the other storefronts in the neighbourhood changed.

While the sign has received positive feedback from the Toronto community, it evokes but a memory and can represent only a snapshot of what the area once looked like.

[pullquote]“This sign marks the moment in history when the residents were beginning to actively become a part of Canadian life. That began with the language”—Dara Solomon, OJA director[/pullquote]

Aware of this, the curators have changed the original signage from reading: “Butter, Cheese, Cream, Eggs: Fresh Every Day” to “Butter, Cheese, Cream. Eggs: Only Memories” as kosher foods are no longer “fresh every day” in this part of Toronto. An enlarged 1920s black and white archival photograph of Trachter’s Milk Store, a similar Jewish dairy, forms the visual backdrop.

Not just a connection to the past, however, the sign may also be a connection to the future, as that once vibrant, thriving Jewish community is returning to downtown.

Fentster fronts Makom, the face of a new Toronto Jewish community whose membership is only growing.

“Now we can have a reinterpretation of that signage,” said Makom’s rabbi, Aaron Levy, who celebrates the diversity and multi-denominational nature of the modern Jewish community. “I appreciate seeing it, it grounds me, and tells me that I have a history here.”

The Mandel’s Dreamery will remain installed at Fentster @ Makom, 402 College St. until October 30. 

Correction: November 8, 2016

The family name of the of the creamery was misspelled. It is Mandel, not Mendel. The name of the installation was Mandel’s Dreamery. 

READ MORE:

PROFILE: Breaking bread with friends (August 2015)

HISTORY: First Narayever marks 100 (February 2015)

HISTORY: Remembering “institution row” (September 2014)

Local residents recognized at Heritage Toronto Awards

Former Chief of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation and community historian Carolyn King received Heritage Toronto’s Special Achievement Award in recognition of her decades-long efforts to preserve the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation’s community and to celebrate First Nation heritage at this year’s award ceremony, held in conjunction with the annual Kilbourn lecture on Oct. 17 at the Isabel Bader Theatre. The presentation capped off an evening that celebrated a host of local historians.

Seaton Village’s Ed Janiszewski was among those accepting a community heritage and Members’ Choice award for the Lakeshore Asylum Cemetery Project. Volunteers have identified 1,511 patient names and uncovered 154 grave markers since 2004 in their campaign to restore and commemorate the forgotten Lakeshore Asylum Cemetery. John Lorinc, Michael McClelland, Ellen Scheinberg, and Tatum Taylor took the book award for The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto’s First Immigrant Neighbourhood in a category that also included nominees A Meeting of Minds: The Massey College Story by Judith Skelton Grant; Kensington Market: Collective Memory, Public History and Toronto’s Urban Landscape by Na Li; and, The Toronto Carrying Place: Rediscovering Toronto’s Most Ancient Trail by Glenn Turner. Local buildings at 36 Hazelton Avenue, 5 St. Joseph Street, 298 Lonsdale Road, 162 and 427 Bloor St. W., and 113 Walmer Road were also nominated for the William Greer Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship Award, which recognizes outstanding work commissioned by property owners in conservation of Toronto’s built heritage.

Finally, Gleaner writer and contributing editor Annemarie Brissenden was nominated for a Short Publication Award for “A Haven for Children’s Literature”, an article about the unique history of the Lillian H. Smith branch of the Toronto Public Library that appeared in the September 2015 edition of this newspaper.

—Staff/Gleaner News

READ MORE:

NEWS: HVRA recognized for historical achievements (May 2016)

ON THE COVER: Tracking history in the Annex (April 2016)

ARTS: Capturing the Ward (October 2015)

HISTORY: A haven for children’s literature (September 2015)

NEWS: Preserving a sense of community (March 2015)