COURTESY BLOOR ANNEX BIA
The right-of-way on the western flank of the grocery store at Bloor and Robert streets will be redeveloped into a park, thanks to the Bloor Annex BIA.
The Bloor Annex Business Improvement Area (BIA) met this month to discuss the upcoming, and much anticipated, Bloor Street revitalization plan due in 2019.
By Albert Koehl
What if Bloor Street merchants — especially those who believe the bike lane is bad for business — could magically create a new supply of parking spots for their motoring customers?
When confronted with the question of whether or not to support the city’s pilot bike lanes on Bloor Street, the Bloor Annex and Korea Town Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) commissioned a study on the economic impact of the bike lanes. The comprehensive evaluation yielded clear results and also found a discrepancy between the attitudes of merchants and the positive impact the lanes appeared to have on their bottom lines.
PHOTO BY BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS: Led by Andrew Donaldson, the Trinity-St. Paul’s choir performs on the steps of the Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church during the Annex Family Festival on June 11. Organized by the Miles Nadal JCC and sponsored by the Bloor Annex BIA (whose chair publishes this newspaper), the festival featured 120 craft and unique food vendors, as well as a street parade and children’s village.
Over 20,000 attendees and 120 craft and unique food vendors are expected to descend on Bloor Street between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street on June 11 for the 21st running of the Annex Family Festival.
The Toronto and East York Community Council unanimously endorsed a planning staff recommendation to approve Westbank Projects Corp.’s application to redevelop the southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst streets on April 4. It’s a significant milestone that comes after three years of community consultations and collaborative work between the Vancouver-based developer, planning staff, and community representatives.
PHOTO BY BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS
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
Tags: Annex
PHOTO BY BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS FILE PHOTO: City of Toronto senior planner Barry Brooks said that one aim of the Bloor Corridor/Annex Block Study is to “protect the significant view of the historical building (above) at 1 Spadina Cres. We are trying not to distract from the spire of that building.”
PHOTO BY SUMMER REID/GLEANER NEWS: The Bloor Street pilot bike lane project was launched on Aug. 12.
The Annex’s cycling community celebrated the unveiling of the Bloor Street pilot bike lane project on Aug. 12.
PHOTO COURTESY BRITISH COLUMBIA CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIV/AIDS: After a spirited debate on July 14, city council voted 36 to 3 to establish three Supervised Injection Sites throughout the city. According to research from the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, supervised injection facilities can reduce public drug use and overdose deaths, as well as increase access to addiction treatment. People who use safe injection sites are 30 per cent more likely to enter detox programs and 70 per cent less likely to share needles.
“This is a major greening initiative for the neighbourhood”—Jonathan Da Silva, Bloor-Annex BIA
By Annemarie Brissenden
Bloor Street West is about to get a whole lot greener, and it’s all thanks to the trees.
Tags: General
MARKET RETURNS TO THE ANNEX THIS SUMMER
By Victoria Prouse
“You shop differently in a farmers market than a supermarket,” says Gus Sinclair, former chair of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) and co-founder of the Bloor-Borden Farmers’ Market. “In a farmers’ market, people pause; they stop over tomatoes and talk about how the kids are doing at school.”