Toronto to host First Nations youth from across the continent By R.S. Konjek A recent exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum called Toronto Underfoot, presented a collection of Indigenous artifacts that have been unearthed from numerous locations around the city. Tools, projectile points, carvings, and beads all provide evidence that for thousands of years Indigenous […]

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Residents decry loss of green space and heritage impacts By Brian Burchell It was billed as a community consultation, but a Nov. 29 meeting on plans to add an 11-storey mixed-use building and eight stacked townhouses to the north and south of the existing 25-storey tower at 666 Spadina Ave. was more about airing grievances […]

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Travels with daughter enable fresh look at community By Mike Layton Growing up in our neighbourhood, I thought I knew it inside and out, but I’ve spent the last year seeing it through a new set of eyes. Joined by my daughter, Phoebe, I have developed a new understanding of our community. You may have […]

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  READ MORE: ARTS: Bringing art to the people (April 2016) FORUM: Untapped potential: Animating our local laneways (February 2016) by Joe Cressy NEWS: Incubating micro-retail: Laneways untapped realm of urban design (December 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden NEWS: Graffiti artist Erica Balon creates mural on Bloor Street West (July 2015) by Justine Ricketts ARTS: A […]

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By Annemarie Brissenden The city has responded to a developer’s application to build what many have termed a “vertical rooming house” at 316 Bloor St. W. with a development of its own: the Bloor Corridor/Annex Block Study. “Two applications led us to believe that there is a certain amount of development pressure in the Annex,” […]

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The Annex’s cycling community celebrated the unveiling of the Bloor Street pilot bike lane project on Aug. 12. Speaking at the unveiling, Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) noted that talks of a Bloor Street bike lane date to 40 years ago, when cyclists were taking to the streets even though the city had no bike […]

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The Toronto Police Service’s recent crackdown on 45 pot dispensaries, many of which are just steps from the Annex, signals the City of Toronto’s frustration with the federal government’s lack of progress on the decriminalization of marijuana, as well as the need for a framework regulating the production, distribution, and sale of the green bud. […]

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Plan to transform underutilized space [pullquote]“This is a major greening initiative for the neighbourhood”—Jonathan Da Silva, Bloor-Annex BIA[/pullquote] By Annemarie Brissenden Bloor Street West is about to get a whole lot greener, and it’s all thanks to the trees. Currently confined to box planters, Bloor Street’s trees are suffering. The concrete boxes — sometimes known […]

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Pharmacy drugstore chain says it will respect building’s heritage [pullquote]“This will be a relief to the neighbourhood”—Sue Dexter, HVRA[/pullquote] By Annemarie Brissenden After one last weekend-long blowout, the doors of the Brunswick House closed for good, leaving the neighbourhood eagerly anticipating the site’s next, presumably quieter and more agreeable, incarnation. “Identifying a new tenant is […]

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City to break ground later this year By Annemarie Brissenden Do you prefer a tetherball over a maypole? Would you scramble up a high ropy climber, or cling with glee to a lower rotating one? Would you rather sit on a log, dig through a sandbox, or watch the world go by from your perch […]

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The Annex Residents’ Association (ARA) has unveiled a new web application to track all the building developments in the areas on and north of Bloor Street. Residents can use the program to help keep up to date on how many new building projects are in place, as well as add information about them. The web […]

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Supervised drug injection sites are on their way to Toronto if local councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) gets his way. The rookie member of city council finds himself on many civic bodies, but at the Toronto Board of Health, he is the elected chair. Cressy announced the initiative in late March after the board […]

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