Traditional and contemporary pieces win competition By Khyrsten Mieras New bike racks are being added to the Annex’s urban landscape after OCAD announced the winners of its design contest in mid-November. As part of the Bloor Street Revitalization Project, students in two OCAD classes took part in a competition last year to design bike racks […]

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Parkette location chosen to celebrate Bloor’s rich offerings By Khyrsten Mieras The Bloor Annex BIA is expanding its Bloor Street Revitalization Project with the addition of a new mural to showcase the neighbourhood’s rich offering of culture and diversity. In August, the BIA sent a request looking for mural proposals from local artists to design […]

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TransformTO consultation held to discuss city’s climate plan By Khyrsten Mieras The City of Toronto and the Annex Residents’ Association’s (ARA) Parks, Trees and Environment Committee held the latest TransformTO community consultation at the Bata Shoe Museum on November 4. Along with local communities, the city is holding several public conversations this fall to discuss […]

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Minister of Foreign Affairs handily wins riding By Khyrsten Mieras Chrystia Freeland will continue her work representing University-Rosedale as a member of parliament following the federal election on Oct. 21. The Liberal candidate won her seat for the downtown Toronto riding with 51 per cent of the vote and 28,088 ballots, slightly more than during […]

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Residents frustrated by inaction By Khyrsten Mieras The property at 6 Walmer Rd. is covered in litter. The house has boarded-up windows and doors, the walls are covered in graffiti, and there are holes in the roof. It has been a long road of deterioration for the property, a heritage house, and its poor condition […]

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After two Gleaner stories amplifying community concerns over the city’s neglect of Paul Martel Park (on Madison north of Bloor), city staff gave the green space a major clean-up and its long promised new sign. Residents are hopeful that park staff bring the planting beds back to life in the spring. —Brian Burchell/Gleaner News READ […]

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Recently renovated, the building at 1 Spadina Crescent received an award for its impressive transformation at the 2019 Heritage Toronto Awards last month. On Oct. 28, Heritage Toronto announced the winners of its annual awards recognizing exceptional contributions to the conservation and celebration of heritage in Toronto. John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and […]

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On Oct. 31, several stabbings were reported during a late-night Halloween party at a frat house on Madison Avenue, north of Bloor Street West. “At about 11:30, someone walked down from the northern part of the street, was bleeding, and came for assistance,” says Chris Haslett, who works at the Madison Avenue Pub. “Our door […]

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At right, Jeffrey Brodie tries to regain access to what he describes as his residence at 104 Harbord St. The location is know as CAFE, a popular illegal marijuana dispensary where the city has erected concrete barriers to its entrance way. Brodie recently lost his bid to get an Ontario court to order removal of […]

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Major Street residents band together to welcome new Canadians By Leah Borts-Kuperman At a Christmas party in 2015, ten neighbours living in Harbord Village decided to contribute $1,000 each to help Syrian refugees. The group, which would eventually call themselves the Major Street Refugee Initiative (MSRI), would go on to raise $80,000 and support a family […]

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A Holocaust survivor, “he had no bitterness, always looked at the good” By Ron Csillag, The Canadian Jewish News Zoltan Zimmerman, whose Zimmerman’s Discount store was among the last of the old Kensington Market shops that sold a bit of everything and was a mainstay of the cacophonous neighbourhood for more than six decades, died in […]

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