By Terri Chu
Turf is as troubling as the toxins now in the soil, the Central Technical School (CTS) dome is a hotly contested issue in this area. I’ve met nearly as many people who support the dome as oppose it. The student body no doubt would like to see the stand-off end. There’s a lot of confusion and many opposing interests at play.
The Central Technical School Blues took on the football players of Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute on Nov. 7, 2013, before going on to win the citywide finals that year. The field was locked down shortly thereafter, following the discovery of contamination in the soil. The Central Tech students are keen to get their field back, and support the TDSB’s plan to install a championship field, which would include artificial turf and a seasonal dome, at the site. Photo Brian Burchell, Gleaner News
Tags: General
Catherine Gildiner, in Future Bakery (483 Bloor St. W.), one of her favourite spots in the neighbourhood, which “to me is like a small town.” The local resident says she’s “very attached to the Annex, and never wants to leave.” Photo Neiland Brissenden, Gleaner News
New councillor states position on jets and Waterfront Toronto
By Joe Cressy
Toronto began as a waterfront city. It was our point of origin. Since then, our city has grown and developed in leaps and bounds, but along the way the waterfront seemed to have been lost. But in recent years we have found it again. As politicians, developers, community leaders, and business people, we’ve begun to reclaim and revitalize our waterfront.
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Woodward’s Redevelopment (shown above) in Vancouver’s West Hastings area is a comparable project in terms of importance, said Gregory Henriquez. It featured a homegrown department store that, very much like Honest Ed’s, shut down due to a paradigm shift, and was redeveloped into one of the most inclusive, mixed-use projects in the history of Vancouver.
Neil Wright (right), chair of the Harbord Street Business Improvement Association, accepts the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas’ (TABIA) community engagement award last month on behalf of the local BIA. The Bloor-Yorkville BIA was also recognized, receiving an award for its events. Approximately 28 BIAs from across Toronto were celebrated in 13 categories at TABIA’s fourth annual awards dinner, which honours BIAs for improving the city’s neighbourhoods.
Long in need of a rethink, the corner of Bathurst and Bloor streets is currently the focus of renewed scrutiny, as City of Toronto planners work to lay down guidelines in advance of a much-anticipated application to re-develop the Honest Ed’s site, and adjoining land.
Two universities are tied in the standings in the city’s inaugural BIA Cup tournament. Supported by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA), the Cup is a men’s and women’s varsity-level basketball tournament between the University of Toronto and Ryerson University.
Tags: Annex · Liberty · Sports
The University of Toronto and Ryerson University women’s basketball teams battle it out in the first game of the inaugural BIA Cup on Jan. 7 at U of T’s Goldring Centre.
The tournament, which runs to Feb. 11, is a series of games aimed at promoting high-performance post-secondary athletics to male and female adolescents across the city. Photo Martin Bazyl, U of T Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education
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Lac-Mégantic derailment looms large at community meeting on rail safety
By Madeline Smith
Nearly two hundred people gathered at the Church of the Messiah in the Annex in late November to voice their concerns about rail safety. Three Liberal members of parliament, Adam Vaughan, Chrystia Freeland, and Carolyn Bennett attended, along with Transport Action Ontario president Peter Miasek and Transport Action Canada board member Howard Levine.
Tags: Annex
Funny business going on at Wiener’s Home Hardware
Howard Pressburger, a familiar face at Wiener’s Home Hardware, on Bloor Street, dispenses daily doses of fix-it yourself advice and is all the while quietly contemplating a comedic plot. photo Brian Burchell, Gleaner News
By Nicola Kivell
City should emulate Guelph and Chicago
By Terri Chu
Coming off an election campaign, I was often asked why I decided to run for city council. When members of Adam Vaughan’s old campaign team asked me to put my name forward, I had to think long and hard about putting life on hold in the name of public service.
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Designed by congregant Dianne Saxe and embroidered by Israeli-Canadian artist Tova Raz, the synagogue’s ark curtain draws on traditional symbols of Jewish life to emphasize the high value the congregation places on gender egalitarianism. The Book of Psalms inspires the central imagery, in which a tree planted by flowing water symbolizes how a Torah-centred life gives a pious Jew the strength to flourish. In the curtain, the intertwining trunks of the tree represent the interwoven male and female aspects of the congregation.
Tags: Annex