The rail Dupont rail corridor from the back of 328 Dupont St. The Ontario Municipal Board ruling on a proposed development for the site confirmed the city’s guidelines that new buildings must be built at least 20 metres from a rail line. BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS
Safe Rail Communities, a local advocacy group, has drafted its Rail Emergency Preparedness Toolkit as part of its Rail Safety Improvement Program. Funded by Transport Canada, the toolkit provides residents living near rail tracks with emergency contacts in case of a train derailment.
Bateman’s Bicycle Company celebrated a milestone when its 2018 racing team reached 75 members. This year’s team includes 25 new and 50 returning racers.
The 10-year-old bike shop, which has three locations in the Annex, founded its cycling team in 2012 with one member. Now in its sixth year, the team has cyclists from as young as eight years to over 60 years of age from the community.
An artificial rink in Christie Pits Park has been renamed after Sid Smith, the eighth captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The name change happened after the city received an application for the change last year from a private citizen.
By Annemarie Brissenden
Do bike lanes make cycling inherently safer?
That question was up for debate at January’s Grounds for Thought, which runs the last Tuesday of every month at the Green Beanery at Bloor and Bathurst streets. With free coffee on offer, Grounds for Thought is an homage to the coffee houses of old, places where dissent and unconventional ideas were not only welcomed but encouraged.
The Ontario Federation of Labour and the Fight for $15 & Fairness Campaign protested outside the Bloor Street and Spadina Road franchise of Tim Hortons on January 10. They were protesting franchise owners who cut paid breaks and some benefits in order to pay for the province’s mandated minimum wage increase, which went from $11.60 to $14 on January 1. GEREMY BORDONARO/GLEANER NEWS
Newcomer Kitchen began at Butler’s Pantry on Markham Street before moving to Depanneur on College Street when Butler’s Pantry was closed due to the Mirvish Village redevelopment. BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS
By Geremy Bordonaro
Charlie Conacher’s nephew Brian applauds at the unveiling of Charlie Conacher’s banner at Jesse Ketchum Public School. COURTESY JOHN CALDARONE
By R.S. Konjek
Jesse Ketchum Public School on Davenport Road received a special gift from the Toronto Maple Leafs just before the holidays, thanks to one of its most famous graduates.
By Geremy Bordonaro
Joe Cressy has confirmed that he will be standing for re-election at the next municipal election. He’s just not sure which ward he’ll be running in, now that the Ontario Municipal Board has approved Toronto City Council’s decision to increase the number of wards from 44 to 47.
Mitzie Hunter (right), Ontario’s minister of education, sits in on a Kensington Community School kindergarten class discussion about climate change. BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS
The future of the Annex Family Festival is up in the air after most of its funds were cut by the Bloor Annex BIA at its annual general meeting on January 9. The organization’s board of directors presented the annual budget, which included funding for the festival, for approval by the general members.
Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), Daniel Freeman of Freeman Realty, Ted Winick of Spirit of Math, and Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul’s West) gave away 500 turkeys in three hours just before Christmas. Now in its second year, the event is an homage to Ed Mirvish, who also used to give away turkeys before Christmas at Honest Ed’s. “We feel a strong obligation to give back to the community,” said Elden Freeman, who co-sponsors the event with Winick. BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS
Royal St. George’s College students Henry Gold, Charlie Botterell, Luke Ovenell, and Kieran Tisdal present their project to help the nation to a parent in December. The project was a part of a grade nine assignment that tasked students with developing innovative ideas for improving the state of the world. COURTESY ROYAL ST. GEORGE’S COLLEGE