By Geremy Bordonaro
If you’re coming to the Annex for a quick visit, you’re in luck. From hotels to condos to student residences, there’s lots of places that will give you a taste of what’s it like to live in Toronto’s most livable neighbourhood. If you actually want to live here, however, you’re out of luck. Long-term housing, especially affordable housing, is at a premium.
As the city struggles with a shortage of affordable rental housing, Toronto City Council’s executive committee has opened up a draft plan to register and license short-term rentals typically offered through Airbnb to public consultation.
Tags: General
Flea markets are coming to two of the area’s most historical neighbourhoods. The Kensington Market Flea Market will launch June 25 and run every last Sunday of the month from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until October 29.
By Geremy Bordonaro
After a year of study and consultation, the city is going ahead with the process to designate Kensington Market a Heritage Conservation District (HCD). The decision was announced at a community consultation meeting last month.
Nearly one hundred bar and restaurant staff from Kensington Market participated in a free workshop on how to deal with drug overdoses on Feb. 27. Organized by the Kensington Market BIA and Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), the workshop taught participants how to recognize and respond to an overdose. Queen West Central Toronto Community Health Centre led the technical aspects of the training and explained how Naloxone counter-acts the effects of opioids. Bar and restaurant owners also received overdose response kits.
PHOTO BY NEILAND BRISSENDEN/GLEANER NEWS FILE: The area’s lost rivers have long been a source of fascination for artists and writers. In this 2015 Nuit Blanche installation, To Love You Deeply I Look to My Mind’s Eye, visual artist Christine Dewancker and landscape designer Katie Strang tracked Garrison Creek through Bickford Park to explore the impact of an invisible geography — such as a lost river — on a community.
PICTURE COURTESY ORI DAGAN/KMJF: Order of Canada member Don Thompson performs with his Vibes Trio at Trinity Common on Augusta Avenue on Jan. 22. Following on the heels of their popular Kensington Market Jazz Festival, organizers Molly Johnson, Genevieve Marentette, and Ori Dagan have curated a series of Sunday jazz brunches during January and February.
By Joe Cressy
As is often said, Rome wasn’t built in a day. In comparison, Toronto may be a relatively young city, but that doesn’t mean we have no history to speak of — far from it. Preserving our city’s heritage is critical. It tells us something about who we are, who we were, and how we got here.
Mirvish Village’s internationally-known comics and graphic novel retailer The Beguiling has already begun moving to its new location at 319 College St. Its sister store, Little Island Comics on Bathurst Street, will be closed. The store’s Peter Birkemoe says he expects to open the new location just before Christmas, and be fully operational by January.
By Joe Cressy
Ward 20 is home to some of our city’s most vibrant neighbourhoods — communities characterized by unique and diverse groups of neighbours, businesses, physical structures, contemporary public art, and iconic cultural destinations. And, neighbourhoods that are actively working on initiatives to transform forgotten laneways and green spaces, to protect critical historical value, and to build equitable, fair, and livable communities for all our friends and neighbours.
PHOTO BY SUMMER REID/GLEANER NEWS: The city’s first road mural was installed late last month on Baldwin Street in Kensington Market. Part of the StreetARToronto Road Mural program, the mural is the result of a collaboration between artists and the Kensington Market BIA. The mural was painted using latex paint, which is made to withstand weather elements and foot traffic for six to nine months. The City of Toronto launched the pilot project after a proposal to legalize road murals did not pass Toronto City Council. Four additional murals will be installed throughout the city under the project by the end of October.
—Summer Reid/Gleaner News
By Annemarie Brissenden
Although Kensington Market has a long history of incubating musical talent, it hasn’t been home to a live musical festival that perhaps best embodies the area, whose Victorian homes, improvised stalls mixed between long-standing businesses, and quirky culture unite into a syncopated rhythm that is very much its own.
Tags: Annex
PHOTO BY GEREMY BORDONARO: A Mona Lisa mural surveys the scene on Kensington Avenue. The market is undergoing a study to determine whether it should become a Heritage Conservation District.
By Geremy Bordonaro
Even in a city known for its distinctive neighbourhoods, it remains unique.