Spadina Avenue high-rise not a bar for height By Annemarie Brissenden A 25-storey, 334-unit apartment building is providing the model for a new mixed-student residence at the northwest corner of Spadina and Sussex avenues, but not in the way local residents’ associations would like. “It’s effectively the same height as 666 [Spadina Ave.],” said Scott […]

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Dangerous summer for Toronto pedestrians and cyclists By Mike Layton Recent statistics from the Toronto Police Service show a disturbing trend — collisions between vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists are on the rise. Since June 1 of this year 542 pedestrians and 541 cyclists, a total of 1,083 people, have been hit by drivers (cars) […]

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TDSB repair backlog reflects critical state of infrastructure By Annemarie Brissenden With both the federal and provincial governments making significant investments in public infrastructure, the Ministry of Education’s release of information detailing the maintenance backlog in Ontario raises a serious question: are we doing all that we can to maintain our buildings once they are […]

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TDSB reverses Essex Junior and Senior Public School decision after community uproar This July 2005 article chronicling the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) decision to reverse its plan to lease an empty building at Essex Junior and Senior Public School reflects the challenges faced by municipal school boards that attempt to fund repair and maintenance […]

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Potential disaster averted By Brian Burchell Two Canadian Pacific freight trains collided on August 21 sending two locomotives and several rail cars off the tracks just north of Dupont Street near Howland Avenue. The trains were going in opposite directions and one clipped the tail end of the other as it failed to execute a […]

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Building up will allow us to create the sizable park downtown needs By Joe Cressy A central park in downtown Toronto. It’s an old idea whose time has come. Now, all we need is a little creativity, political will, and a commitment from Toronto City Council to invest significant money to make it happen. Let’s […]

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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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By Brian Burchell Spurred on by a recent spike in drug overdose deaths, Toronto City Council voted 36 to 3 on July 14 to establish three Supervised Injection Sites (SIS) throughout the city. Typically run through public health clinics, such sites provide a space for clients to self-administer drugs — which they supply themselves — […]

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By Mike Layton The phone started ringing in my office almost immediately. Why is the Alex Duff Memorial Pool closed during the hottest days of summer? Why wasn’t the pool fixed earlier in the season? Why doesn’t it look like anyone is working on it? All valid questions that deserved answers. And especially when the […]

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Concerns raised about lack of consultation for Central Tech space By Geremy Bordonaro Improvements to the Lennox Street expanse between Central Technical School and its art centre are well underway, but residents attending a May 5 information meeting questioned whether the design reflected the best use of the land. When the refurbished landscaping — now […]

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New facility to include childcare spaces By Annemarie Brissenden Local Catholic elementary school students will soon have a new school with a view. The Ontario government has announced that it will spend $9.4 million on a new school to be built where St. Raymond Catholic School currently sits on Barton Avenue, overlooking Christie Pits. The […]

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