PHOTO COURTESY ARLYN MCADOREY: A Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive derailed near Howland Avenue and Dupont Street on Aug. 21 after two of its freight trains collided, the cause of which remains unknown. Posting on Twitter shortly after the derailment, Transport Canada said that its rail and dangerous goods specialists were on site, and that a minister’s observer had examined the scene. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has also announced that the derailment is under investigation. The Gleaner will follow up in the September edition.

READ MORE:

NEWS: Rail safety focus of town hall (May 2016)

Where do your LPC, NDP, and GPC candidates stand? (September 2015)

Inaction frustrates residents (May 2015)

Risky Rails? (February 2015)

PHOTO BY BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS FILE PHOTO: City of Toronto senior planner Barry Brooks said that one aim of the Bloor Corridor/Annex Block Study is to “protect the significant view of the historical building (above) at 1 Spadina Cres. We are trying not to distract from the spire of that building.”

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,” explained Barry Brooks, a senior planner with the City of Toronto’s Community Planning Division.

Brian Burchell, chair of the Bloor-Annex BIA (who also publishes this newspaper), said he recognizes the “need to have a plan [like this] and funnel developer applications through it. Otherwise the city’s playing catch up.”

The study, presented at a well-attended community meeting in late June, was initiated out of Joe Cressy’s (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) office with input from several local residents’ associations.

The hope is it will lead to an Official Plan amendment that will strengthen the Bloor Corridor Visioning Study — which sets out a road map for Bloor Street West between Avenue Road and Bathurst Street that incorporates guidelines for land use, built form, transportation, community services, etc. — with more detailed guidelines relating to tall building heights, green space, separation between buildings, and laneways.

It also aims to protect the historical vista of the former home of Knox College at 1 Spadina Cres., stating that “buildings should not be built to a height that would detract from the silhouette of [the heritage] building, as viewed from College Street.

“In an area like Bloor Street, where we are experiencing a lot of development pressure, initiating plans like this is critical,” added Cressy, “so we are not constantly at the whim of developers”.

He characterized the application of 316 Bloor West Toronto Developments Ltd. to build a 42-storey mixed-use building at the northwest corner of Bloor Street West and Madison Avenue as “aggressive” and “out of context with the city’s plans for the neighbourhood [as detailed] in the Bloor Corridor Visioning Study”.

Current zoning allows for buildings to reach a height of 18 metres; the applicant’s proposed tower would stretch to 132 metres and consist largely of one-bedroom and studio units.

[pullquote]“It’s the density. We’d like to see a mix of units, so we can get families moving in as well”—Edward Leman, ARA[/pullquote]

The city’s preliminary report on the application characterized the overall density and massing of the proposed development as “excessive” and noted “this density and this form is clearly not representative of the norm for this area”.

The developer has appealed directly to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

“We’re strongly opposed,” said Edward Leman. He’s the co-chair of the planning and zoning committee of the Annex Residents’ Association, which along with the city is a party at the OMB for this file. “We didn’t want a massive dense student residence in the Annex.”

Although Burchell countered that “I don’t think it’s reasonable for residents to be concerned about the prospect of student housing when they move in next to the University of Toronto,” he did acknowledge that “it is important to get the right balance. Height and density do matter.”

For Leman, that’s exactly the point.

“It’s the density. [It would be different] if it was a 12- or 10-storey building. We’d like to see a mix of units, so we can get families moving in as well.”

“Intensification along the subway makes sense for the city as a whole,” said Burchell, “but it has to be managed properly. The developer [of 316 Bloor St. W.] has failed to engage the community meaningfully with respect to its plans.”

“It’s cynical the way the developer did it,” said Leman. “They didn’t formally consult with the councillor, and held a disappointing pro forma community meeting” in April of 2015.

Burchell noted that there has been a marked difference in approach between 316 Bloor West Toronto Developments Ltd. and Westbank Projects Corp., which is developing a large parcel of land that includes Honest Ed’s and Mirvish Village at Bloor and Bathurst streets.

“The BIA has witnessed in the last three years two applications that bookend our territory: Westbank and 316 Bloor. The two developers could not be more different with respect to the level of engagement with the city and community. It’s striking.

“I prefer Westbank with respect to its approach.”

The Bloor Corridor/Annex Block Study is expected to go before community council in October, and Toronto City Council in November.

READ MORE:

NEWS: “Vertical rooming house” rejected (May 2015)

Catching up with history (May 2014)

PHOTO BY BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS: The manager of cultural programming at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, Michael Etherington (above), suggests that introducing Indigenous teaching techniques to U of T could prompt “a complete paradigm shift” in which educators “take a step back and rethink our entire education system from the foundation upwards”.

By Annemarie Brissenden and Clarrie Feinstein

The University of Toronto (U of T) steering committee mandated with prioritizing the institution’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released its Interim Report last month, just as the Native Students’ Association launched a petition to implement a mandatory Indigenous studies credit across all levels of education at the university.

The TRC has a mandate to inform all Canadians of the impact Indian Residential Schools continues to have on those placed in these institutions. Dating to the 1870s, the government-funded, church-run schools were set up, as the TRC’s website notes, “to eliminate parental involvement in the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual development” of more 150,000 Aboriginal children. The commission is part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement that resulted when former residential school students took the federal government and churches to court. It is the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history.

Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo, the director of Aboriginal Student Services at First Nations House and the coordinator of the Council for Aboriginal Initiatives, co-chairs the Steering Committee for the U of T Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada with Professor Stephen J. Toope, director of the Munk School of Global Affairs. The rest of the committee includes staff, faculty, and students, as well as well two Indigenous Elders, Traditional Teacher Lee Maracle and Elder in Residence Andrew Wesley. The university’s president Meric Gertler and vice president and provost Cheryl Regehr established the committee in January of this year, following the TRC’s release of its final report, which included 94 calls to action, among them many education-related reforms.

These include eliminating education gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians; developing culturally appropriate curricula; establishing senior-level positions in government dedicated to developing Aboriginal content in education; integrating Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into post-secondary classrooms; and requiring all law students to take a course in Aboriginal peoples and the law.

The committee did not make any initial recommendations in its interim report, but did summarize its primary achievements since January. It has developed an inventory of existing Indigenous-themed programs and initiatives across the university, and established five working groups that will focus on five areas: Indigenous curriculum; Indigenous students; Indigenous faculty and staff; Indigenous co-curricular educations; and Indigenous research ethics and community relationships. The working groups — some of which will be voluntarily guided by an Indigenous elder — must report by mid-October, in time for the committee to complete and submit its final report to the U of T by December 31.

The report comes just as the university’s Native Students’ Association has raised a petition asking U of T to support the implementation of a mandatory Indigenous studies credit across all of levels of education. The association, which has been working on this for two years and recently met with both the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and the Premier of Ontario’s office, has to date received 1,545 signatures in support of its petition.

In Canada, two universities — the University of Winnipeg and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay — have adopted this approach and, starting in September, will require all undergraduates to complete a three-credit course in Indigenous culture or history in order to attain a degree.

[pullquote]“Indigenous education is a way of life, which is hard to distill in a classroom setting”—Michael Etherington, NCCT[/pullquote]

However, Michael Etherington, the manager of cultural programming at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, believes implementing such an initiative will not be without its challenges.

“What will be difficult is how Indigenous teachings and practices will be incorporated into a methodology,” he said. “There are 50 to 60 groups within Indigenous communities. How can they all be represented to make it fully inclusive? Indigenous education is a way of life, which is hard to distill in a classroom setting.”

Etherington added that any curriculum must be grounded in historical events, which are key to understanding how Indigenous communities got to where they are today.

And, Etherington noted, while the U of T represents academic rigour and excellence, it is also endemic of traditional Western values that are in conflict with Indigenous teachings. “These academic institutions perpetuated certain stereotypes and perspectives on Indigenous people for a long time,” he explained. “The university can go down two avenues. The first is a process of revaluation, which is to revise a few practices, alter a couple of courses, etc. The second is to have a complete paradigm shift and to take a step back and rethink our entire education system from the foundation upwards.”

The committee’s interim report suggests that a paradigm shift is not on the horizon for the university; rather, its focus is more on engaging with Indigenous students, alumni, faculty, and staff, as well as including “where appropriate” Indigenous content into the curriculum.

It has acknowledged that three assumptions will underpin its final report: the recommendations will be forward-thinking and action-oriented with tangible goals that are well defined; that the university should graduate more Indigenous students and be “worthy” in every respect of these students; and that reconciliation is a long-term and continuous process.

PHOTO BY SUMMER REID/GLEANER NEWS: The Bloor Street pilot bike lane project was launched on Aug. 12.

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 lanes.

“It’s amazing to see the transformation already underway,” said Jared Kolb, executive director of Cycle Toronto, adding that he hopes the pilot lanes will be extended further east and west on Bloor Street to make streets safer for Toronto’s “most vulnerable road users”.

The City of Toronto has partnered Miovision, the Metcalf Foundation, the University of Toronto, and the Bloor-Annex and Koreatown BIAs to conduct a study that will demonstrate the impact such bike lanes have on Bloor Street. This data when collected will include over 4,800 hours of video footage from Bloor Street, monitoring bike, vehicle, and pedestrian traffic along the street.

“For far too long, cycling infrastructure and bike lanes has been controversial. It’s been divisive,” said Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), adding that reducing local vehicle traffic by adding bike lanes is the only way to reduce congestion on city streets.

Challenging the existing paradigm that places bikes in conflict with cars, the councillor argued that both can exist harmoniously in Toronto.

“If you can put a bike lane on Bloor [Street] and make it work, you can put a bike lane on any street and make it work.”

—Summer Reid/Gleaner News

READ MORE:

NEWS: Bikes blessed for another season (June 2016)

FOCUS: An early advocate for bike lanes (June 2016)

NEWS: Bike lanes for Bloor Street (May 2016)

The faster we lower speeds, the more lives we save (October 2015)

Early brewer the basis for Bloor Street’s name (May 2015)

After being shut for close to four years, the Central Technical School field is set to reopen in time for the start of the school year, said Matthew Raizenne, president and CEO of Razor Management Inc., which is installing and will operate a new field and athletic facility at the site.

It’s a project that has been subject to much controversy, but a mediated settlement between the Toronto District School Board, Razor, and local residents was reached last year has allowed work on the site to progress. The school’s new field will be made from artificial turf enclosed with a 400-metre rubberized running track. For approximately six months a year, Razor will raise a dome no larger than 44.2 metres long by 65.5 metres wide by 18 metres high (significantly smaller than what was originally proposed) over the field, keeping it available for use in the winter months. Central Tech will have access to the field and athletic facility during school hours, but Razor will operate programming and rent out the facility to the public for the rest of the time and during the summer months.

—Summer Reid/Gleaner News

READ MORE ABOUT CENTRAL TECH FIELD: 

NEWS: New landscaping for Lennox Street (June 2016)

NEWS: Central Tech field renewal back on track (May 2016)

LETTERS: HVRA still on board for CTS plan (March 2016)

EDITORIAL: Ship to wreck (February 2016)

Construction halted at Central Tech: Student athletes launch online petition by Marielle Torrefranca (February 2016)

Agreement reached for Central Tech field (April 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

To dome or not to dome, that is the question (February 2015) by Terri Chu

Editorial: Mobs don’t rule, nor do pawns (February 2015)

Dome plan inches closer (February 2015) by Brian Burchell

School board appeals ruling and loses, again (October 2014) by Brian Burchell

Editorial: A strategy run amok (September 2014)

Dome plan quashed by courts (September 2014) by Brian Burchell

Raucous meeting on CTS field (April 2014) by Annemarie Brissenden

READ MORE ABOUT CENTRAL TECH:

Central Tech alumni return to mark school’s centennial (November 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

Central Tech celebrates 100 years (July 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

Aircraft program grounded in 2004 (July 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

The Toronto Police Service is requesting assistance with a shooting investigation in the Bloor Street West and Christie Street area. On July 30 at approximately 9:00 a.m., a man shot two people during a fitness class in Christie Pits. One victim, who was nearby when the shooting occurred, was hit in the foot by a stray bullet. The other victim, identified as 35-year-old former gang leader Alejandro (Jose) Vivar, was leading the class.

In 2007 Vivar — whom police believed in 2003 to be the former leader of the Latinos Americanos or L.A. Boys, a rival gang of the Christie Boys — and nine other men were arrested on 16 counts of criminal weapon and drug charges. Vivar went on to spend almost 9 years in prison, where he earned his fitness instructor certification and wrote a first-person column entitled “Prison Diary” that was published in the Kingston Whig Standard.

At this time, however, police do not know if last month’s attack was gang related, but Vivar may end up back in prison due to public safety concerns once he is out of the hospital.

The shooter is described as black or having a dark complexion, aged 25 to 30, and 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall with a thin build. At the time of the attack, he had short cornrows hanging out of a black baseball cap, and was wearing a black hoodie with a white logo in the centre, black sweat pants with a light logo on the left front hip area, light-coloured running shoes, and dark sunglasses with gold trim on the arms.

Police caution that the shooter — considered armed and dangerous — should not be approached, and anyone seeing him should call 9-1-1. If you have any information about this or any other crime, please contact the TPS at 416-808-1400 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477.

—Summer Reid/Gleaner News

PHOTO COURTESY BRITISH COLUMBIA CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIV/AIDS: After a spirited debate on July 14, city council voted 36 to 3 to establish three Supervised Injection Sites throughout the city. According to research from the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, supervised injection facilities can reduce public drug use and overdose deaths, as well as increase access to addiction treatment. People who use safe injection sites are 30 per cent more likely to enter detox programs and 70 per cent less likely to share needles.

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 — in a safe environment under the direct supervision of a nurse. It’s a harm reduction strategy that discourages using drugs in public areas, particularly in back alleys and bathrooms.

The sites will be established at locations that currently provide needle exchanges as well as a wide array of health and counselling services: Queen West Central Community Health Centre (on Bathurst Street just south of Queen Street West), the Works (near Victoria and Dundas streets), and the South Riverdale Community Health Centre (at Queen Street and Carlaw Avenue). The city will still need permission from the federal government to set up the locations.

Launching the lengthy council debate, health board chair Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul’s West) described the plan as “a paradigm shift around how we deal with addictions, from a model of criminalization and ostracization to a compassionate public health care approach”.

[pullquote]“A person afflicted with addiction needs the opportunity to be treated in a holistic fashion”—Mark Saunders, chief, TPS[/pullquote]

However, Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West) — who proposed an amendment that failed to pass requiring injection sites to operate exclusively out of hospitals and pharmacies — questioned why the city was facilitating the injection of illegal substances, instead of focusing solely on treatment, such as providing methadone programs for heroin addicts.

The city’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, David McKeown, explained that there are already 10 or so methadone clinics in this city, and that this proposal targets different aspects of addiction: unsafe injections in public spaces, the transmission of diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C through the use of dirty needles, the discarding of used needles, and the increasing risk of users overdosing. He added that 70 per cent of the clean needles the city distributes are within 10 blocks of these proposed locations.

Other speakers questioned the $1.7 million annual expense. McKeown was optimistic that the province would cover 100 per cent of the expense as it is considered health care, a provincial jurisdiction.

Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) chronicled the “very fulsome dialogue” the city held with the communities in which the injection sites will be located. He was pleased with the extent to which stakeholders embraced “a compassionate approach to people not property”.

Letters were received from the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area (BIA) and the Toronto Police Service (TPS).

The BIA chair, Paul Seaman, supported the city’s efforts in “finding a harm reduction solution for at-risk individuals”, but urged that “specific metrics” be put in place to gauge the impact the operations will have around the site locations.

Police Chief Mark Saunders expressed strong support based on his view that a “person afflicted with addiction needs the opportunity to be treated in a holistic fashion and be offered services to become and remain whole”. He added that having drug users under supervision gives health professionals an opportunity “to provide information to [their] clients to undertake activity to break the cycle of addiction, [and] encourage them to rehabilitate. I see this as a public safety issue as well.”

Although Major John Tory admitted to having some initial discomfort with the idea, he explained that he came to support it after seeing a parallel between addiction and autism. He has fought personally to ensure that those who suffer from autism — a disease of the mind, like addiction — are not treated as second-class citizens, and he said that he now thinks drug addicts deserve the same protection.

“This is the right thing to do, it’s the moral thing to do, [and] it will save lives,” concluded Tory.

Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), chair of the Toronto Drug Strategy Implementation Panel, stickhandled the file for the last 18 months and had the last word.

He described the proposal as “one part of a comprehensive approach to drug use that includes treatment, prevention, harm reduction, and yes, enforcement,” and added that he did not expect so many local residents and business-owners to come out and say “yes, in my backyard”.

“I could not be prouder.”

Six years in a federal penitentiary.

Given the judicial constraints in this case, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Then has delivered a fair sentence to Constable James Forcillo of the Toronto Police Service for the attempted murder of Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar three years ago. A jury had previously found Forcillo not guilty of second degree murder, or manslaughter, but guilty of the lesser charge of attempted murder.

[pullquote]It has never been more critically important for the courts to send the right message to police.[/pullquote]

Forcillo shot Yatim nine times. The three initial shots felled the teen who had been wielding a 10-centimetre pocket knife and shouting obscenities at the officer, who was standing outside the streetcar.

Forcillo paused for six seconds and then fired six more shots.

It is this pause, and the second volley of shots, that led to officer’s conviction. Police officers are trained to know that they cannot use lethal force against someone who is not an imminent threat. After three shots, Yatim was no longer an imminent threat to anyone, and was likely already dead. Although Forcillo testified at trial that Yatim was getting up after the first three shots, ample video evidence showed that this was not the case.

It is troubling to think that had the officer not fired the second volley of shots there might not have been a criminal conviction at all.

Defence counsel had requested a sentence of house arrest, while the Crown argued for eight to 10 years in prison. Constraining the judge’s ruling was a section of the criminal code that prescribes a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for any person found guilty of attempted murder while using a gun (including police officers though the defence argued otherwise, an argument the judge ultimately rejected).

It must have been a challenge for Then to determine the appropriate sentence, but we think he struck the right balance in his 32-page decision. The six-year sentence, wrote the judge, “will serve to emphasize to other officers in executing their duties with respect to the discharge of their firearms that they do so only as a last resort…not as their first and only option”.

Although the conviction is unprecedented — no Canadian police officer involved in an on-duty shooting death has ever been found guilty of committing a crime — it is important to remember that the crime itself is equally unprecedented. As such, Forcillo’s actions are not a reflection of poor training, but rather his extraordinarily poor judgment.

Consider that according to former Supreme Court Judge Frank Iacobucci’s 2014 report on use of lethal force by the TPS, approximately 20,000 calls the service receives annually relate to “persons-in-crisis”, of which 8,000 involve apprehensions under the Mental Health Act. The report notes that only five such encounters between 2002 and 2012 resulted in the fatal shooting of emotionally disturbed persons. (As the data does not include 2013, Sammy Yatim is not counted among the five.)

It’s a revealing set of statistics that not only demonstrates the professionalism of the majority of Forcillo’s colleagues in such contexts, but also the sheer volume of police interactions with persons-in-crisis. It has never been more critically important for the courts to send the right message to police.

Stressing that “the sentence I am about to impose should not be taken to reflect adversely on the well-deserved reputation of the [TPS] as a whole,” Then described Forcillo’s actions on that July night a little over three years ago as “an egregious breach of trust”.

Reflecting on the sentencing, the Yatim’s family lawyer Julian Falconer said, “There is a significance to today because [the sentence] reflects the fact that there may be some equality under the law; that maybe police, today, just once, are as accountable as the rest of us.”

We believe they should always be as accountable as the rest of us.

Let this sentence serve as a reminder.

READ MORE:

EDITORIAL: Turning the Queen Mary (July 2016)

EDITORIAL: Mayo no, marijuana maybe (June 2016)

EDITORIAL: It just makes census (May 2016)

EDITORIAL: An injection of leadership (April 2016)

MORE how nice!:

Planning! by Train Waits (July 2016)

Water, water, everywhere! by W.H. Consin (June 2016)

How to meet your quota! by Otto Mobile (May 2016)

A carpet of green! by Don Mower (April 2016)

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 pool we are talking about is the Duff, which features a 25-metre lap pool, a shallow splash pool for children, a conversation pool, and a deep pool for diving with both a one-metre spring board and a two-storey water slide.

[pullquote]We were all watching the sealant dry.[/pullquote]

Why the delay? Let’s go back to 2015.

Last season, the liner in one the pools began to strip away, and as a result that pool needed to be closed. The problem was temporarily resolved, but City of Toronto staff planned for a more thorough repair before the 2016 swim season.

Given the anticipated scope of work being limited to liner repair, city staff scheduled the necessary repairs for late 2015, after the end of the swim season.

Repairs began as planned in October 2015, but as the liner was removed they discovered the damage was far greater. It wasn’t only the liner that was damaged, but the pool was leaking almost half-a-pool worth of water daily.

Staff determined the necessary scope of work was beyond their expertise and that these repairs would need to be completed by a contractor. This required a bidding process to ensure both fairness and competitive prices which normally takes months. It takes even longer when, as happened in this case, an unsuccessful bidder objects and the process goes through a legal review, delaying the work even further.

Once the contract was finally awarded, city staff worked to ensure the pools could be opened as quickly as possible. They approved work through the night and on the weekends.

We ran into another delay in the weeks leading up to the scheduled opening because the special order sealant used in the pool was delivered late and needed a week to dry. This is why, in early July, many of us in the neighbourhood thought that no work was being done for days. We were all watching the sealant dry.

Because of the delays, I asked the general manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation to extend pool hours for the community. They said yes. We gained extra hours and a few extra weeks into the fall.

While I am grateful for the repairs and the extended pool hours, I am walking away with a few lessons, one of them being that contracting out too many of our repairs and services contributes to delay, as was the case here, and places us at the whim of contractors. It would be better if more asset repairs could be done in house and then residents and those in need of cooling during hot summer days wouldn’t be left waiting. The second lesson was that we should be more proactive with our city assets and not wait for problems to arise before attempting to fix them. Yes, hindsight is 20/20, but had we caught this sooner through inspections, it might have been a much simpler and much faster repair.

Thankfully the Duff at Christie Pits is finally open and it’s hopping. My family and I have been visiting and I hope you’ve had the time to enjoy it too. Thank you for your patience as permanent repairs were made and please, no running on the pool deck.

The Alex Duff Memorial Pool will be open from 12:00 to 9:00 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday until Labour Day. Thereafter, until Sept. 18, it will be open from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Mike Layton is the councillor for Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina.

READ MORE BY MIKE LAYTON:

FORUM: A tribute to a friend (June 2016)

FORUM: Large problem, small solution (March 2016)

FORUM: Happy New Year from a new Dad with a new perspective (January 2016)

GRAPHIC COURTESY BEINENSTOCK NATURAL PLAYGROUNDS: Green highlights the Margaret Fairley Park revitalization as an example of how the approach to local greenspace has changed over the years. The fencing is being replaced, which will make the park bigger, and the splash pad will provide more opportunities for water play than the old wading pool.

By Annemarie Brissenden

Although it may seem from his last name that his future was pre-ordained, Brian Green’s career at the City of Toronto’s Parks, Forestry and Recreation department really began as the result of a lark. Thirty-one years ago, he wrote a gardener’s test at the suggestion of his sister. When he passed, his jaw dropped, and he eventually worked his way up to parks supervisor for wards 19 and 20, which includes the Annex. Following on the heels of our popular annual parks review, we thought that we would learn a little more about the man tasked with overseeing all things park-related in the Annex.

How many parks do you oversee?

I manage 80 parks, but it’s a big geographical area that includes some of the city’s biggest parks: Trinity-Bellwoods, Canoe Landing, and Christie Pits.

What makes a great park?

A space where people are enjoying themselves doing multiple kinds of recreation from playing to reading books. I recently saw two guys on a huge bench in Christie Pits writing a song. That was great.

What’s the one thing you wish people could know about parks in our area?

I’m interested in the history of the area. A lot of people don’t know about that. I recommend going to the Grange Park next year; it represents the concept of future parks, and is being built as we speak. It will have lots of art, new fountains, and lots of new benches. It will open July 2017.

How often are the parks maintained?

We try to get to most parks every day or every second day. Keeping up with the litter is hard. Most parks have garbage cans just outside the park, so people have to go outside to put garbage into the bins. If [the bins] are not obvious, the garbage is left on the ground.

What’s a big problem in our parks?

Garbage and litter. It’s tough to keep up with garbage in the parks, particularly the smaller ones that are right on the periphery of our ward. We’re losing a lot of ash trees due to the ash borer, which gets inside the bark and stops the nutrients from being transferred to the leaves, so the trees die. We have a solution, but we don’t have total control; I think we’ll probably lose more, and it takes 20 to 30 years for a tree to be able to provide ideal shade. It’s also hard keeping up with increased density; it’s difficult to provide spaces for trees to grow and for people to relax.

How often should the parks be renewed?

Every 15 to 20 years. That’s generally when standards kind of lapse.

Do you think the Gleaner’s reviews of the local parks are fair?

I thought they were fair. I wouldn’t be debating any of them. I look forward to improving the parks that didn’t get great marks. We will take Huron Playground to a different level in September when it is renewed. Sergeant Ryan Russell Parkette is due for a major reno in 2017. It’s an older park that hasn’t had much significant work aside from being renamed. I’d like to see a more meaningful memorial, and maybe some relevant play equipment like a little police car.

What’s your favourite park?

That’s like asking a Dad to name his favourite kid. I love the Garrison connection, which goes from Fort York to Stanley Park, Trinity-Bellwoods, Fred Hamilton, and Christie Pits; how they interconnect. I also like the philosophy of the David Suzuki Foundation, the notion of the city as a national park, integrating park spaces, getting the community involved, and creating pathways for birds and animals. One of the Annex’s smaller parks, Gwendolyn MacEwen Park at Walmer Road, is a lovely little park, even if it needs some work.

READ MORE:

NEWS: Renewing Margaret Fairley Park (July 2016)

GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Part two of our 2016 parks review (July 2016)

GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Green sanctuaries in the heart of the city (June 2016)

NEWS: Huron Street Playground renewal (April 2016)

PHOTO BY GEREMY BORDANARO/GLEANER?NEWS: Doug Eiche (background) sells his honey at the Bloor-Borden Farmers’ Market. An initiative of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association, the market runs every Wednesday until Oct. 19 from 3 to 7 p.m. out of the Green P parking lot just south of Bloor Street between Borden and Lippincott streets. The market’s 22 stalls also offer bread, vegetables, meats, wines, and fruits from a variety of producers.

By Annemarie Brissenden

Founders of the popular Bloor-Borden farmers’ market are concerned that they will be unable to run the market for much longer if their provincial grants continue to decline.

Now in its ninth year, the market operates every Wednesday until Oct. 19 from 3 to 7 p.m. out of the Green P parking lot just south of Bloor Street between Borden and Lippincott streets.

[pullquote]“In a couple of years we won’t have a market if we don’t get some funding”—Helen Goldlist, HVRA[/pullquote]

“Anybody will tell you the budget is not big enough. We are in a deficit position right now, and we’ll have to see what happens next year,” said Rory “Gus” Sinclair, one of the founders of the volunteer-run market. “When we first started we had a much bigger budget than we have now. [Today it’s] one tenth of what we had back then.”

“We used to be funded fully but over the years it has gotten less and less,” said Helen Goldlist, chair of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association’s (HVRA) market advisory committee, which organizes and maintains the market. “In a couple of years we won’t have a market if we don’t get some funding.”

The residents’ association receives approximately $3,000 annually from Farmers’ Markets Ontario (FMO), a provincially-funded organization, to run the market. That amount covers towing parked cars from the area, a market manager’s salary, and liability insurance. The HVRA and Annex Residents’ Association also each contribute $500, which goes largely towards advertising and musicians’ fees.

“The market has to sustain itself,” said Catherine Clark, FMO’s Membership, Outreach and My Pick manager, adding that sales are better at the [Bloor-Borden market] than at the other two Toronto markets the organization funds.

“It’s our busiest market: 22 of the market’s 25 stalls are taken, all the premium farmers are there with excellent produce, and it is well supported by shoppers.”

But despite all evidence that the market is thriving, Sinclair insists that the funding is not enough.

“We pay to have cars towed, that’s $100 a car, which is a big expense when people disobey the signs,” he said. “It takes about $3,000 to run the farmers’ market…every year, and about half of that is paying for the musicians.”

Clark noted that other markets have musicians, but not to the same extent as Bloor-Borden, which is as much a weekly mini-festival for the community as anything else.

“I started the farmers’ market nine years ago because I wanted to have a community building exercise,” Sinclair related. “People tell us how much they like it, you meet new friends here and you linger and you talk about how Johnny is doing at school and you get a good jam recipe.”

Every Wednesday, he pipes open the market with his bagpipes, after which other musicians take over to perform for the shoppers. It’s a different group each week.

There’s an ersatz public square in the centre of the market with tables and chairs where anything non-political, not-for-profit, and/or good for the community goes. It’s also a spot for special visitors.

“We organize who visits the market,” explained Goldlist. “Today we have people from early childhood education from the University of Toronto; they are doing a project with kids.”

And, it’s hard to know if the enhancements are what accounts for the number of shoppers visiting the thriving market each week.

The HVRA also works hard to promote the market, even with its declining budget.

“We got little signs made in colour, bought stakes which I’ve sharpened, and then we put them around. These are up all summer,” said Sinclair.

Clark, who said that she expects the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to “slash” funds again next year, is hopeful that the market will find a way to continue.

“We would hate for them to pull out.”

Despite repeated requests, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs did not provide a reason for decreasing its funding to Farmers’ Markets Ontario. Abigail Dancey, who is with the ministry’s issues, media and editorial services department, did write in an email that “our 2016 Budget reaffirms the importance of the Ontario agriculture and agri-food sector in the province of Ontario. Our government continues to support local food initiatives with a $6 million investment over three years to the Greenbelt Fund to deliver programming across Ontario, including the new Local Food Investment Fund”.

—with files from Dilara Kurtaran

READ MORE

NEWS: A sensory experience (August 2015)

NEWS: The Bloor Bordon Market is up and running again (September 2013)

NEWS: Bloor-Borden farmers market returns with a little help (June 2012)

NEWS: Growing food and raising farmers in the city (December 2012)