Re “Bike lane plan up for debate” (January 2016): As someone who has actively chased better Bloor Street biking for over a decade, I should be very happy that bike safety changes may finally occur, but I’m not fully pleased.

By only doing a part of Bloor Street in the already well-served Annex area (where Harbord Street, Barton Avenue, etc., can offer options), this implies that cyclists outside of wards 20 and 19 don’t matter.

But we have very significant shortfalls in the bike safety at the end of Harbord Street at Ossington Avenue, so the high needs for bike safety are west of Ossington Avenue to Dundas Street West.

Safe biking parallel to the subway is important for subway relief, as we won’t shed load to expand the subway capacity until it does become safer, and subway users far outnumber cyclists, pedestrians, or motorists, and transit needs should be paramount.

So we don’t need the concentration of bike facilities in the entitled Annex so much as continuity, as we still lack even one safe, continuous, long east-west cross-Toronto route, Bloor Street/Danforth Avenue being the obvious choice from 1992.

While the politics of the possible play out better in the Annex, it smells badly that we continue with the politicized and patchwork planning that provides safety for some and not others. Usually safety standards aren’t done on a ward-by-ward basis; neither are tax hikes.

Also, the City of Toronto‘s efforts almost preclude them doing anything else in Ward 20, and that’s a shame, as many tweaks are needed, and not just here. We could use some green paint on existing and substandard bike lanes. Road repairs are also necessary.

By elevating Bloor Street in the Annex to a high-status bike lane, we miss thinking of having pedestrian zones in a couple of blocks of the narrow Annex Bloor Street, e.g., Dalton Road to Lippincott Street.

If it’s logical to squeeze cars parallel to the subway, that should include pedestrians too, and we also lag in pedestrian zones, though walking safety is pretty good compared to cycling.

I’d have been far happier if we did Bloor Street bike lanes in Ward 18, and in this narrow Bloor Annex area had a wider curb lane with the feebler sharrows, which would still remove car parking from one side of Bloor Street West. A small central median would constrain lanes and assist informal crossings, and would recognize the upgrade of Harbord Street.

—Hamish Wilson

READ MORE:

Letters: Keep pushing bike safety (September 2015) by Hamish Wilson

Forum: Aims for bike safety (November 2012) by Hamish Wilson

Bill 165 offers consumer protection, unifies industry

[pullquote]“If passed, Bill 165 will regulate the home inspection industry by licensing home inspectors.”[/pullquote]

By Han Dong

On March 3, 2016, Bill 165, Licensed Home Inspectors Act, 2016, my private member’s bill, received unanimous consent in the Ontario Legislature, and was referred to the committee on regulations and private bills.

If passed, Bill 165 will regulate the home inspection industry by licensing home inspectors, and will ensure confidence in homebuyers towards the services of a home inspector. All inspectors would be required to operate within the same set of prescribed requirements and under the same standards of practice.

In 2013, the Honourable Tracy MacCharles, then Minister of Consumer Services, hosted a panel of experts to review home inspector qualifications in Ontario. The panel included home inspectors, consumer advocates, educators, and other professionals in the real estate, legal, and insurance sectors. This panel delivered a report to the minister with a series of recommendations that support the regulation of home inspectors. The panel’s finding, which had been reaffirmed by the Honourable David Orazietti, the current Minister of Government and Consumer Services, correlates with the experience of many constituents that I have met with throughout Trinity-Spadina. It is through feedback from constituents and this panel’s report that I recognized the need for the regulation of the home inspection industry.

The report identified approximately 1,500 home inspectors working in Ontario, but no mandatory educational or technical standard for them. While the majority adopt high standards and are registered with one or more inspection associations, currently anyone in the province can call themselves a home inspector.

The primary objective of creating home inspector qualifications is to ensure consumer protection. A single standard of qualifications will allow the consumer to make an informed choice when hiring a home inspector. Standard qualifications would also limit issues — like unexpected repairs and maintenance costs — that can result in financial distress for those buying or selling a home. In addition, the condition of homes could be a safety risk to homeowners. These risks ultimately hurt consumer confidence and hurt the home inspection industry as a whole.

The secondary objective of Bill 165 is to unify the home inspection industry under one delegated administrative authority (DAA). This DAA would become the central agency of home inspectors by issuing, renewing, and revoking licences to all home inspectors in Ontario. Additionally, the DAA would act as the advocate for home inspectors across the province, thus assuring consumers of high quality standards and promoting this very important and often underutilized service.

Bill 165 proposes to adopt recommendations similar to the 2013 panel report and other public consultations.

The primary proposals are: the regulation of home inspectors using the title Licensed Home Inspectors; a self-governing body (with oversight by the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services) that will oversee the industry, including issuing, renewing, and revoking licences; licensing that will be based upon qualifications determined by the regulations and will include a definition and standard of practice for home inspections; financial protections including mandatory insurance; and a code of ethics that all home inspectors must adhere to, which will address the rapidly growing condo market and educate home inspectors on the standards of inspecting a condominium.

During the creation of Bill 165, I met with representatives of the home inspection industry, consumer protection advocates, real estate professionals, and insurance professionals from the riding of Trinity-Spadina and from outside the GTA. Bill 165 encompasses the discussions of these consultations and the expert panel’s recommendations.

Han Dong is the Member of Provincial Parliament for Trinity-Spadina. His website is http://www.handong.onmpp.ca.

Also by Han Dong: 

Province tables sexual assault act (February 2016)

Transforming neighbourhoods into open air galleries

Artist Jorge Molina poses on Walmer Road with some of his work. He is installing 416 canvases on utility poles throughout the city as part of his 416 Project.
NEILAND BRISSENDEN/GLEANER NEWS

By Annemarie Brissenden

The 416 Project, an ambitious city-wide guerrilla art installation, is set to hit the Annex in the coming weeks.

Canadian artist Jorge Molina is installing 416 six inch by six inch canvases on wooden utility poles in 35 neighbourhoods across Toronto. Each canvas depicts what Molina terms the “mundane stuff” seen around the poles.

[pullquote]“We love to regulate cultural production, but not all artworks work that way”—Derek Liddington, OCAD University[/pullquote]

His works are proving so popular that he’s had to appeal to people to leave up the canvases for others to enjoy. The artist — also an actor who has appeared in Air Emergency, Rookie Blue, and Covert Affairs — had no idea his project would gain this much attention.

“I’m so blown away; it’s like people are craving this,” said Molina. “I just wanted to make people smile.”

His criteria for picking a neighbourhood is simple: it has to be in the 416 area code, and it needs to have wooden (not metal) poles, foot traffic, and a sidewalk. That’s all it takes to turn a neighbourhood into a gallery.

He is just the latest in series of guerrilla artists to take his work to the streets of Toronto.

[pullquote]“Street art is a growing recognized art form; we can’t grow the program fast enough”—Lilie Zendel, manager, START[/pullquote]

Like Molina, all Matthew Del Degan wanted to do was “make people smile” when he began installing his army of LoveBots — grey hand-cast concrete sculptures — throughout the city six years ago.

Del Degan came up with the idea while he was sitting on the streetcar, observing that everyone around him was acting like robots, stuck on cellphones.

“We are all faceless robots…except we’re not robots; we all have big hearts.”

An OCAD University student at the time, he also had to design a toy project for a class, and all his ideas coalesced into one. Since then the movement has taken on a life of its own, and giant LoveBot murals featuring bright red hearts can be found adorning the sides of buildings throughout Toronto, while square stickers surprise letter writers when they post mail in some of Canada Post’s bright red street letter boxes. Del Degan even sells LoveBot stickers, apparel, and toys via his online shop.

Lilie Zendel isn’t surprised that such installations resonate with so many people. It adds to pedestrian enjoyment, enhances a neighbourhood’s uniqueness, and combats Toronto’s brutalist architecture.

She manages StreetARToronto (START), a City of Toronto program that combats graffiti vandalism by commissioning artists to create works of art on traffic signal boxes and paint murals in public spaces.

“Street art is a growing recognized art form; we can’t grow the program fast enough,” said Zendel. “We live in a city with such talent. You shouldn’t have to go into a gallery or institution to know that; you should see it at street level.”

She cautioned, though, that permission is what distinguishes graffiti vandalism and graffiti art. In addition to raising concerns about maintaining the work, she noted that, “if we are going to put up public or street art, then neighbours should have a voice.”

But for Del Degan, that’s exactly the point.

“You didn’t get a say about whether you want to look at a billboard,” he said. “I can put some art up, and make a difference.”

While he wants to add a little wonder to people’s lives and get them to be curious, he also wants to reclaim public space. “We have destroyed our public space; you can walk exclusively on sidewalks…[our whole way of life] is a construct.”

There’s a big difference between legal walls and non-legal walls, explained Derek Liddington, a sessional faculty member of OCAD University.

“Not all works fit into established rubrics. We love to regulate cultural production, but not all artworks work that way.”

He points to a wall tagged with Black Lives Matter, or Banksy’s works, as examples of art that are designed to push people to look outside their comfort zone, to challenge how people see. In his view, graffiti art and graffiti vandalism are inextricably linked: “if one supports one, one has to support the existence of the other.”

So far, Molina hasn’t had any push back from anyone about his city-wide installation.

“The canvases are on the same poles that people [use] for flyers,” he said. “I’m putting a piece of art on it.”

START is accepting applications for its Outside the Box program, in which local artists create works of art on traffic signal boxes throughout the city, until April 29 at 4.30 p.m. For further information, please contact streetart@toronto.ca.

READ MORE:

Untapped potential: Animating our local laneways (February 2016) by Joe Cressy

Incubating micro-retail: Laneways untapped realm of urban design (December 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

Graffiti artist Erica Balon creates mural on Bloor Street West (July 2015) by Justine Ricketts

A new side to graffiti: SPUD counters war on graffiti with gallery exhibit (April 2012) by Jelena Subotic

Galleries & Studios Hop returns to Markham Street April 23 and 24

Landscape artist Jill Boschulte, who works from small planes, creates monoprints, water-coloured pencil drawings, and collages. Her Furrows (above) will feature at Art Zone during the Hop.
COURTESY ART ZONE

By Annemarie Brissenden

A Lithuanian pioneer of avant-garde photography will be in the spotlight during the Mirvish Village Galleries & Studios Spring Gallery Hop later this month. Still relatively unknown in North America, Vitas Luckus (1943-87) was a Soviet-era photographer whose work challenged convention.

“He didn’t subscribe to the party line about what to photograph. He was one of the most compelling photographers at a time when [Lithuania] was still under Soviet rule,” said Charlotte Hale, whose eponymous gallery on Markham Street in Mirvish Village is mounting an exhibition of Luckus’s work. “His portraits are of the common man in common situations. You could tell he had a way of making people feel comfortable.”

She first discovered the “rebel” photographer when she was a young artist herself, and was drawn to his exquisite style of composition.

The work of Lithuanian photographer Vitas Luckus (shown in a photo taken by his widow Tanya Luckiene-Aldag) will be on display in Vitas Luckus: The Prince of Obscurity at Charlotte Hale & Associates April 9 to 30. It’s the first time limited editions of Luckus’s photographs will be available for sale in North America.
COURRTESY CHARLOTTE HALE

“It’s so exciting for me. This exhibition is a labour of love and the result of many, many years of work,” said Hale, who is working with Luckus’s widow, Tanya Luckiene-Aldag, on bringing more prominence to the photographer’s work. Luckiene-Aldag will be in Toronto for the Hop, which will also mark the first time that limited edition Luckus prints will be available for sale in North America.

Hale started the Hop two years ago with the intention of bringing visitors to the galleries, and to remind people of what she calls the wonderful dynamic of Markham Street. Mirvish Village is an interesting mix of artists’ studios, galleries, and small businesses, believes the gallery owner, who thinks it might be unique in Toronto.

“It’s still an event that we are trying to build,” she acknowledged, “and it might be the last year [because of the pending Westbank development], but we are going ahead anyway.

“We want to generate more interest in Mirvish Village, and get more people on the street this spring, summer, and fall.”

Jane Irwin, who along with her sister Kathryn Irwin, owns and operates Art Zone, a contemporary glass artworks studio on Markham Street, agreed.

[pullquote]“It’s good to let people know that we’re still here”—Jane Irwin, Art Zone[/pullquote]

“It’s good to let people know that we’re still here, and we would love to see them,” said Irwin, who has been on the street for 28 years.

Art Zone will have several pieces on display during the Hop, including some of the sculpture and stained glass work done in the studio. As well, the exhibition will feature pieces by landscape artist Jill Boschulte, also an Irwin sister.

Boschulte, who works on paper, creates monoprints, water-coloured pencil drawings, and collages.

“She works from small airplanes, looking down on the landscape,” said Irwin, “which gives her two points of perspective.”

Irwin said the Hop not only provides galleries and studios with the opportunity to reconnect with existing clients, but the opportunity to reach new ones as well.

“We have had people turn up at our space that know others better,” she explained. “It’s also a chance for people we’ve done business with before to come in and see new work.”

Irwin emphasized that the Hop will have a wide array of work on view.

Other participants include the Black Rock Studio, which features handmade tiles by Catherine Carroll, and the Spence Gallery, which is celebrating its 10th year on the street and specializes in Caribbean, Latin, and African art.

Joan Spence said that her gallery’s mandate is “to represent a diversity that we thought was missing from Toronto galleries”, and that three newer artists who have never been shown before at the gallery will be exhibited during the Hop: Peter Barelkowski, Laurie Skantzos, and Diana Rosa.

Rosa is originally from Cuba, added Spence, and “her work really reflects the vibrancy and energy of the country.” Similarly, there’s a “cultural perspective that’s quite present in Barelkowski’s work”.

Spence said she thinks that some people have the mistaken impression that Mirvish Village has already closed down, and so, like Irwin and Hale, she hopes this spring’s Hop will remind visitors that “we’re still here, alive, vibrant, engaging, and [that it will encourage them] to continue to support us no matter where in the city we go.”

Mostly, though, she’d like “people to see lots of work they love and want to take home with them”.

The Mirvish Village Galleries & Studios Spring Gallery Hop runs April 23 and 24 from noon to 6 p.m.

READ MORE:

Preserving Mirvish Village: Collection of photographs captures spirit and character of the area (July 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

Several local galleries are participating in this year’s Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival, now in its 20th year. The largest photography event in the world, the festival features 1500 artists in 200 exhibitions across the Greater Toronto Area.

Exhibition: The Dark Room 5.0
Artist: Various
Gallery: 918 Bathurst
918 Bathurst St.
Date: May 17

Mark your ballot on May 17 at 918 Bathurst for The Dark Room 5.0, which will feature a one day only juried exhibition showcasing the many processes of analog and alternative photography.

Exhibition: The Language of Flowers
Artist: Carol Auld
Gallery: Café Pamenar
307 Augusta Ave.
Dates: May 1 – 31

At Cafe Pamenar, The Language of Flowers explores the spectacular beauty of daily life and multiple meanings that can be ascribed to flowers. All the images in Carol Auld’s exhibition of original giclée prints were taken from gardens in downtown Toronto.

Exhibition: Carbon Manifest
Artist: J. R. Bernstein
Gallery: Bezpala Brown Gallery
21 Yorkville Ave.
Dates: May 8 – June 1

Carbon Manifest by J. R. Bernstein at the Bezpala Brown Gallery in Yorkville consists of carbon-printed black and white landscape photos of the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic. Taken during an international artist residency in 2014, the images in the exhibition investigate the theme of metamorphosis, evolution, and the inevitable change of our physical environment.

Exhibition: The InterLove Project
Artist: Colin Boyd Shafer
Gallery: Miles Nadal JCC
750 Spadina
Dates: April 30 – May 22

And Colin Boyd Shafer’s exhibition, The InterLove Project showing at The Miles Nadal JCC celebrates the love that can flourish between people of different religious beliefs.

—Annemarie Brissenden with files from Neiland Brissenden

Relentless OMB stifles creative green projects

[pullquote]“I’ve come to the conclusion that the overriding factor in municipalities getting nice things is sheer willpower.”[/pullquote]

By Terri Chu

Every time someone mentions a great municipal infrastructure project on the other side of the pond (usually in a really progressive nation like Germany or Sweden), I mutter some lame excuse as to the reason why Canadians can’t have equally nice things.

“Our population density is too low” I might say. Perhaps I will opine that “we have so many cheap resources, we can’t do it economically”.

Small towns in Sweden have reduced their carbon output by having things like district energy systems, energy from waste facilities, and stringent building codes. Why can’t we have nice things? I’ve come to the conclusion that the overriding factor in municipalities getting nice things is sheer willpower.

Municipalities like Guelph had incredible mayoral leadership to make their district energy system a reality. It costs a lot no doubt, but they are securing the long-term energy future of the town. Guelph did it despite the legislative hurdles it had to go through provincially. Its residents were on board with the idea of building for the future (that is until they weren’t; the mayor was eventually voted out of office).

The City of Toronto, on the other hand, despite its high density development (often in large swaths; think the Dupont Street corridor), doesn’t even bother. Yes, it will cost developers more to put in building infrastructure to plan for the future, but why can’t the city demand this?

When this question was raised recently, city staff simply said they didn’t have the power to compel developments to do this. They do! They just have to be creative. Section 37 (a provision that lets municipalities trade benefits with developers) money trade-offs could be made, and in the case of Guelph, civic leadership forced the issue. Other towns with great progressive staff and laggard civic leadership often run into hurdles. I’ve consulted with municipalities where the staff was pushing on a rope to get council on board. Those projects rarely went ahead.

That sadly is the situation that Toronto faces: lots of great staff who understand the challenges a mega city faces, and a municipal government unable to function because of said mega city politics. Anything above and beyond Ontario’s outdated building codes are an automatic no go.

It is hard to blame Toronto given the already difficult situation of an amalgamated council. On top of that, Ontario municipalities suffer from a relentless Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) that seems committed to protecting developers like the delicate flowers that they are. God forbid cities force developers to spend an extra dime to ensure long-term energy solutions and the lowering of environmental footprints.

While Sweden has eliminated many a garbage truck by deploying underground vacuum tubes to collect waste, Toronto is still trying to figure out how to get around provincial laws to get even slightly higher efficiency buildings…or buildings that don’t have falling glass for that matter.

In the absence of strong civic leadership (some have argued it is an impossible feat since the amalgamation of Toronto), it is time for the province to recognize it needs to stop hog-tying municipalities (and in particular its biggest city which is barely functioning as it is) when it comes to planning for its own energy future. Municipalities have far more influence over carbon reduction than the province does. Whether a city invests in more roads or more subways has a lot more direct impact than building windmills.

It’s possible for Ontario to have nice things too.

As a wise friend once said, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” If the province won’t take a proactive approach in helping municipalities, please stop getting in the way of the progressive ones. Axing the OMB would go a very long way to accomplishing this.

Terri Chu is an engineer committed to practical environmentalism. This column is dedicated to helping the community to reduce energy and distinguish environmental truths from myths.

Also by Terri Chu:

Don’t fall prey to marketing (March 2016)

Reduce, reuse, then recycle (February 2016)

The power of labelling (January 2016)

Meet the Bathurst bird babicka

Ewa feeds the birds in front of Bathurst Station. The retiree, who wishes she could still work, occupies her time by caring for the pigeons and squirrels.
MICHAEL CHACHURA/GLEANER NEWS

By Michael Chachura

In the parkette in front of Bathurst Station an elderly lady sits feeding the pigeons and the squirrels.

Sun, rain, snow, or sleet, she’s here on the bench with a bag full of bread and some seeds. Why she feeds the animals, she doesn’t know. She’s not crazy, although sometimes she bursts into laughter and claims she is.

Her name is Ewa. She was born in the Czech Republic in the 1940s. She moved to Canada with her two children because she didn’t want her daughters playing in the street alongside Soviet tanks. Ewa worked as a nurse, spending most of her career working in a Toronto emergency room and then at a Toronto medical centre in the mental health department. She retired from nursing two years ago.

“All I want to do is go back and work,” she tells me. “If I could go back I would.”

When the pigeons see her get off the bus, they fly over Bathurst Station and land beside the bench where she sits.

“They can tell me by my white hair,” she says with a matter-of-fact face. “Wouldn’t you be happy if someone recognized you?”

She comes to see them every day and remembers their habits.

“This one, I recognize him. He sits here and waits for me to feed him from my hand.” She is also friendly with the squirrels.

“See this big one, that is the mama. Watch this.”

She throws a ladyfinger onto the ground and the big squirrel quickly grabs it. Soon Mama Squirrel is running across the street on the telephone wires. Ewa even cares for the animals when she’s not there. Before she leaves her bench each day, she sprinkles feed on the ground so that the pigeons can have breakfast the next morning.

She’s been coming to this bench every day since she retired.

“I remember in Prague it was normal for people to feed the birds. Here they give you dirty looks.”

She believes the birds deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

“The birds are very smart, very smart.”

She once found a pigeon that was injured and couldn’t walk.

“I couldn’t leave him. I am like that.”

She took a taxi, with the pigeon as passenger, to Sheppard and Downsview. There she entrusted it to Rudy, known as the Pigeon Protector.

Sometimes a bird gets sick or injured and passes away. Ewa refuses to allow their bodies to be disposed of or left to rot. Instead she smuggles them onto the bus under her coat to bury them in a special place. She will never disclose the location so that no one can disturb their resting place.

Ewa believes that retirees die because of boredom. Her biggest fear is becoming someone who stays at home and does nothing. Feeding the birds keeps her sharp and busy.

The reason Ewa feeds the birds is as unique as she is.

As a retiree, she feels trapped. She loved her work and wishes she could go back to it. Her patients required special attention and care. Those suffering with mental illness are oppressed in our society, and some are forced to spend time on the streets, where people like you and me ignore their pleas for spare change or food. Ewa’s care for the pigeons is motivated by more than just a love for animals. It is motivated by a deep compassion for those in need. She acts on the principle that everyone and everything deserves compassion.

What will happen when she is no longer able to feed the birds?

“I don’t even want to think about it,” she says, cupping her hands and shaking them to the sky, the wind raw and biting.

“I need them.”

Pharmacy drugstore chain says it will respect building’s heritage

By Annemarie Brissenden

The Brunswick House has a new tenant.

Rexall, a pharmacy drugstore chain, will be taking over the first floor of the building at 481 Bloor St. W., confirmed landlord Larry Sdao. The betting lounge on the upper floors will be moving out, and Sdao said the second and third floors will be available to lease.

[pullquote]“We are looking forward to becoming part of the community”—Derek Tupling, Rexall spokesperson[/pullquote]

“We are excited to be able to come into the Annex neighbourhood,” said Derek Tupling, director of communications and government relations for Rexall.

The Brunswick House has long been a flashpoint in the neighbourhood.

Local residents say the student dive bar — which Ottawa-based nightclub promoter Abbis Mahmoud has operated through his Dreammind Entertainment Group since 2005 — was a blight on the area that was responsible for late night noise, drunken scuffles, and crime.

In November last year, Sdao announced that he would only renew Mahmoud’s lease on a month-to-month basis, and that he was actively seeking a new tenant. Boston Pizza explored opening a sports bar and restaurant in the space, but backed away after community members objected to the possibility of a patio and expressed concerns about whether the chain would mesh with the unique fabric of the street.

Tupling said Rexall is keenly aware of the community’s attachment to the building, and that his company plans to reach out to local residents’ and business associations right from the outset.

“We are looking forward to becoming part of the community,” he said, noting that pharmacies are the face of healthcare in the community, and provide quick access to high quality services.

Likening the future Brunswick House location to the chain’s other urban outposts at Queen Street West and University Avenue; Church and Front streets; and, College Street and Spadina Avenue, Tupling said Rexall was attracted to the site because it is in an urban community with high foot traffic.

To “create a flagship location that embraces the entire community”, Tupling said Rexall is doing something it has never done before: it is bringing in an expert to help build the site.

“Our intention is to respect and maintain as much of the building’s historical and architectural integrity as possible.”

Sdao said that is what sold him on Rexall.

“They have a genuine approach, and want to respect the heritage, design, and what the building has been for a long time.”

Neither Sdao, nor Tupling would speculate on when the store would be open for business; they both pointed out that renovations to the heritage building would take time.

“Rexall and I, we want to do it right,” explained Sdao. “These projects don’t happen overnight.”

“There’s some things in the building that have gotten long in the tooth, so to speak, and we want to look at opportunities to revitalize and incorporate those into the design of the store,” Tupling added. “We want to make sure that when the doors open, everyone is as happy as much as possible with the result.”

NEILAND BRISSENDEN/GLEANER NEWS

Annex resident, Governor General’s Performing Arts Award Winner, and Order of Canada Member R.H. Thomson (shown here at The Green Beanery at Bloor and Bathurst streets) stars as a prominent historian and Quebec sovereigntist navigating the ravages of dementia in You Will Remember Me playing at the Tarragon Theatre (purchase tickets) until April 13. For full story, please see: What does it mean to remember?

Our third survey of development projects in our coverage area highlights projects that interest us, trends that appall us, and elements that enthrall us. We favour innovative projects that connect with a neighbourhood’s built form, reflect community consultation, and meet the objectives of the City of Toronto’s Official Plan. We take a dim view of developers that do an end run around the process and appeal directly to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), which demonstrates little respect for the city’s urban planning guidelines. And, we — once again — make an argument for razing the OMB. Please click on the image below to enlarge.

Businesses decry lack of consultation

By Annemarie Brissenden

Chinatown business owners are apprehensive about the Evergreen Centre for Street-Involved Youth’s relocation to the area, but community leaders are confident that any concerns can be addressed before it opens in September 2017.

Brent Mitchell, the mission program officer for the Yonge Street Mission (YSM), which operates the centre, explained that the move became necessary because “space limitations were impacting our capacity to serve the youth as well as we would like”.

[pullquote]“Consultation after purchase; it’s not consultation, it’s announcement”—Tonny Louie, past chair, Chinatown BIA[/pullquote]

Currently on Yonge Street just south of College Street, Evergreen serves approximately 150 young people aged 18 to 24 daily, providing employment and full-spectrum health services, as well as personal counselling on employment, housing, and education.

Although the YSM has been a community fixture since 1896, Evergreen has grown out of its 10,000-square-foot space, which though converted into a youth-oriented service centre in the 1980s, was never built for that purpose.

The new space at 365 Spadina Ave., however, is 24,000 square feet, and will be custom designed to maximize the effectiveness of Evergreen’s programming, as well as enable partners to provide additional services, likely in the areas of education and mental health.

As soon as the YSM purchased the space, its representatives met with Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), whom to date has canvassed approximately 4,500 residents, met with dozens of community groups, and held two public meetings on the matter to address any local concerns about the move.

But many Chinatown business owners are upset that those consultations did not occur before the YSM bought the building, because at this point, the centre is an as of right development that does not require any rezoning or city approvals to operate.

For Tonny Louie, past chair of the Chinatown BIA, it’s odd that you can’t even put out a sandwich board without consulting other business owners in the area, but you can open a centre without any previous notice.

“We have a zoning bylaw that is not compatible with our current age; it has to be revised to be fair to all stakeholders,” he said.

Louie stressed that the YSM is “doing a good thing, no doubt about it”, and that he is not anti-poverty, but that the organization has failed at communication.

“There’s no sensitivity, no consideration for the neighbourhood or the culture,” he said. The attitude is that it’s a “done deal, as of right…. Consultation after purchase; it’s not consultation, it’s announcement.”

Former councillor and Grange Community Association honorary president Ceta Ramkhalawansingh said she was a little surprised and taken aback by the reaction of the Chinatown BIA.

“Taller buildings and developments are far more egregious than providing services to kids who are already here.”

“It’s not a question of bringing people here, it is a question of providing services for people who are already here,” agreed Maggie Helwig, who’s on the board of Friends of Kensington Market and is also the rector of Bellevue Avenue’s Church of Saint Stephen-in-the-Fields. “The YSM has a really good, impressive range of services for street-involved youth. This move will only be helpful to the community.”

But Louie — noting that many people in the community are afraid to speak out because it’s a highly sensitive issue — disagrees.

“They don’t live here,” he said. “You won’t find a lot of 18 to 24 year old [street-involved youth] on Spadina Avenue.”

Therein may lie one of the primary disconnects between the different parties. Some appear to view that stretch of Spadina Avenue and Chinatown as part of a larger community that includes Alexandra Park, the Grange, and Kensington Market, while Louie is speaking from a perspective in which Chinatown is a distinct neighbourhood in and of itself.

And both perspectives have merit.

“We have seen a movement westward in the city of the gathering spaces of street-involved youth in and around Kensington Market, and at Queen and Bathurst [streets],” said Cressy.

While Mitchell admits the driving decision behind the relocation to Spadina Avenue was the concentration of youth in the area, Superintendent Frank Bergen, Unit Commander of the Toronto Police Service’s 14 Division, “can’t necessarily agree that a concentration of youth is in [Chinatown specifically]”.

“Be honest,” asked Louie, “would you like your business to be next door?”

One of his major concerns is the potential for loitering.

“Walk by [Evergreen] at Yonge and Gerrard [streets], and you’ll see 10 to 15 people hanging around all the time, smoking, and teasing the girls walking by,” said Louie.

There’s already a bylaw to address that, responded Bergen.

“We’re not going to condone gaggles of people outside smoking.”

Mitchell also suggested that some people may be misinterpreting what they are seeing.

“The dynamics of the buildings around us at Yonge Street create a false sense that has little to do with us,” he said, adding “we will do as good a job as possible” to combat any loitering.

One approach is through the design of the building itself. They are creating an entrance that is welcoming, comfortable, and, most importantly, transparent, because “youth will loiter to see if it is safe to go in”.

“It will be a complete facility with a rooftop patio and smoking area,” said Marc Garner, the executive director of the Downtown Yonge BIA, who is consulting on the design of the new building and has spoken at community meetings about the relationship Evergreen has with its current neighbours.

“The community should not be fearful.”

Ramkhalawansingh believes that the community “will find that once [it] gets up and running, this will actually be a non-issue”.

Until then everyone is prepared to keep talking. “My role is to work with all different stakeholders to identify areas of concern, so we can address them,” said Cressy.

Bergen agreed. “Whatever concerns there are, I’m comforted knowing that everyone is talking, so we can set up for success.”

Seaton Village loved for its friendly, low-key character

By Annemarie Brissenden

In Seaton Village, children regularly run the risk of being late for school, but the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of their parents. In this everyone-knows-everyone neighbourhood — still a friendly hamlet that’s home to residents who have lived there for decades — the morning walk, or the inevitably not-so-quick jaunt to Fiesta Farms, is an opportunity for friends to swap stories and share the latest news. It’s easy to lose track of time.

[pullquote]“The city planning process…doesn’t help build communities”—Jennifer Hunter, SVRA president[/pullquote]

“Seaton Village is kind of like the little brother everybody forgot about,” said Jennifer Hunter, the president of the Seaton Village Residents’ Association (SVRA). “We’re an interesting, self-contained spot.”

Diane Fotheringham agreed.

“It’s still a bit of a secret, a wonderful little residential area. It’s not quite gentrified, and still has a neighbourhood feel,” said Fotheringham, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 20 years and owns Titus & Louise on Dupont Street. “I didn’t come here willingly, but I quite love it.”

Like so many other historical downtown neighbourhoods, Seaton Village is facing encroaching development and gentrification, but as a March 3 open house demonstrated, its residents are finding ways to preserve the sense of community that they hold dear.

Working in conjunction with Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) and Toronto City Planning, they’ve developed a Dupont Street Study — already being appealed by eight different properties at the Ontario Municipal Board — in the hopes of guiding development along the area’s northern flank. The study highlights existing characteristics that reflect many of the city’s older neighbourhoods: diversity, useful services and retail, strong built form and heritage, and a stable population with long-term residents. It also reflects a desire to maintain the area’s walkability and family-friendly focus, while adding green space, and more restaurants and patios.

According to Hunter, there are eight development applications alone in the Davenport Triangle, and a total of 28 stretch west along Dupont Street.

“Dupont Street is a little commuter route that people used to go from point A to point B, but now everyone is landing there,” she said.

Noting that re-invention and re-imagination can be very exciting, she added that gentrification doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.

“It provides an extraordinary opportunity, but it’s a little daunting. It has to be handled with sensitivity to the neighbourhoods.”

Seaton Village has its share of “micro” development issues as well: minor variances to two- and two-and-a-half-storey houses that are being purchased for $1 million.

“These minor variances are the most complex,” explained Cressy. “We’re working on new guidelines for the Committee of Adjustment relative to Seaton Village.”

The hope is that it will make the application process for minor variances less adversarial.

“The city planning process really pits neighbour against neighbour. It doesn’t allow you to resolve it amicably,” said Hunter. “It doesn’t help build communities.”

For the SVRA, however, developing the studies is a way to counteract that.

“We are looking at the visioning as a means to connect with people.”

It’s that sense of connection that the residents clearly want to preserve.

“Every street has a street party, the festivals are starting to grow,” reflected Hunter. “It’s really cool how many different hubs there are: Vermont Park, St. Albans, the school…there’s so many opportunities to see people.”