The City of Toronto’s Official Plan, enacted as of June 2006, is an all-encompassing document providing a roadmap for how, where, and when the city should develop. Its sections set out heritage policies, identify areas best suited for intensification, define the unique characteristics of individual neighbourhoods, and limit height and density where necessary. In short, the Official Plan highlights the type of neighbourhoods we want to create, and guides us away from the ones we want to avoid.

It’s a critical document.

Some estimates project that as many as 7.5 million people will be living in the Greater Toronto Area by 2025. The city is growing at a rapid pace, absorbing 50,000 newcomers every year.

And many of those newcomers are settling downtown. According to the city’s own website, downtown is at the centre of this growth. Downtown is growing four times faster than the city as a whole. It also welcomes the 250,000 people who commute into downtown by public transit on a daily basis, as well as the over 125,000 post-secondary students who are enrolled in downtown campuses.

No wonder the subway is so packed every morning.

But would it surprise you to learn that the city’s definition of downtown stretches from the lake north to the Dupont Street rail corridor, and runs east from Bathurst Street to the Rosedale Valley Road and Don River?

It certainly surprised us, when the matter came up during a community consultation meeting on the towering anorexic monstrosity proposed for 316 Bloor St. W. Does it make sense to equate the character of King and Bay streets with that of Bloor Street and Brunswick Avenue? How can we align the narrow bay and gable houses that line our leafy streets with the condominiums at the lower end of Spadina Avenue? It seems to us that the restaurants of Harbord Street have more in common with those of Ossington Avenue than the ones in the financial district.

For a place that’s often described as a city of villages, this broad definition doesn’t do justice to the diverse swath of land it covers. And it’s more than just a philosophical debate.

We wonder if equating the corners of the financial district to the corners of the Annex has led to the troubling rise of building heights, and a greater tolerance among urban planners (particularly those at the Ontario Municipal Board, which with regular and shocking aplomb seems to disregard the city’s attempts at setting its own course) for towers over turrets. Not that we’re arguing for a fortified base at Harbord Street and Spadina Avenue, but we could do with a little more respect for the quirky, historical character of our neighbourhood’s built form.

With the next provincially mandated review of the Official Plan set for 2016, it makes sense to begin having this discussion now. Maybe it’s time to break downtown into smaller parcels, classifying each with a descriptive specificity. How we label things determines how we view things, and labelling the Annex as something other than downtown might prevent developers from floating the idea of a 45-storey building at Bloor Street and Madison Avenue. It’s astonishing that the proposal has made it this far, because it just doesn’t make sense for the neighbourhood on any level.

It’s time to start defining what does.

By Annemarie Brissenden

In apartheid South Africa, Black Beauty was banned from bookshelves.

With the words “black” and “beauty” in the title, it was seen as some kind of anti-government propaganda, even though “there are no black people in the book.” Set in nineteenth-century England “it is actually about a horse,” writes Ismé Bennie in her new book, White Schooldays.

The Harbord Village resident, who has lived in the area since 1973, began her career as a librarian in South Africa before immigrating to Canada, where she became a successful broadcaster, eventually running several specialty channels for CTV. But she always wanted to be a writer, and has collected a series of essays into a self-published memoir about growing up in South Africa during the 1940s and 50s.

The daughter of Jewish immigrants who fled the pogroms of Eastern Europe, Bennie was brought up in Vereeniging. Although her family was not particularly religious, they stuck largely with the close-knit white Jewish community that populated their neighbourhood.

Organized as a series of vignettes on different topics from the serious — how her family came to South Africa, being Jewish, and going to school — to the light-hearted — pets, food, and literary loves — White Schooldays provides a glimpse into her privileged world.

Bennie was a white child who unquestioningly accepted her segregated existence, and her descriptions read as an authentic reflection of her childhood naïveté.

After talking about how girls were required to take a domestic science class in high school that included sections on how to treat servants, she relates how “we illustrated our Dom Sci notebooks lavishly, mainly with cutouts from advertisements in US magazines.

“For my notes on handling the help, I remember my illustration came from McCall’s or Ladies’ Home Journal, and I had captioned it ‘The ideal servant.’ It was a beaming Aunt Jemima.”

In another anecdote, her mother, who didn’t drive, had to jump through several bureaucratic hoops to get permission for Daniel, her black driver, to take her to the white drive-in to see a movie.

“After the show she asked Daniel how he had enjoyed the experience. Turned out he had already seen the film in Sharpeville!” recounted Bennie.

In such moments, some additional commentary might be called for: how the Aunt Jemima character idealized slavery in the American South, or that Sharpeville was home to a large black community and the site of a massacre in 1960. However, the absence of commentary in these vignettes does help to evoke the pervasive ignorance of the context in which she was raised.

“I wasn’t exposed to anything that made me politically aware,” admitted Bennie during an interview, adding that she “wanted to put it down on paper to show what it was like.”

As Bennie grew older, political activism, however, crept into the corners of her existence.

Her university residence backed onto a main thoroughfare where “women of the Black Sash — a non-violent white women’s resistance organization — [would stand] on its sidewalks in silent vigil to protest the apartheid government’s moves to set up a separate school system for non-whites.”

And for stories set later on chronologically, Bennie narrates from a more mature, politically aware perspective.

She talks of flying back to South Africa in 1980 to visit her 80-year-old father, who was living in a Jewish nursing home. He is cared for by “black maids — black women still the caregivers of the whites, when they are young children and when they become helpless old men.”

In another section she writes of attending university:

“I see now that I was amongst the privileged, that I was living and learning in a parallel universe, and that millions of black kids were denied my kind of education. If only they had been allowed the same opportunities, South Africa would be a very different country.”

These days, Bennie is pessimistic about the future of the place she calls home.

“I’m not happy about the current state of affairs,” she said. “There’s a huge economic divide, and I can’t see any immediate resolution. There are too many insurmountables.”

Her sister lives in Johannesburg, which Bennie describes as a society built on fear, in which residents live a limited existence.

But, there are some experiences that remain positive.

“I get tremendous pleasure when I go to a restaurant or shopping mall, and it’s totally mixed these days.”

White Schooldays: Coming-of-Age in Apartheid South Africa is available as an e-book from Amazon.ca.

A man believed to have babysat children in the Spadina Road and Lowther Avenue during the late 1970s was arrested Mar. 25 for allegedly sexually assaulting a girl from the time she was five until she was eight years old. Police, who are withholding the name of the now 43-year-old victim, believe there may be more victims and have asked them to come forward.

Marco Marquez, 71, of Toronto, has been charged with rape, intercourse with a female under 14, and indecent assault of a female. The charges are under the Criminal Code that was in effect at the time of the alleged occurrences.

Released without bail on a promise to appear, Marquez’s first scheduled court appearance will be on May 6 at 11 a.m. at Old City Hall.

If you have any information on this case, please contact Detective Greg Forestall of 14 Division at 416-808-1405.

—Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

Cheap, wholesome and supereasy

By Susan Oppenheim

How does it happen that an entire family and their friends become cookie people?

That would be me, my two daughters, and a favourite tenant, just as an example.

What is interesting is how very different we all are in our approaches to cookie making. I do kitchen-sink cookies, the oversized ones, big and hearty, using up any goodies I may have stashed in a cupboard, at the back of the fridge, or in my freezer. I even recycle cookies and candies people gift me; I substitute ingredients or wrap cookie dough around items and then bake them. Why people give cookies to cookie people is odd but they do. Many a shortbread has found its way into a pie crust just as many a SKOR bar or candy has become the centre of a peanut butter surprise cookie.

My elder daughter, Aura, is an aficionado of classic French recipes and attempts to be as authentic as possible on this side of the Atlantic. For her mom-and-pop specialty shop, Ambrosia Pastry in Waterloo, presentation is as important as ingredients. They have loyal clients who line up frequently for unique offerings and she tempts us all with weekly photos.

My younger daughter is a cross between a scientist and a nutritionist. She has a well-established specialty vegan and kosher cookie business called New Moon Kitchen that supplies many stores around Toronto, including Whole Foods and Costco. Also, like her sister, she is very easy on the eye and these two beautiful young entrepreneurs get loads of press, buzz, and write-ups. Eden’s cookies are extremely family-friendly. It was thrilling when after receiving some in a TIFF swag bag one year, Cher ordered directly from her.

This career move to being a cookie mogul has also affected a tenant who lived with us when she first moved to Canada from Colombia. Her name is Cookie Martinez, and she has one of those cute container storefronts at Dundas and Bathurst.

She spends summers working the street festivals, pop-up markets, and anywhere people look for true Colombian recipes and goodies.

For this month’s Gleaner recipe, I decided cookies would be a good choice in the spring weather. Whether it be for a lunch bag, a travel bag, a health club workout bag or just picnic or park food, here is my favourite drop cookie. It’s cheap, wholesome, supereasy to make, and allows for creativity.

This recipe makes a lot of cookies. I like to make them large and allow an extra two minutes of baking time, checking the colour to be a little golden not brown.

I space them well apart on the cookie sheet as they spread, and I use parchment paper rather than grease the trays. I bake them in the centre of my oven.

Here is what you can substitute:

• Butter with golden Crisco
• Vanilla with almond flavouring, lemon, rum, whatever you find in the flavouring aisles
• For the stuff part: chocolate chips, raisins, nuts (pretoasted), coconut, cranberries, just make up the measurement

Oatmeal cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 large  egg
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

In a separate bowl mix well together:

• 3/4 cup white flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Add creamed to dry ingredients with  a food processor, mix master, by hand, whatever you have.

Add the stuff:

• 3 cups oats
• Stir in oats
• 1-1 1/2 cups “stuff”

I like either a fruity cookie or a chocolate nutty cookie.

Drop by double tablespoon on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet in the centre of the oven.

Bake 12-15 minutes.

Cool completely before removing from pans.

Susan can be contacted at javamama.susan@gmail.com

The relatively unobtrusive building currently at Madison Avenue and Bloor Street once housed the Boy Scouts of Canada and, until recently, the Restaurant Association of Canada. Photo: Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

Community members decry proposed Madison Avenue condominium

By Annemarie Brissenden

A developer’s proposal to raise a 42- to 45-storey, 535-unit condominium tower at 316 Bloor St. W. was met with jeering skepticism during a packed standing-room-only community consultation hosted by Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) on Apr. 2.

The developer, State Building Group/Forest Hill Homes, fielded a team of representatives at the meeting. They included urban planner Peter Smith of Bousfields Inc., architect David Butterworth of Kirkor Architects & Planners, and a landscape architect from NAK Design Strategies tasked with “enhancing” Paul Martel Park in conjunction with the project. The large team endeavoured to convince Annex residents that the location at Bloor Street and Madison Avenue, with its proximity to two major transit interchanges, a high measure of walkability, and little recent development activity in the immediate area, was appropriate for intensification.

That justification, however, fell on deaf ears.

“Why does developing a neighbourhood always involve disadvantaging the stuff that’s already there?” asked a resident of 95 Prince Arthur Ave., who was also concerned that the proposed tower would overshadow the gardens on her building’s rooftop and in its courtyard.

Smith responded that unlike the “more massive slab style buildings” marking the area, the proposed slim, compact tower devoid of balconies would minimize any potential shadowing.

Butterworth, who previously worked on the Minto building at Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, added that the development would consist of small, compact one-bedroom and studio high-end professional units targeted at “young professional end users”. There would be a small number of parking spaces, some provisions for car sharing, and upscale amenities that might include a coffee bar or lounge.

Instead of reassuring those at the meeting, such information served only to heighten the concerns of community members, who made their feelings known during a lively question and answer session.

Tim Grant, chair of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association, was met with loud applause when he explained that local residents are “acutely sensitive to excessively high buildings. The problem is [that] 10 more buildings [will result from] this precedent, and create massive shadowing.”

“Clearly there are many issues to deal with,” said David Harrison, chair of the Annex Residents’ Association (ARA), who added that he was “astonished that no rationalization has been given for 42 storeys”. He characterized the building — “too tall [and] too dense” — as a “vertical rooming house”.

With the area set to absorb three potential student residential towers in the next decade, it’s a comment that resonated with many at the meeting.

Some fear that a condominium tower comprised largely of one-bedroom studios would not attract young, high end urban professionals as anticipated, but instead be purchased by investors who would in turn rent out the units to “transient” university students.

“With that kind of size, they are not going to stay long,” said a speaker from Robert Street. “What do they offer to [our] community?”

A St. George Street resident, who is “concerned about students renting from overseas entrepreneurs”, also struck a chord while responding to the developer’s plans for Paul Martel Park.

“Don’t offer us benefits that we already have,” he said. “I resent comments that suggest we could enhance the park.”

Named in honour of a cherished Annex resident, the small green space on Madison Avenue is near and dear to local residents. Originally a park that was dismantled to make way for the controversial Spadina Expressway, it was resurrected by the ARA under the leadership of Martel. Many of those present at the meeting volunteer time to preserve the park’s diverse ecosystem, and were not pleased with the landscape architect’s ideas, which included creating spaces for educational programming, introducing public art, and adding a performance space.

A Madison Avenue resident whose home faces the park wondered, “Why are you taking over our park?” while another speaker stated, “I’m sure Jane Jacobs is rolling in her grave.”

“This is really an investment for a lot of people, and not about creating and building neighbourhoods,” continued the St. George Street resident.

Although the developer’s representatives refused to commit to not taking their proposal to the Ontario Municipal Board, they did undertake to follow the process required by the City of Toronto regarding developments of this nature.

“We’re starting at the premise that this is unacceptable,” said Cressy, the local councillor.

He would like to see significant changes to the proposal before the planning department presents its preliminary report on the matter at a community council meeting in June.

There should be another community consultation in September, followed by a revised report delivered to community council in October or November, with the final proposal voted on by city council towards the end of the year.

Westbank’s initial concept for Bloor and Bathurst streets includes a cluster of buildings at varying heights. Photo: Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

Cautious optimism greets Westbank proposal

By Annemarie Brissenden

Annex residents could be forgiven for thinking that creative, civic-minded developers are as rare as hen’s teeth. Long accustomed to property owners whose large and imposing concrete monstrosities loom over the area, they arrive at planning meetings prepared to fight. But what happens when the field of battle turns out to be a zone of conciliation?

Such is the case with Westbank Corp. and its plans to redevelop Mirvish Village.

“Normally you walk in [to an open house or planning meeting], have a plan put in front of you, and everybody begins to shout,” explained Neil Wright, chair of the Harbord Street Business Improvement Area. “This is a huge cultural shift: I don’t think people can comprehend it until they have had time to think.”

Shortly after a packed open house in early March, during which Westbank gave the community its first glance at the developer’s plans for the southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst streets, residents are still trying to absorb the proposal, which is unlike anything they’ve ever seen.

“It’s quite different, and took some people by surprise,” said local councillor Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina). “It’s an interesting take on how development can happen at that site. Elements of it are quite unique, and will add to the character of the neighbourhood.”

Forty to 50 interconnected buildings, the majority of which will be under 10 storeys, except for three at 29, 22, and 21 storeys, will house one thousand rental units, at least half of which will be two bedrooms or more. The buildings, which will appear to be separate when viewed from the outside, will also include live-work spaces, artist studios, and a daycare. There are plans for a covered public market, an alley with micro retail, bicycle valet parking, and auto share. And, 14 heritage buildings on Markham Street will be preserved.

Although these initial concepts for the site have not been presented to the City, Westbank is canvassing the community for feedback on its ambitious plan.

So far, the reviews are cautiously optimistic.

“At first glance, it’s very exciting, very creative,” said David Harrison, chair of the Annex Residents’ Association, who added that it’s a new idea in Toronto. “It’s all rental, [and] directionally that’s a good thing.”

“This is seriously family-style rental housing,” said Layton. “We struggle to get [developers to include] 10 to 15 per cent two and three bedrooms.”

He also praises the “beautiful little micro retail” and the public market, delighted with how the project’s architect has aimed to “replicate hundreds of years of development in Amsterdam and Paris.”

Harrison believes that’s due to the rental aspect of the project, not just because it was something the community identified as being important. “Developers are interested in investing in the public realm, because they have to live with it, as they will still own it.”

That said, it does seem as though they “are ticking all the boxes,” he said. “What’s surprising is they actually listened to so much of the input from the community groups.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen a developer get so far ahead of a process and engage the community and city planners in a dialogue that was so authentic and ultimately had an impact on the development,” agreed the chair of the Bloor-Annex Business Improvement Area, Brian Burchell, who also publishes this newspaper.

Ian Scott, a board member of the Palmerston Area Residents’ Association, said he’s mostly initially positive about the proposal, but, he noted, “discussion at the open house was directed at the things they wanted to talk about, not what we wanted to talk about.”

Among the things left out was consideration of how the area will absorb that much density.

“Have they done any studies about what traffic will look like? What will it do to the neighbourhood during construction?” asked Scott. “I am not convinced that I know enough about the scale not to be concerned about how it’s going to fit into the neighbourhood and not be disruptive in the long term.”

Other concerns raised included questions about the affordability of the units, the desire for greenspace, and the capacity of the nearby subway station.

“Neither Westbank nor the City appear to be engaging in a dialogue with [the TTC, which] is a glaring omission,” said Burchell. “Bathurst Street subway access to Bloor Street is in dire need of renewal. It can’t handle current capacity, and it’s safe to say, there will be more.”

Then there’s the height of the tallest tower.

“We’re trying to keep towers in the low twenties,” said Harrison, a comment echoed by Sue Dexter of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association.

“Twenty-nine storeys is high. That’s density that you want to be concerned about.” She’s keen to get into the nitty-gritty of the project to understand “how it would work. We don’t know how each building relates to the other, who’s going to program Markham Street,” or what the buffer from the street would be for those living in the units.

Still, Dexter views it as a positive step, even if there’s “lots of stuff to understand and there are concerns.

“Looking at the complexity of it, and marvelling at how much they’ve managed to embrace of the community,” she said, the question is, “how do you make it real?”

Community guaranteed free access to track during off-school hours

By Annemarie Brissenden

The field at Central Technical School may be fallow no more.

It’s been almost 18 months since the field at Central Tech was fenced off due to contamination in the soil while local residents’ associations and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) battled over whether to hire Razor Management Inc., a private management company, to replace the field, install a seasonal dome, and manage the site for the next 20 years.

But the parties came to a mediated agreement that was verbally approved by the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) on Mar. 23, and the field may be reopened by September.

“I’m very pleased that we’re finally reaching a conclusion in this whole journey,” said Helen Zhou, Central Tech’s student council president, who is also a member of the Friends and Neighbours of Central Tech, one of the parties involved in the deliberations at the OMB.

A man who says he prefers building community facilities to accruing lawyer’s fees because he likes seeing people active, Matthew Raizenne of Razor Management Inc. has a “good feeling” about the agreement.

“Everyone got most of what they wanted,” he said.

Under the terms of the agreement, the private company will install a new artificial turf football field and a new 400-metre rubberized running track, and manage the facility. For no longer than six months a year, it will also erect a seasonal dome, which will be no larger than 44.2 metres long, 65.5 metres wide, and 18 metres high. This is significantly smaller than the size of the dome under Razor Management’s original proposal, and will no longer include the running track. There are provisions for free community access to the facility outside of school hours, with the track being available at least 98 per cent of the time during those periods. Dogs and other pets will not be allowed on the field.

A Facility Management and Community Liaison Team has also been established to approve regional tournaments, have input on programming for user groups, and resolve operational issues, especially those, like parking and traffic, which may impact the community. Finally, Razor Management will work with the TDSB to run a local program for youth served by a neighbourhood agency, and make an annual donation in support of a community swim program at Central Tech.

“There’s been a transformation in the proposal, which [now] gives the neighbourhood access and structure for oversight,” said Sue Dexter of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association, one of the parties involved in the mediation. “It’s apparent from the result that [Razor Management] was prepared to be responsive to the needs of the community…. There’s now quite a number of community benefits.”

Like many of the parties, Ausma Malik (Ward 10, Trinity-Spadina), the TDSB trustee who inherited the file when she was elected in October, said she’s “excited to move forward with something that everyone is happy with.”

Malik characterized the willingness of all parties to come to a resolution as encouraging. The lengthy process, she added, demonstrated that “community consultation is absolutely critical” given that the broader community sees schools as the heart of their neighbourhoods.

“It’s been a stark and critical lesson for me.”

Zhou said she is sympathetic to the concerns raised about the project—particularly noise and parking—but added, “at the same time, this is an issue that has been affecting students the most.” After all, the field has been closed for half of the time she’s spent at Central Tech.

Like Malik, Zhou has gained much from the process, which was initially “very confusing because a lot of information was held back from us. A lot of the discussions were between adults and the people in charge.” Everything became “less of a mystery.”

Although it may have seemed acrimonious at times, explained Neil Wright, chair of the Harbord Street Business Improvement Area (HSBIA), the “process was really about the entire community trying to put something there [at Central Tech] that would be good for students and the area.

“And over the course of time,” he said, “that is what happened.”

Wright said that the HSBIA views this as “a wonderful opportunity. It’s fantastic for the school and for the community. We want to have the community come together.”

Perhaps that’s the most important lesson for everyone involved, including Zhou, who said the experience has taught her a lot about how the community can work together towards a common goal.

Now that the parties have agreed, Raizenne can move ahead with getting the facility opened. In a “perfect world,” that would happen for Sept. 1. However, he warned, “there’s a lot of things that need to work in order to make that happen.”

Photo: Catherine Kaiser, UTS Schools

For the second year in a row, University of Toronto Schools (UTS) will once again celebrate International Day of Pink on Apr. 8, at 1:30 p.m., in Matt Cohen Park at the corner of Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue.

Led by UTS guidance counsellor Catherine Kaiser, the 45-minute outdoor event is designed to engage the community and to build awareness of homophobia, bullying, and discrimination in schools and communities. Last year’s inaugural event attracted 300 students, or roughly half of the school’s population. This year, Kaiser anticipates the number of student participants to rise to 450. “It’s hugely validating for the students to get outside with their message of tolerance and inclusiveness, and have that validated by cars going by honking in support.”

A survey completed anonymously by UTS students before last year’s event revealed that a handful of closeted gay students were terrified, anxious, and afraid of what staff and other pupils would think if their sexual orientation was made public. This led Kaiser to open up to her students in a school-wide assembly about being gay herself. “I don’t think I had the support in my school or the role models to help me answer questions I didn’t know how to answer,” she said. “I take it upon myself to stand up and go ‘I’m gay, who cares’.”

The event has attracted support from local businesses, including this newspaper, and the Bloor Annex BIA, as well as the Toronto Police Service, whose mounted unit will attend in support of the cause. Participating UTS students and staff can win donated prizes from: Midoco, BMV books, Starbucks at Albany Avenue, Hot Docs Cinema, Cobs Bakery, Wiener’s Home Hardware, Annex Photo, Queen Video, Menchellas, Tea Shop 168, PoutineVille, and Almond Butterfly.

Community members are encouraged to attend, wearing pink of course! For further information, please contact Catherine Kaiser at (416) 946-0223 or catherine.kaiser@utschools.ca.

—Brian Burchell/Gleaner News

Toronto Police responded to a call about a man with a knife near 140 Spadina Rd., just south of Dupont Avenue, at approximately 9 p.m. on Feb. 18. The armed man was shot when an exchange resulted between him and the officers shortly after they arrived at the scene.

The man, David Andrew Doucette, 49, was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Initially, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) assigned four investigators and two forensic investigators to the case, but subsequent reports announced that seven investigators and three forensic investigators have been assigned to look into the incident and determine whether or not to lay criminal charges against the officers involved.

The SIU investigates every incident involving police in Ontario if someone has been seriously injured, dies, or alleges sexual assault.

When asked if the officers who witnessed the incident were co-operating with investigators, Monica Hudon, the SIU’s communications coordinator, replied that, “the officers have a duty to co-operate,” but declined to provide further comment due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.

Anyone who may have information regarding this case is asked to contact the lead investigator at 416-622-2150, or 1-800-787-8529 ext. 2150.

—Claire Kilpatrick/Gleaner News

New system for counting crimes skews data

By Claire Kilpatrick and Brian Burchell

Area thefts are on the rise according to a new statisical system called Versadex instituted by the Toronto Police Service (TPS). In fact, a summary provided by the police shows that crime appears to be up according to almost all major indicators within 14 Division, but reported thefts in particular portray an alarming trend. Auto thefts in 2014 are up 14 per cent from 2013, robberies (including muggings) are up 20 per cent, and theft over $5,000 (including bank robberies and “white collar” crimes) are up 35 per cent.

14 Division covers a wide swath of downtown spanning Spadina Avenue to the east, Dufferin Street to the west, and Dupont Street in the north down to the waterfront. In addition, the division includes the southern half of Parkdale (south of Queen Street West).

Though the increase in crime appears dramatic, Detective Sergeant Brian Kelly of 14 Division cautioned that there is more to the story. In late 2013, the division started tracking crime according to the new system. All crime incidents are stored on the system.

The way this new system tracks data has skewed the statistics dramatically, resulting, according to Kelly, in the false appearance of a rise in theft.

Kelly provided an example of how the change to Versadex has created a situation where an apples-to-apples comparison is not possible. “Before the changeover, if a lone robber were to approach a couple and demand their phones, it would count as one robbery, because it was one incident. After the changeover, however, that same crime would be recorded as two robberies, because there are two victims.” There have been other changes in the new system as well. According to Constable Victor Kwong of Toronto Police Corporate Communications, theft from cars as a category of crime is no longer reported in the published statistics.

Kelly said that “enough time hasn’t gone by to properly assess the stats from one year to the next.” By this time next year, the new Versadex system will have been in effect long enough to begin gleaning more useful results.

Included in the data is a column about whether or not a crime is “cleared”, meaning solved. The entire service average of cleared cases is 50 per cent. In 2014, 14 Division performed slightly better clearing 53 per cent of cases.

Amenities matter in city intensification

By Joe Cressy

I’m proud to live in downtown Toronto. I was born downtown, raised on Walmer Road, and my wife and I live in the Annex, near Bathurst and Bloor streets. Downtown Toronto is a great place to live, but we have much to do to make sure we protect and build the character of our downtown communities.

Downtown Toronto is the heart of our city. That may not always be the most popular thing to say, but there is no shame in saying it.

All of Toronto wins when the downtown does well. Some numbers help tell the tale…downtown Toronto, as defined by the city’s official plan, is the area from Bathurst Street to the Don River, and from the waterfront to Dupont Street and the Rosedale Valley.

Over 200,000 people live downtown, but during the day it nearly triples in size as the daytime population grows to nearly 750,000 people. It is 17 square kilometres in size and represents just 3 per cent of the city’s landmass. A third of all the jobs in the entire city are located downtown; a quarter of the city’s tax-base is generated downtown; and more than half of the city’s GDP is created downtown.

However, as we all know, it is about much more than numbers and economic benefits. It is about the neighbourhoods and institutions that give life to our city. It is the three universities and numerous community colleges located downtown; it is the cultural institutions and festivals like the AGO, TIFF, Hot Docs, and the Harbourfront Centre.

It is the mixed-use neighbourhoods like Kensington Market, Chinatown, and St. Lawrence Market; and despite decades of disappointment, it is the insufferable Leafs, the occasionally successful Blue Jays, and the increasingly exciting Raptors.

We have a lot to be proud of downtown. However, for those of us who live here, we must do a better job of building neighbourhoods, rather than simply adding density and building condos.

Over the last 20 years we’ve witnessed transformational change in the area. Amidst the remnants of 20th century infrastructure like the railway lands, industrial warehouses, and the Gardiner Expressway, new neighbourhoods have risen up.

In the railway lands, an entirely new neighbourhood, CityPlace, has been built in two decades. In the Entertainment District, defined as Front Street to Queen Street and University Avenue to Spadina Avenue, the population has grown from 240 people in 2001 to 3,600 people today, and is estimated to grow by another 18,000 people when all of the approved developments are built. Despite this tremendous growth, we have not adequately invested in the vital community services that make a neighbourhood liveable. These services include community centres, libraries, affordable childcare, and parks.

In fact, we are so far behind that we don’t have solid information on which services are most oversubscribed in each neighbourhood. However we are finally working to catch up now.

Density is not something to be afraid of, as long as we’re planning for a mixture of housing options and building the physical and social infrastructure to support it. If you are a family living in a two- or three-bedroom unit in a condo or a tower, the park becomes your backyard. The community centre and library become your den or playroom. Building liveable neighbourhoods requires that we plan for families. Over the next few years, we at City Hall plan to change our planning framework to do just that.

During the last term of council, a motion was passed instructing planning staff to conduct a comprehensive study of the downtown to answer two critical questions: how much development can downtown handle? And, what infrastructure (both social and physical) is needed to handle it? These are critical questions that we must answer in order to move forward.

The five-year study, entitled TOcore, is now 50 per cent complete. The intention is to develop a new master plan for the downtown and to put forward specific official plans and bylaw amendments to regulate and mandate more equitable and liveable development. Whether it is a downtown parks strategy or a downtown community services and facilities study, these plans will guide any future growth, development, and public investment.

Downtown Toronto is many different things to many different people. But, it has always been a wonderful place to live for those of us that call it home.

As our city continues to grow, let’s make sure it stays that way for generations to come.

Joe Cressy is the city councillor for Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina.

The recent unveiling of plans to redevelop the Honest Ed’s site and adjoining Mirvish Village left a largely local audience in awe. At the opening curtain on the proposed plan, yet to be submitted to the City for approval, Westbank Corp. of Vancouver displayed an innovative plan of multiple residential towers, “small-grain” retail, open public space, preserved architecture (Mirvish Village), and a street (Markham Street) dedicated to pedestrians. They did almost exactly what they said they would do—they listened.

City planners have long anticipated this application, having sharpened their axes on the now sidelined plan to erect a Walmart on Bathurst Street south of College Street. One worry was how to prevent a big box at Bathurst and Bloor streets. The City approved an amendment to the Official Plan, which limits retail frontages to nine metres (about the width of Wiener’s Home Hardware on Bloor?Street) and total retail area of any one tenant to 3,500 square metres (about the size of the Metro grocery store on Bloor Street). But Westbank did not need a bylaw to tell them that “small-grain retail,” a phrase that Westbank is introducing into our lexicon, was the way to go. Such stores will define the lower periphery of the northern (Bloor Street) and eastern (Bathurst?Street) flanks, Mirvish Village, and a new lane running north from Lennox Street (at the rear of Victory Café) to about halfway up the property. In all, 200,000 square feet of retail will be provided.

What surprised many was the plan for rental—1,000 units in total. According to Employment and Social Development Canada, Toronto’s rental vacancy rate stood at a scant 1.7 per cent in 2014. While no figures are available on the subject, creating vacancy at a major intersection, and on a subway line, could be argued as fulfilling an acute need. One-half of the units proposed are two or more bedrooms, read the possibility of “families.” Bravo to Westbank!

Too many condominium projects built in recent years consist mostly of bachelor units. Condo developers have taken advantage of low interest rates and a desire for downtown living, and have built an endless skyline of concrete cubicles, with little creativity and many with no nearby amenities. No one accuses the condo kings of city building.

The approach of Westbank to this project ought to go into a how-to book somewhere for wannabe city builders who have “leaving a legacy” somewhere in their mantra. They consulted, and apparently they were listening. There is no great sentimentality around Honest Ed’s the store, and there is little evidence of its preservation in the development. There is, however, a lasting affection for Anne and Ed Mirvish. And their names live on. Moreover, Anne’s vision for Markham Street (Mirvish Village) is maintained and reinvigorated in the plan. Westbank listened when they were urged to consider that Mirvish Village is more than the built-form of Victorian buildings, it’s an eclectic mix of shops, restaurants, and bars, and above those venues, writers and other artists. Some balance must be struck so that it does not become another Yorkville.

Contrast the Westbank plan with what is proposed at Bloor Street and Madison Avenue, formerly the site of the Restaurants Association of Canada. That unnamed developer did zero community consultation, and just dropped an application off at the City for 42 storeys of condominiums (over 500 units), on what is arguably a postage stamp lot by comparison. It’s quite a juxtaposition of approaches.

The Westbank plan needs some scrutiny in respect to setbacks. One of the biggest obstacles that faces Bloor Street is accommodating pedestrian and cycling traffic. There is also a missing puzzle piece, and it’s glaring, and that is improved access to the subway. This is where the City should focus on helping the project. Improving access to the Markham Street subway entrance (yes, the Bathurst subway station has another entrance point, it’s a secret to most) would take pressure off the narrow sidewalk adjacent to the CIBC on Bathurst Street. Someone should really convene a meeting between the TTC, the City, and Westbank. The City could “city build” too and get behind this laudable plan.