August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on NEWS: Retail suffers as developments loom (May/June 2023)
Goodness Me!, formerly Noah’s, closes after 39 years
By Fox Oliver
On Saturday, May 20, Goodness Me! Natural Food Market (formerly Noah’s Natural Food), located at 322 Bloor St. W, closed their doors for good. The store opened in 1984, but as large chunks of Bloor and Spadina are set to be demolished to make way for condominium towers, existing retail is being pushed out.
“It’s sad to see it close. I’ve worked here for 14 years and have a lot of regular customers,” said Farshad Sahim, an employee of the food market.
The owners and staff at Goodness Me! have known about the planned development for 320-332 Bloor St. W since shortly after it was proposed on Nov. 5, 2021.
However, staff at Goodness Me! were only told they were closing two months before the scheduled close date which was originally in mid-June.
On its last day open, Goodness Me! was filled with empty shelves, liquidation sales adverts, and a few staff and customers. “The people here are nice and they make it an easy place to shop, so I am disappointed they’re closing,” said Patricia, a regular customer. “I’m not looking forward to even more construction on Bloor Street,” she added. “The Annex has a unique culture which new high-rises will damage,” said Sahim. “People keep coming back because they have history, and their parents went there years before them,” he added, with regards to why it’s important to support small businesses.
A Second Cup located in the same building as Goodness Me! and a Pizza Pizza adjacent to it have also recently shut down. Both properties are owned by First Capital, the developers of the high-rise planned for 320-332 Bloor St. W. First Capital declined an interview, but provided the following statement:
“First Capital REIT is actively leasing the retail and office availabilities at Spadina/Bloor. We look forward to bringing exciting new tenants and retailers to the properties while progressing our development applications for this important transit node.”
However, there is no evidence that First Capital is seeking to rent these storefronts through any multiple listing real estate services. Further, there is no signage on these vacant storefronts suggesting they are for lease. After repeated attempts to contact the manager of Goodness Me! to discuss the reason for their early closure, they did not reply.
The proposed high-rise, according to the building application, will be 37-storeys tall and will have 377 residential units, 628 square metres of commercial space, 61 parking spots, and 447 bicycle spaces. Currently there are approximately 2000 square metres of retail and office space on the site, meaning the new development would provide roughly two-thirds less commercial space than what currently exists.
The developer, BDP Quadrangle, lists 2026 as the potential completion date for the project; however, the application for the development is still under review, and a building permit has not yet been issued. If this application is approved, it will still take approximately 36 months to complete the building if there are no further complications, making a completion date of 2026 unlikely, but not impossible.
There is no mention of affordable housing units in First Capital’s application. The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Annex has increased to $2,475 in 2023, while the city’s average market rent for a one-bedroom has grown to $1,538. The city cannot force developers to include affordable housing in their buildings, meaning it’s unlikely the developers will forgo this valuable rent to provide affordable housing.
The building proposed at 320-332 Bloor St. W. is one of many tall structures in the works for the area. A 29-storey mixed-use building has been approved directly to the east, and there is a 35-storey condominium approved for the northwest corner of the Bloor-Spadina intersection. On the southeast corner, the University of Toronto plans to build The Gateway, a development that will feature residential, academic, and commercial space across multiple buildings. The Gateway will significantly address the university’s strong need for housing and intends to link the university with the surrounding neighbourhood.
Goodness Me! is just one of many small businesses that will have to leave the Annex as new developments stack up. It may only be once the developments are complete and businesses fill these vacant spots that the Bloor-Spadina intersection will feel whole again.
Comments Off on NEWS: Retail suffers as developments loom (May/June 2023)Tags:Annex · News
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on NEWS: Annex honoured for pioneering Bloor bike lanes (May/June 2023)
BIA selected by advocacy group for foundational work
Brian Burchell received the Business Road Safety Champion award for his work advancing bike safety on a busy mainstreet along with the Bloor Annex BIA. NEILAND BRISSENDEN/BLOOR ANNEX BIA
By Fox Oliver
On May 19, the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition (TCBC) presented their Business Road Safety Champion Award to the Bloor-Annex Business Improvement Area (BIA) and to its general manager, Brian Burchell, for supporting pilot bike lanes and cycling advocacy. (Burchell is the publisher of the Gleaner.)
“In the spring of 2016 there were essentially no bike lanes, except stubs, on any arterial road in Toronto,” said Albert Koehl, coordinator of the TCBC. “We want to recognize Brian and the BIA for fighting for bike lanes, for being the first BIA to support the pilot bike lane, and for supporting permanent bike lanes.”
In August 2016, a 2.4 km pilot bike lane was installed along Bloor Street between Avenue Road and Shaw Street. The project was led by the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation to investigate the economic and travel impacts of the bike lanes, and it soon became the most studied stretch of biking infrastructure in North America. “This study showed that they (bike lanes) can be good for business. Brian and the BIA were instrumental in this study,” commented Mary Ann Neary, coordinator of the TCBC.
The pilot bike lanes on Bloor Street increased cyclists’ sense of safety on Bloor Street. The percentage who felt safe increased from 17 per cent, prior to the bike lanes, to 61 per cent after the bike lanes. The largest shift in perception was found in women whose sense of safety increased from 12 per cent to 58 per cent. While women are typically underrepresented as cyclists in North American cities, this pilot project narrowed the variance between men and women on bikes.
Some merchants interviewed during the study on Bloor Street expressed concerns and said bike lanes were “bad for business.” However, the pilot study showed that pedestrians and cyclists were the groups of people most likely to spend over $100 a month and were also the most frequent shoppers in the Annex, as opposed to motorists and people who use transit.
The pilot project showed that merchants along Bloor Street misunderstood how their customers commuted to their stores, with 58 per cent believing more than a quarter of their customers drove. In reality, only nine per cent of customers shopping on Bloor drove there, demonstrating the importance of bike lanes, sidewalks, and public transit for businesses and their customers.
“This was the longest fight for bike lanes anywhere in the city, going back to the 1970s,” said Koehl. “If you don’t have (bike lanes on) Bloor Street, you can’t have a real cycling network, so this was our foot in the door. We always thought if you get it here, then you can show the city how good it is.”
The research and experience from the pilot project will be used to push for the expansion of Toronto’s cycling network. Burchell has been active in the debate about bike lanes on Yonge Street and has shared his positive experience from the Bloor Street pilot project. The TCBC is pushing to extend the bike lanes on Bloor-Danforth even further east and west, as they currently end at Victoria Park and Runnymede avenues.
Though the pilot project has been a success, there is still work to do in the Annex regarding motorists creating dangerous biking conditions. “We have to, as a community, recognize we have a duty to protect the bike lane users,” said Burchell. “We confront delivery truck drivers when they park in the bike lane, and they are slowly learning they can park on side streets to pose less danger to cyclists.”
However, Uber Eats drivers and other food couriers still routinely park in bike lanes. “Passersby need to alert those drivers to the dangers they are causing, and politely urge them to find a safer place to park for their food pick-up,” said Burchell. Slowly these drivers will also change as it becomes socially less acceptable to endanger lives for the sake of 30 seconds of convenience.”
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on ARTS: Diorama Dramas displayed at photography exhibition (May/June 2023)
The light box pictured here in Martha Davis’ garden allows children to discuss difficult subjects with trusted adults. COURTESY MARTHA DAVIS
Since retiring from her career teaching elementary school five years ago, photo artist and independent filmmaker, Martha Davis, has found opportunities to work with children outside the classroom. This May, she joined the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival with her Diorama Dramas.
From May 16 to May 29, Davis presented her artwork at 918 Bathurst. Her station included six physical dioramas, 18 photographs of her pieces, and an area for children six and older to build and photograph their own creations on weekends. Invitations to her exhibition were extended to school groups as well as all interested guests.
Davis’ dioramas started on her front lawn on Markham Street. She first installed a total of 24 different dioramas in a lightbox display. Throughout the week, she observed that parents would bring their kids along to talk about each piece.
According to Davis, her dioramas open a window for kids to discuss important topics with parents and trusted adults. She is concerned about children struggling with their mental health.
“It’s hard for them to process everything going on in the world,” she said. Her dioramas consist of three-dimensional spaces through which heavy subject matters can be playfully explored. Using miniature animals, dolls, and toys in colourful environments, Davis explores themes like climate change, habitat loss, homelessness, food insecurity, animal welfare, loneliness, addiction, and much more. With “innocent childhoods” disappearing day after day, she believes these interactions will allow mature topics to be discussed creatively and productively by children and adults together.
The Gleaner previously recognized Davis’ award-winning film PANDALAND: Making IT Count on civic engagement through the multimedia installation of over 70 toy pandas in her neighbourhood. She continues to produce art for all age groups to enjoy. Her green screen art programme has reached schools, daycares, seniors’ residences, and long-term care homes. In 2019, she shared her green screen photography at the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival, but she decided to consider her dioramas’ growing fanbase for the festival’s return.
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: Ford’s poor planning will hurt us all (May/June 2023)
Back in 1973, when Ontario Premier Doug Ford was just nine years old, Conservative Premier Bill Davis brought in the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act. This was the foundational legislation for what we now call the Greenbelt—2 million acres of farmland, forest, wetlands and watersheds in southern Ontario. Every premier since then, of every political stripe, has fought to protect that—until now. Premier Doug Ford is bent on tearing the area apart despite whatever promises he made in the last election, and that destruction is justified by a false premise.
As of last year, over a million housing units were approved or proposed according to a report from the Regional Planning Commissioners of Ontario (RPCO); many are in the Greenbelt.
The RPCO report was based on data obtained before the province came up with “solutions” to deal with the housing crisis. It turns out the government’s remedy is not the right pill at all.
“I think [the report] starts to tell the story that the housing supply challenge isn’t really a land supply or development approval problem,” said RPCO chair Tom Hunt. “The bigger problem is how do you compel to build? How do you increase the rate of construction?”
Bill 23 contains a number of controversial elements including waiving development fees for municipalities to build roads, sewers, and schools. This is a plan with serious holes; there are no incentives to build affordable housing and no partnerships with other levels of government to do so. Doug Ford is notoriously unable to play well in a sandbox with others: see the $10-a-day federal day care plan where Ford was so late to the party that this province is still playing catch-up.
Blaming the now very former Liberal government is a familiar go-to for the premier who is apparently unable or unwilling to come up with good policies to govern on his own. Constantly blaming your predecessor is a tired excuse for poor leadership. Looking at the housing crisis solely through the prisms of “a lack of land” and “a lack of municipal approvals” constitutes a failure to analyze the problem. We have the land and the approvals but lack the incentives to actually build. The real issues are rising interest rates, which make building more expensive, rising inflation, which makes supplies more expensive, and an ongoing labour shortage. Toronto’s chief planner, Gregg Lintern, said the city approved an average of 30,000 residential units per year from 2017 to 2021. During that same period, an average of 16, 000 per year, or just over half, were actually built. Of course, these pressures have only increased since 2021, so the disincentives to build are exacerbated.
Destroying the Greenbelt does not make the housing problem go away; it only makes matters worse on many other fronts. We don’t need more highways leading to more single family homes in suburbs.
We need to safeguard the resources that keep our and water clean, reduce the risk of flooding, and provide a home to southern Ontario’s wildlife.
Ontario is currently losing 319 acres of farmland daily, according to the 2021 Census of Agriculture. That’s roughly one average family farm lost every day to unwise development. Farmland is finite, and treated properly, can be a perpetual source of food for Ontario. Phil Pothen, a Toronto planning and environment lawyer for the group Environmental Defence said that, “we’re kneecapping the country’s food security.”
Ford’s Greenbelt assault appears only to be popular with his developer buddies with whom he has close ties. They somehow knew ahead of time that buying up farmland there was a wise investment. The rest of us will pay for their gains.
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on FORUM: Navigating a strong fiscal recovery (May/June 2023)
Battling inflation and the challenge to create a clean economy
By Chrystia Freeland
Canada has made a remarkable recovery from the COVID recession.
Our economic growth was the strongest in the G7 in 2022, and 900,000 more Canadians are employed today than before the pandemic. The Bank of Canada predicts inflation will fall to 3 per cent this summer and 2.5 per cent by the end of the year. Our unemployment rate is near its record low, and, supported by our Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and childcare, the labour force participation rate for working-age women has reached a record high of 85.7 per cent.
The 2023 federal budget, which I introduced in March, builds on this important progress—and addresses both the challenges and opportunities facing Canada in the months and years to come.
Our budget is a fiscally responsible plan that will mean new, targeted inflation relief for the Canadians who need it most, stronger public health care and affordable dental care across Canada, and historic investments to build Canada’s clean economy and create good jobs for Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
The budget delivers a new Grocery Rebate to 11 million Canadians and Canadian families to help make up for higher prices at the checkout counter—providing up to an additional $467 for eligible couples with children; an additional $234 for single Canadians without children; and an average of an additional $225 for seniors.
We are also taking action to crack down on junk fees, such as extra event and concert fees or telecom roaming charges, lowering credit card transaction fees for small businesses, and delivering a range of new measures to make life more affordable for people across Canada.
Our budget will also ensure that all of us can rely on a world-class, publicly funded health care system—one that is deserving of its place at the very heart of what it means to be Canadian.
We are delivering a historic $198.3 billion investment in public health care—including $76.83 billion to Ontario—to reduce backlogs, expand access to family health services, and enable provinces and territories to provide the high quality and timely health care Canadians expect and deserve.
And just as we are reinforcing the public health care system we have today, we are also expanding its reach with a new Canadian Dental Care Plan for Canadians with a family income of less than $90,000. The Canadian Dental Care Plan will cover up to nine million Canadians by 2025—meaning that you will no longer be able to tell how much money someone makes, or how much money their parents make, by their smile.
Over the long term, Canada must also navigate two fundamental shifts in the global economy.
First, in what is the most significant economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution, our friends and partners around the world—chief among them, the United States—are investing heavily to build their clean economies and the net-zero industries of tomorrow. Second, following Putin’s illegal and barbaric invasion of Ukraine, our allies around the world are accelerating efforts to friendshore their economies by building their critical supply chains through democracies like our own.
Today, and in the years to come, Canada must either meet this historic moment—this remarkable opportunity before us—or we will be left behind as the world’s democracies build the clean economy of the 21st century.
That is why our budget makes transformative investments to build Canada’s clean economy, fight climate change, and create new opportunities for Canadian businesses and Canadian workers.
This includes significant measures that will make Canada a clean electricity superpower and deliver cleaner and more affordable energy to Canadians and Canadian businesses, bring investment to our communities and create good-paying jobs, and ensure that Canadian workers are able to produce and provide the goods and resources that Canadians and our allies need.
As we make these important investments, we are also upholding Canada’s proud tradition of fiscal responsibility by ensuring Canada maintains the lowest deficit and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. By exercising fiscal restraint, we are ensuring that we can continue to invest in Canadians and in the Canadian economy for years to come—just as we have done since 2015.
The budget is our plan to build a stronger, more sustainable, and more secure Canadian economy—for everyone.
We have the remarkable good fortune to live in the greatest country in the world. And that is why our budget invests in the possibility for every single Canadian to share in the incredible opportunities that Canada provides—and in the new era of prosperity that we will build together.
Chrystia Freeland is member of parliament for University-Rosedale, deputy prime minister, and minister of finance for Canada.
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on FORUM: Addressing a housing shortage (May/June 2023)
Building a greener, safer city
By Dianne Saxe
If you’re anything like me, June means enjoying fine weather with fine people, and I hope that all of you are able to enjoy the summer to its fullest.
My fellow councillors and I have been busy at city hall taking important steps on a wide range of critical issues, and I would like to thank my fellow councillors for their dedication and hard work as we close off the first half of 2023.
Knowing the struggles that many of our neighbours face in securing long-term housing, I was proud to second Councillor Pasternak’s motion for the development of a comprehensive homelessness response plan.
There are over 10,500 people experiencing homelessness in our city and convening a Mayor’s Roundtable is the opportunity we need to secure lasting change.
And with the assistance of Councillor Bravo, I forwarded a request for an additional $20,000 to construct a healing garden at 144 Roxborough Ave. which I look forward to visiting once it has been fully completed.
My colleagues Councillors Fletcher and Perks put forward a successful motion to oppose the expansion of fossil fuels for our power generation.
In the same motion, a request was made to the province to immediately invest in programs that will deliver energy efficiency and proper conservation management.
The urgency of this matter has been driven home by the heavy pollen and smoke from forest fires that have negatively impacted our air quality.
Toronto’s worsening climate issues necessitates immediate action, and I am committed to advocating for sustainable practices in city operations.
Eco-friendly modes of transportation such as green spaces, walking, cycling, and public transport are measures I am actively pursuing and promoting. It’s early days yet, but there is also an initiative in the works that would enable city staff, like bylaw officers, to access bicycles as part of their daily routine.
The final update I’ll provide from city council is the amendment to the city-wide zoning bylaw that allows four dwelling units on each residential lot (multiplexes). Until recently, most residential lots were limited to a single-family home, keeping prices high and population density low.
As a result, many parts of the city, including University-Rosedale, have been losing population for a generation, with younger people leaving the city for lack of a place to live. Now, existing houses can be subdivided, renovated, or replaced by new purpose-built multiplexes. Most of the new homes will be in three-storey buildings, with four storeys allowed in a few areas with higher existing height limits.
The multiplex amendment is one of a series of zoning changes that are expected to transform Toronto and re-establish the “missing middle” between tall towers and sprawl.
So far, these changes authorize laneway houses, garden suites, rooming houses (multi-tenant housing) and multiplexes. Still to come are more flexible rules for small apartment buildings. More accountability for the committees of adjustment would be good too.
At Toronto East York Community Council, we agreed to explore community benefits that will include public realm improvements to the Dupont TTC subway station entrances at the northwest and southeast corners of Spadina and Dupont.
These improvements could take the form of seating, vegetation, wider sidewalks, and public art, all of which I am excited to see come to fruition as the streetscape continues to beautify and improve.
Progress on Toronto’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries on our city streets continues.
Achieving this goal requires a multi-pronged approach, including investments in road safety infrastructure, increased education, awareness campaigns, and the rigorous enforcement of traffic laws. I am always looking for ways to address safety issues for the most vulnerable users of our transportation system—pedestrians, school children, older adults, and cyclists.
With all of that said, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to stay informed about what my team and I are working on at city hall.
To get more information about my office’s progress, additional ward updates, and to register for my monthly town halls, please visit my website at diannesaxe.ca or contact me at Councillor_Saxe@toronto.ca.
Dianne Saxe is city councillor for Ward 11, University-Rosedale.
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on FORUM: New density is landing where there are few schools (May/June 2023)
Province allowing density but forgetting about education
By Jessica Bell
As an MPP and parent of two children who attend TDSB schools, I am personally and politically concerned about the quality of education University-Rosedale’s 33 schools provide to our children.
The pandemic has been very hard on our kids and their learning. Many of our kids have fallen behind their grade level. They’re struggling to read and write and keep up in math and STEM. Many students are having an emotionally challenging year. They are struggling with behavioral issues, learning disabilities, and mental health challenges.
Here’s an update on some pressures facing our schools and what we are doing about it.
More cuts could be coming. The TDSB is facing a huge $61-million shortfall for next year and is looking at cutting 522 staff positions. Lunchroom supervisors, elementary school teachers, secondary school teachers, social workers, and caretaking positions will be lost.
This funding shortfall is partly because enrollment has temporarily dipped, partly because the Conservatives are refusing to cover all the costs the TDSB incurred during the pandemic to meet provincial rules, and mostly because the provincial funding allocated to schools is not adequate to improve our schools. The TDSB is preparing its final budget now, and we’ve joined the call for more investment.
The Ontario Autism Coalition is raising serious concerns over the Conservative’s decision to reduce funding for 4,000 children with autism and move them into the school system, starting in May. We’ve heard from parents who are understandably concerned about the move because they fear their kids are being thrown to the wolves without the extra education assistants in the classroom to help their kids learn and stay safe.
Every parent has seen that TDSB sign on a construction fence warning them that due to resident growth their local school could be too full to accommodate their child.
We are a rapidly growing city. We have more cranes in the sky than any other city in North America. Without additional revenue, our school system will not be ready to educate the 30,000 additional children who are expected to enroll in the TDSB.
University-Rosedale, Spadina-Fort York, and the Eglinton-Yonge area have been identified by the TDSB as areas experiencing overcrowding. Whitney School in particular is overcapacity.
Other school boards in Ontario have the right to collect developer fees for new schools, and it’s time for the Conservatives to give the Toronto District School Board access to that funding stream as well. In June, I introduced a motion to call on the Conservatives to do exactly that to ensure developers pay their fair share to Toronto schools. The TDSB estimates education development charges will bring in approximately $500 million in revenue over the next 15 years.
These are just some of the issues we’re hearing about. Others include the TDSB’s new system for selecting students for speciality schools and the troubling decision by York Catholic District School Board to vote against flying the Pride flag during June, which is Pride Month. We are calling on the Ontario government to intervene because this is about ensuring all kids are valued at school regardless of how they identify.
As school boards finalize their budgets, every grandparent, parent, education worker, and student should be contacting their Conservative MPP and calling on them to make wise decisions for our kids and properly fund our schools. We are organizing on this issue, and please contact our office if you, your school, or parent council wants an update or wishes to share information.
Jessica Bell is the MPP for University-Rosedale and the Official Opposition’s Housing Critic. She can be reached at jbell@ndp.on.ca 416-535-7206.
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on FOCUS: Porch View Dances returns (May/June 2023)
12th annual Seaton Village event runs Aug. 9 to 13
Choreographed by Karen & Allen Kaeja, dancers Jim and Owen Adams perform during 2018’s iteration of PVD: Real People Dancing. COURTESY 2018_PVD_SV PHOTOGRAPHY
By Hailey Alexander
Kaeja d’Dance returns to Seaton Village in full swing for their 12th annual Porch View Dances (PVD): Real People Dancing in Real Spaces from Aug. 9 to 13. Angela Poon, communications manager at Murray Paterson Marketing Group, described the event as a “90-minute walking and wheeling tour” with pay-as-you-wish ticket prices.
Co-artistic director of Kaeja d’Dance, Karen Kaeja, said her creation is “somewhat reminiscent of the professional choreographer’s aesthetic with infiltrations of the everyday folk they work with,” and is performed in a creative and fun way—dancing. The festival starts on London Street, north of Bloor Street W. between Euclid and Palmerston avenues. The event begins every day at 7 p.m., from Aug. 9 to 12, and at 2 p.m. on Aug. 13.
Karen Kaeja founded PVD with the intention of taking dance from theatres to the streets in a “celebration of movement and community.” She said this concept came to mind as she dreamed of her neighbours’ stories flowing from the front doors of their homes onto porches, lawns, and into the streets.
She says she envisioned local choreographers collaborating with residents and participants to create dances that expressed their unique life narratives.
She then refined her vision with the help of co-artistic director and partner, Allen Kaeja.
Their first festival launched in 2012 and has since returned to the Seaton Village community every year.
The PVD experience turns everyday people, many of whom have never danced before, into “creators, storytellers, and performers.”
Neighbourhood residents dance for an ever-changing audience that moves from place to place, and they use their homes as stages. The traditional tour then concludes in a “flock landing” at Vermont Square Park where people of all ages and mobility levels are invited to participate in the dance. This culmination aims to “bridge the gap between professional art and the general public,” said Karen. With engagement from hundreds of participants every year, Kaeja d’Dance continues to spread the message that “art is for everyone, anywhere and everywhere.”
Along with its productions in Seaton Village, PVD has travelled across Ontario. In 2015 and 2016, they partnered with the Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa. In 2016 and 2017, they partnered with the Registry Theatre and shared their concept in Kitchener. In 2017, they partnered with Lakeshore Arts and took to Etobicoke with PVD Long Branch. In following two years, Lakeshore Arts produced PVD New Toronto and PVD Mimico.
In 2020 and 2021, PVD retreated to a virtual experience and the festival gained international attention online. PVD returned to the streets in 2022 with PVD: Discovery Walk in a blend of live and virtual performances. In 2023 there will be even more in-person action as people continue to recover from the pandemic. The tour in August features four new dances along with three dance vignettes in unexpected places. Karen explained that these vignettes hold the artistic space of each creator and are performed by professionally trained dancers. Each year, three vignettes are featured at the festival. “This year we’ve hired an incredible dance artist, Matt ‘Snoopy’ Cuff,” she mentioned. Matt will perform in his carefully crafted Vogue dance style.
PVD focuses on a diverse team of creators by broadening their community and highlighting underrepresented identities. Karen believes diversity has always been a natural part of their company, and their fFIDA -Fringe Festival in 1991 was the first of its kind in Canada. “Back then, we were marginalized. We were not funded,” Allen said. This festival was one of the first to invite dance artists of all practices and ages and is now recognized as Canada’s largest international dance festival. Allen said that the idea of diversity was never in their minds because “for us, it was all about community.”
PVD has received several awards and recognition over the years, including the Canadian Dance Alliance (CDA) COMMUNITY Award and the King East Neighborhood Association’s Arts and Culture Award in Kitchener.
On the opening night of their 8th annual festival in 2019, the City of Toronto honoured PVD by renaming a Seaton Village laneway after them. Porch View Dances Lane is located off London Street between Euclid and Manning avenues, north of Bloor.
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on ON THE COVER (April 2023)
University of Toronto Schools (UTS) held their annual Day of Pink anti-bullying celebration on April 12. This is a drone photo of the event held at their recently renovated building facing Huron Street. COURTESY MAXIMILLIAN HUDDLESTON (UTS)
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on NEWS: Rally for those facing “demovictions” (April 2023)
145 St. George has become poster child for renters facing eviction
Tenants and protestors rallied on April 1 to voice opposition to their pending evictions due to demolitions. COURTESY VANESSA JUNG
By Carly Penrose
On April 1, close to 80 people gathered outside a mid-rise apartment building at 25 St. Mary St. with name tags displaying their building of residence and the length of their occupancy. Their timelines ranged from a few years to multiple decades in one of three apartment buildings that will be demolished to make way for higher-density condominium towers. The event was organized by the buildings’ tenants’ associations and the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations (FMTA) and is the first of a series of planned demonstrations.
Rebecca Gimmi, a resident of 145 St. George St., a mid-rise building constructed in 1959, helped to organize the rally. She says she’s been in the building for more than 15 years and knows all her neighbours.
Roughly two years ago, tenants in the building found out that it had been approved for demolition.
Plans for the building that will replace it include a 29-storey condo building with 130 “revitalized units” and 211 “new housing units” according to the project website.
According to a speech by NDP MPP Jessica Bell, the building at 145 St. George St. is one of 3441 buildings across the City of Toronto slated for so-called “demoviction,” and in September 2021, the Annex Residents’ Association submitted an official position statement to the city protesting the project at 145 St. George St.
Then, last November, the Ontario legislature passed Bill 23, The More Homes Built Faster Act. The bill amends the City of Toronto Act of 2006 and the Municipal Act of 2001, which gave the City of Toronto the ability to impose conditions and regulations on construction projects. Bill 23 enables the province to limit a municipality’s power to regulate development and makes it easier for the province to approve and build more housing faster. Proponents of the bill say this is necessary to address the housing crisis in Ontario.
But residents at 145 St. George, 25 St. Mary, and 55 Brownlow have concerns about what the bill means for tenants’ rights, affordability, and for their homes.
Antoinette Fricassi lives at 25 St. Mary St. and her daughter lives at 145 St. George St. “There’s 256 units in here,” she said, referring to her building. “Almost 1000 people, and where are we supposed to go? There’s a vacancy rate of less than two per cent and all the rents are higher because these are below market at the moment.”
According to Canadian Housing Statistics Program data released in February, over 40 per cent of condominium apartments in Ontario and 36 per cent in Toronto, are purchased as investment properties.
Though increasing housing supply is an important part of solving the housing crisis, Gimmi said reverting to “simplistic” conversations about supply and demand isn’t accurate. “I push back on that because you’re not comparing the same things. If some of the supply is actually just investment products, it’s not apples to oranges. It’s like apples to NFTs.”
Fricassi notes that waiting in limbo has been challenging.
“Uncertainty is really bad for you mentally because you don’t know what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen. Sure, they’re going to give you notice, but is it this year? Is it next year or the year after that?” she asked. “You can’t make decisions because this is hanging over your head.”
Local politicians showed up in support of the rally. At the end of the march, at 145 St. George St., Bell spoke to a crowd that had grown to over 100 people. “We want a city that’s affordable for us, for the people who live here and work here and make the city wonderful. And that’s what’s at stake right now,” Bell told the crowd.
Bell was joined by NDP MPPs Kristyn Wong-Tam (Toronto-Centre) and Jill Andrew (Toronto-St. Paul’s). All three spoke at the rally and criticized Doug Ford and Bill 23. Prospective mayoral candidate Chloe Brown spoke, and Gil Penalosa was in attendance at the rally. Another rally is being planned for April 29.
Gimmi hopes these rallies will put housing on the agenda as the municipal by-election approaches. “We think that all the mayoral candidates should be able to speak to what their housing plans are,” said Gimmi. “Seventy per cent of the Annex is renters. So, what are their plans for us?”
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on FOCUS: Saxe: Net-zero is possible (April 2023)
Town hall stresses carbon-emission accountability
By Fox Oliver
On April 20, Dianne Saxe (Ward 11, University-Rosedale) spoke to her constituents about carbon budgets, the expansion of sustainable vehicle fleets, and support for cyclists—her vision for the future of Toronto and what is possible for the city.
“For a long time [I’ve been pushing] to treat climate emissions seriously, like we treat money,” said Saxe.
She explained that the kind of thinking required to balance a cheque book is the same that is required to manage carbon emissions; we must limit our emissions with the same seriousness that we limit our spending. The goal, she said, is to reach net-zero emissions by balancing the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere with the amount being removed from the atmosphere.
The City of Toronto plans to “demonstrate carbon accountability locally and globally by establishing a carbon budget for its own operations and the community as a whole.” Toronto’s first climate budget will likely take effect in 2024, contingent on the city’s and future mayor’s support. If the city creates and remains within a specific carbon budget, it will reach the goal of net-zero emissions by 2040.
Saxe says she will remain vigilant to make sure the city does not “greenwash” when striving for net-zero emissions.
“The Sustainable Fleets Plan is an area of success, and the staff [working in the field] are some of the most enthusiastic [in the city],” said Saxe. The plan builds on the city’s earlier Green Fleet Plan which was implemented in 2008. The goal is to transition vehicles in the city’s fleet (including TTC and emergency vehicles) into low-carbon vehicles for the purpose of reducing overall emissions.
Saxe says that large diesel engines from 2008 and earlier disproportionately affect the climate and people’s health as they were purchased before the city’s Sustainable Fleets Plan.
There are at least 160 major diesel engine vehicles from before 2008 in the city’s fleet, which Saxe wants replaced.
Thirty pumper fire trucks with diesel engines, purchased in 2008, need to be replaced as these vehicles are uninsurable after 15 years of use. Though the city has designed a fully electric version of these fire trucks, they are still undergoing testing, as the electric motors must be capable of both moving the truck and pumping the water.
“[It is] too late to be buying diesel anything,” said Saxe, “[but] to my enormous frustration, we are going to have to approve the buying of 30 new diesel trucks.” These vehicles will be replaced by electric ones after their 15-year insurable window is over, which will still be before the 2040 net-zero emission deadline.
Bikes are also being set up for city staff as an environmentally conscious alternative to cars. Bike couriers are becoming more popular, and due to their fast delivery speed compared to vehicles, they are now supported by Uber. Saxe is motioning to increase fines for blocking bike lanes and wants to expand bike, e-bike, and car sharing infrastructure.
Saxe is pushing for the requirement that bike couriers wear an identifier while working. This motion is meant to disincentivize bike couriers from speeding on sidewalks or committing road crimes. The identification is not meant to act as a licence to only permit certain people to work as couriers, but rather to hold dangerous couriers accountable. Uber is planning to add more warnings to drivers, bikers, and passengers in streets with bike lanes to ensure they know how to act safely on the road.
Community members asked for Saxe’s response to the Therme Group’s application to construct a spa on a 12-acre plot of Toronto’s waterfront where Ontario Place used to be. “I think it’s an outrageous use of public space on the lake shore,” responded Saxe.
Currently, the city is working to open park facilities such as washrooms and water fountains early. Many residents’ associations and other community groups are working hard to organize litter pick-ups in the upcoming weeks as the city warms up.
Comments Off on FOCUS: Saxe: Net-zero is possible (April 2023)Tags:Annex · News
