September 14th, 2023 · Comments Off on NEWS: University Women’s Club of Toronto celebrates 120 years (Summer 2023)
Over a century of events and philanthropy
Past President Judith Lewis doing the honours of cutting the UWC’s anniversary cake. She was president from 2002 to 2004 and again from 2008 to 2017. HAILEY ALEXANDER/GLEANER NEWS
On April 23, the University Women’s Club of Toronto (UWC) celebrated 120 years with over 160 members. The celebration took place on May 1 at the University of Toronto’s Faculty Club at 41 Willcocks Street, east of Spadina, where the club holds its events.
The evening began with a toast to the club’s ongoing accomplishments from Susan Freeman, former club president. The group enjoyed sandwiches and cake as Chris Ward, director of scholarships, joined Freeman in a walk down memory lane. Ellen Thompson, co-director of communications, distributed booklets (generously provided by The Printing House) in memory of the club’s past 120 years. After a night full of laughter, the members left with a “happy birthday” from Ward and Wendy McCallum, current club president.
Founded in 1903 by 22 young women, this club was the first of its kind in Canada. Their initial objective was to support women with opportunities to advance in intellectual, cultural, and social pursuits. Jane Hamer, current club member, said these women achieved their ambitions “with distinction” despite gender-based inequities. Today, former UWC members continue to serve as “models of vision, perseverance, and determination.”
When it was first established, the club met in tea rooms, churches, and members’ homes. They purchased a house at 162 St. George Street in November 1929. At the time, there were limitations on women’s ability to own property, so the club set up a holding company in order to legally own their clubhouse. In 2010, the UWC sold their building to the University of Toronto and relocated as a tenant at 41 Willcocks Street, the University of Toronto’s Faculty Club.
Throughout its history, the UWC’s activities have reflected the times. During the Great Depression, they provided activities for children, hosted sewing classes and baby clinics, collected books, offered financial support to various organizations, and provided whatever they could to children in need. During World War II, they made hundreds of sewn and knitted garments and collected materials like coupons and stamps. In recent years, the club has reached out to organizations in need of support, provided scholarships to young women pursuing a post-secondary education, hosted book groups, invited guest speakers, and explored games like bridge and mahjong.
Prior to the pandemic, the UWC added around 15 new members every year. McCallum said there has been substantial growth recently with over 60 new members since January 2022.
“Covid is relaxing. This is drawing people out, and we’ve had many [newcomers],” McCallum said.
The club’s demographic has changed from 60 and older to much younger, with some members still attending university. Lucia McCurdy, director of membership, introduced many new faces to the group during the club’s 120th anniversary celebration. Over 80 guests were there to welcome them.
According to Hamer, the club continues to honour their mission by “supporting women on the margins” and providing scholarships for “young women pursuing a post-secondary education.”
In May, the club awarded a $6,000 scholarship to nine female Toronto high school students entering their first year of university in the fall. McCallum said the club has come a long way from awarding roughly five scholarships of similar value to nearly double that amount this year.
While these awards are non-renewable, the UWC also offers multi-year scholarships to female high school students pursuing post-secondary education across Canada.
In 2019, the club began hosting receptions for scholarship recipients and their families. “We couldn’t do it during the COVID years, but we did it last year and we’re going to do it again this year,” McCallum said.
The 2023 scholarship reception was held in June.
Comments Off on NEWS: University Women’s Club of Toronto celebrates 120 years (Summer 2023)Tags:Annex · News
September 14th, 2023 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: Ford exploits housing crisis (Summer 2023)
Ontario’s auditor general, Bonnie Lysyk, and now, protests across the province, have the Ford government playing their best defensive game. In a scathing investigative report released in August, Lysyk showed more of the same in terms of the Ford government’s approach to decision-making and democracy. For those of us who have been paying attention, none of it comes as a surprise, but we can only hope that this spells the end of a corrupt regime, and that these Greenbelt decisions won’t move forward.
Lysyk’s report, released Aug. 9, shows that in the process of removing more than 7,400 acres of land from the Greenbelt, planning rules were bypassed. Housing Minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff, Ryan Amato, was communicating directly with specific developers about 14 out of the 15 Greenbelt sites slated for rezoning. These communications, in part, came in plain manilla envelopes delivered to him over dinner, which Amato claims he waited until he got home to open. The developers gained a 3,400 per cent increase in land value as a result of the zoning changes recommended in those communications.
In June of 2022 the premier mandated the housing minister to conduct “swaps, expansions, contractions and policy updates” related to the Greenbelt. These did not happen in accordance with planning rules and regulations, but the premier touts this as a proactive response to the housing crisis. This is hard to believe, when even his own housing task force said the Greenbelt lands were neither necessary nor desirable for housing development. The auditor general agrees with that perspective and says that the province can meet the target “without the need to build on the Greenbelt…most of the land removed from the Greenbelt may not be ready for housing development in time to meet the government’s goals.”
The province had criteria to determine which land could be removed from the Greenbelt. The proposed sites could not be “in a designated specialty crop area or part of the Natural Heritage System,” and they should be “adjacent to already developed or planned infrastructure.” When the selected lands could not pass those tests, the criteria were changed. Of the 7,400 acres removed from the Greenbelt, 92 per cent was removed as a direct result of requests made by developers—over dinner with the housing minister’s chief of staff. Meanwhile, the province has 630 requests for rezoning in hand from landowners within the Greenbelt; it chose to consider just these 22.
The landowner set to enjoy the largest windfall benefits in the former agricultural preserve are companies linked to prominent GTA developer and PC donor Silvio DeGasperis. Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner is still investigating this connection, and the Ontario Provincial Police indicated they were aware of the AG’s report and that the file is subject to an “ongoing review” by the OPP’s anti-rackets branch.
Ford claims: the means justify the ends. His means are blatant corruption; his ends, he claims, are to solve the housing crisis—but for those of us who have been watching, we all know this deflection is just another steaming pile of lies. The ends here are not valid, and the means really stink. The means are so egregious (drawing the public through the stench of a legal and ethical sewer), that it’s hard to imagine that getting 30,000 homes one day is really worth it. The government is exploiting the housing crisis to help its wealthy friends first.
Who will stop this? The federal government has the power to do so on a myriad of environmental grounds including the protection of endangered species and watersheds—but we are stuck in the world of wait and see. Ontario’s First Nations’ leaders are asking for the housing minister and his chief of staff to step down, and a spokesperson from the David Suzuki Foundation says this level of public opposition to a government policy is unprecedented. It’s time to push the Ford government out of office and bring democracy back to the table.
September 14th, 2023 · Comments Off on FORUM: Fighting on five fronts (Summer 2023)
No sleepy summer in University-Rosedale
By Dianne Saxe
I hope you’ve had a good summer, even if it has been the hottest in at least 120,000 years. Here are a few of the issues we have been working on for you.
First, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the reconstruction of Bloor Street between Avenue Road and Spadina, starting with the north side. By next July, this section of Bloor will be safer for everyone, with better sidewalks, raised cycle tracks and a protected intersection at Bloor and St. George. Raised cycle tracks protect cyclists from careless or aggressive drivers; “magic” painted lines do not. In the meantime, though, the construction is a challenge, especially because it interrupts Toronto’s major cycling route just as more and more people are getting around by bike. Pedestrians with disabilities have also been adversely affected. Ahead of time, city staff promised me multiple precautions to keep walkers and cyclists safe through the construction zone; many of these were not yet realized at the time of writing. I continue to press senior staff on this and hope you will see gradual improvements.
Second, we have heard from many constituents about the heart-wrenching scenes of asylum claimants camped on the sidewalk. While the federal government has taken responsibility for asylum claimants in Montreal, they refuse to do so in Toronto. In two years, a 500 per cent increase in asylum claimants has flooded our shelter system, leaving no beds to offer anyone. The new mayor’s extraordinary efforts in July, adding 250 new refugee beds, didn’t change much; the new beds were filled within days. We literally have no space for the new asylum claimants who continue to arrive.
Moreover, this prevents the city from responding effectively to the hundreds of angry, anguished complaints I receive about encampments, including about open criminality, fires, trash, aggression and harassment. While I always immediately ask city staff to take action, there is little they can do for either the homeless or the general community when the shelters are full. This is unacceptable.
Mayor Chow continues to work hard to break the impasse with the federal and provincial governments. You can help. Chrystia Freeland is our MP. She may not be listening to the city, but she has to listen to her constituents. This would be a good time for you and your neighbours to contact her office. Let her know how important it is that the federal government looks after refugee claimants so that the city can provide shelter space to those who are homeless here.
Third, I’m working with Parks on the two new parks that will be built next year—a beautiful new Huron-Washington playground and a quiet park for adults at Sussex and Spadina. Consultations on both designs should begin shortly. I’m pushing for new playgrounds that are different from each other, with more natural materials and more challenges for older kids. Adults, too, tell me they would like to have access to outdoor fitness equipment in parks, not just places to sit. Don’t miss the chance to have your say.
Fourth, as the effects of climate change become more obvious by the day, council supported several of my climate-related motions, including:
tying CEO compensation at city agencies and corporations to implementation of TransformTO, Toronto’s ambitious and essential climate action plan.
phasing out loud, polluting two-stroke engines, such as leaf blowers.
evaluating the opportunity for a publicly-controlled micro-mobility rental pilot project that puts sidewalk safety first.
Fifth, Christie Pits and Queen’s Park are part of the Alcohol in Parks Pilot Project where alcohol may officially be consumed until Oct. 9. This allows residents without the luxury of a private backyard to responsibly enjoy a drink outdoors, alone or with friends, as they do in Vancouver. So far, it seems to be going well, except that many people dislike the absurdly large signs that announce the pilot.
Thank you again to those constituents who help to make University-Rosedale a great place to live and work.
Dianne Saxe is city councillor for Ward 11, University-Rosedale.
September 14th, 2023 · Comments Off on FORUM: Shelters overwhelmed by refugee seekers (Summer 2023)
Crisis underscores a larger housing crisis that Ford refuses to help fix
By Jessica Bell
Refugees and asylum seekers who arrive in Canada have been forced to flee their homes for many reasons, including war, violence, and natural disasters made worse by the climate crises.
Toronto is also seeing refugees who have fled violence because of their gender or sexual orientation.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working with local housing providers, including Street Haven and the Christie Refugee Centre, who don’t have enough shelter beds available to keep up with demand. These providers are turning people away, forcing more newcomers and established residents to sleep on the street which is contributing to our already acute homelessness crisis.
The roots of today’s crisis date back decades. In the early 1990s, the federal and provincial governments were building 10,000-15,000 affordable homes a year, including mixed-income co-ops, public housing, and supportive housing for people with mental health and addiction challenges. In the mid-1990s, the federal Liberals canceled the federal housing program, and the Ontario government downloaded the responsibility of providing housing to cities.
The Conservatives have made the problem worse. Last winter, the auditor general reported that the Ford Conservatives “have no plan to reduce or prevent homelessness,” despite sitting on over $22 billion of unspent money, some of it from the federal government. Over the past five years, the Conservatives have been quietly cutting homelessness and housing initiatives.
The latest affront is the government’s decision in this year’s budget to cut funding to the Canada Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB). People living in shelters or waiting for affordable housing are eligible to enroll in the COHB which provides a rent top-up to help people pay rent in a private market home. This funding cut meant the City of Toronto was unable to enroll hundreds of new recipients into the program which means people stay in shelters for months instead of weeks, unable to rebuild their lives in a permanent home.
Ontario’s homelessness and housing affordability crises have also been aggravated by the erosion of rent control laws. In 1996, the provincial government scrapped vacancy control which gave landlords a financial incentive to kick out long-term, rent-controlled tenants and increase the rent to any amount they could get. In 2018, the Ford Conservatives eliminated rent control on new units. Today, it costs more than $3,100 a month to rent a modest two-bedroom unit in Toronto.
With these prices, not even moderate-income workers can find a home they can afford.
Homelessness is a complicated issue, often requiring mental health, health care, and addiction treatment, but it’s fundamentally about housing. All levels of government need to do so muchmore to address housing affordability.
As an MPP, my job is to pressure the Ford government to step up. We have been calling for the Ontario government to increase funding to the COHB program to help people move out of shelters and into private market rental homes, increase funding to shelter providers, and quickly purchase rental buildings to house people in need. In response to pressure, the Ontario government recently contributed $6.67 million more to the COHB program, which is a start.
Long term, we need to get serious about lowering housing prices and rent prices in the private market by clamping down on rampant investor-led speculation and bringing in strong rent control.
It’s also time to resume government leadership in affordable housing construction. Developers need to be legislated to build a percentage of affordable homes in new condo projects. The city has already passed a law requiring this to happen, but the province is refusing to permit the city to implement it.
Other cities, from Vienna to Vancouver, have established a public builder, responsible for building homes at cost on public land. Instead of continuing our current practice of selling off public land for luxury condos, let’s use our public land to build affordable homes for people, including people in real and desperate need.
If you would like to work with us on these issues, please contact our office.
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.
September 14th, 2023 · Comments Off on FOCUS: Bloor’s Hungarian chapter closes (Summer 2023)
Country Style restaurant closes after serving Annex for 62 years
COURTESY COUNTRY STYLE HUNGARIAN
By Chloe Robinson
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, a stroll down the stretch of Bloor Street running west from Spadina Avenue may as well have been a stroll down a cobblestoned boulevard in Budapest. Between 1956 and 1957, an astounding 37,000 Hungarians immigrated to Canada, fleeing the Hungarian Revolution and the Soviet takeover under a Stalinist government. These Hungarian immigrants sought refuge, opportunities, and a chance to rebuild their rich culture in a foreign land. Toronto was a favoured destination. By 1960, 8,700 Hungarians called Toronto home, with a large majority settling in the Annex.
Many of these Hungarian immigrants proceeded to open storefronts: barber shops, bookstores, delis, and most of all, cafes, bars, and restaurants. For many immigrants, access to comfort food from their homelands serves as a crucial cornerstone in preserving their culture and heritage. This is replicated all over Toronto, with Little Portugal, Little Italy, Danforth Greektown, and Chinatown. From bustling cafés serving rich espressos and flaky pastries to the lilting melodies of Hungarian folk music floating through the air, the Annex was soon dubbed the “Goulash Archipelago.” These Hungarian settlers wove their heritage into the fabric of our eclectic enclave, blending their unique history and warm hospitality into the Annex’s already captivating tapestry.
Over the years, further waves of change came to the Annex, slowly diminishing the presence of Hungarian culture. Gone are the streets lined with Hungarian restaurants serving schnitzel, goulash, and wooden platters piled with sausage. The Hungarian community in the Annex gradually dispersed to Toronto’s suburbs during the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in the closure of many local Hungarian businesses by the 1990s. Only one restaurant remained standing—the beloved Country Style which served the Annex for 62 years. On June 15, owner Katalin Koltai announced the upcoming closure on Facebook. According to Koltai, it was one of the first Hungarian restaurants on Bloor Street. In an interview with CBC news, Koltai expressed her desire to retire despite her still-booming business.
“For so many years of my life, I did what the restaurant [wanted] me to do. Now I do what I want to do.”
After completing high school in Hungary, Koltai immigrated to Canada in 1971. She worked at a bank for five years, before transitioning to a waitress position at Country Style. With the support of her family, Koltai purchased the establishment and building in 2000, and she ran it for the past 23 years with the help of her daughter. The whopping 263 Facebook comments on the restaurant’s closure announcement are testaments to the many loyal customers Country Style embraced over the years. “They came with their family for years and years and [the] years when they were in university. Now they bring their grandchild[ren], everybody. Sixty-two years is a long time,” Koltai said.
Growing up at College and Bathurst, Sarah Fowlie was one of Country Style’s longtime, loyal customers, and a witness to Bloor’s Hungarian past.
“When [my family] moved to the neighbourhood in ’85, there were many Hungarian restaurants up on Bloor. There was the Korona restaurant, there was the Blue Cellar, there was Capital…Country Style was there too.”
Fowlie said that as a student, she would head up to Bloor for a movie and then head to Korona or Country Style to split big plates of schnitzel with her classmates. Although Korona eventually closed, Fowlie continued to visit Country Style over the years.
“[Once my wife and I had kids], we’d buy our Christmas trees at Sunny’s Christmas Lot. While we waited for it to be delivered, we would always go to Country Style. We had been doing that with the kids for 20 years. It’s a family tradition. It’s usually a dark Monday or Tuesday night after school. We’d go pick up the tree, then schlep it over to Country Style.”
Fowlie no longer lives near the Annex, but she still treasures her fond memories of its Hungarian past.
Although the Annex continues to change, Country Style did not change much over the past 62 years. Vibrant red and white chequered tablecloths and a menu brimming with authentic Hungarian delicacies transported all those who entered into a realm of enchanting nostalgia set in Central Europe.
“I think my fondest memories of Country Style [are] just [visiting] on a cold night,” she said. “You open the door. It’s bustling. It’s full of people. The mother and the daughter greet you at the door and there are so many different types of people. You have a table of punk rock anarchists, then a table of U of T professors, then people who probably came in ’58 from Hungary. The door to the kitchen would open and close, and you get excited from the smells. It’s always there. It never changes, and every time you go, you have the same experience. It’s a really kind of magical thing.”
Although Budapest’s spirit no longer dances quite as loudly on the streets of the Annex, many residents and visitors took the opportunity toglimpse Bloor’s Hungarian past and got a chance to taste their sought-after wooden platter before Country Style’s August 1st closure.
August 8th, 2023 · Comments Off on ON THE COVER (May/June 2023)
Olivia Chow’s campaign office on Bloor St. stands closed as she prepares to move to city hall as mayor. Chow previously served the Annex area as city councillor for 13 years, and then 8 as a member of parliament. BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS
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.
