A plan to revitalize Sergeant Ryan Russell Parkette is set to be completed by the end of the year, with construction scheduled to begin next spring. The small greenspace at Dupont Street and Avenue Road — which in 2011 was named after Russell, who was killed in the line of duty that same year near the corner of Avenue Road and Bloor Street — has been neglected for some time.

A working group including representatives of the local business improvement area and residents’ association was formed in March to oversee the park’s redevelopment. A public meeting was held in June and Russell’s family was asked what elements they’d like to see in the park. The current version of the plan, which is still being finalized, will cost approximately $370,000 to implement.

“It has been a very productive and positive process, one which we have proactively thought to bring together the neighbourhood and stakeholders to make sure that this plan works rather than us designing the park,” said Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina).

“It lacked an ability for people to sit and enjoy the park,” added Brian Green, a parks supervisor with the City of Toronto. “There are some benches, but they can be more than that.

“People want a place where they can relax, get a drink, while still maintaining the recognition of Sgt. Ryan Russell who is important to the community and the Toronto Police [Service].”

Russell’s dedication to his family will be at the heart of the revitalized parkette.

“The family [was] keen that including a playground would be especially fitting because [Russell] was all about family and spending time with his son Nolan,” said Cressy. “The tragic death of Ryan Russell is…not lost in the minds of any Torontonian and we hope that in some small way for the Russell family this park does and will provide a space of commemoration and memorial for him.”

—Temi Dada/Gleaner News, images courtesy of the City of Toronto

Exploring the roots of Korea Town

Tour-goers stop at Hodo Kwaja (656 Bloor St.?W.) for a taste of walnut cake. TEMI DADA/GLEANER NEWS

By Annemarie Brissenden

A heritage tour of Toronto’s Korea Town starts — as it should — at the Bloor Street United Church of Canada, once home to the Alpha Korean United Church.

Founded in 1967 when there were just over 200 Koreans living in Toronto, it’s the oldest Korean congregation in the city, and the third oldest in Canada after Montreal and Vancouver.

The history of Korean immigration to Canada is inextricably linked to some of Canada’s early religious institutions and their missions. The first Canadian (that we know of) to visit Korea was a missionary from Toronto, James Scarth Gale. After arriving in 1888, he would become famous in Korea for creating the first Korean-English dictionary and the first Korean translation of the Bible.

Another missionary, Dr. Francis Schofield, sent by the Presbyterian Church of Canada to Korea in 1916, would become involved in the 1919 Independence Movement against Japan and later be the only foreigner buried in the patriots’ section of the Korea National Cemetery.

These are but two of the 184 Canadian missionaries who helped to modernize education and medicine in Korea between 1888 and 1941. But it wasn’t until a 1967 change in Canada’s immigration policy that Koreans started coming to Canada, settling mostly in Toronto, where the Alpha Korean congregation served as a haven of faith and togetherness.

These days, there are approximately 73,390 Canadians of Korean descent who call Toronto home. And while few actually live in Korea Town any more, the stretch of Bloor Street between Bathurst and Christie streets in Seaton Village is still an epicentre of Korean business, culture, and, of course, food.

“We have special places that are Korean [and] that focus on celebrating Korean culture, like my parents’ restaurant [Korean Village Restaurant],” says Jason Lee, who grew up in Korea Town and gives tours of the strip on behalf of Heritage Toronto.

The stops on his tour include KCWA Family and Social Services on Madison Avenue, the Palmerston Library, P.A.T. Central, and the Korean Senior Citizens Society of Toronto.

Each stop has its own significance.

Founded in 1985 by a group of women concerned with women and family issues, the KCWA is dedicated “to building the Korean-Canadian community, one person at a time”, according to its website.

“I didn’t know of the [KCWA],” said Camille Begin, a program coordinator with Heritage Toronto, who participated in Lee’s most recent walk during the summer. “That is the point of this walk; even if you live in the neighbourhood there is still a lot you don’t know and you could learn a lot.”

The Korean Village Restaurant and P.A.T. Central are key stops on the tour because they are emblematic of key aspects of Korean-Canadian culture: entrepreneurship and food.

The Korean Village Restaurant is a traditional Korean family business, while P.A.T. — which calls itself Canada’s first Korean supermarket — supplies everything you need to host a traditional Korean meal, including, of course, kimchi.

The Palmerston Library — once affiliated with the YMCA — was where immigrants took classes to learn how to speak English and got help adjusting to their new city. Still a part of the local Korean-Canadian experience, the branch has over two thousand Korean language pieces in its collection.

Finally, the Korean Senior Citizens Society of Toronto is a drop-in centre that provides counselling, recreational programs, and classes from its location at the corner of Grace and Bloor streets.

This year’s tour came at a time when some people are wondering whether Korea Town is on a decline, with businesses starting to change hands to newer immigrant groups and many Koreans moving north. (Even the Alpha Korean United Church has relocated to a new site near Sheppard Avenue and Yonge Street.)

But Lee remains undaunted.

“As long as those places are still there, we are promoting Korean culture; in my view Korean culture is still alive. People say that it is dying but the way I look at it Korea Town is changing just like any other neighbourhood. We adapt, we survive.”

He wants to keep hosting the walks — glimpses into the immigrant experience — for as long as he can.

“It is a privilege. I do this as a way of honouring the past,” Lee said.

—with files from Temi Dada

Corn, corn, and more corn was on the menu at Jean Sibelius Park for the Annex Residents’ Association’s annual Corn Fest. This year’s festival featured a silent auction that raised money for those affected by the fire at 650 Parliament St. GEREMY BORDONARO/GLEANER NEWS

READ MORE:

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How nice (Aug./Sept. 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Summer 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (July 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Election Special 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (May 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Spring 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Mar. 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Dec. 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON How nice! (August 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON How nice! (July 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: how nice! by blamb (June 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: TCHC (May 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: The Grand Tory (April 2017)

FORUM: Celebrating 20 years of cartoonist Brett Lamb (April 2017)

For some time now, perfume and cologne companies have marketed their wares as if the wearer would be donning a new character, not just a new scent. High Endurance, Wild, and More Swagger are just some of the options on offer, to which we humbly suggest another, Just Swagger.

Designed especially for the newly-minted Ontario premier, this special edition will embolden its wearer to act and speak for political viewpoints that are light on facts and heavy on bluster, without working up a sweat.

Consider Ford’s rampage through the ongoing Toronto municipal election as a fit of vindictive rage. This failed mayoral candidate threatened to launch the nuclear option — the Canadian Constitution’s Section 33, which allows governments to override judicial rulings — if he did not get his way, something that’s rarely used, certainly never to achieve such petty ends.

It’s legislative bullying, and we couldn’t be more appalled. Particularly because while the provincial government did not invoke Section 33 this time around, the premier is clear that he is willing to go there again, and again, if necessary, on everything from sexual education to cap and trade.

Indeed, even though the bill invoking the clause was set aside after the Ontario Court of Appeal granted a stay pending appeal, the provincial government has left it on the order paper. That means that if someone successfully challenges the province’s changes to Toronto City Council in a court of law, the bill can be voted on at a moment’s notice.

If that happens, we think it should be the Attorney General, not protestors, who should be removed from the legislature in handcuffs. Spending a night in jail might wake her up to the weight of her responsibilities.

You’d be right to think that this is all a bit cuckoo-bananas.

But let’s take a step back from the premier’s antics and the apparent blind and selfish willingness of his caucus to follow his lead. With so much collective energy expended on this Ford-sponsored chaos, we’re neglecting the municipal election at our peril.

In a matter of weeks, we’ll elect a mayor, councillors, and school board trustees. And this is no small decision. We need to deliberate on John Tory’s record and take a measure of Jennifer Keesmaat to determine which candidate should have our vote for mayor.

With one councillor incumbent in the old system running to the south of our coverage area, we need to consider whether Mike Layton, the second incumbent, should be granted another term, albeit for the new system, or if a new face should stand in his place. And there’s a whole new batch of trustee candidates to evaluate.

Issues that need to be aired include affordable housing, transit, property taxes, safe-injection sites to help combat the opioid crisis, homelessness, pedestrian safety, bike lanes, the privatization of city services, and whether our infrastructure can support all of Toronto’s intensive growth.

We must remain focused on these issues, carefully evaluating the candidates and their platforms, so we can thoughtfully exercise our democratic right to vote on October 22. We can’t be distracted by the Doug Ford show — its scent may be strong, but at the end of the day, it’s just a lot of hot air.

READ MORE EDITORIALS: 

EDITORIAL: A lost cause worth fighting for (Aug./Sept. 2018)

EDITORIAL: Reclaiming our city (Summer 2018)

EDITORIAL: City staff ignore bike lanes (July 2018)

EDITORIAL: The market has no moral compass (Election Special 2018)

EDITORIAL: Lessons to be learned from Excessive Force (Spring 2018)

EDITORIAL: A social contract is a precious thing (March 2018)

EDITORIAL: Intolerance leading to Quebec’s decline (Dec. 2017)

EDITORIAL (Nov. 2017): Student safety suffers as trustees cave

EDITORIAL: Pandering to religious intolerance (October 2017)

EDITORIAL: Bike lanes, good for business (Fall 2017)

EDITORIAL: Don’t sacrifice safety for political gain (August 2017)

City council should catch up on traffic safety

By Liz Sutherland

Do you remember the day you first rode the protected Bloor bike lanes?

For me, it was a hot day in late August — almost exactly two years ago — and I had my dog Sadie in the bike trailer. Coming from Bloordale, I experienced a close pass by a truck at Ossington Avenue and then entered the pilot area. What a difference those bollards made!

[pullquote]In a congested city, a protected bike lane actually moves more people than the same space dedicated to motor vehicles.[/pullquote]

The two kilometres of protected bike lanes on Bloor Street — now permanent — were possibly the most hard-won, and certainly the most studied, bike lanes in history. Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue were identified decades ago as natural choices for bike lanes because of the high density of destinations like schools, workplaces, and shops. These vibrant streets also link diverse neighbourhoods on a direct and flat street with transit running below.

The Bloor Street campaign provides many lessons in building a big tent of supporters who are passionate about safer, more vibrant, and livable streets. We engaged a broad group of residents, business owners, schoolchildren, politicians, and organizations, in addition to cycling advocates.

The work, of course, is far from over.

We need to see these lanes extended east and west. We need to see intersection improvements to respect the memory of Dalia Chako, who was killed while riding her bike this spring at Bloor and St. George streets. And, finally, we need the permanent design to accommodate the major increases in ridership we’ve seen since the bike lanes were installed (up 56 per cent in the first year!).

But there’s no question that the Bloor Street pilot provides a model we can use elsewhere to demonstrate the health, safety, economic, and environmental benefits of cycling infrastructure — not to mention the positive impact on moving people more efficiently.

This last issue is probably the least understood aspect of installing bike lanes in busy cities. Some people worry that these lanes will make congestion worse, especially if a bike lane means removing a lane of car traffic.

What’s interesting is that the reverse is true — in a congested city, a protected bike lane actually moves more people than the same space dedicated to motor vehicles. A study from the United Kingdom found that a new protected bike lane can move five times as many people per hour as a motor vehicle lane in the most congested parts of London. We need to do a better job of explaining how bike lanes improve congestion for everyone, no matter how they get around.

The good news is that public support for protected bike lanes has grown as drivers and bike riders alike have become used to this new infrastructure. Cycle Toronto and the David Suzuki Foundation commissioned a poll last month showing that 82 per cent of Torontonians across the city support protected bike lanes, including a surprising 75 per cent of drivers.

The challenge is to help our leaders catch up with this shift in public opinion. Debates at Toronto City Council often polarize the issue unnecessarily. The result is a frustratingly cautious approach to installing bike infrastructure that fails to capture the urgency of preventing people from being killed and injured on our streets. We’re behind schedule and only two years into a 10-year bike plan. Other Canadian cities are leaving Toronto behind in the rapid build-out of their protected bike lane networks. We need to find a way to accelerate the process in Toronto so we can keep people moving — safely — and remain a world-class city.

Our polling shows two-thirds of Torontonians want a cycling grid by 2022. We are hoping that these polling numbers will help city council see that it’s time for a rapid build-out of our 2016 Bike Plan — with the main streets included — so we can enjoy the freedom we have on Bloor Street everywhere in this city.

The upcoming municipal election is a great opportunity to ask candidates about their commitment to supporting this build-out. The Bloor Street bike lanes have shown that if you build it, they will indeed bike it. Now let’s build the grid and spread the benefits.

Liz Sutherland is the interim director of advocacy and government relations at Cycle Toronto. Learn more about cycling safety as an election issue at cycleto.ca/buildthegrid and sign up for Action Alerts at cycleto.ca.

Councillors should ask new questions

By Albert Koehl

Is City Hall’s preoccupation with facilitating the movement of cars now just a bad habit that can no longer be rationalized in light of actual travel modes by residents?

According to the numbers, among other reasons: yes.

[pullquote]Dominance of the car in public debates masks the diminishing role of the automobile in everyday transportation.[/pullquote]

A recent EKOS poll of 801 Toronto residents found that 59 per cent identify walking, cycling, or transit as their main mode of transportation. Likewise, the Ministry of Transportation’s analysis of a much larger data set from the Transportation Tomorrow survey concludes that 55 per cent of city residents identify walking, cycling, and transit as their main way of getting around the city. The figures are even higher for downtown Toronto.

The census profile of the City of Toronto for 2016 showed that the “main mode of commuting” for the employed labour force was almost equally divided between walking/cycling/transit on the one hand and driving, including passengers, on the other.

The Transportation Tomorrow survey, using slightly different metrics, shows that 53 per cent of all rush hour trips by Toronto residents are made by car, a decline from 60 per cent only a decade earlier. And an increasing number of city households (28 per cent) don’t own an automobile at all.

What the numbers suggest is that politicians who challenge every initiative to widen sidewalks, add bike lanes, or give priority to transit vehicles with questions like “Will motorists be delayed?” or “Will any parking spots be lost?” need some new questions, like “How will this project improve our community?” “Will greenhouse gas emissions be cut?” or “Will people be able to get around the city more easily?”

Automobiles still dominate Toronto in two obvious ways, namely the amount of space devoted to them and the attention they get in public debates. However, this dominance merely masks the diminishing role of the automobile in everyday transportation, while highlighting the motorist’s sense of entitlement created and nurtured over the last half century.

Since many city councillors have been in office for decades, it’s no surprise that they feel obliged to fight, or at least to apologize for, any initiative that doesn’t put the car first. Sadly, we don’t have much to show for this courtesy. Every year the automobile kills dozens of our fellow residents, pumps tonnes of contaminants into our air, and consumes massive public resources.

True, even though walking, cycling, and transit are starting to lead the way in Toronto, the city is surrounded by many automobile-dependent communities. But must we disfigure our community and sacrifice our well-being to accommodate planning choices made by those municipalities and their preference for single-occupant cars?

The recent debate about the renewal of Yonge Street in North York was an excellent example of how our city has changed, and how some politicians have yet to notice this. Central to the debate was whether six-lane Yonge Street should be narrowed to four for the benefit of local residents, some of whom describe Yonge Street as a frightening chasm. Motorists are now a minority in this densely populated residential area, and their numbers are projected to shrink even further.

Curiously, despite the fact that the project had all the hallmarks of safe road design — wider sidewalks, bike lanes, and more pedestrian crossings and benches — Mayor John Tory opposed the project, despite local councillor John Fillion’s, support, fighting instead to keep the six lanes even though the main beneficiaries would be motorists from beyond the city. (Only a last-minute intervention by Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) — a strong supporter of city staff’s recommended safe design — pre-empted a vote that almost certainly would have left Yonge Street at six lanes.)

There are certainly places in the city where a reliance on cars can be rationalized based on poor transit options, but perpetuating the car’s priority does nothing to improve transit. In fact, such efforts generally make transit, as well as walking and cycling, worse. Automobile infrastructure usually creates a hostile environment for non-motorists and discourages many people from any inclination to get out of their cars.

Our dependence on automobiles has never made much sense, especially from a transportation perspective, but today’s numbers make it increasingly bizarre to try to rationalize the old approach.

The new transportation reality allows us to start building, without apology to the motorist, the type of community that we want — clean, safe, vibrant — instead of continuing a slavish devotion to a by-gone era.

Albert Koehl is an environmental lawyer, author of the online guide Road Follies, and a founder of Bells on Bloor.

READ MORE BY ALBERT KOEHL:

FORUM: A magical new supply of parking spots (Oct. 2017)

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

FORUM: The faster we lower speeds, the more lives we save (Oct. 2015)

Celebrate 100 years of Estonian independence

By Heather Kelly

It’s the time of year when arts organizations launch new concert seasons, new exhibitions, and new film and talk series. Arts and language classes start again, too.  Not only are there enriching and fun arts events coming up all across the Bloor St. Culture Corridor, but some of our cultural organizations are also celebrating momentous anniversaries.

From 10 to 100, arts organizations in the Annex are marking milestone anniversaries. The University of Toronto Faculty of Music is celebrating its 100th anniversary and the Museum of Estonians Abroad/ VEMU is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Estonia’s independence.

The University of Toronto Faculty of Music kicks off its 100th anniversary with Handel’s Dixit Dominus  on September 30. Canadian music legend Phil Nimmons teams up with JUNO Award-winning pianist and composer David Braid for an evening of improvisation and reflection on almost a century of music making on October 1, hosted by jazz vocalist Heather Bambrick.

On October 10, Jeanne Lamon and David Breitman present an all-Mozart program of Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin. On October 15, America’s foremost baritone Thomas Hampson presents a free, public master class in Walter Hall. The Faculty of Music’s free concert series Thursdays at Noon continues the centenary celebrations with pianist Younggun Kim performing The Music of Walter Buczynski on October 11, Music and Poetry on October 18, and more.

Also celebrating a centenary, the Museum of Estonians Abroad/VEMU is celebrating Estonia 100. A new photo exhibition “Estonia Through 100 Pairs of Eyes” dedicated to Estonia 100 opens on September 22. The exhibition is 100 portraits of 100 Estonians aged from 1 to 100, a visual memory spanning 100 years, created by Kaire van der Toorn-Guthan and Toomas Volkmann. Each beautiful black-and-white portrait depicts an Estonian born in a different year during Estonia’s hundred years, accompanied by an insight into the person’s story.

The Toronto Consort’s season, The Colours of Early Music, kicks off in the musical world of one of Italy’s most celebrated early Baroque luminaries, Girolamo Frescobaldi, and his contemporaries Palestrina, Landi, and Caroso. This is a multi-media event, so the music will be enhanced with images of Rome’s glittering treasures. Frescobaldi & The Glories of Rome takes place October 19 and 20 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre.

Opening October 11, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura presents Guido Guidi – A New Map of Italy, an exhibition of more than 50 works from the collection of the Canadian Centre for Architecture of Montreal. Guidi focuses on spontaneous suburban architecture, on harsh secondary roads, on piles of garbage, on spray-painted walls, abandoned depots and construction sites to form a complex and stratified portrait of the contemporary landscape. Admission is free.

The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto’s first Big Drum Social of the season, “Waabaabaga Giizis” on September 20 at 6:30 p.m., will be a special night of teaching, dancing, and singing, with door prizes, a community craft table, and more.

The Music Gallery’s marquee event is the X Avant New Music Festival from October 11 to 14. The theme of the festival, which is curated by Bear Witness (from A Tribe Called Red), is “The Halluci Nation”, promoting inclusivity, empathy, and acceptance amongst all races and genders in the name of social justice.

The Six Pianos musical spectacle opens Soundstreams’ 36th season at Koerner Hall on October 12. The contemporary repertoire for multiple pianos is exemplified by Steve Reich’s seminal work, and includes a world premiere for multiple pianos from Canadian composer André Ristic. The performance features a who’s who of pianists/percussionists, including Russell Hartenberger, Greg Oh, Jamie Parker, Stephanie Chua, Ryan Scott, and Midori Koga.

Hot Docs’ Curious Minds Speaker Series kicks off with The CanLit Boom: 1950s – 1970s on Wednesdays from September 26 to November 7. Other talks include Joni Mitchell: Words and Music on Mondays, and Around the World with Art Nouveau. And Hot Docs opens its Doc Soup season October 3 and 4 with the extraordinary film, The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, followed by an extended Q&A.

The Gardiner Museum’s chief curator, Sequoia Miller, will lead a talk on conceptual ceramics, kicking off the first Gardiner Signature Lecture of the fall season, on September 25. And the Japan Foundation opens its new gallery exhibition, Noriko Maeda Foundations, on October 16, showcasing Japanese Contemporary Calligraphy.

Heather Kelly is the founder and director of the Bloor St. Culture Corridor. Her column focuses on arts and culture events from the district. More information about events and locations can be found at www.BloorStCultureCorridor.com.

Florida’s red tide a harbinger of what not to do

By Terri Chu

Premier Doug Ford has scrapped cap and trade, embarking on a path of environmental destruction that’s fuelled by subsidies to polluters. The shamelessness is galling and we’re likely to see more of it over the next four years.

The most concerning thing is the implicit belief that society should, at its core, subsidize pollution. We need not look very far to see how that comes to bite us in the behind.

The once popular Governor Rick Scott of Florida was recently booed out of a restaurant. What seemed like a good idea at the time, benefitted some at the time, is now causing widespread pain for many across the state.

Scott fought against, and ultimately won, the battle against the American Environmental Protection Agency’s standards on waterway pollution. At the time, like Ford does now, he argued it would hurt the economy. He argued that jobs would be at stake.

Scott gutted the state’s EPA, stacked it with developers, and eventually got his way of an underlying belief that unfettered pollution is the way of the people.

That fundamental belief that business knows best and risking a single job from 2010 is causing empty hotels, laid off workers, lonely restaurants, and unusable beaches in 2018. I certainly hope being a short term sellout was worth the devastation as toxic red algae takes over Florida’s coastal waters.

Something locals know as red tide has bloomed so aggressively this year that Floridians can’t even open their beach-front windows. In addition to the stench, people are at higher risk of respiratory illness thanks to the toxins, and the state’s beaches are littered with the carcasses of dead marine animals.

The algae, while a natural occurrence, have been fed by agricultural runoff, and very likely exacerbated by some of Scott’s other measures, like a killed septic tank inspection program. There is little scientific doubt that tighter waterway standards eight years ago would have mitigated some of the disaster that Floridians face now.

In short, Scott sacrificed 2018 jobs, health, and quality of life, for profits in 2010. No doubt his constituents will let him know what they think of the trade-off now.

Ford is making similar trade-offs with his attack on green energy, a carbon tax, and low emission vehicles. He is trading off a quick buck for status quo players for long-term respiratory illnesses, and an overall lower quality of life that we will probably see in about a decade.

Perhaps Ford thinks he won’t be vying for re-election by then so it isn’t his problem. For those of us who live here, it’s our problem, if we’re lucky enough to be alive by then. We shouldn’t be forced to subsidize polluters anymore with our health and well-being. If polluters don’t pay up now, as Florida is showing us, the rest of us will pay up eventually. Whether or not it’s worth the trade-off, I suppose it depends on whether or not you’re making the buck now.

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

READ MORE BY TERRI CHU:

GREENINGS: Urban under-representation (Aug./Sept. 2018)

GREENINGS: Nurture the neighbourhood by cultivating green canopy (Summer 2018)

GREENINGS: Results beg for electoral reform (July 2018)

GREENINGS: Choosing the lesser evil (Election Special 2018)

GREENINGS: Reduce, reuse, and then recycle (May 2018)

GREENINGS: Car-free parenting is not rare (Spring 2018)

GREENINGS: The science of board games (Mar. 2018)

GREENINGS: Driving fuelled by unseen subsidies (Jan. 2018)

GREENINGS: No solutions for nobody’s problem (Dec. 2017)

GREENINGS: Celebrate science not milestones (Nov. 2017)

GREENINGS: Down to the data (Oct. 2017)

Ball club swept from semi-finals

Fans watch from the hillside as the Maple Leafs came up short at home during this year’s semi-finals. R.S. KONJEK/GLEANER NEWS

By R.S. Konjek

When we last caught up with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Intercounty Baseball League (IBL), they had begun a spirited quest to win their first championship since 2007.

Back in early August, the Leafs faced the Guelph Royals in the first round of the playoffs. Pitchers Zach Sloan and Marek Deska made history when they combined to toss a no-hitter in the deciding game of the series. The Leafs moved on to a semi-final matchup against the favoured Kitchener Panthers with the wind at their backs.

Unfortunately, they were swept away like so much fallen foliage when the best of seven semi-final series was decided in the first game.

It was an unusual affair. Game one began on August 17 in Kitchener, and ended two days later at Christie Pits. A Friday night rainstorm caused the game to be suspended after seven innings. The league determined that play would resume the following Sunday in Toronto, before the scheduled second game of the series.

The Leafs had built up a 4-3 lead in Kitchener and took the field in Toronto on August 19 just six outs away from a surprise victory.

It all fell apart in the bottom of the eighth inning. Zach Sloan proved that you can be the hero one day and the goat the next. He allowed two Panthers to get on base. A hasty call to the bullpen did not help. Closer Dustin Richardson gave up a two-run hit, Kitchener grabbed a 5-4 lead, and they held on for the win.

The Leafs and their fans barely had time to get over the result before game two began a half hour later. It went from bad to worse, as the Panthers romped to an 8-0 victory.

The weather played havoc with the series schedule again as the third game — scheduled for August 21 — was rained out in Kitchener. The league decided to shift the series back to Toronto the following day.

Game three took place at Christie Pits on August 23 and the Panthers won 9-3. The Leafs were unable to break through Kitchener’s solid corps of Cuban pitchers, and found themselves facing elimination after just three games.

The fourth game was played on August 23 in Kitchener. In the end, it was all Panthers.

The Leafs blew an early 2-0 lead and the game remained tied 2-2 until the bottom of the eighth inning. A solo home run put the Panthers ahead 3-2 and they held on to clinch the series.

Kitchener advanced to the IBL championship against the Barrie Baycats. (The Baycats ended up winning their fifth consecutive title.)

Looking back, the Leafs’ playoff run was undone by that shock defeat in game one. They were never able to regain any momentum. Their fiftieth anniversary season ended on a sad note, away from home and their unique family of fans.

Torontonians have made the act of isolating themselves within a crowd into an art form.

It’s one of those things we do. So much of our time is spent in close proximity to strangers. Wheel to wheel in traffic, shoulder to shoulder on the subway, elbow to elbow in theatres, elevators, checkout lines; rather than engage, we withdraw. It’s a kind of coping mechanism for urban life.

I’m sure it happens in other large cities, but here in this little outpost that supposedly outgrew its Protestant foundations, avoiding unintended contact with unfamiliar people remains a daily aspiration.

All of this to say that Christie Pits is an exceptional place.

Home of the Toronto Maple Leafs since 1969, the park is a place where I have seen the unlikeliest of people lower their defences and interact with total strangers.

The free admission to Leafs games makes for an egalitarian experience. Fans can come and pick out a spot to sit or stand wherever they like, without thought for one’s status or station in life.

When the game begins, everyone takes it in together. Rather than casting a thousand crosswalk stares, people look each other in the eye. The action on the field provides the spark for spontaneous discussions, whispered opinions, angry ejaculations, and resigned sighs. For a couple of hours at Christie Pits, no one is isolated.

It’s an incredible experience, one to look forward to again in 2019 when the Leafs return for their 51st season of Intercounty League baseball.

READ MORE:

SPORTS: Fans cheer hair and history (Aug./Sept. 2018)

SPORTS: Slumping Leafs hope to change (Summer 2018)

SPORTS: Many hats, one goal for Topolie (July 2018)

SPORTS: Maple Leafs back at the Pits (Election Special 2018)

NEWS: Celebrating a legendary Leaf (Jan. 2018)

ON OUR COVER: Cycling the Pits (Fall 2017)

SPORTS: Leafs fall early this summer (AUGUST 2017)

The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir celebrates its 40th anniversary with a fall social at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre (427 Bloor St. W.) on September 15. Performances this season include a new cycle of Mozart concertos, Vivaldi, and the St. Mathew Passion by Bach. Please see CHATTER: Enjoy baroque at a bargain (Aug./Sept. 2018) for more details. COURTESY SIAN RICHARDS/TAFELMUSIK

MORE COVERS:

ON THE COVER: Pop up pit stop (Summer 2018)

ON THE COVER: Ghost bike installed (July 2018)

ON THE COVER: The Ballot Bunch (Election Special 2018)

ON THE COVER: Accidental Parkland (May 2018)

Defending downtown democracy

Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) speaks at an emergency public meeting at Scadding Court Community Centre on August 13. ELLIE HAYDEN/GLEANER NEWS

By Ellie Hayden

“Shame!”

Hundreds of people huddled shoulder to shoulder shouted the rallying cry at an emergency public meeting on August 13 at the Scadding Court Community Centre.

The event was organized by Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) and Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) to protest Bill 5, The Better Local Government Act. Passed in the provincial legislature on August 14, the act cuts Toronto City Council almost in half, reducing it from 47 seats to 25.

“The larger wards are, the harder it is for local councillors to work with neighbourhoods, to work with frontline harm reduction agencies, to work with residents and businesses to manage our communities together,” said Cressy, whose ward — one of the largest in the city — is home to about 100,000 residents. “If there is one fundamental reason why we need to ensure why local democracy matters, it’s to ensure livable neighbourhoods in the city.”

Ausma Malik, who is the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustee for Ward 10 and had announced her intention to run for council during the summer, said the reduction compresses downtown schools — where the density of schools and students is already among the highest in the province — into three wards. She explained that the board had to make difficult restructuring decisions over a matter of days or the premier would have done as he sees fit.

It’s not the only municipal organization that’s feeling the pressure.

Adam Vaughan (MP, Spadina-Fort York), who is the parliamentary secretary to the federal minister of families, children and social development, warned that the act threatens “reasonable government in Toronto”, as it strives to “[take] away the boards that run local community centres like this and [put] it all inside City Hall.”

Layton talked about the effect the act will have on neighbourhoods, focusing on Business Improvement Areas. Councillors are ex-officio (which means they have a vote but do not count towards a quorum) members of the BIA boards, and work closely with BIAs to improve communities and make sure that local voices are heard.

There are 12 BIAs in Layton’s ward, and each meets about once a month. He pointed out that it will be very difficult to sustain the necessary level of community engagement in a bigger ward.

Many at the meeting wondered if the act was legal, whether there was still enough time to hold a free and fair election, and what recourse the City of Toronto had in the courts.

“Are we going to let them run over us like this or are we going to go out kicking and screaming and perhaps in the process give our allies a little more time,” said activist and writer Desmond Cole, advocating for immediate action.

Craig Scott, a professor with the Osgoode Hall Law School and former MP for Toronto-Danforth, spoke at length about the legality of the act. While the city cannot simply say no to the legislation, or postpone the election, it can say with some validity that it can’t change the rules with such short notice.

“I’m hoping that the city is going to come bursting out the gates with a vigorous and strong argument that will prevent Bill 5 from going through,” said Scott, of the chance that the city will take the province to court.

He also warned that what he called “this abuse of arbitrary power” would not stop here.

Vaughan agreed, saying “this fight is about so much more than the hijinks at Queen’s Park and this egregious move by the provincial government that will literally wipe out local democracy. This is a fight for our city.

“If they can do this on the back of an envelope in 15 minutes, imagine what they can do in one term,” the MP and former councillor for Trinity-Spadina added. “The city is going to have to process and navigate very complex issues. As the provincial government damages the city of Toronto, I want to promise you the federal government will be there to step back in and support Torontonians building strong cities. That’s the support we can provide.”