The Harbord Collegiate Institute varsity baseball team will have to make do without its star catcher when it resumes play in the fall.

Tillie Burlock, 15, their starting catcher, who helped lead the team to a Tier 2 championship, has moved on to Silverthorn Collegiate Institute, where she’ll participate in the Toronto District School Board’s elite athletes program. She played for Harbord for two years, and was a starter even in her rookie year in grade nine.

“I could tell right away she has a strong arm, great fielding, great positioning and she just had all the fundamentals down. She was impressive when we got to hitting, she makes good contact and she almost never strikes out. She is a great base runner too,” said Greg Smith, Harbord’s baseball coach.

Her skills and performance earned her a trip to Florida in June to participate in the Major League Baseball’s (MLB) first-ever Girls Baseball Breakthrough Series. One of 65 girls at the camp, she was the only Canadian.

“She has everything it takes to get involved with baseball and nothing will stop her from going as far as she can,” said Smith. “Besides being an amazing baseball player, Tillie is an extraordinary student as well. She can do whatever she wants and she will be good at it.”

Though Burlock’s natural position is second base, she excelled as last season’s catcher. The position switch happened during the final game of the prior season when injuries to the starting and backup catcher meant the position was vacant, until Burlock volunteered, proving to be a revelation.

“That is what Tillie is like, she is the perfect player on the team. She never complains, she shows up for everything, she will do whatever it takes. She never says anything negative about anybody, even calling people out if they are being that way, which is pretty brave for someone in Grade 9,” said Smith. He’s positive that Burlock made the most of the camp, and said he hopes to see female MLB players in the future.

“It is a great idea…. I love baseball and there is no reason why women should not be encouraged to participate. Tillie is an example of what baseball should be. A sport which encourages boys and girls to play. It seems like that is happening late but better late than never.”

—Temi Dada/Gleaner News

Doug Ford announced his intention to cut Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 members last month. Coming when the municipal election had already begun, without notice or consultation, this move is a threat to our right to be represented equitably and effectively. While this bombshell seems to have taken everyone by surprise, it’s certainly nothing new. We thought it fitting to reprint a May 1997 forum piece by Evelyn Rupert in lieu of an editorial. It has been edited for length.

This is just the end of the beginning of a long struggle against the provincial take-over of local government and democracy in Metro Toronto.

Citizens and communities have their work cut out for them as they confront the Tory implementation machinery and try to reclaim what has been unilaterally been taken away from them in the name of municipal reform.

Will the dialogue on the principles of local democracy continue? During the past few months a space has opened up for public debate about democracy and citizenship for public policies: whether it is civic institutions (municipal governments and school boards), public institutions (hospitals and libraries) or public resources (water).

A space has been created for public dialogue about the implications about transferring control away from locally elected governments to provincial bureaucracies and appointees, and away from governments to presumably arms-length and unaccountable commissions.

In this political context, how can the public dialogue be sustained and advanced to challenge the powerful corporate, private, and provincial interest that will continue their agenda of appropriating public and civic institutions?

Many groups, forums, and individuals have emerged as strong voices challenging official definitions and established claims about what constitutes a democracy. Diverse interests and groups have undertaken numerous activities, bringing to the debate a lot of concerns and issues, but with agreement on a few fundamental principles about democracy and active citizenship.

One of the major strengths of what may well be an emerging citizens’ movement, has been the bringing together of these diverse interests, of a coalition of interests that cut across the political spectrum, that goes beyond left and right. As such, it has been a mirror of the city itself — as a place where the people come together with their differences.

It’s a movement that has found Citizens for Local Democracy as an umbrella or coalition group, joined by numerous other groups — which have all come together at key moments.

The provincial government and its supporters are self-declared revolutionaries who are attempting to overthrow local democracy. They are taking over the city.

The best hope for maintaining the public dialogue on democracy and challenging the strong corporate and provincial interests is the sustained actions of the diverse groups who have been reclaiming citizens’ rights to the governance of the city.

Being engaged, being an active citizen of Toronto is no longer merely a right; it has now become a necessity, a responsibility. But the challenge ahead is to harness the energies that have arisen from diverse citizens in the past few months and channel them into an effective movement. The work has just begun.

READ MORE EDITORIALS: 

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)

EDITORIAL: Thank you Mr. Asti (July 2017)

EDITORIAL: A watershed moment (June 2017)

EDITORIAL: Revoke U of T’s unchecked “licence to build” (May 2017)

EDITORIAL: Westbank’s positive precedent (April 2017)

EDITORIAL: Foreign buyers tax a necessary cliff jump (March 2017)

More how nice!

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)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: A second chance! by Brett Lamb 2037 (February 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: Not really! It’s actually nice! by Stumpy the Subway(January 2017)

Building a more livable and caring city

By Joe Cressy

It’s been four years since I was first elected to represent Trinity-Spadina on Toronto City Council. It has been both an exhilarating and, at times, exhausting experience. I’ve loved every minute of it.

Our ward is a truly diverse and vibrant collection of neighbourhoods: the central Waterfront and the Entertainment District, vertical neighbourhoods like CityPlace and the historic Grange neighbourhood, Queen West and Kensington Market, Chinatown and the University of Toronto, Huron-Sussex and Harbord Village, and of course the neighbourhood I was raised in, the Annex. In so many ways, our downtown community reflects the very best of our city.

In so many ways our beloved City of Toronto is doing well, exceptionally well. Amidst the strife and rhetoric regarding immigration south of the border and in parts of Europe, Toronto has become a model for how we all live together. As global talent and jobs move across borders, Toronto has become a tech and creative economy destination with the Googles, Amazons, and Thompson-Reuters of the world looking to us. And, you only have to look up at the cranes in the sky to see first-hand the nearly decade long (and continuing) demand for growth in our city.

In so many ways, Toronto is becoming a welcoming, intelligent, and smart twenty-first-century city. This is no small measure and we should be proud of it.

However, as our city sprints forward, far too many people are being left behind. According to the United Way, Toronto is now the inequality capital of Canada with 25 per cent of adults and 29 per cent of children living in poverty. More than 181,000 people are on the waiting list for affordable housing, and that list is growing every year. And even for those doing well, buying a home (let alone renting one) is becoming less affordable every day. These facts are simply unacceptable in a city as wealthy as ours.

I was brought up in a household where I was taught that we should measure ourselves, and our society, by how well we treat others. Sadly, on this metric, as a city we are letting people down.

I believe deeply that the role of our civic government is to make our city more livable for those fortunate enough to be doing well, and to provide the infrastructure and supports to care for those who are struggling. This is why I am running for re-election, to build a more livable and caring city.

On both fronts there is so much more that we can do. As downtown continues to grow in height and density, we must ensure that we are building the social infrastructure to ensure that downtown remains livable.

That means continuing to invest in the parks, community spaces, and childcare centres that make downtown accessible and enjoyable. It means investing in the pedestrian, cycling, and public transit infrastructure to ensure downtown residents can continue to get around in an urban century that will be driven by active, rather than vehicular, transportation.

It means redesigning our streets to move people around safely, rather than cars quickly. And it means creating the tax and economic incentives to support small and independent businesses as well arts and culture. Taken together, it’s this vision for a livable and vibrant downtown that I want to continue working towards.

However, just as our work to build a livable downtown is necessary, my passion for addressing inequality is what wakes me up every morning. I simply cannot accept living in a city where only the fortunate can thrive. Building affordable housing, investing in the health and social services to end homelessness, and supporting strong and safe neighbourhoods to end the cycle of violence. A truly equitable city and downtown is not a dream, it is a platform that can and must be implemented by city council.

When I first ran for city council four years ago I was driven by the issues, but if I’m being completely honest, part of it was also about myself. There was some ego involved as well.

Four years later and I’ve been humbled. I’ve learned that the best form of politics is one where people are empowered to improve their own neighbourhoods. That’s what this is all about, working together to build a more livable and equitable downtown for all. I hope to have the opportunity to continue doing just that with you.

Joe Cressy is the councillor for Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina. He submitted his forum piece before the premier announced his plan to cut the number of city councillors.

Joe Cressy is a candidate for election in the newly created Ward 24.

READ MORE BY JOE CRESSY:

FORUM: Small businesses create a liveable city (March 2018)

FORUM: Looking back on 2017 in Ward 20 (Dec. 2017)

FORUM: Establishing a new Indigenous Affairs Office (Nov. 2017)

FORUM: Toronto — an artistic city (FALL 2017)

FORUM: Address affordable housing (June 2017)

FORUM: Build a neighbourhood (March 2017)

FORUM: Conserving past to enrich future (January 2017)

FORUM: Our dynamic Kensington Market (November 2016)

FORUM: A new central park for Toronto (September 2016)

Replace those trees lost to weather and politics

Thanks to Premier Doug Ford, gas will be cheaper and our lungs fuller of it than ever since there will be no incentives to buy an electric vehicle. Thanks to this Neanderthal, we are now back to debating whether or not science is a thing.

Thanks to the premier’s late brother, we also have a less healthy tree canopy to suck up all the excess carbon and pollutants spewed by the dirty cars he wants to keep on the roads at lower cost. Rob Ford had slashed Toronto’s tree maintenance budget and voted against investing in planting new trees.

[pullquote]Neighbourhoods with a lot of tree coverage are shown to be healthier than neighbourhoods without.[/pullquote]

Earlier this year, we lost a lot of trees in this neighbourhood due to a combination of ice and wind storms. Entire trees were uprooted in some areas and, in at least one case, ended up on top of a house. Cars were smashed and we are lucky nobody died (though there was one loss of life in the Mississauga area).

The Annex Residents’ Association’s Trees Please project has given us a good handle on how many trees are in the neighbourhood (about 10,000), but not a good handle on how many have been lost to these global warming linked weather events. We know it’s a lot, just by walking around, but exact numbers elude us.

It is hard to overstate the importance of the tree canopy.

A tree, especially a mature one, sucks up carbon and locks it away in its roots and trunk. It also helps filter the pollutants out of the air. Neighbourhoods with a lot of tree coverage are shown to be healthier than neighbourhoods without.

A 2015 study by researchers from Toronto, Chicago, and Adelaide used data from Toronto to suggest that cardio-metabolic conditions decreased in ways that were comparable to a median income increase of 20,000. While the study included several caveats and did not speculate for the reason behind this correlation, I have a few theories.

My first theory is that trees make a neighbourhood walkable. Thanks to the generous tree canopy, it is always lovely to walk to where you need to go. We have a walkable neighbourhood, where most of what we need is within walking distance.

Contrast this to where I used to live in Brampton. I would walk out of my apartment and be greeted by a massive parking lot. Walking to the shopping complex across the street was not very pleasant as you might get burned to a crisp in the summer. In the winter, there was nothing blocking the wind. Shamefully, we often drove to the plaza that was honestly less than 200 metres away. I have no doubt that trees making a neighbourhood more walkable contributes greatly to overall health.

Sadly, the tree loss this year has been substantial. A walk along Wells Street during the mid afternoon no longer provides a pedestrian with any shade. One tree stands majestically tall with all but the main trunk now trimmed. Without a single leaf, it could be a long time before it sprouts new limbs again.

If you lost a tree, I cannot stress enough the importance of replacing it. If you have a good spot for a tree, please stick a sapling in it.

Choose a native species that will thrive (not a Norway maple) and provide the children who grow up here with pleasant walks around the neighbourhood as they grow up to be adults. Invest in our neighbourhood and the health of our community. We need these trees.

If you lost a tree to tell us about or would like to get involved with our tree canopy preservation efforts, please contact parksandtrees@ theara.org.

We would very much like to get a handle on what was lost.

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: 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)

GREENINGS: Reducing paper waste (Fall 2017)

GREENINGS: Taking tolls to the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway (July 2017)

GREENINGS: Lessons from Madrid (June 2017)

GREENINGS: Thoughts on hitting the 400 benchmark (May 2017)

GREENINGS: Solving the food waste problem (April 2017)

GREENINGS: Kellie Leitch was right (March 2017)

Fascinating films, family fun, and fabulous festivals

By Heather Kelly

For the family

Open Streets TO, the recreational program that opens our streets to people, returns August 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Bloor and Yonge streets. These active living events are a great way to enjoy walking, cycling, rollerblading, and dancing in the streets of our city!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle has delighted generations of readers since 1969, selling more than 43 million copies worldwide. Now the timeless classic will be on stage at the Miles Nadal JCC Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summer, as Joseph Patrick Presents: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show.

The Bata Shoe Museum continues its Summer Family Fun programs where children ages 3 to 12 can complete a shoe-themed craft, play I spy in the galleries, and try on some funky shoes.

New camp sessions start in August, too. 918 Bathurst hosts Theatre Direct camps at the end of July, and Alliance Française offers music, creative arts, photography, and theatre camp. Children can make music at the Royal Conservatory School at instrumental exploration camps, band camps, and free Smart Start classes on Saturdays.

Stay cool indoors

Dora award nominee Thom Allison directs Randolph Centre for the Arts’ third-year students in Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece A Little Night Music, the Tony Award-winning musical inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night. Set in 1900s Sweden, A Little Night Music whisks audiences away to a weekend in the country where infinite possibilities of new romances and second chances bring endless surprises. On stage at the Randolph theatre August 2 to 4 and 9 to 11.

Some of the most anticipated new documentaries of the summer will be on the big screen at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.

Discover the star-studded secrets of Manhattan’s most exclusive hotel with Always at The Carlyle. Go behind-the-scenes of the movie industry with Filmworker and Hitler’s Hollywood, or glimpse the historic process behind the Oslo Accords in The Oslo Diaries. Take a musical road trip across Elvis Presley’s America in Eugene Jarecki’s The King, and embark on a globe-spanning journey inside the lives of the international wealthy elite with Lauren Greenfield’s Generation Wealth. And for those of us who loved Mr. Rogers, screenings of Won’t You Be My Neighbour? start August 10.

Istituto Italiano di Cultura hosts the photo exhibition Melodramatic Realism, with photos from three masterpieces by Luchino Visconti. The first steps of Visconti and of Neorealism are documented in this exhibition, with photos by Osvaldo Civirani and Paul Ronald.

The Japan Foundation invites you into the universe of Noh Theatre through images of masks in Yokoyama Noh Theatre Photography. Designated as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2001, Noh Theatre has been an elaborate theatre form since the fourteenth century.

The travelling exhibition Manolo Blahnik: The Art of Shoes, a retrospective of one of the world’s most iconic shoemakers with more than 200 shoes and 80 original sketches from Blahnik’s personal archive, is a summer highlight at the Bata Shoe Museum. The fashion theme continues at the ROM with Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion, where metal umbrella ribs, magnets, and 3-D printing are some of the astonishing materials the Dutch fashion designer uses to create striking haute couture.

The Gardiner Museum is continuing Community Arts Space free programs. Each project considers how the city’s unique and varied local histories of art and social activism can be re-mapped for the future. Reclaiming Artifacts, co-presented with Art Starts from August 2 to 16, invites visitors to explore the “discovery” of artifacts found during the construction of a condo in the year 2050. Then the Gardiner Museum hosts a public opening for Maldewin Weskijinu / Blood Soaked Soil, an exhibition by artist Louis Esmé, on August 24.

Ashkenaz Festival opens on the Bloor St. Culture Corridor this year with a Yiddish Glory, a concert at Koerner Hall on August 28 featuring an all-star ensemble of virtuosi from the worlds of classical, jazz, and Roma and Jewish folk music. The songs were written by Holocaust victims and survivors in the Soviet Union during the Second World War, collected by a team of Jewish Soviet ethnomusicologists during the war, confiscated, then restored by University of Toronto Professor Anna Shternshis, who will introduce the concert.

Fans on the slopes of Christie Pits take in Maple Leafs baseball action on July 25. R.S. Konjek/Gleaner News

Lengthy losing streak dulls early season momentum

By R.S. Konjek

July was the cruellest month for Toronto baseball fans.

Over at the dome, the major league Blue Jays drifted out of contention, waved the white flag and traded away all-star pitcher J.A. Happ.

At Christie Pits, the Maple Leafs plunged into a protracted slump. After a promising start to the 2018 season, a 10-game losing streak dropped them down to the middle of the Intercounty Baseball League standings.

With the club enjoying an improved roster this year and most players avoiding injuries, the downswing has been puzzling.

The Leafs attempted to return to the win column on July 25 when they hosted the Kitchener Panthers for a night game at Dominico Field.

As the players emerged from the clubhouse for warm-ups, I asked some of them to describe the mood of the ballclub during the slump.

“We talk about it, but we keep it in the back of our heads,” said outfielder Grant Tamane. “We have to keep playing hard and stay healthy.”

Pitcher R. J. Page offered a calm perspective.

“With a streak like that you would expect bickering and negativity, but it’s not that way,” he said. “We will snap out of it.”

Throughout this season, there has been a pattern to games between the Maple Leafs and Panthers.

It goes like this: the Panthers take an early lead and they stretch it out a mighty distance. The Leafs battle back like scrappers and legends, but fall just short of victory. All four of their games this year have followed this script.

Would the team take a different approach this time?

“We have to grind tonight,” said pitcher Zach Sloan. “We have lots of confidence in each other. They’re one of the best teams, but we always play well against the best teams.”

“Start earlier,” added Tamane, with a nod to the Panthers’ habit of jumping ahead and the need to counter that by scoring early.

Despite the positive vibes and assertive approach, the Leafs and Panthers both got off to a quiet start during the Wednesday night game.

The first few innings flew by as a pitchers’ duel ensued. Toronto starter Pedro De Los Santos completed five scoreless innings before it even got dark.

The Panthers scored first in the top of the sixth. They racked up six hits and scored four runs. De Los Santos was relieved by Will Newton, who got out of the inning with a pair of strikeouts.

The Leafs punched right back in the bottom of the inning. Manager Damon Topolie — who was also Toronto’s designated hitter on the night — hit a two-run single to make it 4-2 Panthers through six innings.

The momentum stayed with the home nine, who were urged on by a boisterous crowd spread out on the slopes surrounding the field. They rallied for four more runs in the seventh inning to take a 6-4 lead.

Sloan was called out of the bullpen to pitch the final two innings and nail down that elusive win. The lanky lefty pitched a scoreless eighth inning, setting the stage for a decisive final frame.

Then the roof caved in. The Panthers pounced on Sloan and knocked in five runs on five hits, including a home run. Sloan battled his way out of the inning, but Kitchener had taken a 9-6 lead. The Leafs were unable to respond in the bottom of the ninth. They changed the script, but the result was the same.

As the players trudged back to the clubhouse and fans melted away into the night, it was important to remember something said earlier by pitcher Page.

“Everything evens out. You can have a .400 hitter who goes into a .100 streak, but everything evens out.” This is very true in the game of baseball, where hot streaks can quickly become cold ones, and vice versa.

Perhaps it is better that the Leafs go through the doldrums now and get hot again in time for the playoffs.

The regular season at Christie Pits will be wrapping up soon, and playoff action will begin in early August. Please visit mapleleafsbaseball.point streaksites.com for schedule updates.

READ MORE:

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)

A ghost bike and flowers have been installed as a memorial to cyclist Dalia Chako, who was killed in an accident at the corner of St. George and Bloor streets in June. Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists organized a ghost ride in Chako’s memory, and cycling activists have renewed calls for increased safety for cyclists and pedestrians. There have been 21 cycling and pedestrian fatalities in Toronto this year. TEMI DADA/GLEANER NEWS

READ MORE ON CYCLING:

NEWS: Shock, sadness at cyclist’s death (July 2018)

EDITORIAL: City staff ignore bike lanes (July 2018)

NEWS: Bike lanes (March 2018)

CHATTER: Cyclists prey for open doors (Dec. 2017)

NEWS (Nov. 2017): Pilot project becomes permanent

NEWS: Here to stay? (Oct. 2017)

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

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

CHATTER (MARCH 2017): Preliminary data on Bloor Street pilot bike lane released

CHATTER: Ground-breaking bike lanes launch on Bloor Street (August 2016)

NEWS: Bikes blessed for another season (June 2016)

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

NEWS: Bike lanes for Bloor Street (May 2016)

The faster we lower speeds, the more lives we save (October 2015)

Tragedy results in memorial ride, call for greater safety

By Temi Dada

Cyclists gathered on June 20 at 6.30 p.m. to honour Dalia Chako with one final ride. Among the mourners at the ghost ride were family and friends of Chako, who was killed by a truck at Bloor and St. George streets on June 12.

Chako’s fatal accident was the sixth cycling accident in 10 days in Toronto, and highlighted bike and pedestrian safety across the city.

“I think at the end of the day as the city grows there has to be dedicated infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, [or] you won’t be able to handle the amount of traffic a large city produces. It is better to get ahead of the curve before it becomes a bigger issue than it is,” said Skylor Brummans, Chako’s son. He believes that change is paramount for the safety of cyclists in Toronto and hopes that the memorial touches people and encourages them to be more careful on the road.

For others present at the event, protected lanes are not the only thing that will bring an end to the fatal accidents. There needs to be more awareness on the road and education for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

“There is a serious divide between cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists,” said Robert Lawson, who has been a bike courier for about 15 years. “The city councillors and politicians worry about the popular vote; they’re not going to worry about the cyclist and pedestrian issue because there are more cars who pay more taxes. A designated lane is not a protected lane.”

Brummans added that “there needs to be some kind of awareness campaign to do that as well to tell people who are not familiar with it to be more aware when they open their doors or make a right turn”.

Michael Stein, a cyclist and bike technician, said that “education towards drivers is a needed thing. I have actually had a couple of discussions with drivers who have almost hit me and they didn’t understand the rules.

“They didn’t know [cyclists] are meant to be on the road, but sometimes when you explain the rules to them they understand. There should be awareness for cyclists too because there are some crazy cyclists out there as well.”

Stein, who has been a cyclist in cities like Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg, said that he and his cyclist friends call cycling in Toronto “horizontal skydiving”.

He has had his fair share of bad experiences with drivers in Toronto, where a driver once used his car as a weapon to push him and his bike off the road. Experiences like that and the sudden spurt of accidents prompted him to start wearing a GoPro camera on his head while cycling.

“Over the last couple of weeks I would say [fear for safety on the road] has gotten worse,” Stein said. “I would say Toronto is the scariest city I have biked in. I don’t think the police keep drivers accountable and I don’t think they hold cyclists accountable also; there are some crazy cyclists out there as well.”

He also believes that inclusion of more protected bike lanes would help to make cyclists feel safer on the road.

The Toronto Police Service is still investigating the accident and no charges have been laid so far.

The intersection remains a memorial to Chako: flowers started appearing the day after the accident and a white ghost bike was placed in her memory near the street.

READ MORE ON CYCLING:

EDITORIAL: City staff ignore bike lanes (July 2018)

NEWS: Bike lanes (March 2018)

CHATTER: Cyclists prey for open doors (Dec. 2017)

NEWS (Nov. 2017): Pilot project becomes permanent

NEWS: Here to stay? (Oct. 2017)

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

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

CHATTER (MARCH 2017): Preliminary data on Bloor Street pilot bike lane released

CHATTER: Ground-breaking bike lanes launch on Bloor Street (August 2016)

NEWS: Bikes blessed for another season (June 2016)

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

NEWS: Bike lanes for Bloor Street (May 2016)

The faster we lower speeds, the more lives we save (October 2015)

Annual general meeting includes Mirvish Village update

By Ahmed-Zaki Hagar

Future development and maintaining community green spaces were the main topics at a well-attended annual general meeting of the Palmerston Area Residents’ Association (PARA) on May 15.

Kristina Reinders, a senior urban designer with the City of Toronto, spoke about the TOcore initiative, focusing on parkland and community spaces.

TOcore — approved by Toronto City Council on May 22 — is a long-term plan to redesign the city’s downtown core aimed at preparing for the upcoming population and employment growth in the next 25 years.

As a public and private investment, TOcore aims to improve the downtown core for residents, workers, and students, ensuring that “growth positively contributes to Toronto’s downtown as a great place to live, work, learn, play, and invest”, said Reinders.

She added that the increase of high-rise buildings will result in “an [increased] need for parks”.

According to census data, downtown residents only have 5.5 square metres of parkland per resident, whereas the city average is 28 square metres per resident.

“Downtown residents have among the lowest percentage of parkland space in the city,” she said. “The land is just not available, but what is important is how we use the space that we have and that we design it in a way that is most useful for residents and employees.”

The Parks and Public Realm Plan consists of “five transformative ideas”: the core circle, great streets, the shoreline stretch, park districts, and local places. According to the plan, these ideas “establish a clear vision for the Downtown’s future urban landscape”.

Reinders said that the city has tools to pay for implementing the plan, like a bylaw amendment currently under consideration by council that would require new developments to provide more park space. In addition to what she called a “sizable capital budget”, she said that other ways of funding the project include partnerships with public and private agencies and philanthropy.

After Reinders spoke, board member Frumie Diamond presented the PARA Green Plan, which is currently in draft form. The plan will be an official green document that’s approved by the city and advocates for bylaws that support the environment.

“We want to promote…green initiatives that contribute to the wellness of our community,” Diamond said. “We need to respond to climate change because it is happening now and it is already impacting our community.”

The plan identifies public spaces — like the Palmerston Gates, Healey Willan Park, churches, and synagogues — for improving or adding green spaces.

It addressed PARA’s discussions with Westbank Projects Corp., which is redeveloping Mirvish Village, on adding park space to the new development.

“We need to make sure that the whole [Mirvish Village] project is integrated into a continuous green space,” she said.

The green plan will also include a community greening project that is still to be decided.

“There are a lot of educational opportunities to educate our neighbours and people in our community,” added Diamond.

Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) spoke with Roy Sawyer, one of PARA’s representatives of the Mirvish Village Task Group, about how construction will impact movement around the neighbourhood.

Sawyer said that progress has been made in planning for vehicle movement in the Village, including making Markham Street a one-way street and widening Lennox Street near Honest Ed’s to include a dedicated left-turn lane.

He added that the development will connect with the rest of the neighbourhood and make the streets “much more beautiful.”

“On the Palmerston [Boulevard] side of Mirvish Village, there are all these beautiful heritage houses that had lost green space behind them, that is going to be combined with park space,” Sawyer said. “That will be partially used as outdoor space for a new daycare.”

Layton said that he wants the development to not only accommodate movement but also provide the community with “a very special public space”.

To accomplish this, Layton and Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) proposed a motion to work with several city divisions, including Transportation Services, to help with planning the movement and street priorities in the development.

“It will take many years to build this development,” Layton said. “Before these 1,800 people move in and the retail opens up, we will have a significant opportunity to look at the traffic pattern, model it, and try to figure out solutions.”

Layton said that the development is currently at the site plan application phase, and that he hopes to involve the community, including PARA, and not “try to work in isolation”.

NDP scores more votes than all rivals combined

By Geremy Bordonaro

Jessica Bell of the New Democratic Party (NDP) is the first ever Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the newly formed riding of University-Rosedale. The riding, which encompasses the northern half of what was once Trinity-Spadina, includes all of the Annex.

The 2018 Ontario provincial election marks a definitive shift in the politics of the city and province as Doug Ford’s Ontario Progressive Conservatives (PC) gained a majority government with 76 seats. Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals, formerly a majority government, lost their status as a party after taking only seven seats, even though Wynne managed to hold on to her riding of Don Valley West.

Jessica Bell said she was “humbled but proud” to represent the Annex, and spoke about how much this meant to her.

“The very next day I had to start working. I walked up the steps of Queen’s Park and it felt very historic,” Bell said. “I’m going to remember that moment for the rest of my life.”

Bell received an incredibly strong 24,537 votes, nearly half of the riding’s voter turnout.

She won more votes than the Liberal, PC, and Green party candidates combined and more than twice as many votes as the runner-up.

The runner-up, Jo-Ann Davis, from the Liberal Party, got 10,898 votes, with 22 per cent of the vote, and was closely followed by Gillian Smith from the PC Party with 10,431 votes at 21 per cent. Tim Grant, representative of the Green Party, ended up with 2,652 votes, at 5 per cent.

Bell is part of a strong NDP contingent from Toronto. Most of the city’s ridings flipped from Liberal to NDP with the NDP taking two incumbent seats in Toronto-Danforth and Parkdale-High Park.

“This election was very clearly a change election,” she said. “People in Toronto did not want Doug Ford and the budget cuts that the Conservatives typically do. They overwhelmingly voted for change.”

The story in Etobicoke, Scarborough, and parts of North York is very different. In these ridings, outside of the city’s core, the PC party took hold. Prior to this election there were no Conservatives holding a seat within Toronto, yet 11 seats flipped from Liberal to PC.

In the small amount of time since the election the premier-elect has already signalled he will axe the Green Ontario Fund, which according to Gus Sinclair, former Chair of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association, has already had an effect on the community.

“The HVRA prides itself on trying to be the greenest community in Toronto,” Sinclair said. “We used that money to subsidize energy audits for people’s houses. “Now people are like ‘well geez, what do I do?’ That kind of initiative I think is essential if we believe global warming is a problem.”

Sinclair is waiting for whatever changes come in the future but is not exactly optimistic.

“I don’t know what else he is going to do. People wanted change. Change is what they’re going to get,” said Sinclair. “They may not like the change they get.”

Three of the seven remaining Liberal party strongholds are in Toronto. The ridings of Don Valley West and East, with the addition of Scarborough-Guildwood, all remained Liberal despite the party’s overall unpopularity.

READ MORE ON THE ELECTION:

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

NEWS: Grilling potential MPPs (Election Special 2018)

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

GREENINGS: Choosing the lesser evil (Election Special 2018)

FORUM: Bold new initiatives for Ontario (Election Special 2018)

FORUM: Reducing downtown’s vehicles by 25 per cent (May 2018)

FORUM: What kind of Ontario do we want? (May 2018)

FORUM: What kind of province do we want? (March 2018)

COURTESY MARTIN REIS

Have you ever cursed the mess of mulberries on the sidewalk from mid-June through early August? Did you know these mulberries are actually delicious?

The Annex Residents’ Association hosted its second Annual Mulberry Festival on July 7 at Jean Sibelius Park. Attendees picked mulberries from trees in the neighbourhood, and participated in a tree canopy tour with Sandy Smith, a professor in the University of Toronto’s forestry department, who shared her vast knowledge of our urban forest.

One of the most beautiful gardens in the Annex also hosted visitors, and there were talks about native plant species and what grows best in our soils.

Snacks and refreshments were available — participants brought a cup for some cool lemonade as this was a waste-free affair.

—Terri Chu/Gleaner News