Dutch Dreams owner recalls Nazi terror, jubilation after liberation

COURTESY J.L. BLOEMHOF’S AMERSFOORT ’40-’45 “Look at him, I find that so beautiful a picture. He’s from the Polar Bear Brigade, they liberated us. Isn’t that a beautiful picture? You can see in his face that he knows he liberated the Dutch, he’s proud and happy!”

In honour of Remembrance Day, we’re reprinting the story of Theo Aben, co-owner of Dutch Dreams. It first appeared in November 2004.

By Jessica Shulman

Eight-year-old Theo Aben stood rapt as Canadian troops descended upon his town of Amersfoort, Holland. He fought hard to suppress a triumphant grin as he thought gleefully, “The Tommies are coming! The Tommies are coming!” He thinks back fondly on that day. “I was so happy.”

As a child in German-occupied Holland during the Second World War, Aben knew nothing but suffering his entire early life. “I remember how hungry we were. My mother used to send me out to the fields to go and find nettles and dandelions that she’d try to cook. But to cook, she needed wood. She had these beautiful dining room chairs, and [eventually] I had to cut them all up. I was six or seven years old.”

The Germans bombed Rotterdam on May 10, 1940, and after five days of fighting, the Dutch capitulated. Aben was only three years old.

“I remember the Dutch escaping,” said Aben, “running away from the Germans, and throwing all their stuff, their clothes and army stuff, gas masks and pistols and everything out of the trucks. All the streets were loaded with it left and right. That’s what I remember.”

Just over 800 Jews lived in Amersfoort before the war, and only 400 returned. Despite his own suffering, Aben remembers feeling terribly sorry for his Jewish neighbours. “I remember when [the Germans] were picking up this very old Jewish couple. They were bent over with their bags, and they were tired, just standing there.”

Aben stands up to demonstrate the feeble old couple, hunched and exhausted.

“I remember I wanted to go help them to carry the bags, but I knew that if you were close to a Jew maybe you could get yourself in trouble. So I was too scared to go and help them.”

He knew many Jewish families in hiding, and throughout the war watched as Nazis took away families, looted houses, and shot people in the streets.

Aben and his family suffered, too.

“[The corners of] my mouth were torn from lack of vitamins. I had lice, and I had fleas in my hair, and I had three types of worms. Maggots used to just come out of your behind, you would scratch yourself — ’cause it itches like hell — and you’d [come away with] a whole handful.” He holds out his hand as if it were full of the writhing creatures.

Once all of the town’s Jews had been “taken away”, the Germans, who still needed labourers, began to fill their quotas with Dutch men, including Aben’s own father.

“One day,” he says of sometime in 1943 or 1944, “I saw him [coming home] in the front window, and he waved and I waved. I ran to the back of the house [to meet him]…and he never showed up.” Aben and his mother went outside, risking trouble for breaking curfew, to investigate.

“He was standing with some other Dutch people and all these Germans with their guns trained on them. And we didn’t see him back ’till after the war.” His father had been taken to Germany to work in a hotel.

On May 5, 1945, Allied troops invaded Holland. When they liberated Amersfoort on May 7, Aben couldn’t believe his luck. “I could never understand why they would come to liberate us when they didn’t even know us. That was the biggest thing.” He smiles, clearly still amazed at the prospect. “I felt so good that they were coming. And it was the Canadians.”

Aben clearly remembers his first contact with a Canadian soldier.

“He gave me a little green can,” recalls Aben. “I had on one of my mother’s old purple pullovers — I had no more clothes — and I put it under my pullover like this,” (he hugs his arms protectively to his body), “and I took it home.”

“When my mother cut it open, there were mixed vegetables in it. I remember the potatoes, beautiful square pieces. And I couldn’t understand how they got in the can!” Aben had never seen canned food before. “I thought Jesus, they must be so smart, these Canadians! We ate it right away, out of the can.”

Aben’s pale blue eyes gleam as he thinks back on the Canadian troops, who cleaned up the town, picking up garbage and rebuilding bridges.

“They organized parties for the children. I remember once I won this toy jeep. They had a game with a tent cloth tight on the field, and you had to scramble under it and the first one to come out won a prize, and I got my jeep — but I had no more skin on my back! It was terrible! It got infected and scabby….” He laughs. “But at that moment, I was so happy.”

Aben left Holland in 1967. Since then he has lived all across Canada, in Guinea, Africa, and in Iran, working in food services roles. He and his wife are now settled near Bathurst Street and St. Clair Avenue, running Dutch Dreams, an ice cream parlour on Vaughan Road.

Memories of his war-torn childhood stay with Aben, he says, but they don’t bother him. “What bothers me is what’s going on now. I think about the poor kids in Israel and Palestine and Iraq. It’s terrible for these kids.”

READ MORE

HISTORY FROM THE ARCHIVES: Sculptor marks the lessons of war (November 2016)

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: A long history of activism (February 2017)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: A time of loss, horror and excitement (March 2017)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Harbord C.I. connects with history (April 2017)

CHATTER: University community stops to remember (November 2015)

NEILAND BRISSENDEN/GLEANER NEWS

The Annex played host to several installations late last month for Nuit Blanche Toronto. Nine artists contributed to OnePath Toronto, a group exhibition that explored ideas of identity and nationhood through large-scale and interactive installations on the grounds of Spadina Museum. In Ephemerality (above), a multi-media installation founded on the Greek concept of all things being transitory, Barbara Cook asks if our efforts to improve the environmental condition of Canada and the earth ultimately be transitory.

READ MORE:

ON THE COVER: Celebrating Bloor Street (OCTOBER 2016)

ARTS: Interactive installations celebrate Annex icons (OCTOBER 2016)

Committee votes in favour of Bloor Street bike lanes

Toronto City Council’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee voted in favour of making the Bloor Street pilot bike lanes permanent. The lanes have been very popular with cyclists since being installed, and a recent study demonstrated that the lanes have not had a negative impact on local business. COURTESY ANDRE VALLILLEE

By Geremy Bordonaro

It’s been a little over a year since bike lanes were installed on a trial basis on Bloor Street between University and Shaw avenues, and it’s looking more and more like they are here to stay.

On October 19, Toronto City Council’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) voted in favour of city staff’s recommendation to make the lanes permanent.

Over 60 speakers signed on to speak to PWIC about how the lanes had changed their lives and the lives of those living around the Annex.While a large percentage of speakers supported keeping the lanes, there were still reservations based on some of the design flaws surrounding the pilot.

“While the overall feedback has been that the bike lane has been a success, on the basis of improved safety, increased cycling, and improved overall business, it’s not perfect,” said Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina). “We need to work on improvements towards safety. We need to look again at deliveries and loading zones for business. And we need a stronger focus on accessibility.”

Cressy has been a stalwart advocate for the bike lanes as a member of council. Though installing bike lanes on Bloor Street is not a new idea, it was under Cressy that the pilot became a reality. He believes that more needs to be done in terms of bike infrastructure.

“Our city is growing. And our streets are increasingly less and less safe. As we continue to grow in size and population we have to focus, not just on moving cars, but moving people safely,” said Cressy. “That includes people in cars. So people are passionate about this.”

Some still have their reservations about how the bike lanes have been put in place. One such resident is Hamish Wilson, who thinks that in their current form the lanes are just not enough.

“On one hand it is wonderful that we’re seeing this. On the other hand the pilot is only a third of what was promised to be studied a decade ago,” Wilson said. “Where’s the rest of it? I’m glad that we’re finally getting to see a little bit of permanency but where is the rest of it?”

During the meeting there were still some objections and questions about whether the safety benefits of the bike lanes outweigh the increased motorist times or the possibility of economic decline. Some even questioned whether this should be an issue left to politics at all.

Though Albert Koehl, co-founder of Bells on Bloor and long-time cycling advocate, thinks that safety will always come first, he believes there is a need for the lanes to be part of a political discussion.

“How we share our road is, of course, a political issue. All modern cities are moving to a new vision of what roads should be. That there are to be shared roads,” Koehl said. “I think the safety is not up for debate but it is a political question about how we share our roads.”

Early in October the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) released the results of a comprehensive study commissioned by the Bloor Annex BIA on the economic impact of the bike lanes.

“The number of cyclists on the road dramatically increased. At the same time we know from the economic study that the impact has been positive on business. So I think that this has been a success all around and that we can’t, in any way, diminish that effect by saying travel times have gone up by two to three minutes.”

Jennifer Klein, who owns Secrets From Your Sister, said the bike lanes have been good for business.

“I’d say that we have more face-view on our storefront,” said Klein. “We have more cyclists going by. And that’s more business.”

Though there are some disputes from businesses about the impact the loss of on-street parking has had on loading, shipping, and sales, Klein said she thinks that the issues have been dealt with well.

“I speak to the businesses around me and everyone has their own point of view,” Klein said. “The main concern for businesses are the loading zones. That problem was solved, as far as I’m concerned, by the addition of the loading parking spots on the side streets.”

Even with the matter close to being settled, Cressy said there is still work to be done.

“Mayor Tory has announced his support. I’m very optimistic that this will pass at council. Frankly my next step here, in addition to the council work, is rolling up my sleeves and working with our local residents and business owners to ensure that we make this the best possible bike lane during the permanent design.”

READ MORE:

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

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

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

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)

Residents balk at tall tower plan

By Emilie Jones

Local residents got their first look at plans to renovate Bloor Street United Church late last month. The proposal calls for a 38-storey mixed-use building, a renovation, and partial demolition of the church, as well as a new promenade. Located at the corner of Bloor and Huron streets, the building is over a hundred years old.

It was the second time the church hosted a meeting on the future of the building, and this time, representatives from StrategyCorp., KPMB Architects, and Bousfields Inc. were on hand to present the initial plans.

Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) set the tone from the outset, applauding the church for its attempt to engage with the community.

“This isn’t an application yet. The way we are engaging in the development process is a longer process, and it means the community has a better say,” he said, adding, “I encourage a constructive dialogue, this is not a point of pitch forks, it is a point of conversation.”

Aware that many residents would be anxious about the proposed height of the new building, Louis Tinker, a partner with Bousfields Inc., took pains to assure the audience that the proposal was in line with the planning guidelines for the area.

“The Toronto Core Study is a comprehensive secondary plan for downtown Toronto in response to growth in the past 15 years,” said Tinker. “It has identified areas of growth, and this space is one.”

He added that the church’s essence will stay the same.

“Buildings that have an identity are important to our city, we don’t just want residential buildings along the street. Accessibility is an issue, as we welcome the more diverse, and we want to make sure there is more transparency on Bloor [Street].”

His remarks, however, fell largely on deaf ears.

“Why a tower of 35 [storeys] when the study said 20 to 24?” asked Norman Track, a local resident. “If you are negotiating with us, why do you play this game?”

That sentiment reverberated — angrily — throughout the meeting.

“I don’t know how you are talking about community when you’re talking about something so destructive,” said Reva Landau, also from the area. “It sets a dangerous precedent of high spaces north of Bloor [Street]. The community is going to get nothing, the only people who benefit are the church, because they don’t want to pay for [the renovation] themselves.”

Marianna McKenna, a partner at KPMB, explained that projections from a shadow study showed a tall building to be the best option.

“We tried to put density around, but a tall elegant building is better than a short fat one. Height is not the issue, it is beauty. We are asking for a trade-off of densities…a low stockier building would have a continued shadow.”

One member of the congregation defended the proposal, noting that “of the whole footprint, the tower takes a small part of it, and is at the back. There is a lot of air space even with the tower, that’s a very good thing…going up means we can have air space.”

Other than the height, another big concern brought up at the meeting was the congestion this plan will create. The proposal includes only about one hundred parking spaces, which will not even be enough for the proposed number of residential units, without accounting for the parking spaces needed for church events.

“There are people living there, office spaces, people coming and leaving, how are they going to get there? The TTC, which is already over-subscribed?” asked Track.

McKenna reiterated that this was still an initial proposal.

“The application is not done yet, everything is fresh out of the oven. We welcome all feedback.”

The next community meeting will be held in November.

READ MORE:

NEWS: New vision for Bloor Street United (JULY 2017)

U of T, community in talks over Bloor United project (JUNE 2012)

COURTESY RICHARD LONGLEY

Kensington Health chief executive officer Bill O’Neill, Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) and members of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association celebrated the opening of Doctors Parkette on October 14 with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Formerly Brunswick-College Parkette, the space has been redeveloped from a pokey park into something bright, modern, and functional.

READ MORE: 

CHATTER: Doctors’ Parkette close to completion (JANUARY 2017)

GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Survey reveals significant upgrades (JUNE 2017)

Part two of our 2016 parks review (JULY 2016)

COURTESY RICHARD LONGLEY

Marco Cupido and Gary Bloch help their children cut the ribbon to mark the official reopening of Margaret Fairley Park, also on October 14.

They were joined by Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), and Harbord Village Residents’ Association chairs past and present, Gail Misra, Gus Sinclair, and Tim Grant.

Children are the forefront of the redesigned park, which includes new equipment, wading pool, and green space.

READ MORE:

GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Open spaces in the heart of the Annex (JULY 2017)

GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Meet our parks supervisor (AUGUST 2016)

NEWS: Renewing Margaret Fairley Park (JULY 2016)

Green sanctuaries in the heart of the city (JUNE 2016)

Park marks (AUGUST 2015)

Mirvish Village icon finds new life

The Victory Cafe will reopen this fall at the corner of Bloor Street and Howland Avenue. It will offer a different selection of beer, as well as a new and improved distinctive menu. GEREMY BORDONARO/GLEANER NEWS

By Geremy Bordonaro

What are some Annex icons? The Hot Docs Ted Rogers (formerly Bloor) cinema perhaps, or the Trinity St. Paul’s Centre. Some might point to the University of Toronto, or the streets lined with bay and gable style houses. Until recently, surely one would have said Honest Ed’s, or even the Victory Cafe.

[pullquote]“We had Jeff Healey, who loved old jazz and was playing it with the Django Reinhardt group [Club Django] on Friday nights”—Paul Kellogg, founder, Victory Cafe[/pullquote]

The neighbourhood pub closed late last year to make way for the Mirvish Village redevelopment, and seemed poised to go the way of that other storied pub, the Brunswick House. However, it’s about to reopen, and not for the first time.

Opened in the 1990s, the Vic has been a go-to destination thanks to the vision and determination of original owner Paul Kellogg, who built the business on a simple, but effective, concept.

“Its first incarnation was at Bathurst [Street] at the corner of Follis [Avenue]. We started there in a 26 licensed space, but we squeezed in 36 seats,” recalled Kellogg. “We wanted to turn it into a new place, an alternative, that would offer comfort food, quality comfort food, that was inexpensive. A place where students and creative people would hang out. And that’s exactly what happened.”

The cafe had humble beginnings, to be sure. The first of the its three, soon to be four, locations was small but unique. Kellogg made an interesting decision when settling on the name for his new place.

“Yeah, I stole it. I had a girlfriend in New York at the time who was a vice president at JP Morgan Bank and from a wealthy family. She took me to a fabulous hamburger place in New York called the Victory Cafe. I looked up at this guy’s polo shirt and it had the same logo on it and I said that’s it.”

And soon enough the Vic gained a following. People — artists, professionals, students — from all over the city frequented the small cafe.

“Strangely it wasn’t only the hangout for actors and creative people in the Annex and Seaton Village but beyond,” Kellogg said. “Because there just weren’t enough places that were reasonably priced that were not greasy spoons at the time.”

When Kellogg ran the Victory Cafe it became a who’s who of people from throughout the city, including Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina).

“I first met the Victory Cafe probably when I was a recent graduate student and it was a fun place to have a beer,” said Layton. “They tended to have a bit more of a selection than a lot of the other places that we were used to. They had a nice outdoor space, a good upstairs space for events, reasonably priced food, and good company. Through my twenties and probably until the end of my thirties I frequented the place.”

But even though the cafe found success it was still difficult to keep up with bills and demand. The Victory Cafe needed a bigger venue, and quickly, or it would soon start to flounder.

“I was about to give up and Ed Mirvish’s people called and offered me this huge, 5,000-square-foot double Victorian on Markham Street,” Kellogg said. “I didn’t know it at the time, I was thrilled to take over the space, but it had over 20 years of bankruptcies: a very fine dining Chinese restaurant (one of the earliest in the city), a Greek place, and everything in between, but they were all going out.”

The Victory Cafe managed to defy the building’s legacy and become an even bigger success in its new location, which Kellogg renovated.

“I then built the second floor where we had Second City improvisational groups, comedy, and we had Jeff Healey, who loved old jazz and was playing it with the Django Reinhardt group [Club Django] on Friday nights,” Kellogg said. “I spent my life in radio and always wanted to support creative people who never made enough money to pay the rent.”

Posters from all sorts of performances lined the walls and the Victory saw the likes of John Candy and Stuart McLean come through its humble doors.

“The Victory Cafe has been a name in the Annex since the early ’90s. It is the Annex,” said Nick Ndreka, who bought the Victory Cafe in 2015. “It’s sad that Victory had to close but we got lucky and found a place.”

The Vic’s new home at 440 Bloor Street West will have the same atmosphere as its previous locations, but feature a selection of European beer and a wood-fired pizza oven.

He vows to maintain the spirit of the cafe in its new home. But a legacy like that is not likely to die out as Kellogg points out.

“There are a million stories that came out of the Victory. Some people have them, I have them, and it is kind of nice that things live on through those stories.”

Quebec recently passed Bill 62: An Act to foster adherence to state religious neutrality and, in particular, to provide a framework for requests for accommodations on religious grounds in certain bodies.

Unwieldy title aside, Bill 62 does little to separate church and state as its sponsors allege. The bill, which requires a person who delivers or receives public services to have their face uncovered, is a thinly veiled discriminatory attack on the fundamental rights of the minority of Muslim women who cover their face with a niqab or burka.

The law is a clear violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and is a politically motivated oppression of a socially vulnerable religious minority. A de facto healthy dose of gender discrimination is thrown in, just in case you think this thing will survive a court challenge.

Many in the media have taken a technical read of the bill and decided it would be fun to report on this as a war on dark sunglasses. Yes, the bill is poorly crafted, doomed to fail, but reducing it to comedy misses the point.

The Quebec government is facing a general election in a year’s time, and the opposition parties are even more hawkish in opposing religious accommodation. As it stands, all parties are trying to garner support from the 87 per cent of the electorate that support the mandatory removal of the religious garb. It’s yet another way of telling women how to dress, and that is no laughing matter. Particularly so, when you consider how universally the law would apply. Anyone taking public transit, using the library, attending a publicly-funded school, or receiving health care would be affected.

“To take public transit you have to have your face uncovered, all through the ride,” said Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée. A veiled woman might be reasonably expected to reveal her face to confirm photo identification, but why insist that she do so while in transit? It’s all about an inability to embrace the “other”. Diversity may be a hard pill to swallow but it’s not only our future, it’s our present.

Most people in Toronto, for example, now identify themselves as visible minorities: 51.5 per cent of respondents according to Statistics Canada’s 2016 census. Across the nation, one fifth of the population was born outside of Canada. They settle largely in urban centres like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver and represent 250 unique ethnic origins.

It’s disturbingly clear that many are not willing to accept this new reality.

Some critics of women who choose to be covered say they are acting for the oppressed who are unable or powerless to recognize and oppose the oppression. Indeed, Vallée considers herself a trailblazer in crafting this legislation.

It’s telling that the Quebec government keeps insisting this is all about the religious neutrality of the state, but this is the same government that refused to entertain an opposition motion made by Quebec Solidaire to remove the crucifix over the Speaker’s Chair.

It has been there for 81 years, and there it remains.

READ MORE

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)

Large fenced off-leash area for dogs

The new and improved Bickford Park is a great place to take in the autumn leaves. It features large fields, a customized dog park, and new benches. GEREMY BORDONARO/GLEANER NEWS

By Mike Layton

Bickford Park has something for everyone. It is highly programmed with many residents competing for space for youth baseball, adult softball, pick-up soccer, off-leash dogs, tobogganing, and simply enjoying the natural beauty of the park.

Despite its natural beauty and heavy use, Bickford Park has been a source of frustration for many residents. Soon after taking office in 2010, I was approached by neighbours about making changes to the park that might help relieve some of the conflicts that existed.  While there wasn’t consensus on what needed to be done, everyone agreed something needed to be done.

[pullquote]New Bickford Park, while not perfect, has become an improved experience for all park users.[/pullquote]

Knowing that conversations about off-leash dog areas often lead to difficult discussions, we initiated a thorough consultation process, aiming to gather perspective from as many stakeholders as possible before making recommendations to build a better Bickford Park. All our neighbours, however they used the park, needed to be part of a lasting solution.

Over fours years, we held regular meetings with a stakeholder committee, community open houses, and collected public opinion surveys. Developing an understanding of how others experience the park was at the core of getting the changes that Bickford Park needed to better function.

Consultants were hired to work with the City of Toronto’s landscape architecture team to bring together plans for the park. One of the approaches we took was to look at the surrounding park spaces (in this case Christie Pits, Bickford, and Art Eggleton parks) and determine how we might be able to ensure that all the parks in this area of the city were providing a variety of programs and opportunities to local residents.

I can confidently say that new Bickford Park, while not perfect, has become an improved experience for all park users.

I would like to offer my deepest gratitude and thanks to all those residents who participated in this long consultation process. Your commitment and dedication have resulted in a better park for all!

The new pathways allow for an accessible entranceway into the park and a better experience moving around the space. The new tree planting reinforces the park’s natural beauty. The large fenced off-leash area has led to fewer conflicts between dogs, kids, and sports players. And by building a second T-ball diamond in Art Eggleton Park, a new space has been created for the next generation of neighbours to enjoy our outdoors.

New challenges will continue to emerge within the park, as they do in all parks, but the trust and strength of the relationships we have built through planning the new Bickford park will help us face them together.

Realizing the potential Bickford Park contained is one of my proudest achievements as councillor for this area. And one that I hope all who put time into the project can say they are proud of as well.

Mike Layton is the councillor for Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina.

READ MORE BY MIKE LAYTON

FORUM: Recognize and reconcile Canada at 150 (July 2017)

FORUM: San Francisco a model to follow (April 2017)

FORUM: Tolls, taxes, and Toronto (February 2017)

FORUM: Seeing our neighbourhood through new eyes (December 2016)

FORUM: We can do better: Dangerous summer for Toronto pedestrians and cyclists (October 2016)

FORUM: Curious story of Christie Pits pool liner ends in extended hours at Alex Duff (August 2016)

FORUM: A tribute to a friend (June 2016)

FORUM: Large problem, small solution (March 2016)

FORUM: Happy New Year from a new Dad with a new perspective (January 2016)

Merchants need to look to themselves

By Albert Koehl

What if Bloor Street merchants — especially those who believe the bike lane is bad for business — could magically create a new supply of parking spots for their motoring customers?

A recent report commissioned by the local BIAs (Bloor Annex and Koreatown) and the City of Toronto suggests that the possibility is hardly far-fetched.

Issues about parking demand and supply have traditionally been informed by assumptions, particularly that a parked car equals a deep-pocketed shopper. In reality, the car owner might be engaged in any number of other activities that don’t include spending money, like visiting a tenant who lives above a store. A new report sheds light on the parking demands of a particular group — merchants themselves. The Toronto Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) found that 49 per cent of local merchants drive to their businesses. Most of them then park on Bloor Street, a side-street, or a Green P lot. Spots taken by merchants are obviously not available to their customers.

The TCAT study, which interviewed ground floor merchants in Koreatown and the Annex, found that in real numbers, merchants (who responded) take up 62 parking spots. Less than one quarter of these spots are in private areas, like exclusive merchant parking areas. In the context of the much-ballyhooed 160 parking spots removed from the entire length of the pilot bike lane, merchant parking demand is significant.

The total number of merchant parking spots along the bike lane is actually much higher. The study did not include the large number of below-ground and upper floor merchants, nor did it include the area outside of the Koreatown and Bloor Annex BIAs (east of Madison Avenue and west of Montrose Avenue). When the entire 2.5 kilometre Shaw Street to Avenue Road area — as opposed to the 1.5 kilometre study area — is included, there are about 345 merchants, according to Toronto employment surveys used by TCAT. Assuming that the same percentage of these merchants drive, the total number of parking spaces occupied by merchants would be about 130 — not far off the 160 parking spots lost to the bike lane.

Merchants therefore have the opportunity to open up parking spots for their customers by changing their mode of travel. For those merchants who must drive (though it would be useful to establish why) — perhaps to pick up supplies during the day — there are options, including local driveways that remain empty during the day or a parking app like Rover that connects (for a fee) motorists with residents who have available parking.

Anecdotally, I recognize the cars of two merchants who always park in spots on my side-street close to Bloor Street. These parking spots are free of cost during the day, and there is no time limit. (It’s no surprise that one of these merchant is an ardent opponent of the bike lane.)

Since merchants will generally arrive earlier than their customers, and stay longer, the demand on the parking supply by merchants is magnified. If a merchant parks for three hours this would replace nine customers who shop for twenty minutes.

There is little disincentive for merchants who drive to work. The fees in Green P lots are surprisingly low. A car can be parked all day in a Green P lot along the bike lane for $8 — a bargain that might have impressed Honest Ed. The fact that parking costs can be written off by merchants is an additional benefit. Even on-street Bloor Street parking in Koreatown is cheap. A motorist can park for three hours for $6.75.

Merchants, particularly those operating variety and drug stores, or drycleaners, who may need Bloor Street parking spots for customers who pop in quickly, would do better to point the finger at their fellow (motoring) merchants than the bike lane.

Merchants’ driving habits may explain why many continue to oppose the bike lane. Merchants may simply be assuming that their own driving habits reflect those of their customers.

Despite earlier studies by TCAT showing that only 10 per cent of customers arrive by car, many merchants continue to wildly over-estimate the contribution of motorists to their businesses. According to TCAT’s survey, 58 per cent of merchants believe that over one-quarter of their customers arrive by car. Indeed, 11 per cent of merchants estimated that 75 to 100 per cent of their business comes from motorists!

Merchants who remain concerned about the loss of parking on Bloor Street — despite TCAT’s findings that business in the area is up since installation of the bike lane — would do better to speak to their fellow merchants than to blame cyclists.

Albert Koehl is an environmental lawyer and founder of Bells on Bloor. The group was a partner in the Tour de Bloor passport, which promoted local businesses to cyclists.

READ MORE:

NEWS: Here to stay? (October 2017)

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

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

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)

Lectures, arts talks, and creative workshops

By Heather Kelly

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION WEEK EVENTS

The 37th Annual Neuberger Holocaust Education Week takes place throughout Toronto November 2-9, 2017. This year, the event examines Pivotal Moments that have shaped our understanding of the Holocaust.

The Miles Nadal JCC is presenting a gallery exhibition, Built to Remember – The Holocaust Museums of Today and Tomorrow, on view from November 2 to 29, which shows how museums’ narratives and stories have had a significant impact on how the Holocaust is understood. A free lecture entitled Living Room Witnesses: The Holocaust on American Television by Professor Jeffrey Shandler is on November 4.

The Toronto Jewish Film Society will present the powerful documentary, Bogdan’s Journey, on November 5, about forty Holocaust survivors seeking shelter in Kielce, Poland, who were murdered by townspeople, and how Polish authorities suppressed the story. A panel discussion LGBTQ+ in the Holocaust and Beyond will take place on November 6.

And finally, violinist Isabelle Durin and pianist Michaël Ertzscheid will perform Music, Cinema and Memory at Alliance Française on November 8.

INDIGENOUS CINEMA AND FILMS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

Enjoy a free screening of The Road Forward, part of the NFB Indigenous Cinema on Tour, at the Bata Shoe Museum on November 22.

The Japan Foundation also presents free film screenings throughout the month, including The Tale of Samurai Cooking; Mitsuko Delivers; and Time of Eve.

The Estonian Documentary Film Festival EstDocs will take place at the Museum of Estonians Abroad November 3-7.

If you haven’t checked out Alliance Française’s ongoing Movie Thursdays, stop in for a different film each week.

Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema presents an unflinching look at the uprising in Ferguson, Missouri, with Doc Soup’s screenings of Whose Streets?, November 1-2. Discover The Dangerous Life of John Mcafee on November 7 at True Crime Tuesdays. Jane, life with Jane Goodall and her chimpanzees, opens November 10.

Career advice and free arts and culture networking takes place November 14 at Culture Workers Unwind, Bill Nye: Science Guy opens November 17, and Game Changers returns to the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.

FASHION

Is Fashion Modern? Find out at an illustrated talk presented by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura and Bata Shoe Museum on November 7 at the Bata Shoe Museum. Paola Antonelli from The Museum of Modern Art will examine the relationships between fashion and functionality, cultural etiquettes, aesthetics, politics, labour, identities, economies, and technology. And at the ROM, in celebration of the House of Dior’s 70th anniversary, a new exhibition Christian Dior explores the brilliance behind Dior’s dramatic creations, opening with access during Friday Night Live: Chic on November 24.

CONCERTS & MUSICAL THEATRE

Latino singer Yasmin Levy returns to The Royal Conservatory of Music‘s Koerner Hall November 1 with NYC band The Klezmatics. Soprano Barbara Hannigan performs an artful look at the Second Viennese School on November 10. Canadian jazz singer Holly Cole makes her debut on November 17. Then two of the best Latin jazz pianists and band leaders in the world, Danilo Pérez and Alfredo Rodríguez, bring their trios to Koerner Hall on November 25.

Acclaimed fortepiano virtuoso Kristian Bezuidenhout returns to direct Tafelmusik in Mozart’s Piano at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, November 9-12, a program of eighteenth-century keyboard gems and orchestral works. Ivars Taurins leads the orchestra and chamber choir in Four Weddings, a Funeral and a Coronation, November 29-December 3, at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. Life’s milestones get a baroque close-up with music by Charpentier, Handel, Purcell and Pachelbel’s famous Canon and Gigue. There will be a free chat before each concert. Then on November 18 at 2 pm, Tafelmusik has a Close Encounter…in Paris, an intimate, hour-long informal chamber concert featuring music by Couperin, Rameau, and Marais at Temerty Theatre, in the TELUS Centre.

The Toronto Consort kicks off its season with the courts of Renaissance Europe at Renaissance Splendours, November 17 and 18, at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. Elizabeth I of England, Charles IX of France, and the Dukes of Bavaria and of Milan are featured in this lavish program of songs, dances, fantasias, and madrigals.

Randolph Centre for the Arts presents MOLL, a world premiere musical from Leslie Arden and Cathy Elliott with Anna Theresa Cascio, November 28-December 4 at the Randolph Centre for the Arts’ Annex Theatre. MOLL is a contemporary adaptation of Defoe’s Moll Flanders, the story of an abused and desperate orphan, Sarah, who becomes a sex worker and tries to navigate her way out.

The 918 Bathurst Centre hosts the Music Works fundraising concert on November 8, the Music Gallery’s TAK: Love, Crystal and Stone + Darren Creech on November 18, and the musical comedy You Want it What Way: A Boy Band Tale, November 24-26.

ARTS TALKS & CREATIVE WORKSHOPS

The Bata Shoe Museum celebrates World Origami Day November 5 with a drop-in workshop 1-3 pm, and offers a two-part workshop November 11 and 18, to make beautiful earrings with Anishinaabekwe beading artist Stephanie Pangowis.

At 918 Bathurst, Pallas celebrates photography on November 11. On November 16, get ready for Hello Gorgeous!, a film lecture about Barbra Streisand’s career at the Miles Nadal JCC. Finally, the Gardiner Museum‘s winter clay classes offer a chance to learn a new skill and make unique, hand-crafted gifts just in time for the holidays.

Heather Kelly is the founder and director of the Bloor St. Culture Corridor. More information about events and locations can be found at www.BloorStCultureCorridor.com.

What’s left out is just as important

The data is in on the Bloor Street pilot bike lanes, and it seems to support keeping the lanes. (Now that the bike lanes are in, even on a pilot basis, it’s a little surreal to me that anyone actually wants to pull them out.) But speaking of data, it’s worth thinking about which data gets included, as well as how the data itself is interpreted.

[pullquote]Why should the neighbourhood continue to function as a thoroughfare for car commuters? This is a neighbourhood, not a highway.[/pullquote]

There’s the traffic flow studies, whether cars have been delayed, and how many cyclists use the lanes. The local BIAs have also spent a lot of money studying the impact on businesses, considering the difficulty with loading supplies and that sort of thing. But absent from these studies is data that is harder to quantify.

For example, a Barcelona Institute for Global Health study found that children exposed to fine particulate matter (found in car exhaust) had a reduction in the growth of working memory. Then there’s the association between commuting by bicycle and lower rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The majority of people operating businesses on Bloor Street have reported an increase in business, something that goes against the wisdom of the majority of shop owners. It’s a sign of the changing times that more business comes from foot and bike traffic than cars. Young people are shunning vehicle ownership in droves and with good reason. Who wants to sit in traffic all day long? Fewer than 10 per cent of patrons along the corridor depend on a car to get where they are going.

Why should the neighbourhood continue to function as a thoroughfare for car commuters? This is a neighbourhood, not a highway.

If we want to increase business further, we need to take the money we put into subsidizing car parking spots and put it into making transit more affordable. At $3.25 per ride, it’s a big deterrent for me to get out and spend money. I know, for my family, we stopped going to dinner at places that aren’t within walking distance unless we are meeting friends or family. The extra $13 every meal adds up.

Here’s another piece of data we know. Westbank plans on adding 800 residential units to the former Honest Ed’s site. If cars have a long commute now, wait until there are 800 more cars in the neighbourhood and there are no bike lanes to encourage cyclists to relieve the congestion.

The data also leaves out the impact of technology on transportation.

Few people in the tech sector think that a broad rollout of driverless cars is more than five to ten years away. Self-driving vehicles will mean a lower percentage of vehicle ownership altogether.

Car culture will go down in history as one of the biggest mistakes any society has ever made. The more we build, the more congestion we will get. Public policy that focused on moving cars is an anachronism of the past. The reality is that we no longer have to plan our cities, and our lives, around cars. Car makers are no longer the big employers they once were.

The evidence is already overwhelming in favour of the bike lanes. A lot of data has been presented, but a lot of data has been left out, mostly because we can’t quantify it. This goes for all data-driven decisions.

Evidence-based decision making is great. We just have to know which evidence is and isn’t being considered.

Terri Chu has a master’s degree in engineering, and is committed to practical environmentalism. This column is dedicated to helping the community reduce energy, and help distinguish environmental truths from myths.

READ MORE GREENINGS BY TERRI CHU:

Reducing paper waste (Fall 2017)

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

Lessons from Madrid (June 2017)

Thoughts on hitting the 400 benchmark (May 2017)

Solving the food waste problem (April 2017)

Kellie Leitch was right (March 2017)