PHOTO COURTESY HVRA: Wendy Smith accepts the 2015 Peggy Kurtin Memorial Award on behalf of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA). Presented annually by the Toronto Historical Association, the award recognized the HVRA’s oral history project, as well as its website.   READ MORE: Harbord’s history a mystery (January 2016) By Annemarie Brissenden Alive with […]

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Plan to transform underutilized space [pullquote]“This is a major greening initiative for the neighbourhood”—Jonathan Da Silva, Bloor-Annex BIA[/pullquote] By Annemarie Brissenden Bloor Street West is about to get a whole lot greener, and it’s all thanks to the trees. Currently confined to box planters, Bloor Street’s trees are suffering. The concrete boxes — sometimes known […]

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Pharmacy drugstore chain says it will respect building’s heritage [pullquote]“This will be a relief to the neighbourhood”—Sue Dexter, HVRA[/pullquote] By Annemarie Brissenden After one last weekend-long blowout, the doors of the Brunswick House closed for good, leaving the neighbourhood eagerly anticipating the site’s next, presumably quieter and more agreeable, incarnation. “Identifying a new tenant is […]

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Student athletes launch online petition By Marielle Torrefranca In the latest of a saga of hurdles, construction of Central Technical School’s $7-million sports facility has been stopped until further notice, said Razor Management Inc. (RMI). According to a Razor news release, the work stoppage comes after the company received a three-year retroactive tax bill of […]

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Razor Management Inc., which operates the existing athletic facility at Monarch Park Collegiate Institute and is installing a similar field at Central Technical School, announced this month that it had received an unexpected retroactive municipal tax bill of $505,000 relating to the Monarch Park facility. It has also been informed that it will face similar […]

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Harbord Village plan targets laneways, parkettes By Marielle Torrefranca Harbord Village is aiming to get a whole lot greener. Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) and the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA), a community-led volunteer organization, have released a joint Green Master Plan, which outlines a series of actions to create urban green spaces in the […]

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Animating our local laneways By Joe Cressy Downtown communities like ours face unique challenges and countless opportunities. Almost every day, in conversations at our local coffee shops, in public meetings, and as we connect with our neighbours, we look for ways to work together to build our communities. We look for opportunities to enhance our […]

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Bloor-Borden farmers market returns By Victoria Prouse “You shop differently in a farmers market than a supermarket,” says Gus Sinclair, former chair of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) and co-founder of the Bloor-Borden Farmers’ Market. “In a farmers’ market, people pause; they stop over tomatoes and talk about how the kids are doing at […]

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The clean-up, which occurred on Apr. 21, was organized with the assistance of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) ,and sponsored by 37 neighbourhood businesses, banks and restaurants, including Scotiabank, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Mirvish Productions, and Loire restaurant (119 Harbord St.), which hosted a catered after-party for participants.

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CRITICS SAY InfoToGo PILLARS ARE MERELY ADS By Mike Shulman The growing presence of pillars with reduced information and more advertising have drawn the ire of public space advocates, city councillors, and local residents and businesses. Critics of the pillars, installed by Astral Media, say they give priority to advertising while neglecting safety, sidewalk access, and their […]

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By Perry King Unlike many development disputes across the city, talks between developers and residents have been so healthy for a proposed Bloor-Bathurst condo that the project has already been scaled down considerably. “We had a couple of meetings—the councillor, some of his office staff and HVRA (Harbord Village Residents’ Association) board members—and basically I […]

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By Perry King When Tim Grant went to a Green Party policy conference two years ago to hear more about their platform, he was “prepared to be unimpressed.” “The Green Party in this riding has been very weak organizationally. This is one riding where more people spend and donate to green causes than any other […]

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