Should infill take precedence over upward building? By Brian Burchell With affordable housing at a premium in Toronto, two councillors are proposing to open up the city’s 2,400 laneways to infill development. Arguing that residential growth in the city must not only be vertical and sprawling, Mary-Margaret McMahon (Ward 32, Beaches-East York) and Ana Bailão […]

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Landlord shuts Pacifico Life storefront By Geremy Bordonaro It was 2 p.m. three days before Christmas when she got the telephone call. Tamara Hirsh was working in the recently opened location of her medical marijuana dispensary when her landlord, Yong Jo, called and told her that the 444 Bloor St. W. storefront had to be […]

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Recommendations for mandating community participation By Annemarie Brissenden Four local residents’ associations, collectively representing the north end of Ward 20, banded together late last month to submit commentary on the province’s review of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). In their letter to the Province of Ontario’s planning policy branch, the Annex Residents’ Association (ARA), Harbord […]

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Residents decry loss of green space and heritage impacts By Brian Burchell It was billed as a community consultation, but a Nov. 29 meeting on plans to add an 11-storey mixed-use building and eight stacked townhouses to the north and south of the existing 25-storey tower at 666 Spadina Ave. was more about airing grievances […]

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Phase one to include removal of fence By Annemarie Brissenden Plans are afoot to green the Annex campus of Monsignor Fraser College, but help — lots of help — is needed to raise the $300,000 it will cost to make that happen. Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) trustee Jo-Ann Davis (Ward 9, St. Paul’s, […]

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Favourites include carol singing, winter solstice We asked our local representatives how they spend the holidays. Councillors Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) and Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina), Toronto District School Board Trustee Ausma Malik (Ward 10, Trinity-Spadina), and our MPP Han Dong (Trinity-Spadina) shared their favourite traditions, their proudest achievement of the year, and […]

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Protecting the intangible along with the tangible By Joe Cressy Ward 20 is home to some of our city’s most vibrant neighbourhoods — communities characterized by unique and diverse groups of neighbours, businesses, physical structures, contemporary public art, and iconic cultural destinations. And, neighbourhoods that are actively working on initiatives to transform forgotten laneways and […]

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READ MORE: 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) Early brewer the basis for Bloor […]

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Spadina Avenue high-rise not a bar for height By Annemarie Brissenden A 25-storey, 334-unit apartment building is providing the model for a new mixed-student residence at the northwest corner of Spadina and Sussex avenues, but not in the way local residents’ associations would like. “It’s effectively the same height as 666 [Spadina Ave.],” said Scott […]

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Building up will allow us to create the sizable park downtown needs By Joe Cressy A central park in downtown Toronto. It’s an old idea whose time has come. Now, all we need is a little creativity, political will, and a commitment from Toronto City Council to invest significant money to make it happen. Let’s […]

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By Annemarie Brissenden The city has responded to a developer’s application to build what many have termed a “vertical rooming house” at 316 Bloor St. W. with a development of its own: the Bloor Corridor/Annex Block Study. “Two applications led us to believe that there is a certain amount of development pressure in the Annex,” […]

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The Annex’s cycling community celebrated the unveiling of the Bloor Street pilot bike lane project on Aug. 12. Speaking at the unveiling, Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) noted that talks of a Bloor Street bike lane date to 40 years ago, when cyclists were taking to the streets even though the city had no bike […]

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