The Toronto and East York Community Council unanimously endorsed a planning staff recommendation to approve Westbank Projects Corp.’s application to redevelop the southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst streets on April 4. It’s a significant milestone that comes after three years of community consultations and collaborative work between the Vancouver-based developer, planning staff, and community […]

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Process to designate Kensington Market underway By Geremy Bordonaro After a year of study and consultation, the city is going ahead with the process to designate Kensington Market a Heritage Conservation District (HCD). The decision was announced at a community consultation meeting last month. “It’s a two-year process,” said Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina). “By […]

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Nearly one hundred bar and restaurant staff from Kensington Market participated in a free workshop on how to deal with drug overdoses on Feb. 27. Organized by the Kensington Market BIA and Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), the workshop taught participants how to recognize and respond to an overdose. Queen West Central Toronto Community Health […]

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Community, city closer to approving Mirvish Village development By Geremy Bordonaro It all came down to this: one final community meeting about Westbank Projects Corp.’s application to build a large mixed-use development on the former site of Honest Ed’s and Mirvish Village. After a long and unprecedented involvement from the community — including residents and […]

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Not just buildings By Joe Cressy If you’ve ever made your way to a development meeting in Ward 20, you’ve heard me talk about the need to build community as we grow and change. With almost one quarter of all proposed development in the entire city occurring in our ward, we’d be leading ourselves astray without this focus. This has […]

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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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Protecting heritage doesn’t mean freezing areas in time By Joe Cressy As is often said, Rome wasn’t built in a day. In comparison, Toronto may be a relatively young city, but that doesn’t mean we have no history to speak of — far from it. Preserving our city’s heritage is critical. It tells us something […]

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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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