Michael's Bloor-Lansdowne Blog

Dufferin Grove post removed

2011-07-22T12:11:00.004-04:00

I decided to remove my last post about Dufferin Grove Park, because I didn't want to risk my job any further. As a city employee, I am not allowed to speak publicly about management decisions affecting the park.

The three cities of Toronto

2011-05-04T18:02:00.016-04:00

Bloor and Lansdowne is changing as middle-class people buy houses formerly owned by working-class immigrants. In many ways this neighbourhood is becoming more pleasant for those who can afford to live here. New businesses are opening on Bloor Street. There are new cultural activities like the annual Big on Bloor festival or the music nights at the Holy Oak and 3-Speed. The Bloor and Gladstone library which has always had a fine old building was recently expanded. It's possible to pleasure skate at Campbell rink without being chased away by hockey players.

Of course, things aren't perfect. Change takes time and some of the old problems persist. While Bloor St. between Lansdowne and Dufferin has improved, drug dealers and prostitutes haven't completely disappeared. Every once in a while 14 Division sends out bulletins about swarmings and other robberies. Still, the neighbourhood overall is getting better if - and it's starting to be a big if - you have enough money to live here.

This isn't the only neighbourhood that's changing. If anything, gentrification is coming here later than it has in other parts of the old city. I can see how if you live and spend most of your time in the central part of Toronto, you might be mystified by the assertion that the city is in serious trouble. That's because Toronto's social problems (unemployment, poverty, poor housing and crime) are moving to the suburbs. The most serious problems aren't at Bloor and Lansdowne. They can be found in places like Malvern, Rexdale and Flemingdon Park.

In my recent posting about the lack of debate on immigration during the election, I mentioned research done by David Hulchanski of the University of Toronto. I would like to quote a few paragraphs from his 2008 study The Three Cities of Toronto. (You can download a free copy of the study here.) The study shows how poverty has moved from the central city to the inner suburbs and is becoming concentrated in specific neighbourhoods. In other words, there is growing income polarization in Toronto and if you don't live in one of the poor neighbourhoods it's easy to think the city is doing well when it isn't.

Here's the excerpt:

Toronto's neighbourhoods fall into three clear groups based on income change, 1970 to 2005. The first, which we call City #1, is a predominantly high-income area of the City of Toronto in which neighbourhood incomes have risen a great deal relative to the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) average since 1970: these neighbourhoods are generally found in the central city and close to the city's subway lines. By contrast, City #3 is a generally low-income area of Toronto, in which neighbourhood incomes have fallen substantially over the past few decades compared to the CMA average; these neighbourhoods are found mostly in the northeastern and northwestern parts of Toronto. In between these two is City #2, a mainly middle-income area, where neighbourhood incomes have remained fairly close to the CMA average since 1970. While all cities can be divided into various groupings, the important finding in this research is the consistent trend over time: the three groups of neighbourhoods are changing at different rates and moving further apart.

The middle-income area of the city shrank dramatically between 1970 and 2005, while the high-income area increased slightly and the low-income area increased substantially. Based on comparisons of neighbourhood income with the CMA average, the proportion of middle-income neighbourhoods (incomes less than 20% above or below the CMA average in each year) was 66% in 1970, but only 29% in 2005. Meanwhile over the same period, high-income neighbourhoods (neighbourhood incomes 20% or more above the CMA average) grew from 19% of the city's neighbourhoods to 53% (extremely low-income neighbourhoods grew from 1% to 9%). Middle-income households have not simply moved to the suburban municipalities beyond Toronto, beccause a similar trend can be seen in the rest of the Toronto CMA.

Poverty has moved from the centre to the edges of the city. In the 1970s, most of the city's low-income neighbourhoods were in the inner city. This meant that low-income households had good access to transit and services. Some of these neighbourhoods have gentrified and are now home to affluent households, while low-income households are concentrated in the northeastern and northwestern parts of city (the inner suburbs), with relatively poor access to transit and services.

These are long-term trends. The study looked at trends for a 35-year period, and found most of the changes to be persistent. The polarization of the city into wealthy neighbourhoods and greater numbers of disadvantaged neighbourhoods is continuing and middle-income neighbourhoods are disappearing.

As far as I know, Hulchanski doesn't share my opinion that immigration should be reduced. Nonetheless, the information in his study points in that direction. Overall, recent immigrants to Toronto aren't doing as well as earlier cohorts. That's a sign something is wrong with our immigration policy.

Diversity for the sake of diversity

2011-05-04T09:35:00.043-04:00

Yesterday I posted some comments on the federal election in which I emphasized the commitment of all the parties to a policy of admitting 250,000 immigrants a year. I tried to show why this is bad for Toronto, but I don't think I did a good job. Attempting to say a lot quickly, I probably wrote a few things people found hard to understand. For example, I used the expression diversity for the sake of diversity. I'm guessing some readers scratched their heads over that, so today I'll try to explain what I meant.

When I wrote diversity for the sake of diversity, I had in mind the idea that immigration should be used as a tool to deliberately make Canada more culturally and racially diverse. In other words, instead of seeing immigration as a way to meet Canada's labour needs with some diversity as an incidental by-product, people now look at it as a way to promote diversity regardless of the economic impact. To put it another way, immigration is seen as a tool for social engineering.

Yesterday, I gave an example of this kind of thinking. Shortly before Pierre Trudeau left office he lowered the annual intake of immigrants in response to high unemployment during a recession. This wasn't controversial, because in the early 1980s, lowering and raising immigration numbers according to the needs of the labour market was routine. However, by the 1990s that had changed. When Preston Manning's old Reform Party put in its platform a proposal to lower immigration numbers during economic downturns, the media and other political parties condemned them for it. In other words, the party was denounced for proposing to handle immigration not much differently from how Trudeau had a decade earlier. Reformers were attacked because by the 1990s diversity had come to be seen as a defining feature of Canadian identity. A proposal to reduce immigration for economic reasons was now viewed as an attack against a fundamental national value. Treating immigration as an economic tool had become an act of sacrilege against the country's new secular religion. (Maybe tomorrow I'll have to explain what I mean by secular religion.)

Younger Canadians may find this hard to believe, but official multiculturalism is a relatively new policy. It was only introduced in the early 1970s while Trudeau was prime minister. For most of our history, immigration was restricted to European countries whose cultures were considered compatible with Canada's dominant Anglo-Saxon culture. Even in the 1960s after Diefenbaker opened up immigration to more countries, newcomers were still expected to assimilate. Most Canadians didn't see cultural diversity as something to celebrate. Instead there was a firm belief among English Canadians that their British-derived culture was superior. Canada's French-speaking minority was tolerated and some accommodations were made for the French language and Roman Catholic religion, but only grudgingly. Official multiculturalism, as much as official bilingualism, was a radical innovation, and I would argue, a pernicious one that threatens Canada's social stability.

Dark times ahead - my quick and dirty interpretation of yesterday's election results

2011-05-03T11:26:00.024-04:00

I'm one of the 167 people in Davenport who voted Communist. As hard as it might be to believe, I'm actually not a Marxist. Voting for the local Stalinist was my futile way of protesting a field of bad candidates. I see little good coming out of this election, because all the parties including the Conservatives support an immigration system that is causing tremendous harm to Toronto. The policy of allowing in 250,000 immigrants a year is not sustainable and will have to change if Canadians hope to keep their standard of living and quality of life. This figure of 250,000 a year (it rises and falls somewhat year to year) doesn't include temporary workers, foreign students (many of whom end up staying) or the illegal immigrants who work under the table and take jobs away from Canadians. (Yes, they are illegal and they should be deported!)

Toronto's growing social problems are well-documented. David Hulchanski, David Pecaut (when he was alive), the United Way and other agencies have all written reports that describe the growing gap between rich and poor, the concentration of poverty in specific neighbourhoods and the problem of the working poor struggling to survive on the minimum wage in an ever more expensive city. The problem of gangs and youth violence are also well known. The high drop out rate of black, Portuguese, Somali, Latin American and other youth has also been widely discussed. Toronto is a city in serious trouble and electing people like Andrew Cash will do nothing to change that.

People say Canada has always had immigration and that opposition to the current policy is based at best on ignorance and at worst on bigotry. I beg to differ. While it's true immigration has played a big role in Canadian history, the policy we have now is unprecedented because it is being justified by a multicultural ideology that didn't exist before Pierre Trudeau came to power in 1968. In the past, governments, including Trudeau's, made at least some effort to adjust immigration levels to fit Canada's economic needs, but this is no longer the case.

Trudeau, usually considered a pro-immigration Prime Minister, lowered immigration numbers before he left office in response to a recession, but when the Reform Party put in its platform a proposal to reduce immigration during economic downturns, the party was denounced. This is an example of how a blind faith in diversity for the sake of diversity has made it difficult to think rationally about immigration. I find it disturbing that there are groups like No one is illegal who actually believe there should be no restrictions on immigration at all or newspaper columnists like Doug Saunders who think Canada would benefit from an influx of a million poor Africans.

Today immigration is driven by a combination of social sector actors who have a career interest in maintaining their client base, business interests who want cheap labour, left-wing ideologues who hate whites as a matter of principle and ethnic (mostly non-white) voters who want to bring more of their own group into the country.

While Trudeau is responsible for introducing multiculturalism, the real perversion of immigration policy came in the 1980s under Brian Mulroney. Tired of losing the ethnic vote to Liberals, especially in vote-rich Toronto, the then Progressive Conservatves under Mulroney decided to play the ethnic pandering game. The Conservatives doubled the annual level of immigration from 88,000 to 190,000 a year (the annual intake later rose to 250,000). Just as importantly, Mulroney decided this number would remain the same regardless of economic conditions. This is why immigration levels remain high even though we have 7.7% official unemployment in Canada (a figure that doesn't include the many Canadians who have given up hope of ever finding a job).

NDP supporters want the federal government to pay more attention to Toronto. They want more federal money for public transit, public housing and improvements to urban infrastructure. I don't necessarily disagree but where is the money supposed to come from when the tax base is being eroded by the transfer of manufacturing plants to low-wage countries like China and Mexico? How can all levels of government possibly find the money to meet Toronto's social needs when those needs keep growing due to an immigration policy that doesn't take into account the poor job market for both immigrants and native-born Canadians? If the NDP wants to help Toronto, it should call for a moratorium on immigration, but that's not going to happen because people like Jack Layton, Olivia Chow, Peggy Nash and Andrew Cash are too influenced by multicultural ideology to face up to reality. I am very discouraged by yesterday's election results. Toronto faces a bleak future. There are dark times ahead.

In the GTA, the car is still king

2010-11-07T20:10:00.000-05:00

On Saturday night I went with a friend to see The Social Network at the Queensway Cineplex in Etobicoke. We went by car and so did most of other people there. The huge parking lot was packed. I can't imagine too many people would go there by TTC let alone on foot. This part of the Queensway isn't a walking street. It's designed for cars.

I don't go to the movies much so I was surprised by how busy the place was. The theatre we were in was full and the corridor was packed with people going to other movies. While we were walking out of the building, I asked myself how many of the people around me voted for Rob Ford. I would guess a lot, mainly because we were in an area where Ford beat Smitherman.

I was also thinking how hard it would be for me to live in Etobicoke, because I don't have a car. I've always lived near Bloor and Lansdowne and I'm used to walking places. I do use a bike and the TTC but I've never liked driving.

Recently there has been a lot of talk about a so-called war against cars. The Sun, for example, has written on this theme. There was a lot of anger over adding a bike lane to Jarvis. In this neighbourhood there was strong opposition to the narrowing of Lansdowne and to the new bike lanes on Dupont.

I suppose you could say in the part of town that was the old pre-amalgamation City of Toronto the streets are slightly less accommodating of cars than they used to be. Considering how bad traffic in this city is, I can understand why drivers feel frustrated. Still, it's hard to see a war against cars once you leave the old city. The car is still king in Toronto and I would say in most of the GTA it would be hard to live without one. People do, but it often means isolation or very long bus rides.

I said to my friend. I find car culture deplorable, because walking around and running into people I know helps give me a sense of community. I'm not saying community doesn't exist in the suburbs. It does, but it's not the same. At least that's what friends that live there tell me.

This brings me back to Rob Ford. A lot of people who live in the old part of Toronto, including me, were surprised Ford won. In my case, I was surprised because I thought Ford's record as a loose cannon would have sunk his candidacy before it began, but other people were surprised because they couldn't believe people would support his agenda. There's more than one reason people voted for Ford, but the belief that Miller was waging a war against cars was a factor in this election. People in the GTA hate gridlock but still love their cars.

And by the way, I liked the movie even though it play fast and loose with the facts surrounding the creation of Facebook.

Cooking Fire Theatre Festival at Dufferin Grove Wed. June 23 - Sunday June 27

2010-06-23T11:15:00.002-04:00

THE SEVENTH ANNUAL COOKING FIRE THEATRE FESTIVAL

Dinner is served from 6:00 PM, performances begin at 7:00 PM

Each evening, host company The Spee Society will lead the audience from site to site throughout the park to see performances ranging from the tale of a giant carrot to an opera about the nature of place. Delicious organic meals will be served to the audience over cooking fires and from Dufferin Grove Park’s two wood-fired outdoor bake ovens.

PROGRAM:
Clyde Umnie Co (Toronto) and NACL (Highland Lake, NY) The Little Farm Show
The Little Farm Show tells the story of an eccentric farmer named Millicent, and a giant, over-grown carrot hepped up on hormones, who has escaped the industrial carrot farm because she is too big to sell. Realizing her destiny is to be broken up and sold as a bag of ‘mini-carrots’, the Carrot makes a break for it, but soon discovers her freakishness out in society.

Théâtre Populaire d’Acadie (Caraquet, NB) & Satellite Theatre (Montreal) GRUB
In a glorious feast touching sometimes upon the clown, sometimes upon the burlesque, yet always the urge of an empty stomach, Grub speaks of food and all its substitutes, linking it all by a simple but true fact: eating is killing. Like the digestive system and all its mechanics, every species serves the planetary lunch. In the great jungle, eat... or be eaten!

Theatre Smith-Gilmour (Toronto) GRIMM too
This poignant and stunning piece of absurd theatre finds its inspiration from the tall tales unearthed by the Brothers Grimm. Faithful to the original Grimm stories, GRIMM too is a whimsical and moving piece filled with romance, tragedy, and comedy. These strange, mythical stories speak to us about our own experiences of fear, courage, love, hope, joy and wonder in our daily lives

The Hinterlands (Milwaukee, WI) The Dead Road
Inspired by the language of Cormac McCarthy and William S. Burroughs as well as the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1950’s and 60’s, The Dead Road is equal parts Wild West Show and cultural scavenger hunt, balancing the stillness of the open range with the rowdiness of a barroom brawl, and weaving vaudevillian comedy, live music, campfire songs, puppetry, and the smell of frying bacon into a passion play for the North American frontier.

The Alchemical Opera Project (Easthampton, MA) Come and Sleep
Using music from Schubert's 1827 song cycle Winter's Journey and poetry by Mary Oliver, Come and Sleep is an operatic fantasy between voice, cello, and silence, using sources as wide-ranging as Japanese fox folklore and the writings of polar explorers to explore the relationship between identity and place, and the consequences of transformation.

Performances begin at 7:00 PM, admission is pay-what-you-can ($10 suggested donation).

The A. M. Orpen Memorial wading pool in Dufferin Grove Park

2010-04-23T13:05:00.003-04:00

April 26, 1954. Sod-turning ceremony for the A. M. Orpen Memorial wading pool in Dufferin Grove Park. The man in the white coat is Abe Orpen's son Fred. (Toronto Archives photo. Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 7736)

Yesterday I posted a one-page history of the Dufferin Park race-track that I wrote for a historical display I am making for Dufferin Grove park's May 1 Jane's Walk. The track which was torn down in 1955 sat across the street from Dufferin Grove on the land now occupied by the Dufferin Mall. Because I wanted to keep the text short, I didn't mention one interesting fact.

The children's wading pool in Dufferin Grove park is named after the race-track's founder, Abe Orpen. The pool has this name because it was built in 1954 with a $10,000 donation from the A. M. Orpen Charitable Foundation. On April 22, 1954 this small item appeared on the front page of the Toronto Daily Star:

ORDER FULL SPEED ON 'ORPEN POOL'

"Full speed ahead" on the new A. M. Orpen wading pool in Dufferin Grove park was ordered by the board of control yesterday after the city was presented with a $10,000 cheque by Fred Orpen for the pool's construction. The pool will be similar to that built in Kew Gardens last year by the Lions club and will be a family memorial to a man widely known in Toronto sporting circles.

If you are in Dufferin Grove, take a look at the concrete ledge by the side of the pool next to the water fountain. You will find a plaque that reads:

THE A. M. ORPEN
MEMORIAL WADING POOL
1954
ERECTED IN MEMORY
OF
A. M. ORPEN
A LOVER OF CHILDREN
BY
MR. & MRS. F.S. ORPEN
& THEIR DAUGHTER IRENE

A brief history of Dufferin Park race track

2010-04-22T12:00:00.003-04:00

Toronto Archives photo of Abe Orpen in his office. The picture would have been taken in 1937 at the latest. (Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 3941) Note: the archives identifies the man in the picture as Fred Orpen, but I am certain it is Abe not his son. The archives citation says the photo was taken between 1910 and 1940. I have seen newspaper photos of Fred Orpen and even in the 1950s Fred was much younger than this. Abe Orpen died in 1937 and judging by the age of the man in the picture, I would say this picture was taken in Abe Orpen's latter years. Click to enlarge.

On Saturday May 1 at 11am and 4pm there will be a Jane's Walk at Dufferin Grove park. Staff and people who have done things for the park will set up stations showing the different activities that go on there as well as some of the city policies that make doing things harder. I am making a small historical display for the walk. As part of this project I have a written a one-page history of the Dufferin Park racetrack:

Dufferin Mall, on the west side of Dufferin St. across from Dufferin Grove park, sits on land that until 1955 was occupied by a half-mile race track officially called Dufferin Park, but unofficially nicknamed Little Saratoga and Sufferin Park.

The property where the track would sit was once owned by the Denison family and was already being used for private horse racing in the 1800s. In 1905, a group of investors including a well known gambling man by the name of Abe Orpen began to rent the land for public horse races.

In 1909 the Globe (the forerunner of today's Globe and Mail) started a campaign to shut down Dufferin arguing the races were being run under a provincial charter that was no longer valid. After holding hearings, Ontario's attorney general ruled the charter had expired. Abe Orpen appealed to Wilfred Laurier's government in Ottawa, which granted him a federal charter allowing him to operate four race tracks including the one at Dufferin Park. The controversy over the charter was part of a larger campaign by churches and newspapers against race-track gambling in Canada. (There was a similar movement in the United States.)

Abe Orpen owned the track until his death in 1937. Towards the end of his life, he had acquired a measure of respectability, but at the start of his career he was a controversial figure because of his gambling businesses. An obituary that appeared in the Globe and Mail described Orpen in his younger days as "the lawbreaker who ran the poolroom in old Toronto Junction, and came within an inch of going to jail as the proprietor of a gambling club on Wellington Street."

After Orpen died, the race track was taken over by his son Fred, who became known for among other things banging out on his piano a badly played rendition of God Save the Queen at the start of each racing day. In 1955 Fred Orpen closed Dufferin Park and sold it. The new owners tore down the track and built a strip mall known as Dufferin Plaza. In 1972, the stores in the plaza were put under a roof and the shopping centre was rechristened the Dufferin Mall.

During its fifty years of existence, Dufferin Park was more than a race track. It also served as a stadium for events like circuses and wild west shows. When the circus came to Dufferin, the animals and performers would march along Bloor and Brock in a parade from the old TTC barns on Lansdowne down to the track on Dufferin. In the June 30, 1911 edition of the Globe there is a display ad for the Young Buffalo wild west show at Dufferin Park. Among the featured performers is Annie Oakley, "peerless rifle and wing shot of the world." In addition to "Indians, Cowboys and Girls" the ad promised a "big street parade."

Dufferin Grove should be a model for the rest of the city - Toronto Star

2010-02-22T00:15:00.003-05:00

April 5, 2009: The annual Matzah bake by the pizza oven. One of the many community events that make Dufferin Grove a special place. Click to enlarge. More photos taken in the park here.

Catherine Porter writes in Saturday's Toronto Star (Porter: Bureaucratic meddling puts park's magic at risk, Feb. 20, 2010):

A battle is brewing at Dufferin Grove Park.

[...]

At the centre of this battle is Tino DeCastro.

He is the area's beloved recreation supervisor, having worked in the area since 1987. He's the kind of guy who listens to a neighbour's crazy idea, like allowing campfires or building an outdoor oven, or opening a skate rental service, all of which have happened under his tenure. He's a rarity in any bureaucracy. A guy who says, "Let's make it work," when others would say, "It's not permitted by city policy."

All this has made him a beloved man at Dufferin Grove Park.

So the community was shocked to find out last week that he's being reassigned to a new job. Come Monday, he'll supervise building maintenance elsewhere.

DeCastro says he's fine with it. But the folk at Dufferin Grove aren't. They see it as the parks and recreation department's latest attempt to snuff out the programs that have made their rink so special.

"They are trying to destroy Dufferin Grove and I think they will be successful," says Jutta Mason, a local grandmother with twinkling brown eyes who is the force behind much of the magic here. But, she is not alone. After she put out a call on the Dufferin Grove Park website earlier this week, more than 200 letters poured into city ombud Fiona Crean's office, asking for her help. (Crean has ruled that city staffing is not within her purview.)

[...]

Dufferin Park is exceptional. It should be the model for the rest of the city. There's a formula here – the happy combination of an involved community and a welcoming staff willing to form relationships and work together. Those things take time. They aren't measured on an accountant's spreadsheet.

[...]

I've sent a letter to the city's parks and environment committee chair, Councillor Paula Fletcher, asking her to listen to the residents near Dufferin Grove park. Her email address is: councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca. You should, too.

[...]

Read all of Catherine Porter's article.

If you are a Facebook user who cares about Dufferin Grove, you can join this group: Dufferin Grove Park needs your help!

See also this Nov. 21 Toronto Star article about Dufferin Grove, also by Catherine Porter:

The power of soup, skates and simplicity

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Pleasure skating and campfire at Campbell Park 4-6pm today

2010-02-13T09:25:00.003-05:00

Pleasure skating and campfire 4-6pm today at Campbell Park. Free hot chocolate and homemade donuts! $2 skate rentals. (Rentals require government-issued ID.) Don't miss out! Rink closes Feb 28.

Driver arrested at gunpoint after car crashes at Bloor and Emerson

2010-01-08T09:38:00.004-05:00

From the Toronto Star:

Toronto police weren't saying much Thursday night after an injured man was arrested at gunpoint following a car crash on a west-end street.

Residents in the area of Dupont St. and Lansdowne Ave. called 911 after hearing what they thought was the sound of gunshots before three vehicles sped south down Emerson Ave. towards Bloor St. W. around 6:00 p.m.

Moments later a grey compact car rammed into the rear of a van stopped on Bloor.

A roofer working on a nearby building said he heard the crash and looked down to see plainclothes police officers with their guns drawn yelling at the driver to get out of the crumpled Hyundai.

[...]

Read the whole article

See also:

Is Bloor and Lansdowne safe?
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Are there any problems at Toronto's outdoor skating rinks you would like to see fixed?

2010-01-05T12:36:00.004-05:00

Wallace Emerson rink Jan 2
On December 18, representatives from CELOS had a meeting with two members of the City of Toronto's ombudsman's office to discuss the possibility of filing a formal complaint about ongoing problems at the city's 49 outdoor artificial ice rinks. At the meeting CELOS was asked to provide a list of ten problems along with desired outcomes. The ombudsman, Fiona Crean, will then decide if the problems fall within her purview.

CELOS would like to hear from people who use Toronto's outdoor rinks. If you are a skater, hockey player or someone who just goes to the rink to watch your friends skate, you can submit your ideas of what needs to be fixed to mail@cityrinks.ca If you would like to learn more about some of the problems CELOS has discovered read Jutta Mason's Monday rink reports. To learn more about what is happening at your local rink, read CELOS' rink diaries. Find your rink's diary here. There are three outdoor rinks in the Bloor-Lansdowne area: Campbell, Wallace-Emerson and Dufferin Grove.

Dufferin Grove rink at 6:30pm Friday

2009-12-04T21:45:00.000-05:00

Dufferin Grove rink at 6:30pm Friday(Click to enlarge)
Teachers had a professional development day on Friday, so many of their students ended up coming to Dufferin Grove, which was one of the few city-operated skating rinks open. There was a non-stop demand for hot chocolate, cookies, mini-pizzas and muffins at the snackbar.

Fortunately, most of the city's other rinks including Campbell, Wallace-Emerson and Christie Pits open tomorrow. This should take some of the pressure off Dufferin which has been packed since it opened on November 22.

Cutting tree branches at Wallace and Lansdowne

2009-12-03T19:50:00.005-05:00

(Click to enlarge)
This truck was parked on Wallace Avenue east of Lansdowne on Wednesday. Workers were cutting down tree branches that were interfering with the hydro wires. The camera is facing towards Lansdowne.

Dufferin Grove rink was packed with skaters again last night

2009-12-01T09:39:00.020-05:00

(Click to enlarge)
I took this picture last night at Dufferin Grove. There's some blur, but it's good enough to show how crowded the hockey side was. If anything this picture makes the rink seem less packed than it was. When you're actually on the ice there's barely room to move. The pleasure-skating side was full too. People were going in and out of the skate rental room all evening long. Dufferin Grove is especially busy now because it's the only local rink open. Some of the men and boys now playing shinny at Dufferin will be going to Campbell and Wallace-Emerson when they open on Saturday December 5. It's too bad those rinks didn't open at the same time as Dufferin, because the demand for hockey is definitely there.

Although Dufferin is more crowded than usual now, it will stay busy all winter because unlike most outdoor rinks run by the City it offers good food and skate rentals for $2. The cheap rentals are good for people just learning to skate as well as for those who can't afford skates. Many of the people borrowing skates are new immigrants who have never been on the ice before. The rentals are also popular with people who have their own skates but didn't bring them because they stumbled on the rink while visiting the neighbourhood. You can read more about Dufferin Grove on the park website as well as in this Toronto Star article (Porter: The power of soup, skates and simplicity by Catherine Porter, Nov. 21).

Sometimes when I do research for CELOS, City staff tell me hockey and pleasure skating are dying sports because of Toronto's changing demographics. When I tell them the rinks in my neighbourhood are busy, they seem surprised. There is some truth to the claim that immigration is changing the city's recreation patterns. Cricket, for example, is exploding in popularity. The growing interest in soccer is also partly due to immigration, but surely in a place as big as Toronto there's room for more than one sport. To say that hockey and skating are dying is nonsense. City employees need to see what is happening in this neighbourhood. Anybody who thinks Torontonians have lost interest in ice skating and hockey should come by Dufferin Grove on a winter evening.

Saturday morning hockey at Dufferin Grove Park

2009-11-28T15:59:00.010-05:00

(Click to enlarge)
This morning I went to Dufferin Grove park and took some pictures of guys playing hockey. The outdoor rink at Dufferin has been open since last Sunday. It was supposed to open a week ago Saturday along with thirteen other outdoor rinks but there were some problems. However, now that Dufferin is up and running, the rink is very busy especially in the evening. (You can read more about Dufferin Grove in a story that appeared in last Saturday's Star: The power of soup, skates and simplicity.)

Altogether The City of Toronto operates 49 outdoor rinks with artificial ice. There is a fiftieth outdoor rink at Harbourfront which is not run by the City.

Some people are the under impression that the outdoor rinks they see in city parks have natural ice that melts in warm weather. That's not true. The 49 rinks have compressors that make the ice. You can't run the outdoor rinks in summer obviously, but in fall and winter the rinks still have ice even on relatively warm days. (There are some natural ice rinks in the city, but they aren't among the 49 that I'm talking about here.)

More important than the temperature is the angle of the sun. Even when the tempertature is the same, it's easier to make ice in autumn when the angle of the sun is low than it is in spring when the angle of the sun is high. CELOS has been pushing the City to open Toronto's rinks earlier in the season and that's the reason Dufferin opened early this year.

Brazen bike thief at Bloor and Russett

2009-11-22T19:30:00.003-05:00

On Saturday at 10:30pm I was walking on the north side of Bloor. When I got near Russett, I saw a very angry man standing on the road yelling at another man who was crouched down where some bicycles were chained up to a street pole. The first man was screamed "You have no right to steal that bike!" The second man, who had a saw in his hand, said, "It's my bike. I lost the key." The first man didn't believe him and kept on yelling. The second man got on the bike and said, "Hey, someone stole my bike." The first man yelled back, "And that gives you the right to spend twenty minutes sawing off a chain to get someone else's bike?" The second man said again, "Someone stole my bike" and then road up Russett. Everything happened quickly and it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. By the time I realized what I was seeing, the second man was already on the bike. For a second I thought about chasing him but I didn't want to get into a possibly violent confrontation with a stranger on Bloor. I did try to get a good look at the guy, but I'm not confident I would recognize him if I saw him again.

Light sculptures from yesterday's LAF NIGHTLIGHT PARTY

2009-11-22T11:20:00.004-05:00

I was planning to go to yesterday's LAF NIGHTLIGHT PARTY, but I missed it because of other obligations. Other obligations? Who am I kidding? I took a nap and overslept. There you have it. I'm old. Be that as it may, I did go out on Bloor at 8:30PM and take some pictures of the light sculptures on street poles. Here are a few of last night's creations:

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Invitation to collaborate in LAF NIGHTLIGHT PARTY | Bloor Street Walk

2009-11-20T10:28:00.005-05:00

LED lights, batteries, magnets and materials will be available to make small light sculptures for Bloordale blue streetlight poles.

Nov. 21, 2009, 4:30pm to 7:30pm at 1211 Bloor (the empty Shawarmama restaurant)

For more information about Nightlight contact Dyan at dyan@dyanmarie.com

Bloor Street LAF | Light, Art and Food Event
Nov. 21, 2009, 4pm to 8pm,
Walk Bloor Street from Lansdowne Ave. to Dufferin Street
22 restaurants, many with taster menus
3 art galleries
1 commissioned light sculpture by Orest Tataryn
100 artist-made nightlights
Special store window displays, events and art projects
see www.bloordale-bia.com for a complete listing

LAF is a Light, Art and Food event with artists, stores and restaurant owners collaborating to turn Bloor Street, from Lansdowne to Dufferin, into a late-fall walking destination on cold, dark November 21. We invite you to participate. Artists are creating small nightlight sculptures for Bloordale streetlamps to light up Bloor Street. Retail stores are transforming their shop windows with light and art projects. A number of special events and exhibitions will be staged throughout Bloordale. Restaurants are opening their kitchens to prepare taster menus at marginal cost - we encourage you to restaurant hop and try everything.
……
LAF is a DMP / Bloordale BIA initiative, a Cavalcade of Lights, City of Toronto BIA Participant and a Transcultural Exchange proposal for The Art Of Collaboration

For more information please see www.Bloordale-BIA.com
contact: LAF co-coordinator Dougal Bichan 416-645-0295 dougal@dougalco.com
or DMP dyan@dyanmarie.com

The political issue I care most about is immigration

2009-11-19T12:07:00.009-05:00

For the past three years I have been immersed in the pettiness of neighbourhood politics. What happens in this neighbourhood does matter to me, but Bloor and Lansdowne is only a small part of Toronto. While this area is, I think, improving, I am much less optimistic about the city as a whole. I'm not going to go into detail right now but rightly or wrongly, I believe Toronto is a city in decline and the main culprit is bad immigration policy. I am not opposed to all immigration but I believe there needs to be a drastic reduction, perhaps even a moratorium. Anyone who is interested in learning more about my views on immigration can start with these five links:

The Canadian Government Is Electing a New People

Immigration Unmentionable In Canada’s Election, As Usual

Disillusionment on the campaign trail: "I can't talk to anybody. None of them speak English."

Bad immigration policy is hurting our quality of life

Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?

A local guns and gangs case ends in two acquittals and one unsolved homicide

2009-11-05T09:30:00.004-05:00

From time to time I've written here about going to court to do research for CELOS, the small non-profit group based at Dufferin Grove park. The justice system initiative I was working on is now over because of a lack of funding as well as a lack of clarity over the project's goals. However, the year and a half I spent in court has left its mark and I still find myself thinking about what I saw there.

By far the most interesting story I followed was a guns and gangs case that began with the arrest of three young men in March 2008 and ended on July 15 of this year with acquittals of two of the accused, Isahaq Omar, 27, and Keane Webb, 22 on five charges related to the discovery of an illegal handgun hidden in the back seat of their car. The third man, Ryan Rowe-Reid, 20, couldn't be in court for the very compelling reason that he is dead, killed in a shootout in Scarborough on August 10, 2008.

This case started at 3am on Sunday March 30, 2008 when 14 Division officers Ricky Benevides and Jeff Correia stopped a black Acura at the corner of Dundas and Ossington. At the trial before Ontario Superior Court Justice Harriet Sachs, Benevides and Corriea gave several reasons for stopping the car including the fact that the driver may have been drinking since he and his passengers had just left the Baby Dolls Strip club on Ossington. The club, which has since closed, was a licensed establishment. Benevides gave Webb a sobriety test, which he passed.

The officers said another reason for the stop was that the car's registered owner, Pierre Ellis of Parsonage Drive, Scarborough, was unlicensed. They said they wanted to see if Ellis was driving, but it turned out he wasn't in the car that night. The police also had information from a database that Ellis was "a known gang member" affiliated with the Empringham Crips, a branch of the Malvern Crips.

(Two weeks after the trial, I read in an August 4 Toronto Sun article that a Pierre Oliver Ellis, 22, of Parsonage Drive, Scarborough was being sought by police in connection with a string of violent home invasions. Parsonage Drive is located near Empringham park. The article said police believed Ellis was armed.)

A third reason given for stopping the car was to gather information for an ongoing investigation, the details of which weren't presented in court. The defence would argue this other investigation was the real reason the car was stopped.

After stopping the car, the officers decided to search it. When they did, Correia found a loaded gun hidden behind the armrest in the back seat next to where Omar was sitting. A police press release dated April 3, 2008 described the prohibited weapon as

a Smith & Wesson handgun, with a magazine containing five Winchester .40 calibre hollow-point rounds, four Speer Smith & Wesson .40 calibre full-jacket rounds and one Lugar .9mm full-jacket round

The gun was turned up and there was a round in the firing chamber.

Much of the testimony at the trial concerned the legality of the search. The evidence went into excruciating detail about the reasons the officers decided to conduct a search without first getting a warrant. Correia and Benevides said they made the decision because they had reason to believe there was a gun in the car. It was Correia who did the actual search. In addition to Correia and Benevides there were other officers on the scene who had been called as backup. In one of his questions, Isahaq Omar's lawyer Dirk Derstine called it a "big production" for a routine traffic stop.

Among other considerations, Correia said when he approached the car he noticed the rear passenger, Omar, making a suspicious movement. He and Benevides said the front passenger, Rowe-Reid, was wearing a medallion with a gang symbol. The police also had information from a police database that Rowe-Reid had gang ties. He had a criminal record, had been the victim of a shooting and was under a court order prohibiting him from possessing a weapon. Correia also gave as a reason the fact that Omar's pants were half-way down between his waist and his knees. This made the officer suspect Omar had removed a gun from his waistband. Correia said if Omar had stood up, his pants would have fallen down. The officers' suspicions were also aroused because Omar gave police a false name.

The defence didn't dispute that Omar had given a false name but otherwise vigourously challenged the officers' testimony and demonstrated to the judge's satisfaction that the search had violated the accused's Charter rights. Sachs said she didn't believe Correia's testimony that Omar's pants had been lowered and that Corriea's lack of credibility on this point called into question the reliability of his other evidence.

Sachs also said she was troubled by testimony from other officers that Webb had been stopped by police in Scarborough on March 26, only four days before the Acura was stopped again at Dundas and Ossington. During the trial there were several references to another "ongoing investigation", the details of which were not discussed in court. The Crown did say Omar and Webb were not the subjects of that other investigation. Sachs came to the conclusion that this other investigation was the real reason the Acura had been stopped and searched at Dundas and Ossington.

Despite ruling that the search was illegal, Sachs allowed the gun into evidence, citing among other cases R v Harrison, which the Supreme Court would overturn a few weeks later. Justice Sachs' ruling was complicated and hard for me as a layman to follow. This was a judge-alone trial with no jury. Sachs' acquitted Omar and Webb because she concluded there was reasonable doubt about whether either man knew there was a gun in the car.

The night the men were arrested they were charged with six gun-related offences (seven in the case of Rowe-Reid) and taken into custody. They then had separate bail hearings at Old City Hall and I went to all of them. Omar and Rowe-Reid's hearings were covered by court-ordered publication bans that lasted until the end of the trial. Now that those bans are lifted I can report what I heard.

Webb was granted bail though he was later re-arrested for reasons I don't know. Omar and Ryan-Rowe Reid, however, were denied bail.

At Omar's hearing the court was shown a video that had been seized when he was arrested earlier on other charges. The tape showed young black men at a party making what police said were gang symbols with their hands. There was a lot of talk about Bloods and Crips. Defence attorney Derstine argued this was just posturing that had nothing to do with real gang activity. Omar, however, was shown holding and ratcheting a gun similar to the one found in the car. As he was doing this, he made statements threatening to use the gun on anyone who got in his way. He's also heard saying "Hollow point. Hollow point." (Hollow point bullets, which expand on impact, are used by police. There were hollow point bullets in the gun police found at Dundas and Ossington.) Omar's mother, who was in court when the tape was played, left the room, something the justice of the peace made a point of noting in her ruling on bail.

Derstine challenged the admissibility of the tape. After the bail hearing had ended but before the justice of the peace had made her decision, a judge at College Park court ruled that police had seized the tape illegally and ordered it returned to Omar. When the justice of the peace finally issued her ruling denying Omar bail, she said she did not take the tape into consideration. She said her decision was based on her opinion that the proposed sureties, one of which was Omar's mother, were unsuitable. She said that Omar would be a good candidate for bail if appropriate sureties could be found. (A surety is the person responsible for making sure someone out on bail obeys the conditions laid down by the court.)

During the bail hearing, the court also heard testimony related to an August 8, 2005 double homicide outside the Phoenix nightclub on Sherbourne. Police said Omar was a "person of interest" in those shootings and that an unknown man described as a "fat Somali" had shown up at the hospital where the two victims died. The "fat Somali" was crying saying that one of the victims, Ali Mahamud Ali, was his friend. In his summation, Derstine argued that much of the evidence was irrelevant to the gun charges before the court, describing the Crown's case as a "mountain of innuendo."

I found the argument Crown attorney Kerry Hughes used to defend the inclusion of the tape at the bail hearing interesting. She said when defendants like Omar come to court they look meek and mild. In her words, they look like they "could melt butter." She said she was introducing the tape because it showed what the real Omar was like when he wasn't sitting in a courtroom facing charges.

Neither the video nor the evidence related to the Phoenix nightclub shooting were mentioned at the trial this July in Superior Court.

While Omar's co-accused Keane Webb was still out of custody, he would sometimes sit next to me on the benches in courtroom 111, Old City Hall. I remember him wearing loud brightly coloured clothing and a gold chain, quite different from the more sobre clothing he wore during the trial. I also remember him darting in and out of 111 with a cellphone in his hand.

Omar, as well as Webb, after he was re-arrested, would stay in jail until their acquittals on July 15, 2009. Ryan Rowe-Reid, however, was released on June 17, 2008 after signing a "declaratory statement" that he had no knowledge of the gun in the car. Crown attorney Hughes told the court his charges were being dropped because "there was no reasonable prospect of conviction." Someone familiar with the case told me the Crown had tactical reasons for withdrawing the charges. After Rowe-Reid died, the same person said he would let me come to my own conclusions about why Rowe-Reid was killed.

I heard about his death while standing in the kitchen listening to CFRB. According to an August 12, 2008 police press release:

- police located a 20-year-old man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds in the parking lot of 1701 McCowan Road

- the victim was pronounced dead at hospital

[...]

The victim has been identified as Ryan St. Christopher Rowe-Reid, 20, of Toronto.

The victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his body.

A second victim walked into a nearby hospital with multiple gunshots to the head and leg.

The men received their injuries in an exchange of gunfire with another man in the parking lot of 1701 McCowan Road.

The suspect is described as black, 6'. He was seen wearing a dark hoodie and black denim jeans.

Even though Rowe-Reid's death wasn't surprising given what I heard about him at his bail hearing, I found it shocking and it troubles me to this day. He was only 20 when he died and while he was legally an adult I can't help but think of him as a boy. I find his death sad even though his criminal record suggests he was a dangerous young man who, if he hadn't died in a shootout, might easily have killed somebody else.

I was in courtroom 112, Old City Hall when he was released. None of the relatives who testified at his bail hearing were there, but he did leave with another young man I took to be his friend. When Rowe-Reid walked out of the courtroom laughing with his friend, he looked like a boy just let out of school for the summer holidays.

I have another memory of him that sticks out. When he was still in custody, he and Omar would appear together on video in courtroom 111 while Webb would come in person. Once when Rowe-Reid came on screen, he told the justice of the peace to wait a second while he went to get his friend Omar. When he came back on screen with Omar, the two of the them were whispering to each other and smirking like naughty school boys. They weren't the meek and silent figures I had seen during the bail hearings, but they didn't seem like thugs either. They looked more like the smart-ass teenagers I see playing hockey at Campbell Park.

How did Rowe-Reid become involved with guns? What kind of environment did he grow up in? If his childhood had been better, would he have turned out differently? There's no way of knowing, but I heard things in court that make me see him as a product of his environment.

At his bail hearing, the court heard Rowe-Reid had been shot on two separate occasions, once in Toronto and once in Calgary. In Calgary he was shot during a wild shootout during a convenience store robbery. Rowe-Reid had a criminal record and had been in custody in Alberta though I don't remember if it was jail or prison.

Rowe-Reid's father had proposed himself as a surety, that is, as one of the people who would make sure he obeyed his bail conditions. Crown attorney Hughes wanted to show that Rowe-Reid senior was unfit to be a surety. Hughes asked the dad if he didn't think the fact his son had been shot twice in two different cities might be a sign his son was involved in criminal activity. The dad got angry. He said his son had been a victim of bad luck and the police were picking on him for being unlucky. In the end, the Justice of the Peace agreed with the Crown that the dad was unsuitable because he was too quick to dismiss the clear signs that there were problems in his son's life.

At one point in his testimony, the dad shrugged his shoulders and said "What are you gonna do?" A policeman later told me this had become a bit of a joke at the station and that officers faced with similar cases were going around saying "What are you gonna do?"

There was a woman in court who I thought at first was Rowe-Reid's mother, but later turned out to be his grandmother. She too offered herself as a surety. One time after court was finished for the day, she waited in the corridor to see her grandson as guards let him out of the room. When Rowe-Reid came out, the grandmother said to him "Do your reading", which I understood to mean, read your Bible. Rowe-Reid looked at his grandmother, smiled meekly and said "I will."

As I said, Ryan Rowe-Reid's record suggests he was a dangerous young man who, if he hadn't been shot himself, might well have killed somebody else. Either that or he would have ended up in prison. While the future is always unpredictable it is hard to see anything good ever coming out of his life and the public has a right to be protected from people who join gangs and carry guns. Still his death bothers me. I can't see it as a good thing. Some people might say he had it coming given his criminal history, but I can't see his death as anything but tragic. To say he deserved to die would be wrong.

Guns and gangs are a festering problem for which no one has a solution. Ryan Rowe-Reid wasn't the first young black man to die violently in Toronto and he won't be the last.

Two new exhibitions at Mercer Union

2009-11-04T18:51:00.004-05:00

Two new exhibitions will be opening this Friday at the Mercer Union gallery. The gallery is located at 1286 Bloor Street West on the corner of Bloor and St. Clarens:

November 06, 2009 - December 12, 2009
Opening Reception: 6 November 2009, 7PM

Front Gallery
WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM
Curated by Sarah Robayo Sheridan with Steven Leiber and Ted Purves

The artworks grouped in this survey exhibition originally circulated by alternative distribution, appearing through the platform of a magazine ad or TV spot rather than through the formal avenues of gallery or museum display. Many evidence a conceptual tendency, preferring to disseminate ideas over objects and each performs a disruptive function, whether an antagonistic stance or an afirmation of the poetics of art for the millions.

The selection includes work by Keith Arnatt (UK), Skip Arnold (USA), Walter Battiss (South Africa), Marinus Boezem (The Netherlands), Daniel Buren (France), Lynda Benglis (USA), Chris Burden (USA), Herman de Vries (The Netherlands), Jan Dibbets (The Netherlands), Stan Douglas (Canada), Jim Eller (USA), Valie Export (Austria), Hamish Fulton (UK), Dan Graham (USA), David Hall (UK), Stephen Kaltenbach (USA), Jeff Koons (USA), Joseph Kosuth (USA), Yoko Ono (USA), Ed Ruscha (USA), Endre Tot (Hungary), United Art Contractors (USA), Peter Weibel (Austria).

Back Gallery
THINGS THAT MEAN THINGS AND THINGS THAT LOOK LIKE THEY MEAN THINGS
Ryan Gander

In this recent video by Ryan Gander, the artist imbeds a work within a work. Key elements in the hall of mirrors include an interview with writer and filmmaker Dan Fox, art students sketching Francis Bacon paintings installed at the Tate Britain and several on-camera appearances by the artist himself. The sum of the parts is a double-edge flirtation with the romantic notions associated with art viewing and a love-hate relationship with the now ubiquitous genre of the televised artist profile.

Ryan Gander lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include the Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam in 2003 and 2007, MUMOK, Vienna, and CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco in 2007. Gander was the winner of the 'Prix de Rome' for sculpture in 2003. He has recently been awarded the prestigious Zurich Art Prize.

Man wanted for sexual assault. Police release composite sketch of suspect

2009-11-04T18:29:00.005-05:00

This news release was sent out on Monday by the Toronto police's main mailing list. To see the composite sketch of the suspect click here.

Toronto Police Service
News Release

Sexual Assault Alert, Man wanted, Update, Composite sketch of suspect released

Monday, November 2, 2009 - 2:17 PM
14 Division
416-808-7474

On Saturday, September 26, 2009, at approximately 3:50 a.m., police responded to a sexual assault in the Dufferin Street/Dupont Street area.

It was reported that:

- a 26-year-old woman was walking in the Dufferin Street/Dupont Street area,

- the woman was approached from behind by a man,

- the man grabbed the woman by the throat and hair and dragged her to a nearby residential laneway where he sexually assaulted her.

See previous release.

A composite sketch of the suspect has been released.

Please click here for personal safety tips.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7474, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637).

Constable Tony Vella, Public Information, for Detective Lisa Kurts, Sex Crimes Unit

An attachment to this release is available on our website.

Man mugged at Bloor and Lansdowne

2009-11-04T18:21:00.004-05:00

Toronto police 14 Division sent out this community alert earlier today:

Robbery (Mugging) - 14 Division

A 23 year old male reports that on October 31, 2009 at approximately 2230 hours he was in the area of Bloor Street West and Lansdowne Avenue, when he was approached by two male suspects. The suspects removed a digital camera from the victim’s pocket and fled the scene into Lansdowne Subway Station. No injuries were sustained by the victim. Police are requesting the assistance of the public in identifying the following described persons in connection with this offence.

Description of Suspect #1: Male, 20 years, 5’8”-5’9”, 141-145 pounds, thin build.

Suspect #2: Male, 20-25 years, 5’7”-5’8”, 141-145 pounds, thin build.

Road work on Dufferin between Hallam and Shanly

2009-11-04T13:59:00.002-05:00

Click to enlarge
I took this picture at 1:30 this afternoon on Dufferin north of Shanly and south of Hallam. The truck is on the east side of Dufferin facing north towards Hallam.

A jazz interlude on Bloor

2009-11-03T22:35:00.005-05:00

It's 10:30pm and I've just come back from an evening stroll along Bloor. I was walking on the north side between Lansdowne and Margueretta when I heard shouting across the street. I stopped to look. A short fat man sitting on a bench was exchanging words with someone passing by. The exchange didn't last long and the other person moved on. It was no big deal, but it's the kind of thing that can make Bloor at night unpleasant or entertaining depending on your point of view.

When I started walking again, I noticed the sound of soft jazz coming from somewhere. I stopped, turned to my right and realized I was standing in front of the Holy Oak cafe. Looking through the big front window, I could see a man playing the saxophone while a woman accompanied him on piano. I could only see one customer inside, a woman sitting by herself at a candle-lit table.

The music was a nice change from the angry words across the street. I have often heard Bloor and Lansdowne described as "a neighbourhood in transition." This is an example of that. The shouting on the south side represents the old, sketchy Bloor while the soft jazz on the north represents the changes that are still coming.

Pumpkin Lighting in Carlton Park

2009-11-02T17:45:00.005-05:00

Click to enlarge
On Sunday evening people who live near Carlton Park (north of Dupont at Franklin Ave and Edith Ave) had their fourth annual Pumpkin Lighting. The park, which is near St. Josaphat's church, is a little far from Bloor and Lansdowne but close enough to be in my stomping grounds. When friends who live near the park sent out an email asking people to come with them to the pumpkin lighting, I decided to go.

I was impressed by what I saw. I counted 50 jack-o-lanterns arranged on the ledges beside the wading pool. One of the organizers said this was the best turnout they've had so far and was hoping the event would keep growing. Neighbours were talking to each other and I ran into quite a few people I know. There were a lot of excited children. One little boy was upset because he had to leave his pumpkin behind for city workers to pick up the next morning. One woman was handing out cups of warm apple cider. Another woman was offering cookies. All in all it was an enjoyable community event.

Update from the Clean Train Coalition

2009-10-26T17:21:00.008-04:00

The Human Train marches for electrificationClick to enlarge
Many readers of this blog will be familiar with the footbridge that connects Wallace Ave. with Dundas St. W. The rail line that runs under that bridge is used by GO Transit and is called the Georgetown Service Corridor.

Metrolinx, the provincial agency responsible for overseeing public transit planning and implementation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Areas (GTHA) plans to expand service along this route. If the agency's proposals are implemented there may be as many as 500 diesel trains a day running through the corridor right next to the new West Toronto Railpath.

A group called the Clean Train Coalition has been demanding that the new trains be electric. The coalition is not opposed to more trains, but it is very concerned about the pollution from diesel trains. Below is the group's latest bulletin:

UPDATE ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (EA)

The provincial environmental assessment (EA) was passed on October 5 with conditions, notably the "requirement" to use low-emissions "Tier 4" diesel engines. These conditions, however, apply to only half the trains and they are contingent on the availability of a technology which does not currently exist, is unlikely to be ready by 2015, and will likely be very expensive.

Also, Metrolinx has undertaken an electrification study which will likely recommend electrification. There is, however, no firm commitment by Metrolinx to implement the study's recommendations. There is also no commitment to hold off on diesel expenditures until the study is complete, which will not be for at least another year and a half, possibly longer.

The Clean Train Coalition will continue to press for the electrification of the Georgetown Corridor.

UPCOMING EVENTS

There are a number of events coming up where you can get more information or raise awareness. Feel free to attend any of them or contact info@cleantrain.ca if you have questions or know of any other upcoming events that might be of interest to our mailing list.

Events this week....

Tues, Oct 27 – Fern Ave Meeting

(RMRA – Roncesvalles MacDonnell Residents Association)

Fern Ave.Public School, 123 Fern Ave, 7-9 p.m.

CTC and Metrolinx were invited to speak (Metrolinx declined the invitation). All are welcome.

Thurs, Oct 29 – MPP Rosario Marchese electric trains information meeting

Array Music Studios, 60 Atlantic Ave, Suite 218 (in LibertyVillage)

Speakers: Mike Sullivan of the CTC will speak on the issue and Dr. Avrum Regenstreif will talk about electric train technologies.

Fri, Oct 30 – West Toronto Railpath opening

Railpath entrance at Wallace Avenue (south of Dupont, west of Perth, north of Bloor).

2:00 p.m start

RSVP: Toronto Protocol RSVP Line 416-392-7667

This is an opportunity to raise awareness on our issue.

We need someone to organize the Clean Train Coalition presence at this event (we can provide you with flyers).

Please let us know if you would like to do this at

info@cleantrain.ca

And other upcoming events...

Tues, Nov 9 – Board of Trade breakfast with the Minister of Transportation, Jim Bradley

"ONTARIO ON THE MOVE - INVESTING IN MUNICIPAL TRANSIT"

This event costs but if you can go, it would be great to have people there asking hard questions about this transit expansion!

(We might be able to sponsor one or two attendees so let us know if you can attend)

Mon , Nov 16 – Toronto Board of Health meeting

At this meeting, the Board of Health will be reviewing an updated report by the Toronto Medical Officer of Health. More details to come later.

Wed, Nov 18 - Our next Clean Train Coalition Meeting

Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre, 1900 Davenport Rd (just west of Symington), 7-9 p.m.

Nov 19-20 – Designing Transit Cities Symposium

TorontoCity Hall dinner Thurs, Nov 19, breakfast and day sessions Fri, Nov 20

All sessions are free – RSVP to protocol@toronto.ca

Details at: http://www.toronto.ca/planning/urbdesign/transitcities/pdf/symposium_outline.pdf

HELP WANTED!!!

The Clean Train Coalition is a volunteer organization and as such, we are always looking for help. We could especially use help in the following areas:

* People with an accredited economics background to help provide concrete proof of how electric trains will be cheaper in the long term
* People to help organize fundraising activities
* Anyone who wants to help with outreach - getting the word out, etc.

Please email info@cleantrain.ca if you want to help us out in these or any other areas.

Help get the word out - get your neighbours to sign up to www.cleantrain.ca

The difference a few blocks make

2009-10-25T19:15:00.012-04:00

Last week I wrote about crime and safety at Bloor and Lansdowne. I mentioned that I became more aware of problems along Bloor when I started meeting people who live closer to that street. Today I went for a walk with one of my friends who lives near Bloor and who in the past has had to cope with drug addicts and prostitutes using the laneway behind her garage.

I asked her about what I had written. I was interested in her opinion because she's closer to the problem than I am. While we were talking I suggested that some of the things people worry about are more of a nuisance than a safety issue. She responded by telling me about coming home one evening shortly after she moved here and finding drug addicts sitting in front of her garage. When she blinked her car lights to get them to move they were reluctant. She said she found that scary and I can see why.

Her story brought back my own memories of going on evening walks with people from DIG IN and always seeing a large group of drug addicts congregating at the laneway entrance on St. Clarens just north of Bloor. It's intimidating when a group of rough-looking people are blocking the route people use to get to their garages. That was two years ago when we had a particularly bad summer. As I wrote last week, things have improved dramatically since then though there still are problems.

This conversation with my friend was a reminder of how much difference there can be in the space of two city blocks. I live north of Wallace and while there are problems sometimes - over the years our garage has been broken into more than once - I haven't had the same dramatic experiences as my friends closer to Bloor.

The conversation also brought home to me something else I think about from time to time: it's hard to know a neighbourhood well. When I tell people I grew up in the area they usually assume I know a lot about it. That makes a certain amount of sense. It's hard to live in the same neighbourhood for fifty years without learning something; yet, almost every day I am reminded of how little that something actually is. My view of Bloor and Lansdowne is largely shaped by the particular spot where I live and it's easy to forget that people who live just two blocks away from me have very different experiences. It's almost as if we live in different neighbourhoods.

Is Bloor and Lansdowne safe?

2009-10-21T17:10:00.006-04:00

Every once in a while someone who is thinking of moving into the area finds my blog and then emails me to ask if Bloor and Lansdowne is safe. When I write back, I say that it is. Despite the area's reputation for drugs and prostitution, it is overall a safe place to live. However, this doesn't mean the neighbourhood doesn't have problems or that its reputation is entirely undeserved.

If we are going to talk about crime and safety at Bloor and Lansdowne, we need be clear about what area we are talking about. Strictly speaking, Bloor and Lansdowne, is an intersection not a neighbourhood. That intersection, however, is a convenient reference point for the surrounding district, because Lansdowne is a well-known stop on the Bloor-Danforth subway line.

The problems people associate with the name Bloor and Lansdowne are mostly confined to a small stretch of Bloor and the nearby laneways. As you move away from Bloor you don't see much drug activity, though it does exist. There are also problems at Dupont and Lansdowne. Some of the same dealers who hang out on Bloor spend time at Dupont. In fact, I sometimes see a dealer I recognize riding his bikes back and forth between the two streets.

Still, until I became involved with DIG IN I didn't think that much about drugs and prostitution, because the problem didn't affect me. I live on a residential street with good neighbours who live in well-kept houses. I found the neighbourhood generally pleasant. My biggest problem was the occasional loud party.

I did know there were problems along Bloor. That was especially obvious at night, but I didn't spend that much time on the street. However, when I started going to DIG IN meetings, I met people who lived near Bloor. They talked about having drug dealers and prostitutes in the laneways behind their garages.

That made me pay more attention. I made a point of walking through those laneways and when I did, I could see right away what they were talking about. Even though these new friends only lived a block or two away from me, they were having problems that I didn't experience near my own place. However, these neighbours tell me the laneways have improved since they first moved in.

Another thing to keep in mind is this. Bloor is different depending on the time of day. The rougher people are more obvious at night. Recently, I took a late-night walk along the strip between Lansdowne and Dufferin. That evening I found most of the street was quiet, but there were some rough characters hanging out between Lansdowne and Margueretta. In particular, there were some people shouting at each other which I found unpleasant. But even so, I didn't feel threatened.

When I asked people on the Bloor-Lansdowne discussion list whether they thought the neighbourhood was safe, a woman who lives in the Mercer Union building said she didn't think it was. Given the intersection where she lives, I can understand why she would say that, because her building is located on that small stretch of Bloor where I noticed a problem.

A final and very important point is this. Things have been improving. Two years ago the atmosphere on Bloor was very bad. On the north side of the street between St. Clarens and Emerson, there is a dive bar called the Happy Cup. Two years ago the place was called the Kiss Cup and it was a hangout for dealers. Today, however, it has a new owner who keeps the dealers out.

In the past people have also complained about the Coffee Time at Bloor and Lansdowne. I don't go there at night, but in the daytime it's fine. The coffee isn't great, but there are no problems and the diverse clientele includes a few hipsters. On top of that, there are new businesses on Bloor including Holy Oak cafe and the 3 Speed bar.

A bicycle officer with Toronto police's 14 Division was at the last DIG IN meeting. He told us he's been working in the area for eight years and has seen big improvements in that time. He acknowledged there was a setback two years ago, but overall he thinks the area has been getting better. I see no reason to disagree with him.

Polka and Polish pizza at Bloor and St. Clarens

2009-10-20T19:15:00.004-04:00

Click to enlarge
You don't have to be Polish to polka, but it helps!

I found this announcement in the Wednesday June 7, 1967 edition of the Toronto Daily Star, as the paper still called itself then. 1286 Bloor, at the corner of St. Clarens, is now home to the Mercer Union gallery. From 1934 to about 1965, this same building was the Academy Theatre. My parents tell me they used to watch movies there when they first moved to the neighbourhood in the late 1950s. Around the corner at 683 Lansdowne, just south of where the subway entrance is now, was the Lansdowne Theatre. Unfortunately, it was later torn down.

I came across the ad while doing some research on the history of the Mercer Union building. Anyone interested in looking at old Globe and Star articles, going back as far as 110 years in the case of the Star, can find them using the Toronto Public Library website. The library site can be a bit hard to navigate, but Vic Gedris has posted instructions on how to find the articles here. You will need a library card.

I inspired myself to go back to church

2009-10-18T13:49:00.009-04:00

Inside St. Josaphat's - click to enlarge
On Friday I posted a message about the history of St. Josaphat's church on Franklin. I wrote that as a boy I used to go there every Sunday with my parents, but now I mainly go on Christmas and Easter. Writing about the church made me feel nostalgic so this morning I went to mass.

The choir was there which made the service quite beautiful. I've always loved Ukrainian church music. When it is done well, a Catholic church service is an aesthetic experience. Even though I no longer accept Catholic theology, I find more beauty in church than I do in most art galleries. That's not meant as a slam against galleries, but church services affect me in a way that art exhibitions don't. I really should go to church more often.

St. Josaphat's wasn't packed this Sunday but it was fairly full. My parents were there too. They told me there were more people today than on most Sundays. Many of the people were elderly but there were some parents with young children. The little boy sitting in front of me talked Ukrainian to his mother.

I worry about what will happen when my parents' generation dies out. Will St. Josaphat's survive? I suppose that's partly up to me. I can't single handedly save the church, but I can at least show up on Sunday and put some money in the plate.

A fascinating 1914 Toronto Star article about St. Josaphat's Cathedral on Franklin Ave

2009-10-16T22:15:00.008-04:00

The church today. Click to enlarge.
Some time ago Vic Gedris created a historical display about the Junction Triangle area for the Fuzzy Boundaries group. Included in the presentation was an April 11, 1914 Toronto Star article about St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral on Franklin Avenue.

This two-paragraph report, which appeared the day before the new church was to be dedicated, is fascinating to me because of my Ukrainian background and my family's ties to the parish. When I was growing up, we went to St. Josaphat's every Sunday and while I don't go there much now, the Christmas and Easter services are still important to me. I don't know how interesting this article would be to people who aren't Ukrainian or Catholic, but short though it is, the report reveals a lot about the history of the neighbourhood and Ukrainian immigration to Toronto.

Since most people who read my blog aren't Ukrainian, let me begin by looking at what the article says about the neighbourhood. I've always thought of the Dupont-Perth area including Franklin Ave. as being the west end of Toronto, but nowadays I sometimes hear it described as "downtown." I guess if you live in Mississauga or even Etobicoke, it might be downtown, but that still sounds odd to me.

Whatever the neighbourhood may be today, it wasn't downtown in 1914. This particular article is in a section of the paper called To-day's Best News Items from the Suburbs. The dateline reads West Toronto and the article says the church is located "near Dundas and Royce avenue." Royce is an old name for a section of Dupont St. and in some documents from the 1940s the area is called the Perth-Royce district. The article also says the neighbourhood is located "just east of Dundas street, near the old Junction." It's interesting that at this early date the area some of us call the Junction Triangle was already being associated with the Junction proper.

This May I gave a talk about neighbourhood history at the first Fuzzy Boundaries meeting. I mentioned that the area used to have a strong Ukrainian presence that was still evident in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The 1914 Star article talks about the area's Ukrainian population and also mentions the industry that attracted them here:

This new church represents one of the most unique foreign colonies in the city. In the area comprising Franklin, Edwin, Cooper, Perth, Pelham, Ruskin and Uxbridge Avenues, just east of Dundas street, near the old Junction, there are over 2,000 Austrians and Poles, and these streets are largely given over to the exclusive colony. The houses of the district are as good as can be found anywhere else. The residents are splendid citizens, being mostly machinists and mechanical laborers of a high rate of efficiency, as many of West Toronto's manufacturers will testify. They are an essentially religious race, and Father Boyarczuk counts every one of the 2,000 citizens an active member of his church.

The "Austrians and Poles" mentioned are in fact Ukrainians. There was confusion over who Ukrainian immigrants were because Ukraine was not an independent country and Ukrainians themselves were still in the process of defining themselves as a distinct nationality. It's significant that the reporter doesn't use the word Ukrainian once. The headline reads Ruthenian Church To Be Dedicated. Ruthenian is an old word for Ukrainian, but it was dropped because Ukrainian nationalists thought it was too easily confused with Russian. My great-grandfather, for example, called himself ruski which translates into English as Ruthenian, but his son, my grandfather, belonged to the generation that started calling itself Ukrainian.

The article says the "costly furnishings for altar and sanctuary" were "brought from Austria." It also refers to "the grandeur of the churches of Austria and Poland." The references to Austria are explained by the fact there was no independent Ukraine in 1914. Most of Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire, while a few western terrorities belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Ukrainians who immigrated to Canada mostly came from the Austrian province of Galicia and Canadians often referred to these newcomers as Galicians. In fact, I found another Star article from July 22, 1909 that addresses this very point. The headline reads the The Galicians. The story quotes the Edmonton Saturday News:

The people popularly called Galician never apply that name to themselves. It is no more correct, as has been explained many times, than it would be to call a citizen of Alberta an Ontarioan. There are many Ruthenians from the Province of Galicia in Austria just as there are many Canadians come from Ontario but not the majority.

My own family comes from Galicia and during the first World War my grandfather was a soldier in the Austrian army. (He came to Canada in the 1920s.) This brings me to another point. The first article says St. Josaphat's was going to be consecrated by Bishop Budka of Winnipeg. In his time, Budka was a controversial figure.

Galician Ukrainians were loyal to the Austrian Empire and in July 1914, Budka urged Ukrainians living in Canada to be prepared to defend Austria. This was on the eve of World War I when Canada would be fighting as part of the British Empire against Austria. He later retracted his remarks, but people such as historian Jack Granatstein blame Budka for Ottawa's decision to intern many Ukrainians in work camps for the duration of the war. (Granatstein discusses this in his book Who killed Canadian history?)

In fact, I found a third Star article which was published on July 26, 1919, eight months after the war had ended. The headline reads: Veterans plan a raid on Bishop Budka's Home while subhead says Winnipeg Soldiers Want the Ruthenian Prelate Run Out of Country at Once.

Canada didn't force Budka to leave, but years later the Vatican for different reasons ordered him to return to Galicia, which by then had become part of a newly independent Poland. When the Soviets annexed Galicia in 1945, Budka was arrested and sent to a labour camp where he died. Catholics consider him a martyr and in 2001 he was beatified by Pope John Paul II.

I know some people will find all of this incredibly boring and I could probably get more readers by writing about other things, but I am fascinated by how this obscure local story about a new church is tied to national and international events. As strange as it may sound, this is the kind of thing I consider exciting.

A tale of two city bars

2009-10-15T20:15:00.004-04:00

After Tuesday's DIG IN meeting, a few of us went to the 3 Speed on the south side of Bloor just west of Bloor Collegiate near Dufferin. The 3 Speed is a new bar but it's already a popular spot. It was crowded the two times I was there and the place always seems busy at night.

On Tuesday the crowd was young and I would say stylishly dressed, though you might want to take that with a grain of salt because judging fashion isn't my strong suit. Let me put it this way. The 3 Speed, which is owned by the same people who operate the Communist's Daughter at Dundas and Ossington, is not a working-class bar. It's not a sports bar either.

The decor is nice and the food is good judging by the $10 sirloin burger I had on Tuesday. So is the beer. They also have live music. When we left just before eleven, the band was still setting up.

Since I started this blog two years ago, I've often said the neighbourhood is changing. The 3 Speed is an example of that. Bloor between Lansdowne and Dufferin is still pretty dreary, but the 3 Speed, Holy Oak, Calico and the new art galleries are adding some life to the street. On the way home from the 3 Speed I saw a jazz group playing inside the Holy Oak. That's a huge change from what Bloor was like 2 years ago.

But not everything is different. On the north side of Bloor between St. Clarens and Emerson, there is another place, the Happy Cup. This bar does not have nice decor and its customers are not well-dressed. There's no live music, though there is a loud jukebox that sometimes drowns out conversation. Its customers aren't young and stylish. This bar attracts an older crowd that doesn't seem to have much money. The times I've been there, I saw a group of men sitting around a table playing dominoes. Sometimes I do see younger people inside and a friend told me it was very busy during Funktion Function, but as far as I can tell, that's the exception.

The Happy Cup used to be called the Kiss Cup. Two years ago it was a trouble spot where drug dealers hung out. Whenever I walked by there was a crowd of shady people standing outside with guys on little bikes going back and forth. Before the first BIG festival in June 2008, it was closed down for various violations, but opened up again under new owners who worked hard to keep the drug dealers out. These owners then sold it again. Bing, the man who now runs it along with his wife, is friendly and keeps the dealers out. I've eaten there after a DIG IN meeting and the few times I've stopped in for a beer, I haven't had any problems. Bing seems like a nice man. He always smiles and says hello when I walk by.

The Happy Cup is not my kind of bar. Even though I stop in once in a while, it's not a place where I want to spend a lot of time. However, it does meet a neighbourhood need. If it ever shut down, there are people in the area who wouldn't have anywhere to go. I'm glad I now have the option of drinking at the 3 Speed or having a coffee at Holy Oak, but as Bloor and Lansdowne changes, I hope there will still be a place for the Happy Cup and its customers. Time will tell.

How the internet helped me to meet people and make friends in my own neighbourhood

2009-10-14T18:30:00.011-04:00

When I got my internet connection in 2000, the first thing I wanted to do was talk to people in other countries. Friends of mine were already doing that and it sounded interesting. I followed their lead and for a while really enjoyed myself. I would join email discussion groups and get into conversations about history, politics and other subjects including everyday life. In fact, I still belong to a few lists where I talk about history and politics, but not nearly as much as I used to.

At a certain point after I went online, I started feeling frustrated. Whenever I met somebody interesting, there would come a moment where we would say to each other, isn't it a shame we don't live closer and can't talk in person. As enjoyable as some of the conversations were, talking online was never as rewarding as speaking face to face.

Then the light bulb went on: if I could use the internet to meet people in Britain and Australia, maybe I could use it to meet people in Toronto. I started looking for Toronto-based email lists and to my surprise found there was a discussion group for people who live near Dufferin Grove Park which is a ten-minute walk from my home. I joined that list and am still a member.

After a while, I noticed that some messages were being copied to another list called diggingin. I joined it. There I discovered that it was the online forum for a community group called DIG IN founded by a local artist, Dyan Marie, who lived just up the street from me. Even more surprising, the list's moderator was my next-door neighbour.

This was in 2005. In September of that year, Dyan Marie sent out a message saying Dig In would be holding a meeting at the Wallace-Emerson Community Centre. I have a clear memory of walking to the centre with a neighbour who had to turn back because he wasn't feeling well.

I made it, however, and have been involved with Dig In ever since, even though I have a habit of periodically quitting. That's a subject for another post, but I should say there was a DIG IN meeting on Tuesday and I was there as usual.

I met a lot of people in the neighbourhood through Dig In. I've also met people through the Dufferin Grove list, among them Jutta Mason, who runs CELOS for which I now do research. Meeting people through community groups has had a multiplier effect, because my new friends would introduce me to other people who aren't involved in any of these groups. Just to be clear, when I say I've met people, I mean in person. In many cases we exchanged a lot of emails first, but the friendships only developed after we spent time together in the physical world.

There's a lot of discussion nowadays about the negative impact of the internet. It's certainly true some people become so immersed in cyberspace that they forget about the people around them. I discovered, however, that the internet can be used to connect me with my neighbours in the real world.

Thanks to the computer I was able to make friends with people in my own neighbourhood who I would never have met otherwise and this has had the pleasant effect of making Bloor and Lansdowne seem more like a community. I would put it this way. The internet is not a substitute for meeting people in person but it can serve as a gateway to those meetings.

What happens to democracy if newspapers disappear?

2009-10-12T18:15:00.002-04:00

As regular readers of this blog (a very small group to be sure) know, I sometimes go to court as part of my work for CELOS, the non-profit group based at Dufferin Grove park. Most of the cases I follow involve local arrests that don't interest the media, but once in a while I find myself sitting next to newspaper reporters.

For example, when I went to Old City Hall for Igor Kenk's bail hearing last year, tiny courtroom 101 was packed with journalists. Not too many reporters have shown up for his assault trial but there were a handful at his bail review on Friday.

On those days when reporters are there, I get a small glimpse behind the scenes of the newspaper business. There are no great revelations, but what I do see is interesting. As might be expected, reporters, like people in other professions, spend a lot of time discussing their own industry. Besides trading information and helping each other out with facts (they have helped me too), they like to compare what is happening in their respective newsrooms. They talk about things like restructuring and the impact of the internet on their papers' profitability.

For example, the other day one reporter told another that the internet has increased his papers' readership, but this didn't translate into higher profits. On the contrary, revenues are down because the paper's readers aren't necessarily the customers advertisers want to attract. Then he talked about the difference between niche- and mass-marketing.

Last Tuesday at the sixth day of Kenk's assault trial, I learned that Kenk would be having a bail review on Friday. As far as I could tell, this was the first time the reporters had heard this too. During a break I asked one if he thought a lot of his colleagues would be showing up at the bail review when they read about it in his report. He said maybe. Then I asked, half-jokingly, but also half-seriously, wouldn't it be better if he kept that information to himself for now.

His answer is worth noting. He said, "No, we're more collegial than that. We're all in the same dying industry. We're all stuck together on the same sinking ship." Later during a second break, Kenk's lawyer, Lon Rose, asked the same reporter how things were going. This time the reporter thanked Rose, because the Igor Kenk story gave his "dying industry" something to write about.

The future of newspapers and other news media is obviously on the minds of reporters. The problem is simple to state, but hard to solve. The internet allows people to get their news for free. Papers like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have experimented with offering readers paid content, but the results have been mixed.

Newspapers still haven't figured out how to make money in the internet age. If they don't find a solution, they won't be able to pay the reporters that generate the "free" content readers like myself enjoy.

Earlier this year, a major US paper, the Rocky Mountain News published its final edition. While this wasn't the first newspaper to go out of business (Is anybody else here old enough to remember the Tely, i.e. the Toronto Telegram?), some observers saw the Colorado paper's demise as a sign of things to come. This view is reinforced by the fate of other newspapers. The Christian Science Monitor, for example, decided to cut costs by cancelling its weekday print edition.

It's possible this concern about the future of newspapers is misplaced. It may be that journalism is just going through a rough transitional phase. Who can say for sure? However, the future of newspapers is something I worry about. Even though I can think of a lot of reasons to criticize them - from their political biases to the huge amount of space they devote to celebrity trivia - democracy needs newspapers. If newspapers disappear, where will voters get their information?

Now when I say "newspaper", I don't necessarily mean the printed product. I don't think it matters much if news articles are delivered on paper or electronically. However, I do mean professionally researched WRITTEN news stories. While TV, radio and film are all valuable media with their own strengths, the written word can be used to convey and analyze facts in a way other media can't.

I remember when the internet was still new and the hype surrounding it especially great, some people were saying the web would usher in a new age of citizen journalism. Who needs professionals when amateurs can do the same job or better?

This is an idea worth exploring. The internet has made it possible for bloggers like myself to write about local stories that wouldn't interest professional outlets. The blogosphere, often for better, sometimes for worse, has enlarged the range of political opinion that readers are exposed to. Bloggers have sometimes forced journalists to look at stories they either missed or chose to ignore. Bloggers have also acted as fact-checkers. The internet has in some ways benefited journalism.

None of this, however, changes the fact that society needs professional journalists. Going to court for a year and a half has taught me that good reporting is time-consuming. Unless citizen journalists are independently wealthy or retired, they just don't have the free time it takes to do a good job.

News-gathering is a profession. It is full-time work that requires skills that can only be gained through experience. If newspapers disappear, it will leave a void that amateurs won't be able to fill. Democracy is in bad enough shape as it is. Depriving voters of dependable sources of information will only make things worse.

Igor Kenk to remain in jail for now

2009-10-10T13:00:00.002-04:00

An application by Igor Kenk to be released on bail was denied Friday by Superior Court Justice Robert Clark. The decision, however, doesn't end the matter. The defence may make a second application in Superior Court depending on the outcome of yet another hearing, this time before Justice Melvyn Green of the Ontario Court of Justice. Friday's hearing is covered by a publication ban put in place at the request of the defence.

This may be confusing so let's step back and recap. Kenk, the former owner of the Bicycle Clinic on Queen St, was arrested in July last year and accused of bicycle theft following a police sting. After the arrest police executed search warrants on his bike store and garages he rented. Police say they discovered 2,850 bikes, 450 of which were returned to their owners. (My statistics come from the Toronto Police 2008 annual report.) Police also say they found $70,000 worth of cocaine and marijuana. As a result of these discoveries, Kenk now faces nearly 60 theft and 21 drug charges.

Kenk's arrest in July 2008 was followed by a bail hearing in August. Justice Bruce Young of the Ontario Court of Justice granted Kenk bail with stringent conditions. The police officer in charge of the case, constable Aaron Dennis, told reporters these were the strictest conditions he had seen in his two decades of service.

Kenk, however, was arrested again in December when the owners of a garage he leased near Dufferin and Dupont accused him of threatening them with a copper pipe. That led to a second bail hearing this time before Justice Bruno Cavion. Cavion declined to grant bail and Kenk has been in the Don Jail since.

After the second bail hearing, things moved slowly. The theft and drug charges are still a long way from trial with a preliminary hearing set for February. Defence lawyer Lon Rose has repeatedly complained about the slow release of disclosure. In September the Globe's Anthony Reinhart quoted legal experts who say the delays could lead a judge to throw the charges out.

As for the assault charges that put Kenk back in jail, they are currently the subject of a trial at Old City Hall. That case is being heard by judge Melvyn Green of the Ontario Court of Justice. This trial, which concerns an event that lasted at the most ten minutes, has already taken five days. The slow pace is partly due to language issues involving witnesses who don't speak English. The sixth day of the trial was supposed to take place this past Tuesday, but the case had to be postponed until December 16 because Crown attorney Lorna Spencer was stuck in Boston with a broken down car.

The Crown did, however, rest its case on Tuesday. This led Rose to tell Green that he would like the judge to consider releasing Kenk on bail for the assault charges. Rose mentioned section 523 of the Criminal Code. A release on the assault charges would still leave Kenk in jail on his other charges, but they might strengthen the defence's case for a release on all the charges because it was the assault charges that led to Kenk's first bail being revoked.

Rose told Green he wanted the 523 hearing on Tuesday to bolster the bail review on Friday. The judge, however, refused, noting that while he could understand Rose's tactical reasons for wanting a review, that was not something the court could take into account. Green told Rose he would consider a 523 application if Friday's bail review in Superior Court was unsuccessful, which it was. A date has not been set for this application but the hearing should take place within the next two weeks.

If Kenk's 523 application is accepted, Rose would, depending on the instructions he gets from Kenk, go back to Superior Court for another bail review.

I was in court for Friday's bail review and for the trial on the assault charges as part of my research work for CELOS. I'm working on a project designed to understand what happens to people in court after they've been charged with an offence. Kenk's case interests us because he rented garages in our area - the incident leading to the assault charges occurred in a garage near Dufferin and Dupont - and also because many people in the neighbourhood have had bikes stolen.

FUNKTION FUNCTION at Bloor/Lansdowne Saturday October 3, 7pm-7am

2009-09-29T20:30:00.005-04:00

Click to enlarge
Bloor/Lansdowne announces a beehive of interactive art activity for Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche 2009

FUNKTION FUNCTION is an all-night art exhibition which will highlight the unique sub-cultural art forms of local West Toronto artists - wall-art, live projection, toybox mechanics, all-night vintage camp-in, and music animate the Bloor/Lansdowne neighbourhood from sunset to sunrise, Saturday, October 3, 2009.

FUNKTION FUNCTION Participants
The Faceless Few Collective Plywood Prisms & Paint all-night paintwork structures creating four urban corners
EmCee Rae New Digital Technologies explorationof the function of digital technology in the production and consumption of modern music meets the street
69 Vintage All-Night Vintage Camp-In chill zone downstairs at 1234 Bloor
Loft Youth Program Small Social enterprise Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre creates on-site sculptural installation
Joel Richardson 4x8s : Wall of Saints richardson's tech and paint crew canonize the attending multitudes
Roaming Musical Act Guerilla Puppets roving marching band
Katie Graham Painted Ladies storefront vaudeville; pull up a sidewalk and be entertained
Maux Man Toybox Mechanics ugly beautiful and bombastic toybox constructions

FUNKTION FUNCTION

Date: Saturday October 3 to Sunday October 4, 2009, 6:55pm to 7am

Location: Bloor Street West @ Margueretta (between Lansdowne & Dufferin) see map

Free admission For more information:

www.annhomanART.com
www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca

A late-night walk along Bloor

2009-09-25T01:09:00.002-04:00

It is 12:45am. Usually I would be asleep by now, but I just came back from a late-night walk. I went south along Lansdowne to Bloor, east along Bloor to Dufferin, down Dufferin to the park and then back home again along the same route.

Most of Bloor was quiet. There was music at Duffy's and a lot of people at the 3 Speed. I saw a couple of cyclists and a few young people walking in groups. The internet cafe near Pauline was open. Bloor and Dufferin was fairly busy with pedestrians. There was a taxi cab waiting outside the House of Lancaster. The cabbie was on the sidewalk talking on his cellphone.

However, Bloor between Emerson and Lansdowne was unpleasant. There were scuzzy-looking men just hanging around and on my way back there was a screaming match with two women repeatedly telling each other to go F-themselves. There was another man yelling at no one in particular. I saw a guy with a bottle in a paper bag zigzagging across the street. There was also a guy on a small bike yelling at the women who were yelling at each other.

Railpath clean-up - Wednesday at 6:45pm

2009-09-23T10:07:00.008-04:00

Vic Gedris sent out this message:

A group of volunteers is meeting on Wednesday evening (Sept. 23) at 6:45pm at the foot of the Wallace Street bridge to clean up the garbage on the West Toronto Railpath. If you would like to join us, just bring a pair of work gloves and we will provide the bags. It's a great opportunity to do something nice for the hood, meet a few neighbours, get a little exercise and make the place look better for the hundreds of people who are using the the trail everyday.

Long live the Junction Triangle!

2009-09-21T00:36:00.000-04:00

I posted a defence of the name Junction Triangle on the Fuzzy Boundaries website. You can read it here.

Stabbing in Bloor Collegiate parking lot

2009-09-14T22:47:00.000-04:00

A grade 11 student was stabbed in Bloor Collegiate's parking lot. You can read the details in this Toronto Star article.

Public meeting to discuss 14 Division's new police station

2009-09-14T22:32:00.002-04:00

Toronto police 14 Division sent out this announcement:

14 Division Community Meeting

Our police station is moving...

We are holding a public information session to introduce the architect and to present the community with general expectations for the new station.

Community consultation is important. 14 Division encourages you to attend and learn how can get involved.

Representatives from the Toronto Police Service will be present to answer your questions about the latest developments on the project. See you there.

Tuesday September 15, 2009
7:00 p.m.
At St. Mary’s Secondary School
66 Dufferin Park Avenue
For further information contact S/Sgt. Dave Woodley at
416-808-1401
dave.woodley@torontopolice.on.ca

Fuzzy Boundaries meeting on Tuesday. Does the Junction Triangle need a new name?

2009-09-14T10:43:00.011-04:00

In the 1980s pollution was a big problem in the area west of Lansdowne and east of the railroad tracks that run parallel to Dundas. There were many news articles about the neighbourhood, particularly in the Toronto Star. These articles inevitably described the area as the Junction Triangle. Some residents who were around in the 80s still call it that, but it's not a name everybody knows.

Some time ago a few residents formed a group called Fuzzy Boundaries to find a name for the area. The project was conceived as a community-building exercise. Some people in the group want to keep the name Junction Triangle, but others want something new. For example, Kevin Putnam, who is one of the group's founders, has proposed Railtown.

I first heard about Fuzzy Boundaries when Vic Gedris and Bruce Ward, both of whom I know through DIG IN, asked me as a longtime resident to give a short presentation about the neighbourhood's history. I did and it was a good experience.

If you want to learn more about Fuzzy Boundaries, the group is holding a meeting at 7pm on Tuesday, September 15 at St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral at 110 Franklin Avenue.

Here are the details:

Urban affairs specialist, CBC broadcaster and National Director of the annual Jane Jacobs Walk, Jane Farrow will discuss the naming experience of the West Queen West community group Active 18. Fuzzy Boundaries member Chris Kwaczek will also speak about neighbourhood demographics.

A Q & A will follow. All are welcome to attend this free event.

Fuzzy Boundaries has a website where you can read more about the project. You can also post comments. Also, Vic Gedris runs a website called the South Junction Triangle Residents Association. He created it for a now defunct residents group. The association is gone, but the website is still active with lively discussion.

Things I don't care about: Oprah Winfrey loves Toronto

2009-09-14T00:30:00.007-04:00

The never-ending obnoxiousness that is the Toronto International Film Festival is upon us once again. Please Lord, put us out of our misery. How many times must we turn on the TV to watch a gushing CP24 reporter practically beg an American celebrity to tell her how much she loves Toronto? Does the world really need to know that Oprah likes Hogtown? That's information I can do without. Oprah, if you're reading this - and I just know you are - enjoy your stay but do yourself a favour and don't talk to the media. Entertainment reporters aren't worth the bother.

A city-wide referendum on the Toronto International Air Show?

2009-09-10T13:35:00.008-04:00

A few days ago, someone sent a message to the Friends of Dufferin Grove discussion list giving information about where people could complain about the annual CNE air show. This led to a short discussion. The discussion was short because the list moderator cut it off when it started to get heated.

Yesterday, Jutta Mason, the neighbourhood activist who pretty much runs recreation-programming at Dufferin Grove Park, suggested holding a city-wide referendum on whether or not to hold the air show. In the discussion that followed she wrote this:

Surveys are in a slightly different world than participatory democracy -- which is what I mean by a referendum.

I don't believe in participatory democracy so I wrote a reply. I don't know if the moderator will allow my answer on the list, so I am posting it here:

I don't believe in participatory democracy. Representative democracy is a much better system.

Let me make my case by asking a basic question. Why do we have elected representatives? If democracy means government by the people, why do we waste time and money on elections when we could simply have large town meetings where every citizen has a vote on every government decision?

The question answers itself. It would be impossible to run a large city like Toronto with town meetings. You would have to find a space large enough to hold three million people and counting the votes would take forever. (I'm laughing as I try to imagine what such a town meeting would look like.) More than that, running a large city is full-time work. If every citizen had to take time off from his job for each and every government decision, the economy would stop functioning and our citizen legislators would end up dying of deprivation.

We have elected representatives for the same reason we have doctors, plumbers and construction workers. Complex technological societies are based on specialization. Rather than every person trying to do everything for himself, we divvy up the jobs and allow people to specialize. Making public policy is one such specialty. Even though there is a tendency to malign politicians and bureaucrats, those people perform necessary tasks. They govern so the rest of us can do other things like feed and clothe ourselves.

Having said all this, is there room in our representative democracy for referenda on some issues? I'm not sure, but maybe. However, if we are going to have referenda they should be reserved for questions of special importance. In 1990, for example, we had a national referendum on the Charlottetown Accord which would have amended the Canadian constitution. In that case a referendum was justified because simply passing the amendments would have alienated important regions of the country.

The referendum on the Charlottetown accord was preceded by a huge public uproar over what the prime minister and premiers were doing. I don't see any similar uproar over the air show. Aside from a handful of emails from people with far left political views, I haven't heard any complaints about the event. There is no need for a referendum on a show that is clearly popular with the people of Toronto.

DIG IN does not speak for me

2009-09-09T23:30:00.006-04:00

[Update October 14, 2009: There was a DIG IN meeting on Tuesday October 13. I was there as usual. There are reasons why I keep leaving DIG IN; yet, always end up going back. I plan to write about this, but it's a delicate subject that needs careful treatment.]

For the past four years I have been involved in a small, loosely organized community group called DIG IN. Over the years I have been unhappy with the group and I have quit a couple of times only to come back because I didn't want to lose contact with the people I met there.

However, I have come to the conclusion that being part of DIG IN forces me to compromise too many of my beliefs. I can't be part of this group and stay true to myself. That being the case, I would like to disassociate myself publicly from DIG IN and and all of its projects. This group does not represent me and more importantly, it does not represent the majority of people in this neighbourhood.

I realize my leaving DIG IN is not exactly important news, but I thought I should say something because there are many entries on this blog where I mention my involvement. I want to make it clear that that is now in past. DIG IN does not speak for me. I should also mention that I no longer have any connection to the Bloor Improvement Group, BIG.

At some point, I may discuss in detail what I see as the problems with DIG IN, but I want to do it in a way that is fair to people who are basically well-meaning. I'm not interested in attacking people. I stayed in DIG IN as long as I did, because I like the other members of the group. This is not personal. I'm not happy about leaving DIG IN, but I have no choice.

Kenk's assault trial begins

2009-08-26T23:40:00.007-04:00

Igor Kenk's trial on assault and weapon charges began on Wednesday at Old City Hall. The charges were laid on December 14 after an incident involving Kenk and the owners of a garage Kenk was renting. Kenk is accused of "brandishing" a metal pipe at the owner and his wife. The "weapon" in question is the pipe. The garage is behind a house in the Dufferin-Wallace area.

The trial was supposed to start on Tuesday and end on Thursday. However, disclosure issues caused a one-day delay. This and the slow pace of the first day's testimony means the trial will have to be extended past Thursday.

On Wednesday, the court only heard from one witness, Tanveer Abbas, who co-owns the house where Kenk was leasing a garage. Abbas, who came to Canada from Pakistan, spoke through a Punjabi/Urdu interpreter. At first Abbas was switching between Urdu and Punjabi, but after Justice Green asked him which language he was most comfortable with, he began to speak Punjabi while occasionally breaking into English despite the judge telling him not to.

When Crown attorney Lorna Spencer asked Abbas if he had any memory of what happened on December 14, Abbas told the court he would like to speak to his wife first. Justice Green had to explain to him that this wasn't possible because courts need to hear each witness' testimony separately.

When Spencer and defence lawyer Lon Rose asked him questions, Abbas often replied in a way that didn't answer the question. Many times during the day, the lawyers or the judge would have to ask him the same question two or three times. This ate up a lot of court time. It also made for confusing testimony.

One set of questions that got a confusing response concerned the key issue of whether Kenk had swung a pipe at Abbas. Abbas said if he hadn't backed out of Kenk's way, he would have been hit with the pipe Kenk was holding in his hand.

However, Abbas gave inconsistent testimony about how Kenk was moving the pipe and whether he was swinging the pipe at Abbas or just moving his arms as as any person would when walking. The pipe would have swung with his arm, but not in a deliberately threatening way. At one point, Abbas demonstrated how Kenk was holding the pipe in a way that suggested Kenk was threatening to bring the pipe crashing down on him, but later Abbas gave another demonstration that indicated Kenk was swinging the arm with the pipe in an underhand motion as any person would when walking. Abbas also said Kenk pushed him.

The court heard that Kenk's lease on the garage expired on December 30, 2008. Abbas, who bought the house in April, was asked if he knew about Kenk's lease. He said he did, but that the family had moved its own property into the garage at the beginning of December because they thought Kenk wouldn't be coming back. Abbas said that aside from some garbage, the police had removed all of Kenk's belongings when they executed a search warrant in July 2008. He said Kenk was removing boxes of pipes that didn't belong to him.

Abbas claimed that when he tried to talk to Kenk, Kenk became angry and began insulting the family.

Igor Kenk appears at Old City Hall to face assault charges

2009-08-25T19:45:00.004-04:00

Igor Kenk was back at the Old City Hall courthouse on Tuesday to stand trial on one count of assault with a weapon, one count of weapons dangerous and two counts of simple assault. The charges were laid after an incident last December while he was out on bail.

However, the start of the trial was postponed until Wednesday because the defence said it hadn't received all the disclosure it had requested from the Crown. After discussing the matter in court, the judge adjourned the proceedings to give the Crown time to supply the missing disclosure and the defence time to study it. (Disclosure is the evidence that the Crown has gathered and is required to share with the defence.)

Kenk, as pretty much everybody in Toronto knows, is the Queen St. W. bike dealer who was arrested in July 2008 and faces numerous charges involving accusations of bike theft, possession of stolen property and drug possession. (At one point there were 60 charges altogether, but that may have changed since.) Those charges are still before the court. On August 1, 2008, Kenk was granted bail, but on December 14 he was arrested again after an altercation at a house in the Wallace-Dufferin area. This time he was denied bail.

Kenk had gone to the house to retrieve some property from a garage he leased. There was a confrontation with the owner of the house. Kenk is accused of "brandishing a copper pipe" at the owner and his wife and of assaulting two witnesses. The owner and his wife weren't in court today because of a family emergency but two other relatives subpoenaed to testify were told to come back tomorrow.

Kenk appeared today dressed in dark blue jeans and a blue/grey cloth jacket. He had a thick beard and long, unkempt hair. He didn't speak except to his lawyer, Lon Rose.

The Bloor/Gladstone library reopens at last!

2009-07-24T11:30:00.001-04:00

Unveiling the historical plaque - Click to enlarge
It took a long time - three years - but the Bloor/Gladstone library is finally open again. I stopped by yesterday for the opening ceremony. When I got there shortly before noon, there was a line-up to get inside and the lobby downstairs was crowded. Ward 18 city councillor Adam Giambrone was there along with his assistant Chris Gallop as well as the architects and various library officials.

The opening ceremony was mercifully short. The dignitaries unveiled a historical plaque and cut a ceremonial ribbon. (I didn't take notes so I didn't get most of the names.) In his remarks, Adam said Bloor/Gladstone was the library he used as child. He talked about using the Encyclopaedia Britannica for school projects. I could relate to those comments. Some of my earliest memories are associated with Bloor/Gladstone and I also used to go there for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Wikipedia doesn't hold a candle to those printed volumes.

The chief librarian, Jane Pyper, (I think that's who it was) said she knew how much the community had missed the library, which is quite true. I certainly did. I found it interesting that no sooner had the opening ceremony finished than people were waiting in line to check out books. In fact I ran into a neighbour who was carrying an armful of books she was planning to borrow. Apparently, books aren't dead yet.

It's hard to judge a building on a first visit, but I think the renovations look good. The new wing gives the library much needed extra space. As much as I liked the smaller building, it did get crowded. I think the architects did a good job of integrating the new wing with the historical structure. Obviously, I will be going back. If my opinion changes, I'll let you know.

As much as the new wing is welcome it will take me a while to get used to the changes. A part of me will always miss the smaller building.

Photos from Thursday's protest at Campbell Park

2009-07-19T22:15:00.002-04:00

The scene at Campbell - Thursday July 16Click to enlarge
I posted some pictures from last Thursday's protest at Campbell Park on my flickr page. Click here. (Note: you can enlarge the thumbnails by clicking on them.)

I don't know what to make of these protests at the park. I hate the idea of Campbell being used as a garbage dump and it frustrates me to see people dropping off trash there. That said, I don't know if there's an alternative short of legislating an end to the strike. I feel sorry for the people who live next to the park. It's a good thing, it's been a cool summer so far. I do hear people say there are other options, for example, Green P parking lots. I just don't know.

I've also heard some people at Campbell ask why their park was chosen instead of nearby Dufferin Grove. There's a rumour going around that the City is afraid the Friends of Dufferin Grove would have raised too much of a fuss. A few people have mentioned Jutta Mason's name. (Jutta is a local resident heavily involved at Dufferin.) However, there is no organization called the Friends of Dufferin Grove. It's the name of a website and a discussion list, but it's not an organized group.

Neighbourhood 'strategy meeting' at Campbell Park: 2pm Sunday July 19

2009-07-18T19:49:00.006-04:00

Click to enlarge
The hand-written sign reads:

Friends of Campbell Park are organizing
A Strategy Meeting
(what's next)
(residents, Toronto Eagles, soccer parents, concerned residents, youth and others)
Where: Campbell Park, near wading pool
When: 2:00pm
Date: Sunday July 19, '09
There is strength in numbers, speak out against dumping in our parks

Campbell Park anti-dumping protest: it was a circus

2009-07-17T00:15:00.012-04:00

Jack Fava and some supporters briefly block traffic on Campbell. They moved as soon as police said they had to let cars through. Click to enlarge

On Thursday evening a few residents who live near Campbell Park protested against the City's decision to use the site as a temporary garbage dump.

The event was organized at the last minute because the City only announced its decision on Wednesday. The whole thing ended up being a bit of a circus. The media presence had something to do with that. Cameras have a way of changing situations.

When I got there at 5:15pm, police and reporters were already on the scene. There were TV trucks with the high antennas parked on the grass near the wading pool. There were handmade protest signs attached to the fence. There were also two wreaths by a sign that that said "Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Miller. 'Blood is on your hands.'"

The demonstration was organized by Jack Fava and Virginia Novak, both of whom have a history of neighbourhood activism. This is the same pair who two years ago successfully fought against a proposed community garden at Erwin Krickhahn parkette. They have also organized marches and vigils to protest against crime. Two years ago when there was a community safety audit at Bloor and Lansdowne, Ruth White, the unit commander of Toronto Police 14 Division, called Jack "her hero."

Jack and Virginia were of course at Campbell yesterday, but not that many other people. There was a bit of a crowd, but it was sometimes hard to tell those there to protest from those just watching. There were quite a few neighbourhood kids, some of whom I know from working at Campbell rink.

Two men from the Toronto Eagles soccer league were there in support. The Eagles were playing their scheduled games during the protest. The men pointed out the league had put a lot of money into a new irrigation system at Campbell. They thought it was unfair for the City to turn around and use the park as a dump.

Himy Syed from the Friends of Christie Pits also turned up. He took pictures for Torontopedia and then gave an interview to a TV crew.

There were City managers at Campbell to help residents leaving their garbage. The managers wore T-shirts that had the City logo and read Customer Service. A City pick-up truck was parked next to the road in the driveway that leads to the rink. People put their garbage in the truck. When it was full, a manager drove it to the rink. By the time I left, there was quite a bit of garbage. It won't take the rink long to fill up.

Just after I got to the park, Jack and a dozen followers decided to block traffic on Campbell Avenue. That didn't last long. A minute after they formed their line, police came over and told them to stop. They did. I don't think the protesters were all that enthusiastic about this tactic, because when they briefly blocked a truck, a few people in the line started saying they should let the vehicle pass. And they did.

After the police came, Jack and the other people in the line marched about 100 yards up the street before getting off the road. I saw some footage of this march on CityTV. It looked a lot more dramatic on television than in real life. The CityTV report made the whole protest seem more exciting than it was. It was chaotic to be sure, but the event was more low comedy than high drama. I'm not dismissing the objections to the dump, but the protest wasn't well co-ordinated.

Once the short march was finished, Jack, Virginia and a few other people decided to stand in front of the City pick-up truck. One woman who lives across the street blocked another woman who was dropping off trash. The first woman ripped the trash bag from the second woman's hand and tossed it aside. Police came over. People started yelling. Some said the first woman had hit the second woman. One of the men from the Eagles said no. The first woman had only touched the second woman's bag. Police managed to calm things down and the second woman was able to put her garbage in the truck.

The people blocking the truck made people leaving garbage walk around them. Police came over to tell one man to let people through. This led to an argument. The man said he was doing nothing wrong by just standing there. Police said he was in the way. Later the man used foul language to describe the police officer who spoke to him. Another police officer warned him about his language. The first police officer said he was just trying to help the man avoid doing anything that would get him arrested. Things calmed down.

At one point Jack got into an argument with a CUPE member who was on picket duty. I don't know who started it. Jack said union members were greedy. Then some neighbours stood up for the union. At first it was a shouting match, but once everybody had let off some steam, it became more of a discussion. Jack said the union was asking for too much, while the other people said the union was only defending itself against unreasonable demands by the City.

One man who defended the union said he lived behind Campbell rink. He wasn't happy about the park being used as a dump, but said he accepted it under the circumstances. He said the best way to solve this was for the City to offer the union a fair contract.

Jack and Virginia continued to stand in front of the City truck. Sometimes they had supporters next to them, but most of the time they were by themselves. There were residents standing on the other side of the street who were generally supportive as Jack and Virginia literally begged people to hold onto their garbage for one more day. At one point, Virginia kneeled on the pavement in front of someone who wanted to drop off garbage.

Surprisingly, some people did turn back. Jack and Virginia say they persuaded 20 people not to leave their trash. They may be right. I didn't keep count, but a fair amount of people did turn back. However, most didn't. Some were apologetic, saying they had no choice. Others got angry. One guy who was provoked by comments made by people on the other side of the street started yelling obscenities. Police told him to get back in his car. Another man said he lived next to another temporary dump and if he had to put up with it, the people on Campbell could do the same.

Vehicles were parked on both sides of the street, reducing Campbell, a two-way street, to a single crowded lane. There were media trucks, police cars, police bicycles, people who came by car for soccer and people in cars dropping off garbage. There was a traffic jam and a few people got angry, though nothing serious happened. One guy leaned on his horn for a while until police told him to stop. Police did a good job of keeping things under control. Without them, some of the minor arguments could have gotten out of hand.

The temporary dump closed at 7pm. Some media stuck around to file reports. Jack told me he would back tomorrow morning at 7 when the dump re-opens.

You can see more photos here.

Bloor/Gladstone library re-opens on Thursday July 23

2009-07-08T22:20:00.002-04:00

I took this picture in May - click to enlarge

Chris Gallop from Adam Giambrone's office wants everyone to know that the Bloor-Gladstone library will re-open on Thursday July 23. The reopening will take place at noon. There will be refreshments and family entertainment as well as a presentation from Heritage Toronto. The invitation says

RSVP to: Debbie Mair, 416-397-5945, dmair@torontopubliclibrary.ca

A few weeks ago I came across workers moving the books back. See here.

BIG on Bloor 2009: people came out despite the rain

2009-06-23T10:00:00.008-04:00

Band playing outside the Holy Oak cafeClick to enlarge
When you hold a one-day annual event outdoors, there's always the risk of being rained out. The organizers of last Saturday's BIG on Bloor festival said it would go ahead rain or shine. Rain it did, but the event went on as promised. Fortunately, the weather eventually let up and once it did, the street was full of people.

I was out on Bloor representing CELOS - a non-profit group that concerns itself with public space, especially parks. The organization was formed by Jutta Mason and other residents who were, and still are, active at Dufferin Grove. Last year, CELOS made a historical display featuring old photos of the Bloor-Lansdowne and Bloor-Dufferin areas. We found most of the pictures on the City of Toronto archives website. This year we brought the same photos.

One of the disadvantages of having a table at BIG on Bloor is that you only get to see what is happening near you. This is what I saw from my vantage point between St. Clarens and Emerson:

In the early afternoon I found myself sitting under a tent next to Susan Berman from the Perth Dupont Community Garden while rain poured down and people with umbrellas hurried by. However, when the rain let up a steady stream of people came by to look at the historical photographs. Some who stopped were people who remembered the pictures from last year.

The pictures of the Dufferin racetrack, which was located where the mall is today, attracted the most interest. When I asked people if they knew the mall had once been a racetrack, I got three types of answers: 1 - "Racetrack? Of course, everybody knows that." 2 - "Wow. I heard there had been a racetrack there but this is the first time I've seen pictures." 3 - "Holy cow. I didn't know the mall used to be a racetrack. That's really cool." (Last year, Adrienne Trent, an artist whose family has lived for generations on Havelock, displayed personal photos of the area which also proved very popular.)

The CELOS table was located across the street from the Holy Oak cafe, which has become my favourite place for coffee lately. The day before I overheard one of the owners say he had ordered extra supplies for the festival. When I went over for a coffee on Saturday, the man who served it said business had been steady. When the weather let up, a band set up outside the cafe and attracted an audience.

Our table was on the north side of Bloor in front of the Happy Cup cafe. Two years ago the Kiss Cup, as it was known then, was a hangout for drug dealers, but that has all changed. The current owner, Bing, is a friendly man who keeps the dealers out. I drop in for beer once in a while and never have a problem. The last time I was there a group was playing dominoes. During the festival, two men from the bar came out on the street to play chess. Another regular came to look at our pictures. We talked about our shared memory of when the Dufferin Mall was still the Dufferin Plaza (i.e. a strip mall).

The CELOS table was next to Yasi who owns a popular cafe at Wallace and Campbell. During the breaks in the weather she hosted cooking demonstrations which were popular. Women from the South Asian Women's Centre showed how to make a mango salad. Another demonstration was given by Ronti from the Cafe Stella at St. Clarens and Bloor. At 6, Yasi hosted a free community dinner. At about the same time, I met up at Stella with friends from DIG IN. Unfortunately for us, Ronti had a busy day and was out of food by the time we came. I had to settle for Heineken.

As far as I could tell from my spot on Bloor, the festival as a success despite the weather. Among other things it was a chance to say hello to a lot of my neighbours. That in itself made the event worthwhile.

The BIG on Bloor festival is today! Enjoy car-free fun from Lansdowne to Christie, 1-9pm, rain or shine

2009-06-20T11:25:00.004-04:00

Design by Ghazaleh Etezal - click to enlarge
I hope everyone comes out to the festival. This year promises to be even better than last year. See you on Bloor!

West Toronto Railpath party and parade, 2pm Saturday

2009-06-19T17:50:00.004-04:00

Click on the poster to read the details. The Railpath party coincides with tomorrow's BIG on Bloor festival.

Spacing Wire has two articles with photos describing the Railpath. Click here and here. You can read comments about the opening on the ibiketo blog.

Hurray! They're finally bringing the books back to the Bloor-Gladstone library

2009-06-19T16:30:00.008-04:00

At 12:15pm, I saw workers bringing boxes of books to the Bloor-Gladstone library - Click to enlarge

CELOS business brought me to Bloor and Gladstone this afternoon. As I was passing the library, I noticed large cardboard boxes marked with book categories sitting by the front door. I started taking photos. When a man came out of the library, I said, "I guess this means you're opening soon." He told me, "In about three weeks." This wasn't an official announcement so I take that estimate with a grain of salt, but I'm hoping the fact they're bringing the books back is a sign the library will be open soon.

Representatives of the Toronto Public Library have come to BIG on Bloor meetings. They were hoping to re-open the library in time for tomorrow's festival but that wasn't possible. (The library will have a table on Bloor.) The library reps said the project has been delayed because the contractors building the new wing found structural problems in the historic part.

Bloordale BIA sponsors Free Exchange at Saturday's BIG on Bloor festival

2009-06-19T11:51:00.007-04:00

Brock and Bloor- part of the Bloordale BIAClick to enlarge
The BIG on Bloor festival takes place tomorrow from 1-9pm on Bloor between Christie and Lansdowne. One of the main sponsors is the Bloordale BIA to which the businesses between Lansdowne and Dufferin belong. In addition to providing a big chunk of the funding for the festival, the BIA is sponsoring a free exchange tomorrow. From the BIA website:

Free Information, Goods, Services and Activities at the BIG Festival
June 20, 2009, Bloor Street at Margueretta, Toronto, 1pm to 9pm

For more details click here.

annhomanART presents the Balloon Room Room as part of CultureWorks

2009-06-18T09:00:00.011-04:00

Click to enlarge
Bloor and Lansdowne is changing. As art galleries move in, new businesses follow, making the area more attractive to middle-class people looking for a place to live. This leads to questions about gentrification and the future of the working-class and poor people who have until now made the area home.

It's appropriate therefore that this weekend's BIG on Bloor festival includes an art work by recent OCAD-grad and dd/mm/yyyy band member Matt King that touches on the touchy subject of gentrification. Called the Balloon Room Room, this participatory piece will be annhomanART's contribution to CultureWorks.

Matt King writes:

For the Bloor Improvement Group’s street festival, I have decided to create a balloon stand where I will sell balloons for one dollar. These balloons will have a ‘1$’ written on them with a black marker. Much like other balloons, these will be used to advertise, but not for a product. My balloons advertise one's ability to spend their money on useless hunks of gas and plastic. Above this balloon stand will be a replica of a small child hanging from a seemingly runaway pile of helium balloons. This will be used as a promotional spectacle as well as a metaphorical statement about excess.

In the economic revitalization plan on the festival's website, there is no mention of a plan to deal with the impending gentrification of the area, but rather the acknowledgement of its presence and possible effects. From this I have come to understand there is no practical way to prevent this process of gentrification from happening. As an artist participating in this festival (whether I comment or not on this impending gentrification), by simply participating, I am contributing to this change. In this, my project simply points out the process of consumerism on this commercial strip. Regardless of the businesses’ clientele, one's participation in this ‘community’ is through the process of consumption. Had this event taken place in a park, the concept of the festival would be dramatically altered.

I have written about annhomanART before. I know Ann through DIG IN and I have come to admire her gutsiness. It takes courage to launch a new business and to perservere in a tough field.

Ann describes her art enterprise this way:

annhomanART is an evolving project which combines a salon gallery with site-specific art events. The salon hosts the ongoing Emerging Artist series, which continues into the 2009/2010 season. Site-specific art events designed by emerging artists include Andy Morris's WindowShopping, part of the independent project Bloor Nightlight at the 2007 Nuit Blanche, and Frances Beatty's 21 Polaroids at the first BIG on Bloor Festival in 2008.

Ann is also lead producer for Bloor-Lansdowne's second independent Nuit Blanche project, Funktion Function. Aside from annhomanART, the other partners in what Ann calls "a take back the night event", are the Bloordale BIA, DIG IN and Funktion Gallery. I should also note that Ann is a member of the Steering Committee for the Toronto Biennale or TOB1.

Toronto Free Gallery Town Hall: Demystifying the Creative City

2009-06-16T22:00:00.010-04:00

This Thursday June 18, the Toronto Free Gallery is holding a town hall that will take a critical look at the creative class ideas popularized by Richard Florida.

Demystifying the Creative City

Thursday June 18, 2009
Doors Open at 6:30 pm
Panel Begins at 7pm to 8:30
Party from - 9pm to 1am

The gallery is located at 1277 Bloor Street West. More information available here

The topic interests me because the community group I belong to, DIG IN, has at times been criticized for its focus on art. This criticism came up during the controversies over the narrowing of Lansdowne and the proposal to put in supportive housing at 184 Wallace. It has also been at times a source of tension within the group as well. In many ways, the new art galleries are changing Bloor-Lansdowne for the better, but at the same time I worry about who might be hurt by these changes. The neighbourhood is changing rapidly and I feel considerable ambivalence about that.

Big on Bloor's community safety initiative will also deal with the question of gentrification. The main goal of the initiative is neighbourhood revitalization without displacement, though I have to admit, I don't think that's possible.

The Toronto Free Gallery will be part of CultureWorks at this Saturday's Big on Bloor festival.

Cooking Fire Theatre festival at Dufferin Grove Park, June 17-21

2009-06-16T21:07:00.003-04:00

Les Trouveres: Elizabeth Rucker and Jane WellsClick to enlarge
The 6th annual Cooking Fire Theatre festival begins tomorrow at Dufferin Grove Park. From the organizers:

We are pleased to announce The Sixth Annual Cooking Fire Theatre Festival, a week-long performance extravaganza celebrating theatre, food and public space in Toronto’s Dufferin Grove Park. From June 17-21, local, national and international theatre companies will present original work that promises to delight, entice, and inspire. Each evening, returning hosts Le Trouvères will lead the audience from site to site throughout the park to see performances ranging from the love story of an old man and a beautiful pigeon to a comic meditation on going on a journey. Delicious organic meals will be served to the audience over cooking fires and from Dufferin Grove Park’s two wood-fired outdoor community bake ovens. Building on the success of the last five years, this year’s Cooking Fire Theatre Festival will offer the experience of enchanting and challenging theatre, wonderful food and the beginning of summer.

For more information about the festival, visit the Cooking Fire website.

Live music at the Holy Oak cafe this Saturday and Sunday

2009-06-16T19:31:00.008-04:00

Looking out on Bloor from inside Holy OakClick to enlarge
This message was sent to the DIG IN mailing list today:

Hello Neighborhood!
this is justin and melissa from Holy Oak Café.

'Got 2 things to tell you about:

thing no1>>>>>>
Big on Bloor is no secret, but did you know there will be live music throughout the day at Holy Oak Cafe? well now you do.
12:00 = Jonathan Adjemian's piano music (of $100)
2:00 = tom howell and claire jenkins
3:00 = Julia Hambleton & Dave French (woodwinds in love)
6:00 = Saint Dirt Elementary School

we'll have a table with really good quality lemonade and iced tea.

thing no2>>>>>>
On sunday, one of toronto's best musicians will be playing at holy oak. his name is alex lukashevsky. he sings and plays nylon strings like a dream
you can find some words about him here
and you can listen to some of his music here

he plays from 1 until 3 this sunday.
we will be serving Finnish Lettuja's (crepes) until 2
and as usual, our usual café fare and delicious 'direct trade' coffee.

see you soon!

Holy Oak Café
1241 Bloor St. W.
647-345-2803

spring hours:
monday-friday 8 to 7
saturday 9 to 6
sunday 10 to 5

Georgetown rail corridor expansion: a message from the Clean Train Coalition

2009-06-16T19:05:00.006-04:00

Below is a message from the Clean Train Coalition. Having gone to a couple of public meetings and open houses about the Georgetown rail corridor expansion, I still haven't made up my mind about this issue. However, I do have concerns about the project. It certainly is a subject that needs more public discussion. For that reason, I am happy to pass along this notice:

Say NO to Diesel Trains

And Demand IMMEDIATE ELECTRIFICATION

Metrolinx and the Province of Ontario plan to run over 400 diesel trains a day through our neighbourhoods. Diesel exhaust is a known threat to human health, especially the health of children and seniors, and is linked to cancer and respiratory diseases. Diesel trains will spew fumes, create noise and divide our neighbourhoods. This plan will seriously impact our quality of life.

Speak up!

Tell them that you demand:

* Clean and modern electric trains to run along the Union Station to Georgetown Corridor
* No new investment in diesel technology
* A new environmental assessment that considers electrification as an alternative to diesel
* More accessibility by adding stops and making connections between communities.

Click here for simple instructions for making your voice heard!
Join us today at the Metrolinx Open House at Fort York

The Clean Train Coalition is asking people to go to the Metrolinx Open House at Old Fort York. Be there Tuesday June 16, between 6:30 and 7:00. Click here for more information.

Neighbours Talking to Neighbours!

This week we are continuing to work our way through the neighbourhoods along the train tracks. Neighbours are speaking with their neighbours about the Clean Train Coalition and the expansion of GO services. People are spreading the word at Community BBQ's and Festivals, end of school year events, and simply going door to door in their communities. Do you have a local event that you would like us to participate in? We are always happy to come and speak with people about the issue! If you would like to join us in spreading the word, click here. We sure can use you energy!!

Help get the word out - get your neighbours to sign up to our website

The Weston Community Coalition has been working on this issue for a long time. To see some of the research they've done, click here. See also this blog: Railroaded by Metrolinx As I said, my own mind isn't made up, but I do think the project's critics deserve a hearing.

A lot of exciting things to see and do on Bloor St. West this Saturday

2009-06-15T23:58:00.009-04:00

Festival production manager Sid BruynClick to enlarge
Last year the Big on Bloor festival was a new venture that faced many challenges. Even so, it was a big success. This year, the organizers, all local residents, have more experience under their belts and the planning has gone much smoother. Production managers Sid Bruyn and Dougal Bichan along with the very hard-working Gabrielle Langlois and Ghazaleh Etezal have lined up an impressive list of participants and performers:

ARTS & CRAFTS Featuring a range of handmade, one-of-a-kind, organic, ethically produced, free-trade, sweatshop-free, recycled and recycleable goods; vintage clothes, hand screened t-shirts; an extensive range of eclectic paintings, pottery and jewelry inspired from around the world.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS Students from Bloor CI and Kent will be connecting with local residents about how they see the neighbourhood with festival attendees participating in a large interactive game outside Bloor CI at Dufferin. Check out the banner painted by Alpha Alternative School students outside the tennis courts.

WRITERS Meet several Toronto writers and publishers including local author Philippa Dowding reading from her new children’s book “The Gargoyle in my Backyard”, which takes place in the Dovercourt Park area

FOOD More than 30 restaurants with extended patios for the day offering an international fare of food, drinks and barbecues.

PERFORMING ARTS Three stages featuring pop, traditional Portuguese, indie, African, South American, punk and reggae music; dance companies, acrobats; enjoy skits at the Comedy Bar, drum and community jams, street performers, buskers, and Clay & Paper Theatre’s puppets on bikes will be celebrating on Bloor. Duffy’s Tavern will have a music stage and beer garden and Concord Cafe opens up a patio with under 19 dedicated musicians followed by a local jam after 7.

CULTURE WORKS Major cultural institutions and celebrated local art organizations will be gathering between Lansdowne and Dufferin. Among the 100+ participants, visit annhomanART’s postcard-based participatory art event creating face-to-face interaction between festival goers and local storefront operators to address the cultural, social and economic goals of BIG on Bloor festival; Mercer Union; Toronto Free Gallery; Live DJing and emceeing: enjoy dancing while Funktion Gallery brings the funk out onto the street.

MISC. Second Harvest will be collecting food donations; Bloordale is having a Free Exchange of Information, Goods and Services, Stuff and Activities; Inorganic Market will be collecting old computer hardware; The Nesting Place will offer a quiet breast feeding spot for moms with babies; Bloorcourt Vet will supply water for thirsty dogs; Bike Pirates will run a Bike Polo in the tennis courts at Dufferin. and Wireless Toronto gives us a taste of a wireless zone within Bloorcourt.

The festival takes places this Saturday June 20 from 1-9pm on Bloor St. West between Christie and Lansdowne. To see photos from last year's festival, click here. To see the complete festival guide in pdf format, click here. (Clicking opens the pdf document in your browser.)

CultureWorks at the Big on Bloor street festival

2009-06-15T12:55:00.007-04:00

Poster design by Pam LostraccoClick to enlarge
One of the highlights of this Saturday's Big on Bloor festival will be CultureWorks, sponsored by DIG IN, a community group active in the area since 2002. DIG IN was founded by Dyan Marie, a local artist who moved to the neighbourhood long before the area's current art boom.

While DIG IN has many interests, art has always figured prominently in the group's activities. DIG IN's former chair, Ann Homan, has an art-related business, while the current chair, Donna Cowan, has an arts connection through the National Film Board. Richard Mongiat, who is responsible for the underpass murals on Bloor west of Lansdowne, is an active DIG IN member. (Full disclosure: I am also a long-time member of DIG IN, but my only art connection is the group itself.)

According to the organizers:

Back for its second year, the CutureWorks line-up of major Toronto art institutions and local galleries brings provocative, fun, and interactive art and events to Lansdowne and Bloor. CultureWorks was conceived as a local project contributing to the cultural, social and economic vitalization of our Bloor Street West neighbourhood.

Click on the poster at the top for a list of CultureWorks participants.

The 2nd annual Big on Bloor festival takes place this Saturday June 20, 1-9pm

2009-06-15T09:03:00.013-04:00

Ronti, the manager of Cafe Stella at Bloor and St. Clarens, talks to BIG production manager Dougal Bichan about some festival details. Cafe Stella is one of the many local restaurants that will have outdoor licenced patios next Saturday. (Click to enlarge)

It's less than a week before the second Big on Bloor festival. On Saturday June 20, Bloor St. W. will be closed from Christie in the east to Lansdowne in the west for a giant street party. The festival hours are 1-9pm, but Bloor will be closed from 9am-11pm. This is the second year the festival is being held. Last year thousands gathered on Bloor to enjoy the displays and activities. This Saturday's festival promises to be even better. I'm looking forward to seeing the Fort York Fife and Drum Corps marching on Bloor.

BIG is short for Bloor Improvement Group - a coalition of community organizations working together to improve the social and economic conditions on a stretch of Bloor that is rapidly changing. Organized and run by local residents, the festival receives financing from the Bloordale and Bloorcourt Business Improvement Areas as well as the City of Toronto. In addition to the festival, BIG is sponsoring a Community Safety Initiative.

You can see pictures from last year's festival here. My comments on the event are here.

The 7th annual Day of Delight in Dufferin Grove Park, Sunday June 14, 2-5pm

2009-06-13T17:55:00.006-04:00

Practising in the park - click to enlarge
This Sunday Dufferin Grove Park plays host to the 7th annual Day of Delight, Clay and Paper Theatre's yearly celebration of romantic love. You can see a few more pictures of the performers practising here.

The Nation of Islam comes to Dufferin and Bloor

2009-06-11T14:35:00.004-04:00

Brother Richard of the Nation of IslamClick to enlarge
Sometimes when I go downtown I see representatives of the Nation of Islam selling literature. They are instantly recognizable by their dark suits and bow ties. I don't know when the Nation first came to Toronto, but it's only been in recent years that I've noticed them around the Eaton Centre. I used to only see NOI members on TV, but now I run into them fairly often.

Still, I was surprised a month ago to see a young man in the familiar dark suit and bow tie standing at the northwest corner of Dufferin and Bloor selling copies of the Final Call outside the subway station. I bought a copy of the newspaper out of curiosity. Since then I've run into him a few more times.

A few weeks ago I asked him if I could take his picture for my blog and he was kind enough to let me. He told me his name was Brother Richard. I learned he lives outside the neighbourhood and sells newspapers at other locations as well. When I approached him, he was willing to talk about his group. I've spoken to him a few times now and he's always friendly.

I was curious about one thing. Just west of Dufferin at 1168 Bloor there is a mosque called the Islamic Information & Dawah Centre International. The imam Shabir Ally hosts a weekly television show called Let the Quran Speak. I wanted to know if people from the mosque ever talked to Brother Richard.

I was curious because the Nation of Islam is a black nationalist group founded in the United States and is well outside the mainstream of Islam. In fact, I don't think most Muslims recognize it as an Islamic group.

Brother Richard told me he does sometimes talk to people from the mosque and his relationship with them is "cordial." He said both groups were similar in that they recognized the "Holy Quran" but they were different in that the Nation of Islam puts more emphasis on the here and now than on the afterlife. The Nation of Islam believes that heaven and hell exist here in the present.

I hope I'm repeating this accurately. It was a brief conversation and I'm certainly not an expert in the Nation of Islam's beliefs. (As many readers will already know, NOI is a very controversial group.) Be that as it may, Brother Richard seems like a nice man. The last time I spoke to him I asked if the Nation would be interested in renting a table at the Big on Bloor festival. He didn't seem that interested, but did write down BIG's URL.

DIG IN meeting 7pm tonight at the Wallace-Emerson community centre

2009-06-09T09:18:00.005-04:00

From DIG IN chair Donna Cowan:

Join us at the next DIGIN meeting on Tuesday 9 June 2009 @ 7pm (the agenda is below)

Ambrico Room, Wallace Emerson Community Centre 1260 Dufferin Street (west side, just south of Dupont) at Galleria Mall

AGENDA
DIG IN Meeting
Tuesday June 9, 2009 7pm

ITEMS to be discussed

1. CULTURE WORKS details
Items needed
Final details
VOLUNTEERS still NEEDED
* on the day-of of festival button-makers at the DIGIN table are needed

* POSTERING - there are still about 100 CULTURE WORKS posters that need a home somewhere in the city.

* Send out CULTURE WORKS promo material to your contact list

2. Summer projects
- TDS
- Nuit Blanche

3. Adjourn 8:30pm
JOIN US at Boo Radleys restaurant/bar as we welcome back Dyan Marie upon her return from doing her Masters.

Boo Radleys (1482 Dupont - west of Lansdowne)

Donna Cowan
Chair, DIGIN
Chair, BIG
416.919.5694

Join us on June 20th for the BIG on Bloor Street Festival from 1pm-9pm
For more information and to sign up online for your table visit the website www.bigonbloor.com

Check out Culture Works at the BIG on Bloor Street Festival
between Lansdowne and Dufferin www.digin.ca

Students, residents and police come together for community fun at Fort York

2009-06-07T18:40:00.003-04:00

Police vs. students tug of warClick to enlarge
Every police division in Toronto has a Community Police Liaison Committee or CPLC composed of residents and police officers who meet regularly to discuss crime and other issues. Fourteen Division, which includes the area around Bloor and Lansdowne, is no exception.

I haven't gone to any meetings recently but I did attend them in the past. The meetings are a way to meet police officers and other residents. They're also a way to find out what is happening in other neighbourhoods.

This year the 14 Division CPLC came together with local high students who are part of the Empowered Student Partnerships (ESP) program, to put together a Community Fun Day. The event, which was held at old Fort York, took place today.

This morning I went out to take some pictures.

Among the schools represented was St Mary's Catholic Secondary School, just across the street from Dufferin Grove park. The principal of St. Mary's was one of the speakers today. Cathy Byrd, who is the staff adviser for St. Mary's ESP program, was also there.

The event featured games, slides, a bouncy castle, clowns, a demonstration by the Toronto police mounted unit and a tug of war between students and police officers. I've posted some of the pictures I took here.

Bloor-Lansdowne tweetup at the Holy Oak cafe on Bloor

2009-06-07T08:34:00.003-04:00

@rreefke and @bloorlansdowneClick to enlarge.
I started using Twitter earlier this year and when I did. I found other people in the neighbourhood also use the service. Rachel whose Twitter handle is bloorlansdowne, invited us to the new Holy Oak cafe (1241 Bloor, on the south side between St. Clarens and Margueretta) for a Twitter meet-up or tweetup. It was a small gathering. There were only three of us, but in a way that was good, because we were able to have a real conversation about the neighbourhood and how it's changing. I certainly enjoyed the meeting and there will be more.

Pictures from Toronto's 2009 Portugal Day parade

2009-06-06T22:10:00.007-04:00

Portuguese army veterans on LansdowneClick to enlarge
Every year the Alliance of Portuguese Clubs and Associations of Ontario, ACAPO, holds a large, colourful parade in the west end of the old City of Toronto. The parade participants marshal on Lansdowne between College and Bloor. Then they march down to Dundas and from there, east to Trinity-Bellwoods park where they have a festival. This afternoon I walked down to Lansdowne to take pictures. My memory card ran out half-way through the parade, but I did manage to take a lot photos in the marshalling area. I've posted some of them to my flickr page. I'll post more when I have time.

My neighbourhood is changing very quickly. While there still are a lot of Portuguese residents, the people who are moving into the area now are not Portuguese. I've noticed that more and more of my neighbours speak English with a Canadian accent. That might seem like a strange thing to say since Bloor and Lansdowne is in Canada, but for much of my life most of my neighbours were people who spoke English as a second language or in some cases not at all. That's no longer true. This neighbourhood is not as Portuguese as it was even two years ago.

See also:

Ici on parle français, not to mention Portuguese, Italian and a few other languages

Road closures for Portuguese parade

2009-06-06T08:40:00.011-04:00

Boys carrying flags at College and Lansdowne.Click to enlarge
[Update: The time given in this press release is wrong. It's 12:35pm and the parade is well underway. Half an hour ago I was standing at the corner of College and Lansdowne taking pictures. Maybe 3-11pm refers to the festival in the park. In any case Lansdowne from Bloor to Dundas was closed when I left. This Star article says Lansdowne is closed until 3pm.]

A news release from Toronto Police Service:

Alliance of Portuguese Clubs> and Associations of Ontario, Road closures

Saturday June 6, 2009 - 6:15 AM
Special Events
416-808-5053

On Saturday, June 6, 2009, from 3 p.m., to 11 p.m., the Alliance of Portuguese Clubs and Associations of Ontario is hosting a parade and festival.

Parade route as follows:

Formation Area: Lansdowne Ave. (Bloor St. W. to College St.) - full roadway
Southbound Lansdowne Ave. - full roadway
Eastbound Dundas St. W. - full roadway
Dispersal Area: Dundas St. W and Gore Vale Ave.

A festival is being held at Trinity Bellwoods Park immediately following the parade with games, rides and music.

Traffic congestion is expected. Alternate routes are suggested.

Constable Wendy Drummond, Public Information, for Constable Lynne Hegenauer, Special Events Planning

Starving Artist cafe at Paton and Lansdowne now open

2009-06-05T17:15:00.001-04:00

The cafe before it openedClick to enlarge
There's a new cafe at Paton Rd and Lansdowne called Starving Artist. It's at the location where Soul Food used to be. I went by today and it is open. I went in, had a coffee and spoke to one of the owners, Tobi, who was friendly. The other owner Bryan Jackson was also there, but I didn't talk to him.

I was the only person there and Tobi (Tobias Wang) showed me around. It's very nice inside. The owners have obviously put a lot of work into the new business. The furnishings are tasteful. There's an aquarium, a screen with a slide show and there are photos of the neighbourhood on the wall. The neighbourhood pictures were taken by Tobi who is a photographer. He said they would like to show work by local artists, but haven't gotten a suitable proposal yet.

I took a copy of the menu, which says it's "always changing." Besides Americano, they have cappuccino, lattes, espresso, teas and other drinks. They have an all-day brunch with fruit salad. They have a variety of specialty waffles, not the generic kind you buy in the supermarket. They also have sandwiches and deserts. The prices of the sandwiches and waffles are $7-$9. The deserts are $5.

The cafe is closed on Mondays.

Putting up the BIG on Bloor banner at Dufferin and Bloor

2009-06-04T14:35:00.006-04:00

Bill, Sarah Pulins and Gabrielle Langlois putting up the bannerClick to enlarge
This morning a group of us put up a banner at Dufferin and Bloor to promote the BIG on Bloor festival The banner was made by students from the Alpha 2 alternative school, which shares a building with Kent public school on Dufferin just south of Bloor. We put the banner on the fence outside the tennis courts at the southwest corner of Bloor and Dufferin. On day of the festival, Saturday June 20, the courts will become an 'art cage' curated by Joel Richardson. Gabrielle Langlois, who has been put in many hours talking to businesses and schools about the festival, worked closely with the students on the banner as did Ghazaleh Etazel. Gabrielle and Ghazaleh have both put a lot of hard work into this event.

Spiro does his part to promote the June 20, 2009 BIG on Bloor festival

2009-06-03T23:24:00.006-04:00

Click to enlarge
I took this picture at Wednesday night's planning meeting for the Saturday June 20 BIG on Bloor festival. Spiro Koumoudouros owns the House of Lancaster and chairs the Bloordale BIA, one of the two main sponsors of the festival. The other major sponsor is the neighbouring Bloorcourt Village BIA. The festival also received a modest grant from the City.

The festival, which take place on Bloor between Lansdowne and Christie, is in its second year. Last year's event was a huge success despite some rough spots along the way. This year the planning is going more smoothly.

Local businesses, some of which were sceptical last year, are much more receptive now that they've seen the crowds the festival attracts. So far, 300 participants have rented 400 tables, but people who want a table can still sign up here. BIG, which stands for Bloor Improvement Group, is also looking for volunteers.

You can see photos from the 2008 festival at BIG on Bloor's flickr page.

Another Richard Mongiat mural west of Lansdowne and Bloor

2009-06-03T16:42:00.006-04:00

Richard Mongiat and Elizabeth Bailey - click to enlarge

Last year I blogged about a mural local artist Richard Mongiat painted on the south side of the underpass on Bloor just west of Lansdowne. (Ram's photos of last year's mural can be seen here. See also the BlogTO article.)

Yesterday a friend told me Richard is painting a new mural on the other side of the street. This afternoon I went out to talk to Richard and take some pictures. Richard told me that while the mural on the south side shows trees in winter, the murals on the north side will show summer trees.

Money for the mural comes from the City of Toronto's Clean and beautiful initiative. This led one passer-by to say she would complain to the City, because she didn't like the fact the mural won't cover up the concrete. But as I wrote last year, I like this feature. Of course, I wouldn't want the whole city to be made out of concrete, but the material can be beautiful if you take the time to look closely at the patterns. For example, take a look at the this picture I found on flickr. Granted not everyone will see this as beautiful, but I do.

A basketball game in Dufferin Grove park

2009-05-22T10:59:00.007-04:00

Click to enlarge
These boys were playing basketball in Dufferin Grove park yesterday afternoon. The basketball court is located at the northwest corner of the park near the skating rink. There used to be a bocce court there, but it was removed because there was more demand for basketball. The basketball court is well-used.

This game was going on at the same time as the weekly farmers' market. Dufferin Grove is a lively place that attracts people from both inside and outside the area.

However, not everyone in the neighbourhood likes this. Some people who live nearby think Dufferin Grove is too busy and from time to time public meetings about the park have become quite heated.

I've posted more pictures taken in Dufferin Grove here.

Fun Fair at the Galleria Mall

2009-05-10T18:25:00.004-04:00

Click to enlarge
I took a walk this afternoon and wandered into the fun fair in the Galleria parking lot. More pictures from the fair here.

Wallace Avenue stabbing case: Crown drops murder charge against Shahin Pirouzi

2009-04-15T17:54:00.003-04:00

Some people will remember that in April last year a man was stabbed to death in front of 224 Wallace Ave. That's the old GE building that has the water tower. Police arrested 29-year-old Shahin Pirouzi and charged him with 2nd degree murder.

Today assistant Crown attorney Alan Spiegel dropped the murder charge because there was "no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction." Spiegel told the court that this weekend police did some extra investigation and that when a senior Crown attorney reviewed the new evidence, the Crown decided to withdraw the charge.

After court was over, I spoke to the defence attorney, Sid Freeman. She told me Pirouzi made a 911 call from a phone booth at about the same time as the stabbing. On the weekend police timed how long it would take to walk from the phone booth to the scene of the stabbing and the amount of time it took called into question whether Pirouzi could have been there when the man was stabbed to death. I asked her if this was a case of misidentification. She told the case hinged on identification. She said there were lots of eye witnesses and none of them identified Pirouzi. In court she praised the Crown for the "great courage" it took to withdraw the charge and said this is the type of decision that makes the system work.

I also spoke to the Crown attorney Alan Spiegel. He was friendly. We had even talked earlier about the courts project I'm working on. However, when I asked him about what the defence attorney had said, he told me as a Crown he didn't have the same freedom to talk that the defence has. He gave me the name and phone number of a person in the Crown's office that deals with media.

There was a Toronto Star reporter in court, John Goddard. He told me the Star got a tip that the charges would be withdrawn.

Pirouzi is still in custody because he faces other charges that were laid before he was arrested for the stabbing. This is one of the cases I've been following as part of the CELOS courts project.

This year's Good Friday procession in Little Italy

2009-04-10T22:00:00.012-04:00

Click to enlarge
Every year on Good Friday, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic church holds a long religious procession through the streets of Toronto's old Little Italy. (I say 'old' because most of the area's Italians have moved out.) Although the route isn't far from Bloor and Lansdowne, this is the first time I've gone to see the parade. Until now I've only seen pictures.

I used to think this was a small event mainly of interest to local Italians. At one time it probably was, but judging by the size and character of today's crowd that's no longer true. I did hear a lot of Italian this afternoon, which brought back memories of when that language was still spoken up here in our own neck of the Hogtown woods. However, the parade seems to have gotten enough publicity to have become a kind of tourist event for Torontonians of all backgrounds. (I doubt a lot of people are coming from out of town, though I could be wrong.)

I was raised Catholic and while I have come to reject Christian theology, I'm still Catholic enough to be moved by religious events like this. Although I no longer believe Jesus died for our sins, Christian holidays like Good Friday and Easter still have a hold on me. I respect the piety of the participants in the procession. I was affected by the sombre music, as well as the singing and the prayers of the people in the procession. It seemed almost sacrilegious to take pictures like I did today. It was like taking pictures in a church while a mass is being said.

I wasn't the only one affected. Although people did talk and laugh during the parade, the overall mood was sombre. When actors portraying Roman soldiers whipping Jesus passed by, people were mostly quiet. Some of course smiled and laughed because they were, after all, watching amateur actors playing a part, but despite that, there was more silence than laughter. The young men dressed up as Roman soldiers did a good job of imitating bullies. I found it a little uncomfortable to watch. It wasn't so much the fake whipping as the way they shouted at 'Jesus' to keep moving. You don't have to go back 2000 years to know what it's like to be on the receiving end of that kind of abuse.

There was, however, one discordant note. Some politicians took part in the parade, including Adam Giambrone, Joe Pantalone, Judy Sgro, Maurizio Bevilacqua and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. When Ignatieff was passing by, he was smiling and waving to the crowd while the marching bands were playing appropriately funereal Good Friday music.

People in the parade, not just the politicans, sometimes stopped to shake hands with friends standing on the sidewalk. People did smile and laugh but the overall mood, as I said, was quiet and respectful. Then comes Ignatieff beaming a smile and waving like he's in the middle of a campaign event. Maybe he was just responding to the fact people in the crowd recognized him, but his broad smile appeared out of place.

I don't want to bash Ignatieff. Obviously, I don't know what he was thinking and feeling. I can only say it seemed like he didn't appreciate that Good Friday is a religious holiday that holds deep meaning for Christians. The way Ignatieff, and it must be said, the other politicians in the parade including Giambrone, treated this event as a political opportunity left a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe it would have been better if they had all stayed home. Then again, if none had showed up, other people would have complained about that.

Dufferin Grove Park Speakers' Series: The Georgetown Corridor Rail Expansion

2009-04-02T18:30:00.007-04:00

Click to enlarge
This Friday April 3, Mike Sullivan of the Weston Community Coalition will be speaking at Dufferin Grove Park about the Georgetown Corridor Rail Expansion. In particular he will be discussing the proposed Pearson Airport - Union Station air rail link, known as Blue 22. Sullivan and his group oppose the current plan because the rail link would use diesel instead of electric trains, among many other concerns. (You can read the group's press releases here.) They say the air rail link combined with expanded GO and VIA service will mean 350 and 415 Diesel Trains per day (119,000 per year) along the tracks passing through Weston and Mount Dennis.

Sullivan's talk is part of the park's speakers' series. His presentation will begin at 7pm, following the park's regular Friday Night Supper. The supper starts at 6 and features your choice of a meat or vegan entree, $6. Soup, chili, hot dogs, and other food is also available. Both dinner and the talk will take place in the rinkhouse which is located at the northwest corner of the park, across the street from the mall.

BIG on Bloor festival General Meeting April 1

2009-03-30T07:39:00.002-04:00

BIG on Bloor festival
General Meeting
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Working Womens Community Centre
533C Gladstone Avenue
Toronto ON

The BIG on Bloor Festival, Canada's longest street festival, is coming back to Bloor Street on Saturday, June 20, 1 to 9 pm. Once again, we will be shutting down 2 1/2 km of Bloor Street, from Christie to Lansdowne, to traffic and opening it up to pedestrians.

Last year, more than 100,000 people came out to walk the street and
enjoy the day.

There are many ways to get involved

as a vendor, rent a table or two or three, on the street
performers, sign up to perform on one of the four stages, or on the
street
volunteer to help organize and execute the festival, work behind the
scenes
sponsor the festival with a donation of goods and/or money

Be creative, think up your own way to contribute! Sign up at
http://www.bigonbloor.com/festival

There will be a general meeting of all interested people on
Wednesday, April 1, at Working Women's Community Centre, 533C
Gladstone Avenue, Toronto at 7:00 pm. It is just east of Dufferin and
Bloor, close to the Dufferin Subway.

Come to the meeting to get an update on the festival preparations
from the Programming, Production, Promotion, Outreach/Sponsorship and
Volunteer Committees. Have your questions answered.

Get involved!. Sign up at http://www.bigonbloor.com/festival

Dougal Bichan

BIG on Bloor Festival

Programming coordinator

416.645.0295

Funeral at St. Josaphat's for former Ukrainian dissident

2009-03-22T10:40:00.002-04:00

[Update April 3, 2009: Someone emailed me to say people from as far away as Russia are coming to the funeral. If you are from out of town and are looking for directions to the church, click here]

On Friday my blog started getting hits from people outside Canada who had googled St. Josaphat's church on Franklin. They came to my site because last year I had posted a blog item about the church. I was wondering why so many people outside Toronto were suddenly interested in St. Josaphat's. A kind person emailed me with the answer. A former Soviet dissident named Josyp Terelya died and his funeral will be held at the church on April 4.

In 1970s Terelya was imprisoned by the Soviet government for his involvement in the underground Ukrainian Catholic Church, which the Communists had been banned. Ukrainians and others in the west campaigned for his release, which was eventually granted. He and his wife settled in Canada.

He was for a time well known in the Ukrainian Catholic community, but I didn't hear much about him after he left the USSR. (I did see him once at a Ukrainian Catholic event in Ancaster.) Apparently, he was still prominent in certain Catholic circles because he was a "mystic" who claimed to have had private revelations from God. He was close to Ukrainian Catholic bishop Roman Danylak, the former rector of St. Josaphat's.

Is something happening at St. Josephat's Cathedral on Franklin?

2009-03-20T09:53:00.002-04:00

Last year I posted a picture and short blurb about St. Josaphat's Ukrainian-Catholic Cathedral on Franklin. Yesterday that blog entry got a lot of hits from people searching for St. Josaphat's on Google. I wonder why. Is something happening at the church? If you came to my blog looking for information about St. Josaphat's and know of some special event there, please let me know what it is. Email me at hogtown.blues AT gmail.com

Dufferin Grove Speakers' Series: Crime and the courts

2009-03-17T23:49:00.004-04:00

Old City Hall - click to enlarge.
This Friday March 20 I will be giving a short presentation on crime and the courts as part of the Dufferin Grove park's speakers' series. My presentation will follow the park's regular Friday night supper. Supper begins at 6. My talk starts at 7:30pm. After I give my 30-minute presentation, I will open up the floor for a general discussion.

Here's some background. For the past year, I have been going to Old City Hall and other court houses as part of a research project for CELOS, a park-based research group founded by Jutta Mason. I have been following a number of cases that began with arrests in the different neighbourhoods more or less within walking distance of Dufferin Grove. The first case I followed involves an allegation of sexual assault in the park. It is still before the courts. As part of this project, I attended Igor Kenk's first bail hearing.

The Paradise Theatre

2009-03-14T05:00:00.000-04:00

Click to enlarge
I took this photo of the Paradise Theatre yesterday afternoon. I posted some more pictures here.

Good turnout and lively discussion at the Save the Paradise meeting

2009-03-12T22:51:00.011-04:00

[Update June 17, 2009: The group behind the initiative has changed the name of its Facebook group to Friends of the Paradise. The Friends will have a table at this year's Big on Bloor festival, Saturday June 20, 1-9pm. The festival will happen along a Bloor that will be closed to traffic from Christie in the east to Lansdowne in the west.]

I went this evening to a meeting to discuss the future of the Paradise movie theatre on the north side of Bloor, a block west of Dovercourt. The theatre was part of the Festival repertory chain, but closed after that group dissolved. It's been sitting empty for three years. Now a group of people in the neighbourhood would like to find a way to open it up as a community space that would be used for more than movies. Three people, Joe Jacobs, Jordan Lewis and Sarah Latha-Elliot have formed a Facebook group called Save Paradise! which now has 225 members. They have met with the owner who seems interested in reviving the theatre. They also had an encouraging meeting with Friends of the Revue Cinema.

The purpose of tonight's meeting was to see how much interest there is in the community. As one of the organizers said, if people hadn't shown up, that might have been the end of it, but as things turned out at least fifty people came to The Storefront. Early in the meeting, I counted 42. A few people came and went but there were definitely more people in the room after I counted the first time. I recognized some faces from Big on Bloor meetings. Others I have seen at the Dufferin Grove farmers' market.

As might be expected at this sort of event, the arts community was well-represented while Portuguese labourers (still an important part of the neighbourhood) weren't to be seen. Neither did I see any of the shinny players from Dufferin or Christie Pits. One of the organizers said he's a teacher at a local alternative school while another said he was a social worker who has worked with homeless people. They are both from the neighbourhood.

It was definitely not a representative cross-section of the local community, although the neighbourhood is changing. A few people mentioned how the area's demographics have altered in the last few years.

Chris Gallop from Adam Giambrone's office was there. (I may have more to say about this at another time.)

At the start of the meeting one of the organizers said something about dividing up into groups but that never happened. While the organizers were making their opening remarks people started chiming in with questions and comments. There was quite a lively discussion. Some of those who spoke up pointed out that while it's all well and good to have wonderful ideas, it would take a lot of work to make any of them real. There seemed to be an understanding that re-opening the theatre would be a big undertaking.

The organizers don't think the Paradise can survive by showing second-run movies alone. (However, someone else pointed out that the theatre was still showing a profit when it closed.) While the organizers still want to show films, they also want to make use of the venue for live theatre and public events. The Paradise has a stage and small dressing rooms because it used to be a vaudeville theatre. (The City of Toronto has listed it as a heritage property.) One of the organizers said he would like to see it used for vaudeville again. There was also talk of using the theatre for "progressive" community events and multicultural film festivals. (I guess that means no conservative events allowed, which contradicts the idea of the theatre becoming a community space open to all.)

However, at this point everything is still at the idea stage. There is no formal organization or plan in place. Interest in the theatre is there, but whether anything comes of it remains to be seen.

BIG on Bloor Festival Kickoff Meeting - Wednesday March 4, 7pm

2009-03-01T23:42:00.002-05:00

The Bloor Street festival is happening again on Saturday June 20, 2009.

Just a reminder to please join us for the upcoming BIG on Bloor Kickoff Meeting to provide your feedback, to learn more about BIG and it’s initiatives and/or to get involved.

The BIG on Bloor Kickoff Meeting is on March 4th, at 7pm, at St. Mary’s High School, 66 Dufferin Park Ave (North end of Dufferin Grove Park).

We look forward to hearing from you!

The Big on Bloor steering committee

Squirrel electrocuted on Wallace

2009-02-09T00:58:00.003-05:00

At ten to ten on Sunday morning, I was walking west along Wallace just past Lansdowne. Out of the blue I heard a loud bang. I looked up and saw smoke coming from a hydro pole. A few seconds later I saw something drop from the pole. It looked like a bird, but I wasn't sure so I went over to see. It was a dead squirrel. The bang I heard was the squirrel being electrocuted. When I was looking at the dead animal, a man came out on his veranda. I asked him if his house had lost power. He said yes.

Taxi driver accused of leaving scene after seriously injuring cyclist at Dovercourt and Argyle denied bail

2008-11-25T22:42:00.004-05:00

I was at Old City Hall today for the bail hearing of Sultan Ahmed, the 38-year-old taxi driver accused of seriously injuring a cyclist at Dovercourt and Argyle on November 14. The hearing is covered by a publication ban, which means I can't post any of the evidence I heard. The hearing took most of the day. Ahmed's wife, children and a group of supporters were in the courtroom. After listening to all the evidence and arguments, Justice of the Peace Cesar De Morais decided the Crown had shown why Ahmed should stay in jail until his case is resolved. Ahmed will appear again in court on December 1. His next appearance will be by video. He will be in what is called set-date court, which means his appearance will deal with procedural issues and will likely be very short.

Silver/Sister - Photographs by Emily Elder at annhomanART, opening reception Thursday September 11, 7pm - 9pm

2008-09-10T07:38:00.008-04:00

Photograph by Emily Elder - click to enlarge

Over the decades I've lived in this neighbourhood I've seen many changes. One of the most recent is the emergence of Bloor and Lansdowne as a place to find artists and art galleries. While some galleries have moved here from elsewhere, annhomanART, located on St. Helen's Ave., just south of Bloor is a relatively new gallery founded by a local resident.

Ann Homan is the former chair of Dig In where she is still an active member. Last year she played a big part in the neighbourhood's Nuit Blanche project Bloor NIGHTLIGHT and she was also one of the main organizers of this year's BIG festival. (Full disclosure: I know Ann through my own involvement in Dig In.)

Ann's gallery features the work of young artists. She says on her website that she has created a "a space for new grads - to keep them working, to keep them enthusiastic, to help them make their living making art."

This Thursday, Ann is launching a new exhibition featuring the work of photographer Emily Elder. The main subject of the Silver/Sister series, which runs from September 11 to October 11, is Elder's sister who has struggled with bipolar disorder.

Silver/Sister
September 11 to October 11, 2008

Opening reception
Thursday September 11
7pm to 9pm

annhomanART
284 St.Helens Avenue
Studio 121
Toronto M6H 4A4 Canada
Land +416 538 1771
Mobile +416 998 8206

Lansdowne & Bloor
One block west of Lansdowne
One driveway south of Value Village

Community meeting 7pm Tuesday September 9 - Everybody welcome!

2008-09-08T00:21:00.002-04:00

Dig In is holding its first meeting after the summer break at 7pm on Tuesday September 9. Doors open at 6:45. As always, the meeting will be held in the Ambrico Room of the Wallace-Emerson Community Centre. The centre is located at 1260 Dufferin St., on the west side just south of Dupont. It's the white building next to the MacDonald's across the street from the fire station. The meeting is open to anyone who wants to help make the neighbourhood better.

Tuesday's agenda

1. YIMBY? (Yes In My Backyard festival)

2. Campfire in October?

3. Urban Jungle Arts Collective proposal

4. Wallace Emerson Park Safety/Upkeep

5. 2010 Toronto Biennalle

6. Dyan Marie's future participation

7. Website update

DIG IN : DIG IN initiates inclusive community and cultural plans and actions that will contribute to sustaining a neighbourhood that is GREEN • CLEAN • SAFE • CIVIL by fostering improvements in the areas of its social, environmental, cultural, economic and physical make up.

DIG IN website: www.digin.ca . To join DIG IN main email group send an email to: diggingin-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. This is a discussion group. For announcements only send an email to: diginfo-subscribe@yahoogroups.com If you experience any difficulty in signing up, please send an email to Dougal our DIG IN Monitor, at dougal@dougalco. com, and he will help you sign up.

Morris dancers at Dufferin Grove

2008-09-01T08:36:00.015-04:00

Morris dancers - click to enlarge
Yesterday afternoon my neighbours invited me to a birthday party for their two-year-old son in Dufferin Grove Park. When I left the party to go home, I came across a large crowd by the basketball court. It was the annual gathering of Morris dancers. (Morris dancing is an English folk tradition.) I've been reading about this event for years in the park newsletter but this is the first time I've actually seen it. It turned out to be a lot of fun. The dancers were energetic. They were clearly enjoying themselves as were the people watching.

Morris dancers - click to enlarge

Crack addicts in the laneway

2008-08-30T10:25:00.005-04:00

The residential streets around Bloor and Lansdowne are generally good, but the area next to the intersection itself is rather rough especially at night. Drug dealers and users have been a neighbourhood fact of life for a long time. (Just recently I came across a 1992 Toronto Star article that describes residents' frustration about drug dealing. And even in 1992, the problem wasn't new.)

While drugs are always a concern, some periods are worse than others. Last summer, for example, was especially bad. In the past year however, Toronto police 14 Division, responding to neighbourhood complaints, have been quite aggressive in cracking down. This seems to have had an effect. To me at least, drug activity seems quieter or at least less obvious than it was last summer.

However, that wasn't the case on Friday when I had a run-in with some aggressive crack addicts.

There's a laneway that runs north-south between Emerson and St. Clarens from Bloor to Paton Rd. This alley is used by crack addicts and prostitutes, which in this neighbourhood are usually the same people. I make a point of walking through the laneway whenever I go to Bloor, because I don't like the idea of being too afraid to use any part of the neighbourhood. As far as I'm concerned, I should be able to walk wherever I want.

This summer when I've gone through, I haven't seen much. On Friday afternoon, however, there was a group of four women and one man in the alley. One woman was on a bike acting as a lookout while the other four were huddling next to some garages. When I walked by, the man yelled at the woman on the bike: "Why didn't you tell me someone was coming?" When I heard that, I stopped to look. That made the woman angry. She yelled at me to get moving. That in turn made me angry. I shouldn't have to leave a laneway because some drug addicts tell me to. I refused to move. The man yelled at me but then they all moved around the corner to where the laneway meets St. Clarens.

I continued walking but I turned around to see if they would come back. They did. When I saw them, I did something that probably wasn't the smartest thing. I turned around and walked back towards them. When I rounded the corner and went towards St. Clarens, the man became very angry. He came right up to my face and began to threaten me. He told me to get lost and said if I didn't he would take my wallet. At that point getting lost would have been the right thing to do, but I really can't stand the idea of being pushed around like that. So again I refused. When I did, the man suddenly became "friendly." He smiled, put his arm around my shoulder and said he was just kidding.

Turning around like I did was foolish, because you never know when someone has a knife or another weapon. If I had been challenged by crack addicts in another neighbourhood, I wouldn't have been as stubborn, but the fact that I've always lived here makes it hard for me to back down when strangers tell me to move along. As far as I'm concerned, the crack addicts are trespassing on my turf, not the other way round.

Arrest at Emerson and Bloor

2008-08-28T20:15:00.005-04:00

At 10:30am on Thursday I saw police arrest a man on the northwest corner of Emerson and Bloor. I was walking west along the north side of Bloor when I saw a young black man kneeling in front of the TL variety store at the corner. Two men in plainclothes were standing over him. The kneeling man's head was bowed and he was wearing handcuffs. One of the two men who were standing asked the other if he had noted the time. One of the two was holding a wad of cash.

I walked along for half a block and then turned around to see what would happen next. A woman who had been sitting on a planter a few feet from the man in cuffs came up to me and asked for the time. I asked her if she knew what was happening with the cuffed man. She said she didn't and then asked what time the liquor store opens. Most people walked by as if nothing was happening, which is usually the case when someone is stopped or arrested near Bloor and Lansdowne. (A few people coming out of the store did stop to look for a while.)

The two men took the handcuffed man around the corner onto Emerson. There he lay on the ground. Then a police car with its sirens turned on drove by on Bloor and went through the laneway from St. Clarens to Emerson. It stopped for a minute and then went away. A few minutes later a second police car came by and turned directly onto Emerson. Two uniformed officers got out. One of the uniformed officers rested his foot on the man's shoulder. The uniformed officers talked to what I presume were two plainclothes officers. There was also a third man there, who may also have been police. I don't know. The two uniformed officers put the man in the car and drove off.

One of the plainclothes officers came onto Bloor. I approached him and asked him if the arrested man would be appearing in 101 court, old City Hall. He told me the man would be appearing in show cause (bail) court either this afternoon or tomorrow depending on how long the paper work took. He asked me if I knew the man. I said no. I told him I was part of a community group that's concerned about crime and just happened to be passing by when the arrest was taking place.

Taste of Africa this weekend

2008-08-21T16:57:00.009-04:00

This message was posted on the Dig In email list:

Good day everyone.

It's Mesfun Haile.

I just wanted to personally invite you to GET A TASTE of AFRICA this Saturday and Sunday at the 2nd Annual AfriVillage Fest Street Festival taking place between Bloor and Ossington to Bloor and Crawford St. With over 50 Africentric Foods and Arts Vendors, African Cooking Classes, Live Performances, a village Market and more, we anticipate a great event.

We hope to see you there.

Regards
Mesfun Y Haile
416.985.5185
Event Coordinator
http://www.afrivillagefest.com/

The Bloor Lansdowne Readers Forum

2008-08-20T22:22:00.004-04:00

On Friday a group of us were discussing books and someone suggested forming a book club. I emailed a few people to see if they would be interested.

Most people said they liked the idea of discussing books but they weren't keen on reading a book to meet a deadline. Someone else suggested just sharing book titles online.

What I've done is this. I've set up a Yahoo! Group called the Bloor Lansdowne Readers Forum. I invite anyone who likes books to subscribe to the group and tell other people about whatever book or books you happen to be reading right now. If you just want to give a title or a short description that's fine, but if you want to have a discussion that's also good. All kinds of readers are welcome. If you like serious non-fiction that's great, but if you like romance novels or detective stories or children's literature, that's just as good.

This is an experiment. I don't know if it will work. However, if this online group attracts enough interest, I hope at least some of us will also be able to meet regularly in person to talk about books, perhaps at a local restaurant or some other neighbourhood location.

To subscribe to the group, you can send a blank email to bloorlansdownereaders-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you have any problems subscribing, email me at hogtown.blues AT gmail.com

Dufferin Grove Park Speakers' Series #4: Park playgrounds, Best designs

2008-08-19T11:00:00.001-04:00

Dufferin Grove Park Speakers' Series presents

Park Playgrounds
Best designs

Panel and picture show with Jutta Mason, Anna Galati, Lea Ambros

Friday August 22, 7pm
by the Dufferin Grove playground
(rain location: in the rinkhouse)

Playgrounds to be replaced in 2009:

Dovercourt Park playground
Dufferin Grove playground
Wallace-Emerson playground

Come and share ideas about what works best for children's play

6:00pm Friday Night Supper
7:00pm Presentation (free)

Dufferin Grove Park is located at 875 Dufferin Street, across from the Dufferin Mall
For more information: www.dufferinpark.ca or 416-392-0913