Category: News
The City will be adding 6 new spaces in our Ward to an electric vehicle charging pilot project. The locations are:
Annette Street, north side, from a point 36 metres west of Indian Road Crescent and a point 12 metres further west (2 spaces)
High Park Avenue, east side, from a point 26.7 metres north of Glenlake Avenue and a point 12 metres further north (2 spaces)
Runnymede Road, east side, from a point 93.8 metres north of Annette Street and a point 12 metres further north (2 spaces)
These spaces will be subject to existing parking regulations in effect in the area, including the need for an on-street parking permit where and when required. In addition, parking in these spaces will be limited to a 12 hour maximum period for permit parking holders, and a 3 hour maximum period for non-permit parking holders to ensure turn-over. Users must be actively connected at all times.
Please see this link for the full report.
Residents of the Swansea Mews complex at Windermere Avenue and The Queensway have had to leave their homes because they have been deemed unsafe (a ceiling panel in one home fell down, injuring a resident). As a result, all 114 families are now without secure housing for the foreseeable future.
If you are able, please consider making a donation to the Swansea Mews Resident Relief Fund. The goal is to raise a minimum of $1,000 for every one of the 114 families. A Registered charity called the Stone Soup Network is running this campaign, and will be well positioned to get all funds raised directly into the hands of all 114 families who need it.
Good news: the TTC will be conducting work at High Park Station at the Quebec Avenue entrance to make High Park Station accessible by 2024. Construction started June 20, 2022.
Please find the Pre-Construction presentation here. Information is posted on the TTC website/social media. A mailer out was sent as well. Also, you can see the stage 1 and 2 construction notice here.
The notice outlines the impacts, including the closure of the Quebec Avenue entrance to High Park Station.
Toronto Engineering & Construction Services (ECS) will be rehabilitating the bridges on South Kingsway between Ripley Avenue and the Gardiner Expressway. This work will start May 16th 2022 with an end date of December 2022. For more information, click here.
We’ve been advised that Toronto Hydro will be improving the electrical distribution system near our neighbourhood on Bloor Street West, between Pacific Avenue (West) and Dufferin Street (East). Work is expected to begin May 2022. For more information and a map of the work area please see the notice here.
Local volunteers from Techfugees Canada are working with Romero House to respond to the urgent needs of refugee claimants and help families living in transitional housing find stable apartments faster. There are two ways you can help as a Bloor Street West resident:
- Consider if you are able to host a refugee family in your home on an emergency basis. If you are in a position of having extra space in your home and would be willing to offer space to a refugee or refugee family, we would love to know and keep your name on a list of people we might call on when needed.
- Do you have an apartment that you are willing to rent to refugees? Do you know of others who do? Permanent housing for refugees is even better than emergency housing! If you are willing to be a landlord to recently arrived refugees get in touch.
To learn more about both of these initiatives email toronto@techfugees.com.
Techfugees Canada is a local chapter of the global social enterprise Techfugees, which is an impact-driven organization dedicated to nurturing a sustainable ecosystem of tech solutions to support the inclusion of displaced peoples.
Friends of High Park Zoo is pleased to announce the FHPZ Holiday Trees at High Park Zoo; a FREE family friendly event taking place 9:00 am to 5:00 pm from December 5, 2021 through to January 8, 2022.
Fifteen decorated fir trees stand along the boulevard in High Park Zoo for this special event. Each tree has been sponsored and decorated by a local company or organization from across Toronto. Walk through High Park Zoo and admire the decorated fir trees and say hello to your favourite animals too! Zoo visitors can vote on their favourite holiday tree on Friends of High Park Zoo website and share photos of their favourite tree/s on Instagram with hashtag #HighParkZooTrees.
In addition, for two (2) special nights, High Park Zoo will host the Snowflake Walk and be open to the public on Sunday, December 12 and 19th from 5-6 pm. The Holiday Tree and other lights will be sparkling in the dark. Once the event closes on January 8, 2022, the fir trees will be used as enrichment toys for the enjoyment of some of the zoo animals.
Find out more about these two events, here. Tickets for the Snowflake Walk are available here.
Imagine walking through your neighbourhood and being able to pull back the curtains of time as you go. What do seniors remember from decades ago? What family anecdotes do they have to tell? What used to be where that condo now stands? What did newcomers experience when they settled in Toronto?
These are some of the questions Back Lane Studios hope to answer with their newest project, Mapping our Memories. Here’s their plan: Build a team to collect memories and historic information about our neighbourhoods in the west part of Toronto, including ours. Then, make the material easily accessible through links to digital maps. They will be focusing for now on Roncesvalles and High Park, Parkdale, Swansea, the Junction and Weston, with
some forays into Etobicoke.
Back Lane Studios decided to embark on this project when one of their videos, Growing up in the Junction, gained more than 2,000 YouTube views in fairly short order. In the documentary, Lois Broad, 94, who has a remarkable memory, reminisces about places and childhood experiences in west-end Toronto. The video showed the strong interest people have in what life in their neighbourhoods used to be like, and they decided to create a way to
continue collecting and organizing seniors’ memories geographically.
Mapping our Memories is supported by funding from the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program. They are using the grant to pay instructors and cover the cost of developing the website mapping platform. Most of the work is being done by volunteers. Current funding runs until February, 2022 however, they are hoping to build a team of volunteers, involve interested partners and seek further funding to continue this as a long-term Back Lane Studios’ project with expanded geographic reach.
If you want to help or support, here is their contact details: info@backlanestudios.ca.
Requirements for automobile and bike parking in newly erected or enlarged buildings are identified in a city-wide zoning by-law.
Back on January 19, 2021, the Planning and Housing Committee asked staff to review these requirements to better align them with the objectives of the City’s Official Plan. The Review is guided by the principle that parking standards should allow only the maximum amount of automobile parking reasonably required for a given use and minimums should be avoided except where necessary to ensure equitable access, such as for accessible parking or in areas which would be difficult to serve with transit.
The Review is expected to conclude by the end of 2021 and will include two rounds of public consultation, planned for early June and September. Through these consultations, Staff will seek the public’s feedback on proposed amendments to parking requirements in the zoning by-law and other related work.
If you are interested in taking part, please visit this link under meetings and invents.