Featured News
Get your skates out for some holiday fun!
The three levels of government have cooperated to bring the ABC community a holiday treat. A beautifully restored and fully functioning Ramsden Park Skating rink is back in operation after extensive rehabilitation. We understand that the ice will be ready Monday, December 22, and the change rooms soon after, so test it out over the Holidays!
Best wishes from ABCRA for a happy and healthy holiday season!
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Summerhill Station Easier Access: Project Update
Councillor Saxe is advocating to have these projects completed as soon as possible and has provided this update on the Summerhill TTC station construction.
Elevators are expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
Constructing elevators in an active subway station has challenges including a constrained work site. At Summerhill Station, there is limited space to install the elevators and other accessibility features.
Are Toronto property taxes really ‘absolutely out of control’? Here’s how they stack up against other cities
For decades in Toronto, property taxes barely went up. Under every previous mayor in post-amalgamation history, taxes were either frozen or increases were aimed “at or below the rate of inflation” or “in line with inflation.”
The result was decades of experts talking about how we had shockingly low property taxes by the standards of our region and the standards of other big cities. As a further result, we heard decades of city managers tell us how that was starving services and maintenance.
At a certain point, people really started to notice things falling apart.
Toronto’s traffic is a nightmare
As Toronto furiously debates bike lanes and their role in the city’s notorious gridlock, mostly missing from the discussion is a culprit that at its peak occupied almost one-fifth of the city’s road network.
Construction — for provincially managed transit projects, condo and office buildings, and utility work to support Toronto’s booming growth — closes more kilometres of roadway than bike lanes, special events or anything else. City officials say construction closures are the biggest cause of the kind of traffic backups that are angering residents and the Ford government.
Amid 865 trees coming down, Province releases 95-year lease with Therme
Under cover of darkness, Infrastructure Ontario began the removal of 865 trees at Ontario Place on the evening of Wednesday, October 2, 2024. Within a single day, workers had cut down the vast majority of those trees.
The work—which includes the removal of every single tree on the western portion of the waterfront site adjacent downtown Toronto—is part of the approximately $200-million in site preparations that taxpayers are funding to prepare the land for Therme, an Austrian spa company, to develop a stadium-sized indoor waterpark on the site. See before and after photos.
The next day, October 3, the Province released the details of its 95-year lease with Therme, which journalists and grassroots organizations have…
Scrivener Underpass Mural Project
The Scrivener Underpass Mural is a celebration of the past, a nod to the present, and an inspiration for the future. This mural design for the Ramsden, Summerhill, Rosedale community by local artist Zuna Amir, visually narrates the area’s rich history and dynamic evolution. It honours both the natural history and landmarks of the area.
Pedestrian seriously injured at Avenue Road and Davenport
Another pedestrian was seriously injured this afternoon on Avenue Road near Davenport. The collision involved a pedestrian, and three cars. One car jumped the curb onto the sidewalk. The pedestrian was transferred to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Road safety improvements on Avenue Road are scheduled to start soon, which unfortunately was not soon enough to prevent another injury.
ABCRA Fall 2024 Newsletter
Our Fall 2024 newsletter includes updates and news from the neighbourhood, upcoming events and opportunities to get involved in your City.
What have we been up to? Lots! We have reports on upgrades at Ramsden Park, Avenue Road safety improvements (now under construction!), art in the neighbourhood, updates on various development proposals in the works and ABCRA’s response to them, some upcoming events and opportunities to support local organizations. We’re particularly thrilled to be collaborating with Tapestry Opera to bring their free Box Concert series to Ramsden Park on Sunday, September 15 at 1:15 pm. and hope you’ll attend!
Toronto’s ineffectual enforcement contributes to ongoing gridlock
After years of writing about traffic enforcement and pedestrian and cyclist safety, I became convinced that Toronto police either just don’t like or don’t respect policing the roads, and the leadership doesn’t see good reason to change that.
A former police officer told Habibinia much the same. There is a long-standing culture inside the police service where traffic enforcement is not considered “real police work” compared to “sexy” crime-fighting. Yet city hall, which sets the police budget, believes gridlock is a major problem, for people and for the economy.
Too many pedestrians and cyclists are killed by cars. There are solutions
For too long, society accepted that death was a fact of life on the roads. It was the cost of convenience to move from A to B as fast as possible in a car. We call crashes “accidents,” even when the causes, from driver speed to road design, are deliberate choices. It’s a cultural problem that such incidents are viewed as ordinary.
Cities must redouble their efforts to make change happen.