PaddyD

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…

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.

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!

The 18th annual Nuit Blanche Toronto will once again transform the city this fall, from sunset to sunrise, starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 5, and concluding at 7 a.m. on Sunday, October 6. This year’s theme Bridging Distance will explore the different ways we experience distance and reimagine how we can bridge distance through art. Entry to the City of Toronto’s biggest contemporary art festival is free, with almost 100 art projects and performances from close to 150 artists.

Councillor Dianne Saxe’s August 2024 Newsletter for University-Rosedale is now available!

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.

There’s a certain anxiety that activates when some of us pedestrians push the button to activate one of Toronto’s standalone pedestrian crossovers.

You take a deep breath as the overhead orange flashing lights activate. You try your best to make eye contact with any approaching drivers. If you’re pushing a stroller, you grip the handles tightly. If you’re the religious type, maybe you say a little prayer. Perhaps you just cross your fingers while crossing the street. And you hope.

As well as all the building construction we are experiencing in our area, the City has provided a map and list of road and other infrastructure projects underway or scheduled for the near future in Ward 11.

Collectively these will affect traffic and getting around our Ward, and two are within our ABC borders: Watermain replacement at Yonge/Macpherson and Ramsden Road Park reconstruction.

“A green light for cataclysmic development” is how Jane would characterize City of Yes, not the city of gradual change that she observed to be what strengthens cities. If approved, buildings will be constructed on tight lots, out of scale, and high in income. Design contortions will be invented to take advantage of the as-yet-unidentified empty spaces. Buildings will be razed and truly affordable units lost. 

Sound familiar? The proposals for NYC will sound eerily familiar to Torontonians.