City of shadows

Shadows created by tall buildings on Bloor Street's "Mink Mile"

The new buildings were just what Toronto needed. More than 800 new rental apartments, about a third of them permanently affordable. These new homes would rise on the site of an old provincial building. The problem: They were too tall. One tower would rise 50 storeys into the air, and so it would cast shadow on a park half a block away – covering about a quarter of its surface – for up to three hours a day.

Debunking the “Business Case” for relocating the Ontario Science Centre

Ontario Science Centre

Scratch below the surface, and there’s clear problems with the province’s math.

This week, Doug Ford’s government struck a deal with the City of Toronto giving the province fuller control over the future of Ontario Place, in exchange for the province taking on responsibility for the DVP and Gardiner Expressway, as well as additional funding for transit and addressing homelessness.

Ontario Place landscape architect quits revamp over tree clearing plans

A prominent landscape architect, known for designing Trillium and Tommy Thompson parks, has walked away from the redevelopment of Ontario Place, citing his opposition to clearing hundreds of trees to make way for a private spa and waterpark on Toronto’s waterfront.

After it became clear he couldn’t influence plans from the inside, Walter Kehm told the Star he could no longer be tied to a project that threatens a decades-old wildlife habitat, likening his professional commitment to protect nature to a doctor’s Hippocratic oath: “Do no harm.”

ABCRA responds to City on Noise Bylaw Review

Motorcycle crossing crosswalk

ABCRA has participated in many iterations of the Noise By-Law review, and was a member of the Noise Working Group (“NWG”) process and has attended all meetings in the lead up to the 2019 Noise By-Law review. The livability of the City is being eroded by excessive unrestricted noise and a lack of enforcement for the rules that we do have.

Toronto is getting a new bridge and the designs are stunning

Salmon Run - Keating Channel Bridge design

The public got its first taste of Toronto’s planned Keating Channel Pedestrian Bridge design competition last week when a group of five shortlisted concepts were presented, revealing some impressive possibilities for the new pedestrian link. The link between the city’s Quayside district and the new system of parks, public spaces, and future development lands is a key element in the area’s connectivity plan.

City of Toronto to launch a pothole and bike lane repair blitz

pothole in need of repair

Tomorrow, the City of Toronto will begin this year’s sixth pothole repair blitz to keep the City’s expressways, major roads and neighbourhood streets in a state of good repair. City crews will work a 12-hour shift, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., to repair as many potholes as possible.

Ramsden Park: A Park that Built a Community

Ramsden Park sign in winter

The ABC Residents Association believes Ramsden Park has an interesting and important story to tell. Since the City of York’s earliest beginnings, this unique landscape has had a meaningful connection to this community. We believe that Ramsden Park meets the criteria for designation as a Cultural Heritage Landscape.

Secondary Plan – our shared public realm

Village of Yorkville Park

The shared public space in our neighbourhood — called the public realm — plays a large part in making our daily lives enjoyable and creating a sense of community. This includes parks, trees, plantings, seating, public art and other features that animate and enhance our streets and the public spots where we gather to socialize or play.

These kinds of public realm elements are a critical part of the policies we want to see outlined in the pending Bloor-Yorkville Secondary Plan.