This week in the neighbourhood | September 27, 2013

Heritage tree tour of Queen’s Park Sunday, September 29th. See detail below | Image credit: Alden Cundanin/torontobefore.ca

By West Annex News | There’s so much great stuff going on this coming weekend we’re going straight to it.

What’s up this weekend:

Sunday, September 29th 11AM Heritage Tree Tour of Queen’s Park. Presented by LEAF with arborist Philip van Wassenar, the tour will explore rare, old and other significant trees in Queen’s Park and Philosopher’s Walk, some of which are promised to have as much heritage value as the historic buildings around them. 

Sunday, September 29th 11AM: Park Crawl. Join the David Suzuki Foundation crawling by foot, bike and canoe between four parks along Toronto’s former Garrison Creek corridor.  Each of the four parks will host food booths by Pizzeria Libretto, Mildred’s Temple Kitchen, the Country General, Ursa and 13 others, and local musical acts including Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Choir!Choir!Choir! and Local 164. The crawl starts at Christie Pits at 11AM, moves to Bickford Park at 1:00PM, to Fred Hamilton Park at 2:00, and to Trinity Bellwoods at 3:00PM.

Soupalicious this Sunday from 11AM to 4PM at Wychwood Barns | Photo credit Heidi Swanson/101 Cookbooks

Sunday September 29th noon to 4PM: Soupalicious at Artscape Wychwood Barns. Enjoy 10 free soup tasting with the cost of admission. Advance tickets $12, $20 at the door. From the website: “we highly recommended that you arrive no later than 2:30 pm to enjoy the full array of soups.”

Friday to Sunday, September 27th to 29th: U of T Toronto Science Festival. The University of Toronto is launching a public celebration of science. The festival will include keynote talks, panel discussions, film screenings, live music and dance, microscope and telescope sessions. You can even send a message into space.

Saturday and Sunday, September 28th & 29th: Culturedays. The local and totally free events in this country-wide festival are:

• Taflemusik Wind Trio performance Saturday, September 28 from 1:00 to 1:30PM at L’Atelier Grigorian, 70 Yorkville Avenue.
• ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory), Sunday, September 29, 2013 3:00PM. Tickets will be distributed at 12pm at the Weston Family Box Office at the RCM, 273 Bloor St West.
• Meet an archaeologist at the ROM, various times Saturday and Sunday, 100 Queens Park.

Ai Wei Wei’s Forever Bicycles under construction in Nathan Phillips Square for 2013 Nuit Blanche

And don’t forget to mark October 5th, 6:51PM in your diary for the big one – Nuit Blanche 2013. You can preview Ai Wei Wei’s Forever Bicycles under construction now in Nathan Phillips Square. More on Nuit Blanche next week.

This week in and around the neighbourhood

Hot Docs has completed their first economic impact study.  It shows the festival contributes $29.9 million to Ontario’s GDP. [Broadcaster]

Anne Mirvish, wife of the late Honest Ed Mirvish, died at age 94 on September 20, 2013. [National Post]

Kensington Market | Credit: Friends of Kensington Market

Keep Walmart out of the Kensington neighbourhood. Friends of Kensington Market are crowd-sourcing for funds to pay for traffic and market impact studies and for a lawyer to represent them at the Ontario Municipal Board.  If you care about the market, donate here, and sign the petition at change.org.  “We are seeking to have Torontonians build Toronto, and not the OMB or Walmart” says Councillor Adam Vaughan.

The 2014 mayoral race see-saw. First The Star reported that Olivia Chow received assurances over the summer that councillors Adam Vaughan and Shelley Carroll will not enter the 2014 mayoral race, thus eliminating any rivals from the left. The latest Forum Research poll showed Chow would defeat Rob Ford in a head-to-head race 57 per cent to 33 per cent. Then the mayor scored $660 million in funding from the feds for the Scarborough subway and got a bump up in his approval rating to 49%.

Meanwhile, Michael Bouck AKA @VainHostile told us on Twitter this week about the ABCDEF movement – Anybody but Chow or Dat Eedjit Ford.

Speaking of the mayor, Ford Fest West was held in Centennial Park in Etobicoke on the evening of September 20, 2013. Here’s what you missed:

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Related post:

Last week in the neighbourhood

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Image credits:

The before and after image of a Queen’s Park tree was used with the kind permission of Alden Cundanin. Visit his Toronto Before blog for more of his enchanting juxtapositions of historic and contemporary Toronto images, and follow him on Twitter.

This week in the neighbourhood | September 20, 2013

A rendering of what separated, bi-directional bike lanes would look like at Bloor and Howland/Borden. | Image credit Cycle Toronto

By West Annex News | Here’s what’s  been happening lately in and around the neighbourhood:

Bike lanes on Bloor might make a come-back. BlogTO and others are reporting that emails from residents and advocacy groups prompted a group of six city councillors to ask city staff to reopen a study into bike lanes on Bloor. Cycle Toronto has a petition with almost 1000 signatures, urging city council to support the initiative. Mayor Ford ended the study in 2011, at the same time he lead council to remove the Jarvis Street bike lanes.

The interim control bylaw on Bathurst Street, meant to give both Kensington Market and Mirvish Village some breathing space from development pressures, is being challenged at the Ontario Municipal Board. RioCan’s application to put a Walmart in the former Kromer Radio site was turned down by the Committee of Adjustments in May. The bylaw was put in place in June.

Meanwhile, Adam Vaughan’s vowed to destroy the OMB after Harbord Village residents were given permission to keep their illegal two-storey addition at the back of their 36 Brunswick Avenue home after an epic seven-year legal battle. Owner Shih Tseng, a former realtor, argued that he didn’t realize a permit was necessary. The battle cost Tseng about $300,000, the city $500,000.

The Galle family’s annual peperonata-making party in the laneway between Montrose Avenue and Bickford Park was commemorated by the City by the naming of laneway on Saturday, September 14th. After the ceremony about 150 neighbours and friends sat down in the lane to roast, peel, and eat the traditional Sicilian pepper and potato dish.

Peperonata Lane naming ceremony on September 14, 2013

The thieves drove a white BMW in a daring robbery at the Prada Store at 131 Bloor Street West in the early morning of September 18, 2013.  The store’s plate glass windows were smashed and purses and wallets taken.

The Grid features an article this week about how apples from an Annex resident’s front yard ended up on the menu at Richmond Station restaurant with the help of Not Far From the Tree.

What’s up this coming week:

Why sharrows don’t work

Saturday, September 21 at 1PM: Bagels for bike lanes: Love-in at the Harbord Bakery, 115 Harbord Street. Cycle Toronto has organized this friendly mass bagel-buy to show our good neighbour at the Harbord Bakery–long-time bike-lane opponents–that cyclists are an important part of their customer base. While you’re at it, don’t forget to sign Cycle Toronto’s petition supporting separated bike lanes on Harbord and Hoskins.

Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22: Queen West Art Crawl featuring an outdoor art show and sale in Trinity-Bellwoods Park from 11AM to 6PM, a Parkdale Night Crawl, and guided art walks and talks.

Thursday, September 26, 7PM to midnight: Vintage Crawl. More than 35 vendors between College and Queen, Spadina to Roncesvalles will offer vintage clothing, jewelry, furniture and home decor items.

Map of vendors participating in Vintage Crawl Toronto Thursday September 26th from 7PM to midnight. | Image credit Vintage Crawl