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Notes from the Feb. 12
"Mad Apples" meeting On Saturday morning, Feb 12, world19 organized an informal
community discussion at Mad Apples restaurant. We invited people on our newsletter list as
well as people who had contacted us over the past several months regarding the Village.
Both City Councillors and our MPP joined us for the last half-hour. Our hope for the
meeting was to create an informal setting where interested and involved residents could
meet each other over coffee and discuss not only the "Village issue" but other
areas of community concern. We also planned to focus on the "what's next" aspect
of our Village campaign.
Before reporting on the meeing, three
lead-off notes:
1. Thanks to Mad Apples:
We want to thank Peter Ochitwa, the owner-chef of Mad Apples for
"lending" us his restaurant. Last fall he made the offer to us, suggesting it
was a good way for community members to meet & mix, a way of linking residents and
businesses who are all part of the community. We thought it was an excellent idea at the
time, and post-meeting, are even more convinced of the value of these types of sessions.
Again, many thanks to Peter for both the idea and offer.
2. No GAP????
Toward the end of the meeting, David Miller said that he had recently spoken with
someone "high up" at the GAP about their intentions in the Village. He was told
that they are no longer considering locating here "because of the community
reaction". The official confirmed that the Village possiblity was not from their
initiative -- that they were approached about locating here. Just a week ago, I had heard
a "rumour" from one of the long-established local business owners that the GAP
had "dropped out", and the owner or agent for the Cheese Boutique/Book Barrel
property had re-approached the CB about a lease extension. According to this story, the CB
owner (too far down the road with his new Ripley location) told them he was no longer
interested.
Despite our various communications with both
the GAP's property agent and the agent for the above-mentioned property owner, we still
have no confidence that we know the state of this large property in the middle of the
Village. The owner has a $2.3 million investment; 1/3 of it is sitting empty, and the
remaining 2/3 will be vacated we assume in June. GAP or no GAP (in fact, whether or not
the GAP was ever a serious player for that location, the concern remains about the impact
to the dynamics of the community if this large parcel of land is leased or sold to the
type of enterprise that could fundamentally alter the dynamics of the area.
3. Follow-up committees
Two proposals were made as follow up: first: the Village "task
force" or committee as proposed by David Miller at the Dec. 1 meeting and again at
Mad Apples. See the notes below regarding his comments. Also, Gerard Kennedy suggested an
area that those interested in the Village could become involved in regarding small
business tax. Again, see our notes on his comments, and also our follow-up at the end of
this newsletter.
Meeting notes:
The morning's get-together had three aspects: the first 20 minutes or so
was an opportunity for people to mix at tables over coffee & danishes to meet and
discuss anything of interest. Then we opened up the floor for people to get up and make
comments on anything related to the community. We posed a specific question: "What
thing would you like to keep the same in the Village", and "What thing would you
like to change". Of course, discussion ranged widely. Finally, for the last 30
minutes, 3 of our local politiciains joined us.
Community discussion
- the importance of preserving the unique
character of the area. It's importance to residents and attraction to others
- the importance of diversity in the local businesses, and the type of personal
interaction in traditional Village businesses. The people there are "part of your
life"
- other problems for local businesses: many shopkeepers report business declining.
- some possible actions for this: groups of shops developing promotions on
"off-days", e.g. discounts, free parking etc.
- parking: find ways to increase parking capacity (to address business needs and
reduce impact on residential streets). The Parking Authority is a money-maker for the
city.
- develop linkages with neighbouring areas such as Jane/Annette. The impact of new
huge supermarkets (Loblaws/ A&P) was mentioned.
- BIA needs to develop more / better events to publicize the area. (A past
innovative proposal of Peter Ochitwa's was mentioned that would have involved closing the
Bloor / Runnymede intersection for a fund-raising event. Possible opposition by residents
was cited as the reason this didn't go ahead. Peter brought up this instance as an example
of how businesses and residents need to establish and maintain good communication. If
people are aware of what is happening, kept informed and consulted, problems can often be
solved or avoided)
- protection of historic buildings (e.g. Runnymede Theatre & Runnymede
Library). The proposed expansion of the library was mentioned and what it may do to both
library service and the building. "We should be vigilant".
- protection of the green space buffer north of Bloor.
- Inappropriate developments. The garish facade of the new Scotiabank was mentioned
- Bloor St. sidewalk problems; merchandise plugs up traffic from both sides.
- How do we get information and stay involved? Some instances that "just
happened" were mentioned: the Meow nightclub, the giant billboard at the foot of
Ellis.
- billboard proliferation esp. along mainstreets like Bloor, by High Park.
At 10:00, our elected reps joined us.
Here are some of their comments:
David Miller:
Re: Village:
- The City is uniquely positioned to help us steer BWV and its development in a way
that's sensitive to community
- lack of tools. (as was mentioned by Beatte Bowren at our Dec. 1 meeting)
- bylaws don't exist to keep out certain businesses or to limit the size (to a
point) of retail outlets.
- bringing together divergent interests: Miller cited a recent process in Parkdale
dealing with the highly contentious housing issue. Homeowners, tenants, landlords and
businesses have been at war with each other. A "conflict resolution process" was
put in place to bring together divergent groups and find a mechanism for permanent
community involvement. According to Miller, this has had great success.
- Although the Village issue is very different issue, he suggested that a similar
approach is what he would like to develop: a Steering Committee consisting of various
representatives of the differnt groups that would work on developing strategic planning
ideas and a vision of the Village.
- This would be something completely new: no BIA has been involved in this type of
action.
- He expects to convene a first meeting of this group in the next few weeks. [Note:
see the Save the
Village main page, for reports on this progress, and more on the formation of a new group].
Other issues:
- citizen involvement: impact of amalgamation has left people dissatisfied with
their abiltiy to be involved / heard
- Council recognized the principles of citizen involvement, but under pressure of
events in the first 2 years of Megacity, this got deferred; Council is now re-starting
this priority.
- Event occurred last week as part of this - the first of a 5-part seminar
"Building the New City of Toronto: Reflections on Civic Engagement"
- re: Meow: City has requested Alcohol commission to be more active informing
residents of applications: to deliver notices to the area (similar to zoning
applications); also to change their mandate in order to consider a liquor license a
privilege rather than a right. In addition the City also requested a ban on licenses for
donut shops.
Chis Korwin-Kuczynski
- responded to complaints about lack of information. said "no area is
better informed" with written notices, his posters, etc. Sometimes even Councillors
don't have information (e.g. some liquor applications). KK has asked the City to ensure
Councillors are informed before agreements are made to erect billboards. Regarding the
billboad that was sitting on the north-west corner of High Park - removal had been delayed
because of jurisdictional changes since the Megacity.
Gerard Kennedy
Discussed "Village" issues from a provincial perspective:
"things can be done" from heritage and tourism perspectives, but no legislative
basis to suppot a community that wants to keep the character of its community.
Possibilities:
- "correction" needed in megacity. Needs to come from local community
"where things don't work". Citizen involvment
- Small business tax. rents have gone up; people not renewing leases. This is
related to business values, "last best use idea", which runs against the grain
of having consistent business in an area. "You'll never be safe, never be
secure". Mentioned old business tax that recognized small businesses, and the retail
strip issue. This is an area that could be a legislative focus, and he said he would like
to work with us on this... to make sure that taxes don't push out these types of
businesses.
- Also mentioned the power of "consumer reaction" - especially with the
new types of communication available - and its effect on companies or types of companies
In conclusion
We felt this was a very worthwhile exercise - an opportunity for
neighbours to meet each other and voice their ideas and concerns. We were particularly
encouraged as this was the outcome of resident / business co-operation - another step in
recognizing the importance of involving all parties in how our area develops. We hope to
have another similar gathering within the next couple of months.
As reported by David Miller, action is
underway to put together a "Village task force". We are interested in hearing
from any readers who would be interested either sitting on that committee, or being part
of a larger residents' group that might be part of this process. The same applies to local
business people. The BIA would definitely be part of this process, but interested members
of the business community are welcome to participate independently.
And beyond this task force, we can see the
possibility of other groups or sub-committees forming to deal with other issues that would
involve participation from a broad community representation. One very real possibility
would be the idea of focussing on the retail taxation issue as suggested by Gerard Kennedy
(and of course, this could have both a provincial and municipal focus). Other areas are
also possible.
Please contact
us if you are interested in any type of participation in these areas. |
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