world19 Newsletter 181

1. EARTH HOUR IN THE VILLAGE

The Earth Hour event for Saturday has drawn wide attention and support.

Saturday's Earth Hour candlelight walk is now also supported by the Bloor West Village Residents Association (BWVRA: www.bwvra.ca), Swansea Area Residents Association (SARA: www.swansearatepayers.ca) and many members of the Bloor West Business Improvement Area (BIA: www.bloorwestvillage.ca). Parkdale-High Park MP Peggy Nash will join the walk. And thanks to TDSB Trustee Irene Atkinson, the Education Council and various members of school councils, news of the march seems to have spread across the education world in the area!

Last weekend, several of us visited most of the businesses along Bloor St, asking them to promote the event by posting our flyer inside or outside their business. In the years that we've promoted community events, we've never received such wide support. More than 100 businesses on Bloor posted the notice; We're grateful and encouraged.

In addition, we asked them to consider joining Earth Hour themselves by turning off or down lights they normally have on. Many agreed; some were already planning it, and others hadn't until we discussed it with them. Many businesses already are mostly dark at night (beyond those lights needed for security), so are in "Earth Hour mode" every night. It does appear that a few "bright spots" on Bloor will be less bright this Saturday.

However, we'd be glad to see more participation (and not just for Earth Hour!). After our visits, we did a couple of night time "light surveys", and found a number of locations that certainly seem to burn brighter than the impression we got from our talks. Bloor West Village is a popular and visible neighbourhood in Toronto; it would be significant if together we made visible strong support for Earth Hour and the principles behind it.

So we will do a few more follow-up visits, and encourage readers to talk up Earth Hour with businesses (and residents). Show appreciation to those places that display the poster, and urge any business you visit (or person you talk to) to "shut off the lights" to help send a clear message of support and awareness about climate change.

To this point we know of only two area businesses who are actively promoting their Earth Hour involvement:

The Grange Restaurant, 2469 Bloor (just west of Jane).http://www.grangewinebar.com/ They are offering an "earth-friendly prix fixe menu that won't require any cooking". Phone 416 767-8540
Mackenzie's , 1982 Bloor W, across from High Park. http://www.mackenziesbar.com/ They'll be serving a candlelight dinner.

Good places to support.

For more background on Earth Hour, see the following links:

http://www.earthhour.org

http://www.wwf.ca/earthhour/

http://www.toronto.ca/teo/earth-hour.htm
http://www.thestar.com/earthhour

And the event itself... a reminder:

Sat. March 29.

Meet at 7:45pm in the No Frills parking lot on Bloor, just east of Runnymede

Earth Hour, 8-9pm: we'll walk west to Jane and back.

Wear something green (and warm)

Bring candles/matches/lighter (or any light source)

Bring family, friends and pets

Update (Mar. 28):
Two more businesses in the area with Earth Hour activities:

From Moksha Yoga Bloor West www.mokshayogabloorwest.com
2454 Bloor St. W, 2nd floor. 416 766-9642

Earth Hour Candle-lit Yoga Saturday, March 29th @ 8PM

This will be a 1-hour Silent class featuring LIVE music! Lit by the glow of candles and our collective effort towards solving global warming. Lights and heaters will be turned off in honour of Earth Hour. The class will be $10 or pay-what-you-can, proceeds going to the David Suzuki Foundation.

Hugh's Room, 2261 Dundas St. W. (just south of Bloor) www.hughsroom.com

At 8pm on March 29, the world will turn off its lights for just one hour - Earth Hour - to show their support for taking action on climate change. Earth Hour is a global initiative begun by WWF (World Wildlife Fund). More than 15 major cities are participating globally and Toronto is the flagship city in Canada.

Hugh's Room will be participating as best we can with the Earth Hour initiatives, given that we have a show that night, our customers, safety and comfort will to come first. We will be turning off lights in selected areas of the club, like the foyer, office, marquee, etc. Lights will also be dimmed in other areas of the club.

Our poster is available to download (WORD format) here:
http://www.world19.com/Earth%20Hour%20poster_logo.doc

2. WESTERN WATERFRONT MASTER PLAN - Public Meeting April 3

We just received this notice....

Please be advised that the next Public Open House and meeting regarding the Western Waterfront Master Plan is set for April 3rd, and will be held at the Swansea Town Hall, in the Council Chamber.

Public consultation is an important part of this Master Plan study. The purpose of this Public Open House is to re-introduce the project team, provide background information, describe key precedents, introduce preliminary options and seek input from the public. Anyone with an interest in the study is invited to attend and participate.

Please forward this message to anyone else you may know would like to participate to attend the Public Open House and Meeting.

Kiran Chhiba
Urban Designer
pA | planningAlliance
www.planningalliance.ca

Background:

The City of Toronto is undertaking a study to create a Master Plan for the Western Waterfront. The Master Plan will guide decision making within the area by recommending the type and location of park facilities that meet a range of community needs, as well as improvements to the transportation, transit and pedestrian links with surrounding neighbourhoods.

The study area covers a 4 km-long stretch of the Western Waterfront and is bounded by the Humber River to the west, Marilyn Bell Park to the east, Lake Ontario to the south, and the Lake Shore Blvd W./Gardiner Expressway/Queensway corridor to the north.

3. BWVRA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - Apr. 9

Advance notice of the Annual General Meeting of the Bloor West Village Residents Association to be held on Wed. Apr. 9. Guest speakers and theme to be announced shortly. Visit www.bwvra.ca for updates.

For world19,