world19News #98 - January 20, 2002 |
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world19News This e-mail is going to people on the mailing list for world19. If you don't want to receive further notices, please reply to this e-mail with "remove" in the subject. Let us know if you prefer to receive this in "plain text" format. Please forward this to anyone you think may be interested. In this issue, one upcoming event, a report on one past
event, and more restaurant notes 1. ELLIS PARK DEVELOPMENT (1947 Bloor) - OMB HEARING
Mon. Jan 21 An OMB hearing will be held on this development this Monday, Jan.21 at 655 Bay Street (at Elm St., north of Dundas), 16th floor starting at 10 a.m. Four days have been set aside for this hearing, but it may not last that long. Though we are all suffering from development fatigue on this issue right about now, it's important to have a good turn-out for the beginning of the hearing. This meeting is a follow-up to the one in Dec. 2000. The site plan was approved in December, with 42 conditions. At next week's hearing, the City & developer will ask the Boad to give approval to the site plan agreement, allowing Context to apply for an excavation permit, and then a building permit. However, the building now proposed has changed quite a bit
from the one approved by the OMB; some of those changes will have a negative impact on the
area, and we hope to bring these changes to the Board's attention. We hope to have a good
neighbourhood showing at the beginning of the hearing. At the last hearing, the chair
noted that it was obvious from the turn-out that the issue concerned many people and he
ordered Context to allow the community to be involved in the site plan process, which
doesn't normally happen. That involvement led to a number of changes to the building and
to the environmental safeguards being imposed, so as you can see, a show of support is
important. 2. CONTEXT WINS ARCHITECTURAL AWARD Context is proud to share with you our recent success in the internationally jurored, national awards program – the Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence, 2001 - for our Home Condominium on Bloor Street West adjacent High Park. The project, designed by Peter Clewes and his team at Architects Alliance, won one of seven Awards of Excellence, and, in so doing, became a rare exception to the fact that apartment buildings do not usually win design prizes. We are especially proud that our project will represent the City of Toronto; with architects, builders, city planners and citizens' groups across the country looking to it as an example of quality design. For more information, visit the Canadian Architect website at http://www.cdnarchitect.com/contents.htm [Note from world19: on this page, there is a link to a PDF document containing the jurror's comments about the design, along with drawings of the building. You'll need Adobe Reader, and the file is over 500K in size]. Sincerely, And here are some comments sent to world19 by a reader: Typically, this award has been given by a bunch of architectural "experts" who sat in an office somewhere and looked at a model, some floor plans and some computer simulations. I doubt they ever bothered to actually look at the corner of the park to be ruined by this development, or read through any of the environmental reports that detail the contamination on the site. A perfect example of "function follows form." [And a comment from world19: one of the jurors is identified as being from the University of Bath. I wonder if he judged the building and site from overseas?] It is very galling that while Context is busy patting itself
on the back over an award for a building that hasn't been built, the community is busy
trying to ensure that public health and the environment will not be compromised if
construction of this "award-winning" condo proceeds. 3. ELECTRICITY DEREGULATION & GREEN POWER Some of the key points were that our choices very much affect the quality of air in Ontario. According to the Ontario Medical Association, air pollution in Ontario costs the economy over $9 billion annually, and kills about 1900 people each year. To simplify the choices, you can: b) Sign up for a 3-5 year fixed price contract with one of the new suppliers. There have been many reports of misleading claims by some of these, so be careful what questions you ask. Prices are fixed, but most likely higher than the utiltiy. Most have not disclosed the source of power they provide. c) Go Green, either with Toronto Hydro' Citisource, or the Toronto Renewable Energy Co-op (TREC). Both are partnering to build wind turbines in Toronto. TREC sells shares in this power, and you will actually own a share of the power generated. We have more details on the workshop, and the options and costs of them, along with some additional links on our website: www.world19.com or http://webhome.idirect.com/~jleeson/electricity_dereg.htm. Also, the Clean Air Alliance has an excellent website that provides much more information about the situation, questions to ask your supplier, and information about environmental issues: http://www.electricitychoices.org/. Their main website is at: http://www.cleanairalliance.org.
4. RESTAURANT NOTES (Part 2) a) We received the following email from one of our
subscribers soon afterward: They've been open for just over three months and I've had
both lunch and dinner there 6 or 7 times already. The chef, Marlon, is a graduate of
George Brown's cooking school and the food is "continental", very creative -
with lovely quality and freshness along with moderate prices. A very hospitable couple,
Gary and Svetlana, own and operate SPAGO and their warmth and intelligence combined with
Marlon's skill make this my new favourite haunt. Tell them Ellen sent you when you go.
They know what a big fan I am. b) Last night, I ate at one of the restaurants on NOW's list
for the first time: Caramba, a Peruvian restaurant on Pacific at Dundas. On arriving, I
was happy to find two of our other readers, who decided to try it out after reading the
note in our last newsletter. (And everyone did agree the food was excellent -- too bad
they were out of Peruvian beer though). c) And also in the last newsletter, we mentioned that the new
tenant that will be moving into the former Mad Apples location will be the Rebel House.
Their other location was mentioned in the Jan. 19 Globe & Mail. The Globe has a
regular feature, interviewing various Toronto chefs about where they eat. This Saturday,
they asked John Baby, chef at Oyster Boy on Queen West. He claimed that "the best
hamburger in Toronto is at the Rebel House on Yonge Street. 'Their burgers are the real
thing,' he says. 'They use really honest ingredients.' Baby says the décor is fun and
funky, great for hearty, inexpensive quality pub fare". For world19, world19: |