By MATT LOPES

The Big on Bloor Festival will make its return to Bloordale on July 23 and in the spirit of being bigger and better than ever, events that will be taking place through-out the month to celebrate all as-pects of the community.

Last year the Big on Bloor was titled the New Bloor Festival, and despite some heavy rain thousands of community members, business owners and artists took to the streets to capture the energy, di-versity and creativity of Bloordale.

This year the celebrations begin earlier and are happening right now at the month-long “respond-ing” festival. “It’s a month long project by artists, designers, archi-tects, poets, community groups, artists and volunteers and its a feature event of Big on Bloor,” said Dyan Marie, Bloordale BIA Cre-ative Director.

Marie added that the art event will consist of artists and architects constantly building...

theBLOORDALEpresshttp://www.thebloordalepress.comJULY 2011 vol.1/issue.2

Countdown to B.I.G. on Bloor

festival underway

I N S I D ERACOON RALLY

Activists, community mem-bers and a load of media meet

at Rankin Cresent ParkPage 3

THE FUTURE OF DUFFERIN GROVE PARKThe park’s services seem

to be under fire. Page 3

Community News from Ward 18

Councillor gets Enbridge to postpone ripping up new sidewalksA breath of relief for Dundas St. W

By GURPREET GHAG

Councilor Bailao seems to have finally given Dundas St. W a break from a recent slew of con-struction.

As sidewalks were being poured into the north side of Dundas, the councilor learned that Enbridge was planning to repair thirteen gas mains after September 4. The repairs would call for thirteen one-meter holes being carved into the new sidewalks and then filled up with asphalt.

“My mouth dropped,” said Bailao, “I was like “No. Impos-sible. You’re not going to do that,

you’re not going to rip up my side-walks. I was fuming.””

Cherie Lanau Jokisch, owner of the Dundas and Brock accessory boutique Beadle (1582 Dundas St. W), has been through the burden of constriction before in her al-most five years at the location.

Beginning with the street being ripped up for new streetcar tracks in 2007, the water pipes thereafter in 2009 and 2010 and this year’s renewal of sidewalks, she believes that there needs to be more com-munication between the city and business owners.

“My biggest complaint was that there was no notice or anything,”

Jokisch said, who walked out of her store to find construction crews laying cement. “At least a day’s notice would be good. Even five minutes would be good,” she said.

Jokisch said that she had to close the store for a week because she did not know when she or customers could come and go from the shop.

“I’m not saying it’s their fault. I just want some notice.”

Luckily, for Jokisch and other business owners, Bailao sent out a letter to the executive director of the city’s technical services.

“This is just a sentiment of what

has been happening over and over and we’re going to have major construction in this ward. We’re going to have Dufferin done in the next few years, we’re going to have Bloor done in the next few years, and how is this happening? Someone needs to take responsi-bility.”

Enbridge got back to the councilor and said that they will likely postpone ten of the thirteen scheduled repairs and are cur-rently looking at the possibility of pushing the other three back as well.

For more information, stay tuned to thebloordalepress.com.

This recently poured sidewalk was to be torn up in September for maintenence. PHOTO By Gurpreet Ghag

KEN WOOD ELECTED TO HUMANE SOCIETY BOARDWard 18er takes one of five

seats in historic electionPage 2

see FESTIVAL, page 6

News

By GURPREET GHAG

Area resident and poverty-activist, Ken Wood, beat out 13 candidates to obtain one of five available seats on the executive board of the Toronto Humane Society at one of their largest turnouts at a general meeting.

“It was a shocker to get that many people [on the meeting night]. Usually you get somewhere around 70 people historically,” said Wood, who was scrambling to set up chairs and tables for the 271 that showed up to cast their ballots.

With the extra people, and a protest outside by T.H.S. staff and members against former president Tim Trowe’s reelection, the meeting, which was slated for six p.m. actually didn’t start until an hour later.

Each candidate was allotted three minutes to address the audience. Votes were then casted and tabulated, and then, five hours after the start of the meeting, at eleven p.m., Ken Wood

realized that he had been elected onto the fifteen member board.

Wood broke down the current board into four men and 11 women, seven of which are, as Wood describes, “animal-welfare” people, three law-yers, two corporate people and three veterinarians.

“We have a wide range of skill sets and I think we are really well posi-tioned to move forward with this organization,” added Wood.

Wood also confirmed that the board has set in term limits to all members, and that no member can serve more than two consecutive terms (equal to six years).

Current issues the board is dealing with are the abundance of raccoons in the city, the proposition of a city-wide ban on pet-sales from pet stores, and a motion to tackle animal hoarders in the city, an issue that Wood believes needs a lot of consideration before be-ing pursued.

“The issue is animal care. There are

some people who can care for more animals because of their facilities and their expertise and their finances and there are other people that can’t.”

Wood noted that Toronto residents can currently have six pets in the city, whereas Hamilton limits residents to two and Calgary, which he feels is the “gold-seal” for cities, has no limits.

Also on Wood’s plate is the society’s recent adopt-a-thon which has cats over three years old being given away for free.

Wood said that some people on the board do not agree with giving away free cats with the fear that people may just adopt them to feed to their snakes or to sell them to research labs.

Wood adds he and the board will continue to find resolutions to these issues in upcoming board meetings and that he looks forward to working with a well-rounded group.

“All in all it’s a good board and everybody is on the same page with improving things at the society.”

Ken Wood triumphant at T.H.S. election

Ken Wood and a pal enjoying a summer day. PHOTO Courtesy Ken Wood

By JUSTIN MILLERSON

The outdoor track at the former Brockton High School (Croatia and Brock) played host to Oasis Dufferin Community Centre’s third annual Walk, Run or Play fundraiser which raised about $4000.

On the last weekend of May, the Christian community centre held their spring fundraiser that saw about 30 participants circle the track for either a five, or ten kilometer run.

Much like a race, runners wore numbers and each individual was timed. Although this was a fun spirited event, some runners took the run seriously including Nathaniel Benisty who ran five kilometers in an incredible 19 minutes.

“Today was more of a tune up run for me, but it was a good run, easy pace,” said Benisty who runs competitively across the nation.

Runners had the option to collect pledges for their run as well as pay a $20 registration fee, but for Benisty it was a small price to pay for a good cause.

“I heard about it through some people on the Internet and it’s com-munity run so I might as well give it a go [because] it’s for a good cause,” said Benisty.

Executive Director of the organization and director of the event, Chris Ortiz said this is one of many fundraisers that Oasis puts on each year and the result could not be more rewarding.

“It’s great. The work that we do in this community really helps people,” said Ortiz. “We have a food bank, we have a lot of job skills training. We teach English and we do a lot of settlement work for people, so it’s good to have an event in the community, to help a centre in the community that helps to give back.”

Oasis, located at 1219 Dufferin St., prides themselves for helping im-migrants in Toronto feel comfortable emotionally and spiritually. The organization has grown to offer many services which include advocacy, discipleship and counseling as well as running an established food bank.

For more information about Oasis visit their website at http://www.oasisdufferin.org.

Oasis raises $4k in annual walk, run, & play event

Runner number 1002 completing another lap. PHOTO By Justin Millerson

02 The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

By JUSTIN MILLERSON

It was a heated afternoon with a barrage of television cameras when a small group of concerned Torontonians gathered in front of Rankin Crescent Park to discuss a solution for the city’s escalating raccoon problem.

The gathering, held on June 4, was called a raccoon rally and what started out as discussion to address the problem ended in ar-gument and ambiguity.

Rally co-organizer, Jack Fava called the meeting following an incident where Bloordale resident Dong Nguyen was arrested and for allegedly beating a baby raccoon with a spade shovel.

Some rallyers were sensitive to the timing of the meeting and went as far as saying Fava was defending the man’s actions, but Fava, quick to defend, just wanted to talk about the influx of raccoons in the area.

“I think that’s wrong,” said Fava referring to the idea of beating a raccoon, but said that the rally was about more than that.

“This is not a protest, we are giv-ing people a chance to speak their mind.”

And minds were spoken.A demand for financial support

from Provincial and Municipal governments for animal removal and home repairs was called upon by some residents. Fava added that dealing with the problem legally is too expensive and adds the cost for animal removal is an estimated $250.

Vince Del Masi, an Etobicoke homeowner expanded on the cost of the problem claiming he has dealt with well over $10,000 in damage since living in his

home. Newly elected Toronto Humane

Society board member and Bloor-dale resident Ken Wood attended the rally as a concerned member of the community and said citi-zens in Toronto need to be more educated about the raccoon prob-lem and how to deal with it. He puts part of the blame in the hands of the municipal government.

“This city has more raccoons than any other city on the planet and therefore it deserves more attention, more education, more

funding from the city and more clarity on how to handle it,” said Wood

Animal rights activist, Amanda Hardman from Animal Rights Kollective II, attended the rally to boldly send a message by holding a sign that read “First raccoons then babies...” Her belief is human cruelty starts with animal cruelty.

“A lot times when we tolerate cruelty to animals it leads to cru-elty to people,” said Hardman, who resides in Bloordale. “There are studies that prove statistically that

people that are cruel to animals move on to be cruel to people, so it’s important to stamp down on cruelty to animals because it also protects people in the community.”

Hardman also said the supposed actions of the Toronto man were

unacceptable and that he should be removed from the neighbor-hood.

Posters with a similar opinion were posted around the neigh-bourhood, of which Hardman said she was not affiliated with.

Dong Nguyen, of Rankin Cres., who has been charged with cru-elty to animals and possession of a dangerous weapon, is scheduled to appear in court on July 13.

For an update on the issue, or to see how Nguyen faired in court, stay tuned to thebloordalepress.com.

It was supposed to be a community meeting...Hisses, snarls, and a little scratching at raccoon rally

“This is not a protest, we are giving people a chance

to speak their mind.”

Jack FavaRally Co-organizer

Animal rights activist, Amanda Hardman being interviewed by the press. PHOTO By Gurpreet Ghag

03The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

News

COMPILED By GURPREET GHAG FROM DUFFERIN PARK NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2010

In response to the municipal budget shortfall (which is some-where in the ballpark of $774 million), the city has been do-ing service reviews to find out a little more about what programs, if needed, should be cut, or should see a decrease in funding.

At the same time, a more specific

‘Recreation Service Plan’ is also be-ing discussed.

One of the problems that arise for Dufferin Grove comes in the form of compliance with City Hall policies.

Currently, the staff at Dufferin Grove consists of multi-taskers; staff that, for example, watch the wading pool and then, in their free time, help out with other projects in the park.

Unfortunately, the city has a

policy where the wading pool staff cannot be integrated with Dufferin Grove’s staff.

In the newsletter, it was stated that in order to be in compliance to the wading pool alone, staff costs would rise another $40,000.

In the meeting on June 21, Grove staff outlined other discrepan-cies in the city’s effort to cut costs including that someone from city staff is paid to lock up the park washrooms across the city rather

than the park staff.This point was made in contrast

to the fact that, over the past four years, the operating costs of Parks, Forestry and Recreation has in-creased by $51 million to $375.5 million. Over $30 million of that increase has gone to cover rising wages and salaries.

One of the suggestions made in the newsletter is holding off on building new community recre-ation centres. Two are currently

being built and eight are in the plans over the next ten years.

Another suggestion was to reas-sign staff back into the neighbour-hoods.

Talks are currently underway at Dufferin Grove and will continue to take place around park events such as Friday night supper and whenever a group is formed.

For more information on the is-sue or how you could get involved visit http://www.dufferinpark.ca/

THE FUTURE OF DUFFERIN GROVE PARK

About/ Your Stuff

04

The Bloordale Press is published monthly and is distributed with-in ward 18’s boundaries and in its neighbouring areas. Its 10,000 copies are delivered door-to-door in the ward and can also be found at local businesses and areas of interest in and around the ward. Call to inquire about subscrip-tions or our advertising rates.

http://www.thebloordalepress.comTelephone: (647) 869-2531

thebloordalepress@gmail.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

MANAGING EDITOR

SENIOR ADVISOR

CARTOONIST

CONTRIBUTERS

the BLOORDALE press

GURPREET GHAG

JUSTIN MILLERSON

MATT LOPES

ROB LAMBERTI

JONES MILLER

SAMANTHA EMANN

The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

PHOTO OF THE MONTH By ROBERT KARBAUM// In this picture Robert’s Peony plant gets ready to bloom. you can view more of his pictures at www.idontneedto----ingimpressyou.com. To see your own photo, drawing, painting or something else here, please email it to thebloordalepress@gmail.com

By COUNCILLOR BAILAO 2011 has been a year of changes for

Dundas Street. First, on-street parking was restored and now major work is underway for a variety of improve-ments to the streetscape including new sidewalks, treed boulevards, street furniture, and parkettes to green the area. Whether you walk, bike, take the streetcar or drive, you will notice the difference.

This construction has no doubt been hard on local businesses and throughout this difficult time I believed strongly that, with the promise of a 5-year moratorium on future Dun-das construction project, the current inconveniences would be worth the significant improvements to the street once completed.

Recently, in meeting with city staff from Technical Services, I was advised that despite multiple meetings to coor-dinate the Dundas streetscaping con-struction, Enbridge Inc. had recently notified staff that 13 gas risers needed to be replaced in the area that could not be done until the fall.

For the last three years, Dundas busi-ness owners and residents have had to endure annual summer construction, to the detriment of their businesses and livelihoods. It was therefore absolutely

unacceptable that a further construc-tion project to replace these risers take place in the fall, forcing newly laid side-walks to be torn up and repaved.

In cases such as these, there are three victims; local residents, business owners and taxpayers, and for those on Dundas Street they are one and the same. The notion that these business owners must suffer due to the uncoordinated build-ing plans of a single party causes further inconvenience to struggling businesses who have endured enough significant challenges already.

Upon receiving this information I immediately contacted the General Manager of Technical Services, high-lighting this situation as an egregious waste of City resources, tax payer money and a further example of the City’s “left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.”

After bringing media attention to this issue, many meetings with staff, and numerous phone calls with all parties involved, I am pleased that Enbridge has re-evaluated the necessity of their construction in the area and have agreed to only replace 3 of the original 13 gas risers.

While strong opposition was able to prevent having construction un-necessarily prolonged, and with even larger construction projects in Ward

18’s future, there remains a significant responsibility on the part of the City to better coordinate future construction projects. If there is indeed any wasteful spending or “gravy” within the City of Toronto, this is it, and I will continue to insist that City Staff improve their efforts to manage and orchestrate con-struction projects in the future.

As City Councillor, I worked hard to get parking reinstated, acted quickly to prevent a situation that would have pro-longed construction on Dundas Street and have been proactive in working with business owners, residents and the local BIA to meet and resolve the chal-lenges in this area. I encourage all resi-dents to support these local businesses on Dundas Street as they endure this difficult period, and I look forward to the wonderful addition these improve-ments will provide to the rich character of the area once this construction is complete.

[The scheduled work will in-clude many changes to improve the streetscape, including new street fur-niture, parkettes, trees, new curb and sidewalk construction, road resurfac-ing and new traffic signals. In Ward 18, the overhaul of Dundas Street will start at Dovercourt Rd. in mid-May and is expected to end in mid- October at Howard Park in Ward 14.]

05The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

By KEN WOOD, TORONTO HUMANE SOCIETy

That’s the popular and most often

cited reason why Toronto homeown-ers believe they can harass or kill those pesky, persistent and cute but oh-so-smart raccoons.

Ever since that peaceful-looking 53 year old gardener on Rankin Crescent in the Bloor-Lansdowne area was charged with animal cruelty for alleged-ly bashing baby raccoons with a shovel, a tremendous number of news stories surfaced about how to deal humanely with the pests. Many defend the actions of the homeowner and comments on any article involving raccoons have some pretty nasty suggestions of how more brutally others would deal with such a situation. The entire raccoon in-cident has hit a visceral nerve amongst Torontonians.

Some stories cite the Ministry of Nat-ural Resources and have tried to clarify the very muddy law (under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act) that says a landowner may humanely kill or trap

raccoons that are damaging or about to damage their property. The confusion arises when no one can define what is humane. Other stories have blamed a cultural gap whereby new immigrants from other lands not so advanced with animal welfare laws are just doing what came naturally. At an ‘anti-raccoon rally’ on Rankin June 4th, one person complained the law was confusing and leaves interpretation up to the people. It is clear the law is fuzzy - not surprising since they cover situations both rural and urban, two different worlds.

Toronto City Council has completely backed away from any involvement or help here, other than to say that Toronto needs to live in harmony with its wild-life. Other levels of government have no plans to do anything further with animal welfare laws in this regard.

The only thing clear here is that at long as we as a society look at living, sentient beings as property - there will be no clear understanding of what we can and should do about the wildlife that live all around us.

Community Columns

“Ripping up new sidewalks on Dundas unacceptable.”

“It’s My Property and I Can Do What I Want”

News

06

By SAMANTHA EMANN

Locals Kerri Huffman, her hus-band and their son Grame were just taking a Sunday stroll through Dufferin Park on June 12 and end-ed up adopting two cats at Toronto Animal Service’s adopt-a-thon.

“We weren’t remotely thinking of adopting today,” said Kerri, who followed a sign in the park to even-tually meet up with the newest members of her litter on the sec-ond day of the weekend long event.

Organizer and animal care con-trol officer, Jennifer Popowich said that the shelter managed to adopt out multiple kittens, cats, hamsters and rabbits over the two days at the park.

“We have dogs, cats, and smaller animals like rabbits and hamsters all available for adoption this weekend. They are all animals that have been neglected or abandoned and brought to the shelter. We have brought some to the park with us to see if we can find homes for them.”

Popowich also said a lot of cats and hamsters were going home on the spot that weekend, including the Huffman’s new cats, which, just like the rest of the animals were spayed or neutered, and injected with their first round of vaccines and a microchip.

Laura Hesslin, a volunteer at the event for the last three years, spe-

cializes in smaller animals and said a lot of work is done in trying to find homes for hamsters and rab-bits.

“We get everything that’s not a cat or dog, any animal that is surrendered we have to take in because we are a city shelter, so we get crazy things. But we have a high adoption rate for small ani-mals,” she said.

One of the crazy instances, Hes-slin said, was when the shelter received a duffel bag, with a male and three female hamsters in it. The females were pregnant so the shelter suddenly ended up with

around 30 hamsters. Through the shelter’s foster network and the work of its employees, 26 ended up being adopted, 5 at the adopt-a-thon.

Popowich added that she plans to hold a similar event in the Ron-cesvalles area on July 9th and 10th.

For more information, the Toronto Animal Service’s main website can be found at http://www.toronto.ca/animal_ser-vices/ and can also access reached through their facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toronto-Animal-Services-South-Region/272071072042.

Love found at adopt-a-thon

The Huffman’s son and their new addition to the family. PHOTO By Samantha Emann

The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

...building their art pieces throughout the month at the Kent Senior Public School’s tennis courts (Bloor and Dufferin St.) , where residences are encouraged to take summer walks through and witness the evolution of the projects.

As for the festival Marie said, “there is going to be hundreds of events including three stages, over 300 different table vendors, extended patios, a food court and many other things and in addition, all of our politicians (Ana Bailao, Andrew Cash and Tony Ruprecht) are going to be giving out awards to various different people for ex-ceptional citizenship.”

Last year with the rain, Marie said about 20,000 people attended the festival but this year with good weather she expects anywhere from 50 to 60,000 people.

On the following day, Sunday June 24, the Month long celebra-tion will come to a close in style as the art pieces that have been under construction in the public’s eye will be displayed in their com-plete state at Kent Public School.

“In addition we’re also doing what we’re calling ‘Savour Bloor’. Some of the stores and restaurants are participating by doing special events inside their stores by doing special menus and giving away prizes as well as awards,” said Ma-rie.

The celebration of the com-munity has grown and for Spiro Koumoudouros, Co-Chair of the-Bloordale BIA, it’s a testament to how far the community has come in the past couple of years.

“It’s amazing to see how much we’ve improved and I have to thank the police especially for do-ing such a magnificent job,” said Koumoudouros, “four years ago you were scared to walk down Bloor after 8 p.m. and now I see young boys and girls walking around after midnight having a good time and it’s because of the excellent job the police have done cleaning up this community.”

For Marie, Big on Bloor is all about encouraging residents to get out and see the neighbour-hood. “All were trying to do is to encourage people to get out and walk on the street socialize with one another and improve the at-mosphere by doing that it makes a community.”

FESTIVAL, from page 1

Ryerson architechtural sciences student Silviu Anton working the day before the Responding Festival. PHOTO By Gurpreet Ghag

07The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

Arts

By MATTHEW LOPES

International artist Aleksandra Mir showcased her latest work, a film titled ‘The Seduction of Galileo Galilei’ at the Mercer Union Centre for Contemporary Art (1286 Bloor St. W) for its banner summer exhibition.

Mir spoke for just over an hour to an audience which consisted of many people who worked with her on the film and oth-ers who were familiar with her work.

“It was playful, it was fun, it was interesting work,” said Tim Bancroft, a fan of Mir and a first time visitor to the gallery, “it was fantastic.”

Mir’s film was shot in a gravel parking lot near a go kart track in Stouffville ON., where Mir and her crew stacked automo-bile tires as high as possible before watching gravity take control. The tower is then rebuilt and is show toppling over again and again.

“I was invited by Sarah Robayo Sheridan (Curator) to come here to Toronto and work with her about a year ago and we’ve had a dialogue for about a year,” said Mir, “a week ago we went out to Stouffville and shot this film that’s premiering today.”

The film was played several times from a projector as the au-dience often laughed and many watched the film several times before leaving the building.

“People have been laughing and enjoying it so I think it defi-nitely went good” said Mir.

“She comes from a very inter-esting perspective a really uni-versal one. She seems to interact with objects in the world for their own sake rather than any overlying political agenda, so, yeah, she’s a real universal artist,” said Bancroft.

For the future, Mir said it is important to just keep on work-ing. As of publication date, Mer-cer Union has not yet listed any future exhibitions.

The Seduction on Galileo Galilei

Aleksandra Mir (left) and Volunteer Farah Yusuf (right) after first showing of the seduction of Galileo Galilei PHOTO By Matt Lopes

By JUSTIN MILLERSON

For those who don’t remember, the 80s was known for it’s bizarre clothing and hideous hair styles; expression had no limit and neither did the art. Paradise Now, an art exhibition wanted to capture a snap shot of this unique expression when they presented Archiving the 80s at the Toronto Free Gallery.

For the first two weeks of June, Toronto Free Gallery’s walls were draped by vibrant 80s art-posters offering a historical experience of Queen Street W. during the energetic decade.

Henrjeta Mece, Paradise Now curator put on the exhibition to give people today a feel for the active lifestyle Toronto once held 30 years ago, a time she wishes will not be forgotten.

“The whole idea of this exhibition is to document Toronto’s unique downtown culture in the 80s and through this exhibition it created an opportunity for this to be documented, to be archived somehow,” said Mece, a recent Ontario College of Art & Design graduate.

This archive features a number of authentic posters, some theater, some music and others just raw art, but collecting them was no easy feat. Mece hit the streets to find the collection and she said it was a lot like an investigative journey, one that took six months.

“I would meet a person, this person would lead me to the next person who might have something,” said Mece who got a hold of nearly 250 posters.

Archiving the 80s is the first of many exhibits Paradise Now will be showing and through the many exhibitions yet to come, Rae Johnson, artistic director is trying to retrospect the era she knew best.

“One show can’t do justice to the era,” said Johnson who would know, she was a renown Toronto artist in the 80s.

Paradise Now is funded by Canada Council for Arts, the City of Toronto and OCAD and the retro exhibition started with a showing that took place at the Museum of Contempo-rary Canadian Art last month. The idea eventually blossomed into a much larger initiative.

Thirty years of gentrification has diminished and in some cases pushed out the art John-son once knew and the purpose for Paradise Now is to not only capture the 80s art scene, but to remember the artists and hold their memories captive in the 21st century, at least for a while. As result many art exhibits will be shown all over Toronto in honour of the 80s era.

For exhibition dates and more information on the initiative visit www.paradisenow.ca. Rae Johnson (Left) and Henrjeta Mece on opening day. PHOTO By Justin Millerson

A trip back in time at the Free gallery

News

08

By GURPREET GHAG

26 days after presenting three ideas for a new park on 90 Lisgar Ave. (south-west of Dovercourt Rd. and Queen St. W.), Victor Ford and Associates presented a ‘pre-ferred concept plan’ to community members at Alexander Muir/Glad-stone Public School on May 31.

The new concept plan was de-rived from comments from the second community workshop which took place earlier in the month on May 4 at the same loca-tion. It featured three concepts for the 1.2 acre site: one with many trees and a half-mound-half-stage in the centre, another with less trees and lawns throughout and the last concept having a little bit of both.

After taking the input from that last meeting, the firm said that a lot of people liked concept one, especially the mound in the middle; that there was strong con-cern over concept three having too much variety; and that there was a strong motion to have multiple ac-cess points from the surrounding streets in whichever concept was

pursued.The result, or preferred concept,

turned out to be a mixture of the first three concepts and included one lawn (instead of the two fea-tured in concept two), a stage (without a mound as featured in concept one), and concrete surfac-es (which were plentiful in concept three).

Before the community began talking about the new plan, Mi-chael Awad, speaking on behalf of the public arts steering committee, suggested that the design group consist of someone with more of an art background.

“We just see it as there being a hole in the expertise of the team,” said Awad, “It’s not to say that we don’t like the process -we think it’s going along well, and we don’t want to disrupt it. We see elements of it that are very positive, but we just want some more expertise on the table.”

After breaking into groups to look over the new design, concern was expressed about the lack of access points to the lawn and the limitations of the new stage.

West-Queen-West B.I.A. artistic

director Nicolos Longstaff said that the new stage could not be seen by people passing by on the streets and could not be viewed from the sides, or from behind, like the stage in concept one, could run into some problems down the line.

“The variety of uses [for the stage] needs to be reflected in the design. The one thing that comes up for me is a fixed stage becomes problematic if your director’s treatments of audience and per-formance differs from that of what is prescribed,” Longstaff said, “but the challenges of managing a por-

table stage, which I think would be the ideal scenario, with its own technical team, and director that could set it at any angle, any height, any dimension, that would be the ideal to match the most needs.”

Longstaff believed that consulta-tion with a stage designer would definitely help come up with a bet-ter, more variable concept.

Architect Jeremey Craig said that he wasn’t too surprised with the concern and that it helped “confirm some speculations from before.”

He said that the team would now go back and adjust the concept

based on input from the night’s and while talking to the art-steer-ing committee, or stage designer, move into the final stage: design development, which would take the plan and then go into details such as materials.

Even though this was the third, and final scheduled community-workshop, Bob Duguid, from Parks, Forestry and Recreation asked the group if they would be interested in another consultation meeting and got a majority ‘yes’.

For more on the development, stay tuned to http://www.thebloor-dalepress.com.

Proposed plan still needs some work

The future home of the park. PHOTO By Gurpreet Ghag

The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

Left to Right: previous concepts A, B and C

09

News

By JUSTIN MILLERSON

The cement slab of about 10,000 square feet in between Dufferin Park’s hockey rinks is home to a skate park with a few obstacles, but a group of skaters are making im-provements to make it a desirable place to skate in the city.

Volunteer Skate Park Coordina-tor, Jason Kun with the help of oth-er volunteers will continue work-ing on the skate park this summer, adding and building many parts to fill the vacant spaces.

“I live in the neighborhood so it’s good to have some place close by to skate,” said Rob Carley, Bloor-dale skater and volunteer for the project.

The current and coming addi-

tions in the skate park are funded by the park’s Thursday Farmer’s Market.

Building the skate park is part of a city wide effort called satellite skate parks started by a group of skateboarders including Toronto’s own Rob Poyner.

“Rob Poyner was one of the guys who started the whole thing by volunteering a lot of his time at the Dundas and Bathurst park and other people just kind of picked up. It’s been kind of a grassroots, organic kind of progress,” said Kun, who has been working on the Dufferin Park project over the past few summers.

Kun is a big supporter of satellite skate parks and their initiatives. Kun has high expectation for the

park and credits much of those expectations to a donation by the Poyner.

“We have two quarter pipes do-nated by [Poyner] from Scadding Park at Dundas and Bathurst, so there is a skate park there, they constantly build new things and the stuff that they don’t use they donate to other parks,” said Kun.

In the next coming months, the hope is to have a full skate park that is safe and visually appealing for skaters of all ages.

Kun is hoping that an event can eventually be hosted to help raise funds for improvements and to create awareness in the commu-nity that he said has been needing a nearby place to skate for a while.

Decking out Dufferin Grove’s ice rinkSome of the first pieces being put together. PHOTO By Justin Millerson

The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

Addressing the high drop-out rate amongstPortuguese students

By JUSTIN MILLERSON

The Portuguese high school drop rate is among the highest in Toron-to and after a lot of head scratch-ing, the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic School Board held a meeting at Bloor Collegiate to talk about a solution.

The meeting took place on June 14 and was led by TDSB Super-intendent Jim Spyropoulos and Trustee Maria Rodrigues. The gathering that saw over 30 people attend, was not meant to fix the problem in one night, but to help progress and combat the 34 per cent drop out rate.

“Various pathways to success need to be validated,” said Anto-nio Santos, principal of Lakeshore Collegiate.

The school boards are calling that pathway “Task Force” which is a group of committed members from both boards that will con-tinue to discuss ways of finding a solution to the problem.

Task Force has just recently come together and many questions were raised to better establish a more ef-ficient engine for the initiative.

The Co-Chairs of Task Force are Rodrigues and Administrator of the Attorney General, Eunice Machado.

Machado is a founding member and president of the Portuguese Canadian Lawyers Association and has been working to improve the reputation of Portuguese stu-dents since the inception of the association in 2007.

She as well as other attendees at the meeting wondered what exactly is the typical Portuguese student’s definition of success.

Machado mentioned it’s not un-common for students to give up school to join the trade industry and believes it is a viable way to live. Machado has been and will continue to try and show students that there are many different op-tions for success.

As a Portuguese Canadian, she uses herself as an example. Hav-ing graduated law school at the University of Toronto, her success is a product of education and this is the message she hopes to convey.

Moving forward, Task Force wants to include students and hear all sides of the story. The boards believe this could put a halt on the problem.

“Lets find out what the students want,” one attendee stated.

The fight is not over, the boards urged, Task Force will continue to meet as time moves forward.

The meeting was held at Bloor Collegiate. PHOTO By Justin Millerson

By GURPREET GHAG

There was a buzz in the air at Dufferin grove park on May, 30th as the Parkdale and Toronto Horti-cultural society organized an event to raise awareness for their little nectar-loving friends.

Clement Kent, president of the society, guided a handful of chil-dren and their parents in the bee-nest building process, while two of his volunteers read some bee themed poetry.

Participants filled tubes with straw and sticks to form nests that would attract and house the vari-ous bees that can be found in the city.

As Kent explained, the workshop was to spread the message that the bees could use our help.

“It’s not just honey bees, it’s hundreds and hundreds of species

of native bees that are declining,” Kent said.

“One reason is that bees need flowers and how many flowers do you see? It’s all dandelions. The more we garden, the more bees we’ll have.”

Kent said that he and his society will be working on a pollinator garden in the park, similar to the one they worked on in High Park last summer.

For more on the society, you can visit http://www.parkdaletorontohort.com.

‘Busy Worker Bees’ - Kids and parents constructing nests for bees. PHOTO By Gurpreet Ghag

Busy Bees

By MATTHEW LOPES

A Toronto Forensic Identi-fication Services (FIS) officer lifts fingerprints off several surfaces at the Bloor-Glad-stone library; thankfully, he was not investigating a ho-micide, but showing people how the job is done in the real world.

The fascination in forensic investigation has boomed be-cause of popular TV shows such as CSI and NCIS and in order to accommodate the fas-cination and dispel the inac-curacies an adult presentation was given to show attendees how the Toronto police really solve crimes.

Det. Const. Wade Knapp, an FIS officer, gave an hour long presentation, answered many questions from the community and gave a live demonstration of evidence collection.

“The public has an inter-est in this and the police are interested in supporting the

public,” said Knapp, “when you look back at Sir Robert Peel and his original founda-tions for policing, the com-munity is the police and the police are the community. It’s important that we reach out to the community so there’s an interaction.”

Even after the live demon-stration which included lifting finger prints, several people stuck around to ask questions as Knapp put away his equipment.

“I can say that this was a wonderful response to an adult program at the library,” said Jennifer Schmitt, organizer

of the presentation, “we often have difficulty getting adults to come out, this turnout I was more than pleased with and I think they would have stayed for another two or three hours if we had let them.”

Schmitt said she got the idea from the New York public li-

braries website and after con-tacting Toronto Police she was put in contact with Knapp who presents throughout the city.

Schmitt added that she will be passing the presentation on to the Central Marketing Department which plans pro-grams for all Toronto Libraries.

News

10

CSI: BloordaleToronto Police reveal the

facts behind investigations

Detective Constable Wade Knapp showing some of the many items that prints can be lifted from. PHOTO By Matt Lopes

The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

ONGOING

DUFFERIN GROVE PARK - In response to funding cuts, and the possibility of losing some of it’s unique features, the friends of Dufferin Grove Park are going to form dia-logue during Friday night suppers and any other time a discussion can be formed to come up with possible ways to keep the park in its current state. For more information you can visit http://dufferinpark.ca/newslet-ter/wiki/wiki.php/#moneyissue.

KENT SENIOR PUBLIC SCHOOL (TENNIS COURTS IN SOUTH/WEST CORNER OF BLOOR/DUFFERIN) - In celebration of and leading up to the BIG on BLOOR Festival will be the ‘Responding’ festival which kicked off June, 29th and will continue to run until the festival weekend of July 23rd and 24th. The pre-festival festival will feature works by a number of profes-sional artists, designers, architects, poets, community groups and volunteers. Every-one is encourages to drop by. For more informa-tion you can visit www.bigonbloor.com/festival.

BLOOR/GLADSTONE LIBRARy

JULy 7TH - Erin Brandenburg// play-wright, performer and creator explains how you can trun ordinary events into theatre productions. 7-8 PM

JULy 18TH - Sleepytime stories// Soft songs and sleepytime stories. Bring your blankets. Drop-in, no need to register. 7-8 PM

JULy 25TH - Console Gaming// Come play your friends, or come play some soon to be friends in some xBox, Wii and playstation 4:30-6:30 PM

JULy 26TH - Book Club// Come in and talk about books. Drop by to regsiter or call 416-393-7674. 7-8 PM

JULy 27TH - Puppets make a splash// For tickets to this puppet show (free) please come to the branch July, 20th. 2-3 PM

For a full listing please visit www.toronto-publiclibrary.ca

GENERAL COMMUNITy EVENTS

JULy 16TH - Community BBQ and Yard Sale// Monies made will help build a com-munity kitchen at Dovercourt Public School. To get a table to sell your things, please con-tact the councillor at 416-392-7012 or email her at councillor_bailao@toronto.ca 11AM-3PM

JULy 18TH - Community Walk// In part of the Ward-18 study, residents can meet at the corner of Bloor/Symmington to help the city review the land use. 6:30PM

JULy 19TH - Community Walk// In part of the Ward-18 study, residents can meet at the corner of Queen/Gladstone to help the city review the land use. 6:30PM, alternatively, if you cannot make it out and would still like your voice heard, send a fax (416) 392-1330 or write to Gregg Lintern, Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District, City Plan-ning Division, 100 Queen St W Floor 18 E Toronto On, M5H 2N2. If you would like further information about the study, please contact Sarah Phipps, Senior Planner, at(416) 392-7622, or by e-mail at sphipps1@

toronto.ca. You may also contact Councillor Ana Bailao, Ward 18, at 416-392-7012

For further upcoming events please stay tuned to thebloordalepress.

com. If you feel as though your list should be listed, please email it to

thebloordalepress@gmail.com.

THE PRESS WANTS YOU!Are you an artist? Do you take pho-

tos? Draw? Paint? Do you write?

Then perhaps this space is the place for you to show off your talent.

We are currently accepting com-munity submissions for comic strips, photographs taken in the community, short stories, letters, amazing grocery

lists, poems etc.

send your stuff to thebloor-dalepress@gmail.com

Upcoming Events

11

Classifieds

FOR SALE

1” Button Maker, Hand Punch and 500 complete button parts - $349

1” button maker, Handy 1” Button Punch for circle cutting. 500 1” button parts for pinback buttons. 1” Button sample pack (50pcs incl. magnets, flat backs, earring parts, versa-backs + more). This is a NEW professional button making machine with a lifetime manufac-turers warranty! Feel free to come along to the BUTTON MAKING EMPORIUM to try out button making. Critical Buttons 365 Jane Street, Toronto, Ontario M6S3Z3 416.204.1984

FOR SALE

your used bikes for a good causeA couple of churches in the Dixon neighbourhood want to collect your used bikes, help kids repair them, and then give them to the kids. If you have bikes rusting in the back yard, sitting in the garage with flat tires, are a scrap collector who picks them up, or are an apart-ment or condo manager with a bunch to be tossed, we’d love them. Will Pick Up. Thanks much - Steve 416.741.1615

Concert Tickets, various events

Foo Fighters at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday August 9th @ 7pm, inquire about others.Send me a Txt or Call me @ 416.931.6775

Aluminum Crutches and Air-cast Boots - $70

I used the Aluminum Crutches for a month and the Aircast Boots for two weeks. They are in good condi-tion. The height for the Crutches is from 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 10 inches. I am selling the Crutches for $20 and the Boots for $30.416.686.7491

2000 TOyOTA COROLLA CE - $3999 (TOR.)

4/DOOR AUTOMATIC AIR, BEIGE ON GRAY, ONLY 197000KVEHICLE IN MINT COND CERT...E/T...WARR., RC MOTORS183 REXDALE BLBRD, TORONTO ONT ROBERTO416.258.8244

Solid wood dining set with table, and china cabinet and 6 chairs - $449 (North york)

Solid elm wood country style dining table with 6 matching chairs and china cabinet68” (L) x 42” (W) x 29.5 (H) with 12” extension available

call 416 737 4957 for larger pictures or viewing

2008 Mercedes C350 AMG PACKAGE & 4Matic - $31800White w/ dark grey interior, with Walnut wood trim finish, Auto-matic, AWD. Alarm, Alloy Wheels, Harmon Kardon sound w/ 6CD Player, Bluetooth, hands free phone ready, Keyless Entry, Navigation system, Rear Defroster, Panoramic Glass roof w/ sun-roof, Sun shade for roof and rear window, Leather heated seats, Dual front and rear climate controls, Power telescoping steering wheel, Loaded with extra features, Only 55,800 km. Excellent condition416.577.7248

Nokia 6263, 6555, E50 GSM Phones, BNIB - $95 - $125

Different accessories for each.416.877.1880

Gracious Living Patio Set - $150

Aluminum grey patio set with 6 chairs and beige umbrella. Dimen-sions are 43” X 72 “.Purchased new & is 7 years old. In good condition with some paint peeling. 416.659.1338

Any scrap metal wanted free removal/Pickup in most casesI’m looking for anything metal you might have lieing around your house work ect. I offer free removal for most items and a fast and worry free pick up. If it fits in my truck or trailer I’ll take it multiple trips are fine. Old appliances, reno waste, sheds, BBQ’s, Trailers, car parts, computers, batteries, metal junk lieing arouind ect. I might even pay you if you have some valuable met-als. I can even arange to have your old cars picked up and removed dead or alive free! Or again I might pay depeneding on what you have. Just call and ask it doesn’t hurt. I also do junk removal by appoint-ment only.416.220.7759

Desk - $100

Manufactured by Steelcase, Practi-cally indestructible, Vinyl-ish top for a firm writing surface, 5 drawers, including one file drawer, 60 inches wide, 30 inches deep, 29 inches high.416.567.5675

Stove and Dishwasher - $300

Kenmore flat gas stove and dish-washer for sale. Both in excellent condition and can be bought seper-atley as well. White in colour. 416.332.9950

Blizzak 245 70 16 and steel wheels - $500

Available for sale are used Bridge-stone Blizzak tires size 245 70 16 as well as silver steel wheels 6 bolt (6X139.7) - the tires have 75% life remaining and performance is great! New cost at $1500 ...........ASKING $550 (*reduced $500)OR BEST REASONABLE OFFER ........... Balanced and free of issues (alignment/plugs etc etc ) - These will fit Nissan Pathfinder/Infiniti QX4, Toyota 4Runner/Tacoma/FJCruiser, Lexus trucks, GM/Cadil-lac trucks, Dodge trucks etc etc.

416.716.5620

FOR SALEWANTED

Canon Xti SLR w/ 50mm and stock lens- $550

Somewhat great condition. You have to flip the flash out manually, but otherwise mint. Will throw in a vintage camera bag that holds it all: 2 lenses, charger, 2 batteries and body (all included).647.869.2531

Used laptop - $300-$500In need of a decent laptop prefer-ably one with between 2-4 GBs of RAM. Must have a charger and carrying case. Any sized screen will be considered. Looking at anything at about $300-$500. 416.931.6775

Graduate wants CA student opportunity- Seeking an opportunity as a CA Student to further develop profes-sionally, and supplement my com-munity involvement.Please call 416.817.5578, or email ed.xolive@gmail.com or visit www.http://ca.linkedin.com/in/edoliveira

MUSIC

We got the beats!!!Bloordale’s own Cprime and Sterobit are about to release their demo. You can check out all their free music at www.soundcloud.com/Cprim3

INTERESTED IN LISTING?Classifieds in the Bloordale Press are a great way to get rid of that

stuff that you just don’t have a use for anymore and for $10/ month, what do you have to lose? Email thebloordalepress@gmail.com to register or get more details.

Paintball Gun - $450

Custom spyder paintball gun, blue and chrome in colour, freak barrell, freak body, halo hopper, NCO2 tank416.884.9325

The Bloordale Press JULY 2011

Lenovo ThinkPad R60 Intel DualCore/2GB RAM/Wifi/15 - $260 (416 721-3052)

This is an amazing and very reliable machine with fast CPU, lots of RAM and Hard Disk space, DVD/CDRW combo drive and much more. It is perfect for students, business owners or just about all power users. I’ve use many laptops in my life and I believe that IBM’s are the most reliable and resilient of them all.　This laptop is fully tested and sim-ply Perfect!!! 　 Specs:Processor: Intel Centrino Duo Core Processor 1.83GHzRAM: 2 GB DDR2 RAM Hard Drive: 60GbDisplay: 15” Video Adapter: Intel GMA 950Disk Drive: DVD/CDRW Combo DriveNetwork Adapters: 1Gb Ethernet, Wi-Fi, BlueToothModem: 54kBattery: 6 cell Li-IonMicrosoft Office 2007Anti VirusOperating System: Windows XP Pro SP3 (all securities done)Power Supply: 110V/220V

Price: $260, Please call: 416 721-3052

Massage Chair - $100

Massage Chair. 2 settings stopped working the other are fine. Not sure if it is as simple as a fuse or some-thing. Haven’t bothered checking it out. Love my chair. Needs to go, as new baby just arrived and I need room. Don. 416 797 9950

Mirror Top Coffee Table - $50 (College & Ossington)

Hello. I am moving and am no longer in need of my beloved coffee table. I am selling it for $50 or make a reasonble offer. Thanks for your interest. Feel free to call or emil anytime.

-Michael 416.300.9515

80lb Everlast punchbag - $50 (Corso Italia)

80lb punchbag, excellent condition. Soft on the hands and will last for years.

Call John 416 836 4333